World of Work

Learning to balance work and life

09/04/2023

Lk 4:16-30 Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?" He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb, 'Physician, cure yourself,' and say, 'Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'" When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

I would like to say a word about the gospel, as well as Labor Day, since that is what we are celebrating today in the United States. What struck me in the gospel is both the joy with which the people receive Jesus, and then very shortly thereafter, the rejection they hand him. And I think this is typical for anyone who wants to take their faith in Jesus seriously, and walk closely with him.

There will be times when the world will sing your praises, and then there will be times the world is ready to crucify you. This passage that beautifully juxtaposes the acceptance and rejection of the Lord has something to offer us in our walk with him. When the acceptance and rejection come, don’t be surprised. I told you so.

Now a word about Labor Day. I think my dog Apollo is a very good example of Labor Day because he does not work for free. Whenever I ask him to do a trick, he sits and looks at me until I show him I have a treat to reward him with, and then he does the trick. No treat, no trick. My dog is a very good capitalist, he does not work for free. He expects a salary.

One good way to prepare your heart and mind for Labor Day is to read the encyclical by Pope St. John Paul II Laborem Exercens. It was written in 1981 and would be a good way to spend some time today on Labor Day to understand the meaning of human labor. The document in English is called On Human Labor. It is a very long encyclical and he has lots of insightful things to say, but I want to just point out two things that struck me.

First, he says that when we work, we work as human beings created in the image and likeness of God. Since we are created in God’s image and likeness, everything we do should be done as reflections of God. And he adds that this distinguishes us from the animals, with all due respect to Apollo.

When beavers build a dam, when bees make honey in a hive, they do not work like when you and I go to work. Why is what they do so different from what we do? Because we are created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore when we toil and labor, we do something radically different than what the animals do. Our work contributes not only to making our society a better place to live, but it makes us more in the image and likeness of God.

There is a beautiful passage in John 5:17, where Jesus says, “The Father is at work until now, and I am at work.” Jesus, the perfect image and likeness of God because he is the very Son of God, works. And that makes him God-like, like the eternal Father. When we work and do honest labor, we become more God-like, too. And that is very different from the animals who work.

The second point he made is that he said that work is for man and man is not for work. In other words, work is something that helps us to become more human. Work is for us, we are not made for work, just as if we were this slave labor. And so there has to be a dignity in work. You should not take advantage of your workers. You must pay them a just wage, a family wage.

And ultimately work is secondary in life. It is not what we should be living for. I discovered this in a beautiful way when I came to Fort Smith. I spent 9 years in Fayetteville and Springdale, and enjoyed my time there very much. The last ten years I have been in Fort Smith. Sometimes people ask me, “Fr. John, how do you like living in Fort Smith?” I always reply by saying, “I love it very much.”

There is a kind of general distinction that I draw between northwest Arkansas and Fort Smith, which is probably an exaggeration with broad strokes. You can say the world in NWA is a white collar world by-in-large. Whereas here in Fort Smith, in the River Valley, we are a more blue collar community. And that reflects two different kinds of work that is done.

Up in NWA, which has wonderful people and I enjoyed my time there, but sometimes they live to work. They never stop working and that is symptomatic of white collar jobs. And when I was up there I did the same thing. You don’t just work 9-to-5, and then l leave. White collar jobs never clock out.

When you are home with your family, you are thinking about work. When you are on vacation you wonder how you’ll deal with a troublesome employee when you get back. How can we make profits exceed expenses? You never stop working when you have a white collar job. That’s why John Paul had to remind us: man is not made for work, work is for us.

And that is a difference in Fort Smith because we go to work, but we clock in and then we clock out. When we go home, we don’t think about work anymore. We think about our family, and care less about work. That is blue collar life. In addition there is time and joy in going to church. There is life outside of work. Again, that’s what the pope meant when we said, work is made for man, and not man for work.

Today on Labor Day we give God thanks for the gift of work and labor, honest effort. But let us not exaggerate it. Because ultimately, work is only here to help us become more like the Father.

Praised be Jesus Christ!