Today we celebrate the Feast of
St. Joseph the Worker. This feast was established by Pope Pius XII in
1955 as a means to remind us of the dignity of human labor and to place it
under the patronage of St. Joseph. One of the negative aspects of our
modern culture is that we seem to despise human labor. We don't hold
"hard work" in high esteem anymore.
The Church has always taught the dignity and value of human labor, but it seems it has become more important today to do so. We are forever finding and inventing ways of doing things easier and faster; from cooking a meal to traveling, from cleaning our yards to exchanging information, the faster, the easier, the better. The problem with this is that the product, the end result is all that matters. Lost in the process is the very value of producing, of the person doing the producing, of the labor involved. Why spend so much time making bread when you can just buy it? Why rake your leaves when you can get one of those blowers that seem to be powered by jet engines to do it for you? Why raise vegetables in your yard when you can order them by phone and have them delivered? Why build something with your own hands when it can be massed produced?
You see, the value we place on our own labor, that which we do with our own hands, is reflected in the way we treat those who labor for their livelihood. That which we find beneath our dignity to do we pay someone else to do. But by doing this we have placed persons beneath our dignity. If it is beneath my dignity than it should be beneath everyone's dignity. In God's eyes there is no necessary labor that is lacking in dignity. Those labors that we might find humiliating are the very actions that will not only bind us to our neighbor in a powerful way, but will open our eyes to the value of labor and persons. It will show us exactly what Jesus meant when after washing his disciple's feet, he command us to do as he had done.
The Church has always taught the dignity and value of human labor, but it seems it has become more important today to do so. We are forever finding and inventing ways of doing things easier and faster; from cooking a meal to traveling, from cleaning our yards to exchanging information, the faster, the easier, the better. The problem with this is that the product, the end result is all that matters. Lost in the process is the very value of producing, of the person doing the producing, of the labor involved. Why spend so much time making bread when you can just buy it? Why rake your leaves when you can get one of those blowers that seem to be powered by jet engines to do it for you? Why raise vegetables in your yard when you can order them by phone and have them delivered? Why build something with your own hands when it can be massed produced?
You see, the value we place on our own labor, that which we do with our own hands, is reflected in the way we treat those who labor for their livelihood. That which we find beneath our dignity to do we pay someone else to do. But by doing this we have placed persons beneath our dignity. If it is beneath my dignity than it should be beneath everyone's dignity. In God's eyes there is no necessary labor that is lacking in dignity. Those labors that we might find humiliating are the very actions that will not only bind us to our neighbor in a powerful way, but will open our eyes to the value of labor and persons. It will show us exactly what Jesus meant when after washing his disciple's feet, he command us to do as he had done.
As Pope Francis reminds us, work is part of who we are as humans bieng and essential for to fully realize the dignity of each person. "Work should be the setting for this rich personal growth, where many aspects of life enter into play: creativity, planning for the future, developing our talents, living out our values, relating to others, giving glory to God. It follows that, in the reality of today's global society, it is essential that "we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone," no matter the limited interests of business and dubious economic reasoning. We were created with a vocation to work. The goal should not be that technological progress increasingly replace human work, for this would be detrimental to humanity. Work is a necessity, part of the meaning of life on this earth, a path to growth, human development and personal fulfillment. Helping the poor financially must always be a provisional solution in the face of pressing needs. The broader objective should always be to allow them a dignified life through work. (Pope Francis, On Care for Our Common Home [Laudato Si. . . '], nos. 127-28)
