LIV. The worth and dignity of labor
1.THE interior of the peaceful house of Nazareth was familiar with strenuous physical labor. Could we have looked in, whom would we have found there engaged at work? Jesus Christ Himself, the God-Man, His foster-father, St. Joseph, and Mary, His virginal mother. From this we may judge the worth and dignity of labor. But men have not always esteemed the value of labor. The ancient heathen considered bodily labor to be altogether contemptible. The man who was free-born felt it to be a disgrace to put his hand to work; even the most enlightened among the Greeks and Romans expressed, in no doubtful terms, their supreme contempt for bodily labor.
2. And throughout the whole of heathendom we encounter this aversion to labor this contempt for work. The North American Indian likes to leave work to women, as did the Teutons in days of old.
But since work was necessary, if men were to eat and live, they conceived the idea of slavery. They went so far as to regard common laborers as a separate and degraded class of beings; they considered them as but little superior to the brutes. Laborers or slaves were mere animated machines, which might be treated in any manner which seemed good to their owners. They were bought and sold, like any other kind of merchandise; they were cast off, i.e., put to death, as soon as they were no longer of any use. It was seriously doubted Whether slaves really possessed a human soul! Such was the view which the heathen took of workmen and work.
3. Then Jesus Christ appeared, the God-Man and Redeemer. He did not choose for His foster-father an emperor who occupied the throne of the Roman Empire, nor a member of the Roman senate, nor one of the sages of those days.
No; He chose a man who had spent his whole life in hard labor, a carpenter, an artisan, whose workshop was the place he loved best, next to the temple of God.
What a distinction for work does this fact furnish! The greatest honor which God could confer upon any man, He conferred upon an artisan, upon the carpenter, St. Joseph of Nazareth! "My ways are not your ways," is what the voice of the Son of God proclaimed to the whole world even from the manger.
4. And we may go yet further! He Himself, the incarnate Son of God, willed to labor in the workshop of St. Joseph, until He was thirty years old. And Mary, His most blessed mother, was no fashionable lady, going from place to place in search of amusement and pleasure, delighting in dress, or wasting time in reading silly romances. No, we behold her in the peaceful house at Nazareth, engaged in such domestic occupations as became the wife of an artisan.
Since that day what a different aspect does work assume, viewed in the light of the Catholic faith, and in view of the humble workshop of Nazareth, where Jesus Christ Himself, the God-Man, cheerfully and uncomplainingly helped his foster-father with his work, handling to this end the saw, the hatchet, and the plane.
5. Heltinger expresses himself ably on this subject in his "Christian Apology": "Christ, the Son of the carpenter, ennobled work, once and forever, and even the lowest kind of manual labor. The ancient command: 'In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread,' was hallowed by Him, was changed into a blessing, a service rendered to God, and an expression of love to Our Lord.
And those who were the first to proclaim His doctrines, gained their livelihood by the work of their hands, and by so doing condemned, once and forever, that idleness which devours the fruit of other men's toil After this, work ceased to be a disgrace, and the Fathers of the Church can scarcely find words enough in which to proclaim the praises of labor. It is indeed a penance for sin, but for the will which is weakened by sin and inclined to evil, it is a shield against temptation; it is a tonic to strengthen man's moral nature, a task performed in the service of Christ, a means of practising every virtue, a school of sanctification, a pledge of rich reward at the hand of God, a well-spring of peace, the honor and the joy of man; for by continuous activity and unceasing effort a man lives a real life, and becomes like to God."
6. Such, briefly expressed, is the worth and dignity of labor. Learn to honor it and to follow it zealously. Regard your work, be it easy or difficult, lofty or lowly, as a precious memorial, a valuable relic, of the holy house at Nazareth. There, indeed, your work also has been ennobled and sanctified; there it received the patent of nobility, which, in so far as you prize it highly as a valuable jewel, will be for you a source of riches and happiness while you sojourn upon earth, and, what is the most important point, will render you a favorite of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and gain for you the right to an eternal reward. Therefore:
Art thou weary, by thy work opprest,
Go to Christ and there thou shalt find rest
Show Him thy toil -stained hands and see
His hands that toiled and bled for thee.
