Jesus Christ, the New Adam, sanctified work
By Rev. George E. Schultze, SJ
Published: Friday, August 31, 2007
By Rev. George E. Schultze, SJ
Published: Friday, August 31, 2007
At an earlier time Labor Day in the U.S. meant a parade of floats depicting various crafts (baker, carpenter, metal smith, etc.), union picnics, and the proverbial political punditry. At the sparsely attended Labor Day events in our current era, labor leaders and their political allies will raise concerns over globalization, labor law reform, immigration, the decreasing density of union jobs in the U.S. workforce, and the war on terrorism. These are undeniably important concerns wherever one lies on the political spectrum, but rather than add to the cacophony of murmurings, I prefer to start this Labor Day commentary with a focus on Scripture and Jesus the Christ. Jesus was a worker who lived in a household that depended on a family business. Mary, Joseph and Jesus exemplify for every Christian a trust in God that resounds with a definitive fiat, let it be done. Let me be with child, let me be this woman's husband, let the Father's will be done. If alienation too often occurs in our familial and work lives today, then we have too easily let go of our faith in God. Only when we trust in God, say "yes" to a loving Father, do we begin to have the freedom to respond as Christians to the pressing challenges we face in our day. Labor union adherents are wont to boast that the labor movement brought workers the weekend; unfortunately, they have sometimes forgotten that "the weekend" started with the first Sabbath. The Chosen People had a covenant relationship with Yahweh that required faithfulness and thankfulness in response to his faithfulness and love. When we attend the Sunday liturgy, we manifest our faith and our thanks. At the liturgy, which means work of the people, ritual practices are transformed into norms for living that we take into the world. Culture - law, art, work, leisure and so on - comes from a people of cult. Moreover, when we rest on the Lord's Day, as the Holy Family did on the Sabbath, we are trusting in God's providence. Our rest is fitting for children of Yahweh, who also rested on the seventh day of creation. If we fail to set aside time to worship God, our worries (lack of trust) obsess us and possess us. To find the real meaning of our lives, particularly our family and work lives, we need to attend Mass.
Our lives of labor are not without their trials; employers, employees and their families will need to trust and sometimes sacrifice. "With the sweat on your brow shall you eat your bread, until you return to the soil, as you were taken from it." Original sin exists in the world. Yet Jesus Christ, the New Adam, sanctified work. In Jesus' day pagans saw work as a burden for slaves and other unfortunate men and women. The life of Jesus, however, shows us God at work.
During those many hidden years prior to his public ministry, the Son of God labored like you and me. Jesus, a descendant of earthly royalty as well, apprenticed as a woodworker under Joseph. He observed his mother's daily labors and undoubtedly served her. Since he knew work, he could identify with all of those who ate by the sweat of their brow. He called among others fishermen, a tax collector, and a tent maker to preach the kingdom of God. St. Paul, the tent maker, did not want to burden others and humbly plied his trade while joyfully proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Pope Benedict XVI has written in his latest book, "Jesus of Nazareth," that our most urgent priority is to present the figure and message of Jesus "to foster the growth of a living relationship with him." A personal relationship with Jesus will give meaning to our lives at home and at the work place. Spiritual reading, daily prayer, acts of charity and the practice of the sacraments will help us know Jesus, a worker like us. Briefly, the Church's social encyclicals are a rich tradition of study and reflection that provide for all people of good will some sense of the rights and responsibilities of workers, employers, consumers, investors and most importantly the poor. Most of us participate in these categories to some degree, voluntarily or involuntarily. The late Pope John Paul II remarked in the 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens that First World consumers, whether persons or institutions, were often the indirect employers of Third World workers. In this era of globalization, our interconnectedness is an undeniable reality. The social encyclicals' adherence to Scripture, tradition and natural law make them the most comprehensive and rooted response to the materialism, determinism and secularism of much of contemporary life - "isms" that are ultimately reduced to atheistic or pantheistic world views. Like the Israelites murmuring in the desert, we tend to cause ourselves trouble when we fail to trust in God; that is, when we waver in our faith, hope and love.
So we Catholics must take our liturgical experience and social teaching into the daily life of the world. At times this means making sacrifices (sacred acts) in the toilsome moments of home and work. Yet seen in the light of Jesus, our sacrificial labor has meaning. Thinking Catholics also know that work constitutes a foundation for the formation of family life by supporting marriage between a woman and a man, by providing for new life, by educating the young and by caring for the sick and elderly. Promoting the commonweal through job creation is a worthy effort for those who follow a Lord who worked. This Labor Day let us give thanks to God for the gift of work and remember those who have none.
Our lives of labor are not without their trials; employers, employees and their families will need to trust and sometimes sacrifice. "With the sweat on your brow shall you eat your bread, until you return to the soil, as you were taken from it." Original sin exists in the world. Yet Jesus Christ, the New Adam, sanctified work. In Jesus' day pagans saw work as a burden for slaves and other unfortunate men and women. The life of Jesus, however, shows us God at work.
During those many hidden years prior to his public ministry, the Son of God labored like you and me. Jesus, a descendant of earthly royalty as well, apprenticed as a woodworker under Joseph. He observed his mother's daily labors and undoubtedly served her. Since he knew work, he could identify with all of those who ate by the sweat of their brow. He called among others fishermen, a tax collector, and a tent maker to preach the kingdom of God. St. Paul, the tent maker, did not want to burden others and humbly plied his trade while joyfully proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Pope Benedict XVI has written in his latest book, "Jesus of Nazareth," that our most urgent priority is to present the figure and message of Jesus "to foster the growth of a living relationship with him." A personal relationship with Jesus will give meaning to our lives at home and at the work place. Spiritual reading, daily prayer, acts of charity and the practice of the sacraments will help us know Jesus, a worker like us. Briefly, the Church's social encyclicals are a rich tradition of study and reflection that provide for all people of good will some sense of the rights and responsibilities of workers, employers, consumers, investors and most importantly the poor. Most of us participate in these categories to some degree, voluntarily or involuntarily. The late Pope John Paul II remarked in the 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens that First World consumers, whether persons or institutions, were often the indirect employers of Third World workers. In this era of globalization, our interconnectedness is an undeniable reality. The social encyclicals' adherence to Scripture, tradition and natural law make them the most comprehensive and rooted response to the materialism, determinism and secularism of much of contemporary life - "isms" that are ultimately reduced to atheistic or pantheistic world views. Like the Israelites murmuring in the desert, we tend to cause ourselves trouble when we fail to trust in God; that is, when we waver in our faith, hope and love.
So we Catholics must take our liturgical experience and social teaching into the daily life of the world. At times this means making sacrifices (sacred acts) in the toilsome moments of home and work. Yet seen in the light of Jesus, our sacrificial labor has meaning. Thinking Catholics also know that work constitutes a foundation for the formation of family life by supporting marriage between a woman and a man, by providing for new life, by educating the young and by caring for the sick and elderly. Promoting the commonweal through job creation is a worthy effort for those who follow a Lord who worked. This Labor Day let us give thanks to God for the gift of work and remember those who have none.
Jesuit Father George E. Schultze is a spiritual director at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park and an advisor to Catholics for the Common Good. He has written on Catholic social doctrine and work life and recently published "Strangers in a Foreign Land: The Organizing of Catholic Latinos in the United States" (Lexington Press). His father was a member of Operating Engineers Local 3 and his mother belonged to General Warehouse and Food Processors Union Local 655 (Teamsters).
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