In the United States we celebrate Labor Day. The day we remember work is a blessing in many ways! In working we do something constructive from people who work for garbage collection, restaurants, park rangers, office workers, teachers, medical professionals and many, many more!
As Christian’s we know that work is two fold, a way to provide for our families and using our God given gifts and talents. Our work should reflect our Christian beliefs that work out our salvation and hopefully others will follow. How we conduct ourselves at work should inspire others to want to be like us. They should see a difference in us and others in how we talk, treat others, move up the ladder and treat others in general.
Genesis says in Chapter 2: 2-3 On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.b 3God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.c
Worked and rested and so do we. We see work as a blessing for in the beginning in Genesis 2:15 The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.h. This is work before the fall of man, work didn’t come due to the fall of man. It just became harder.
From the Conference of Catholic Bishops:
Do I see my work as a gift from God? How is this reflected in my attitude at work? • Do I see my work as a vocation? • Do I promote a culture of life through my work? • Do I live a divided life, where I separate the Gospel principles from my work? • Do I receive the sacraments regularly and with attention to how they support and inform my work practices? • Am I sharing my spiritual life/understanding of work with others in my work life? • Am I taking seriously the dignity of the person in my work, as an employee? Am I being just in my attentiveness to my personal performance? Am I promoting integral human development (which promotes “the good of every person and of the whole person” [Populorum Progressio, 14] while ensuring that the company I work for is efficient?
Lord God, Master of the Vineyard,
How wonderful that you have invited us who labor by the sweat of our brow to be workers in the vineyard and assist your work to shape the world around us.
As we seek to respond to this call, make us attentive to those who seek work but cannot find it.
Help us listen to the struggles of those who work hard to provide for their families but still have trouble making ends meet.
Open our eyes to the struggles of those exploited and help us speak for just wages and safe conditions, the freedom to organize, and time for renewal. For work was made for humankind and not humankind for work. Let it not be a vehicle for exploitation but a radiant expression of our human dignity.
Give all who labor listening hearts that we may pause from our work to receive your gift of rest.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit that you might work through us to let your justice reign. Amen (From Conference of Catholic Bishops)
Our fun on Saturday at Callaway International Kite Flight and from past Kite Flights!
