I didn’t mean for this to be a Labor Day post. I really have been enjoying watching the construction of a pier in our back yard, and I’ve enjoyed speaking to the men building it over the course of several weeks as they’ve moved in and through our property, and as I’ve gotten in their way to go and investigate in this final phase.
In short, I’m impressed with their work ethic. I sit around on my butt typing. It’s a strenuous day if I have to get up twice for coffee because the first (or third) cup got cold.
These guys are working in the sun in 90 degree weather. Woof. Can’t do it. Yet they do. It’s their livelihood. But it’s something else. Talking with them and cutting up during breaks has been delightful. Today, in particular, they were taking a break by sitting on the end of the pier and looking around. They weren’t talking, just looking…perhaps admiring the view.
I saw in their look a little something of what I feel when I stand on the porch — surveying the water, the waves, the pelicans and other birds that fly by. I enjoy this new world, or at least, this part of the world that is new to me. Each sweep of the horizon is like a prayer — a moment of joy captured by my eyes. The camera lens comes later, but it never captures the prayer.
I could see in these guys pride in a job well done. They enjoy the labor, the sweat and the physicality of moving heavy wood planks, and dodging waves, and ultimately, creating something that complements the landscape. There’s beauty in this different kind of ballet, the kind that swings hammers and balances logs.
Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another. Hence work is a duty: “If any one will not work, let him not eat.” Work honors the Creator’s gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish. Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ. CCC2427