Servants of Charity

Dear Confreres, 

The month of May which is dedicated to Mother Mary (Remember that our Pope is inviting all of us to join in this marathon of prayer and to pray with him daily with the special intention for an end to this pandemic) begins with the solid personage St. Joseph the Worker, whose feast in turn expresses the sanctity of human labor and the salvific nature of all our activities. 
Avoda, or Avodah (עֲבוֹדָה‎), is a Hebrew word that literally means "work, worship, and service." Paul encourages the Colossians, "And whatever you do, … do it all in the name of Jesus giving thanks to God … whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord" (Col 3,17, 23). To work is a high calling! Perhaps the most powerful expression of our giving thanks to God comes through the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Here we see bread and wine on the Lord's table. These elements, the products of many hands and minds, come to the table, are blessed by God, and become for us the body and blood of our Lord. Alan Richardson writes, "Here is the perfect symbol of the unity of work and worship. The strange unbreakable link that exists between the bread that is won by the sweat of man's face and the bread of life."
Work was God's loving idea from the beginning, in and through creation. After reporting the creation of male and female on the sixth day, the writer of Genesis quotes God as saying," … Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth (Gen 1,28). The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it (Gen 2,15).
The first glimpse we have of the human person in Scripture shows someone working as a farmer and manager of the rest of creation joyously, purposefully tilling the ground and exercising respectful stewardship over all the earth. The Bible portrays work as part of God's very nature. Elton Trueblood wrote in his book Your Other Vocation, "If God is the worker, then men and women, in order to fulfill their potentialities, must be workers too.” We are exercising our dignity as creatures made in God's likeness when we work. Our work is the dual task of continuing God's creative process and taking good care of what God has entrusted to us.
The right and duty of persons to use their talents through work to participate in the ongoing creative activity of God has been a central theme of Catholic social teachings since the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum in 1891. The encyclicals that were published after Rerum Novarum were built on Pope Leo XIII’s insights on the meaning of work. They affirmed again and again the right of every human person to participate in the life of God and humanity through work. Pope Pius XI, in Quadragesimo Anno, emphasized the significance of a person’s participation through work. He proclaimed that every worker “by doing his duty is working usefully and honorably for the common good and is following in the footsteps of Him, who, being in the form of God, chose to be a carpenter among men and to be known as the Son of a carpenter.” 
Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Laborem Excercens mentions, “Each person shares in the wonder of creation through work. Our every activity is an essential ingredient in the building of the earth and of the kingdom of God. This is our scriptural and theological understanding of work. Work is the means by which persons grow in union with God and participate in the salvific plan for mankind and the world. The people of God are scattered throughout every profession and work and precisely in that context, they exercise their spirituality of work.
Pope Francis’ Laudato Si, observes that Jesus, by spending most of His life on earth as a working person, as a carpenter, “sanctified human labor and endowed it with a special significance for our development.” He agrees with the words of Saint John Paul II, who taught that, “by enduring the toil of work in union with Christ crucified for us, man in a way collaborates with the Son of God for the redemption of humanity.”  He mentions, “We were created with a vocation to work.” Therefore, helping the poor, such as those who are unemployed and those whose economic welfare is helpless due to physical and mental disabilities, must “be a provisional solution in the face of pressing needs.” He adds “the broader objective should always be to allow the poor to create a dignified life through work.” 
St. Guanella holds a sacred view for work and understood it as the means of education. He introduces in his institutions the tradition among the residents to work according to their capabilities. He searches for ways to assign them jobs according to their aptitudes, anticipating what today is known as vocational therapy. St. Guanella believes that work has its paramount importance for their development. He writes:
“The Lord truly blesses our efforts, or better yet, our good will, because we can see true marvels in those poor people to whom nature has given the gift of the intellect in a very limited measure. Seeing themselves useful in the most simple farm works, the poor disabled feel that they are almost rehabilitated. With a very profound satisfaction, they love to show others that they are worth something and can earn their food. Some also believe that they are special in their class, because they have learned to move soil, or to pull a little wagon of dirt on the temporary rails.”
Passing a construction site, a pedestrian asked three bricklayers what they were doing. The first said that he was earning a living to feed and clothe his family. The second said, "I'm throwing these bricks together to build a wall." The third responded, "I am helping to build a cathedral for the glory and worship of God." What a difference your perspective makes in giving meaning to your work! May we work hard like St. Joseph and enjoy it more each day. 
Please keep in your prayers all those who are suffering due to this pandemic. 
Please keep in your prayers our confreres who are to renew their religious vows on May 26th.
Please accompany the three postulants who are about to begin their novitiate on May 30th.. 

Fr. Ronald J, SdC

Provincial Superior