By Edmund Lo, S.J.
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| (image: www.notes.envato.com) |
As part of my formation as a Jesuit, I have been teaching at the Jesuit-run
Campion College at the University of Regina for the past three months or so. Extensive time spent in my office to research and prepare for my course seems to be the norm; nevertheless, there are also these rare moments when I would run into my colleagues either in the hallway or the photocopying room. More often than not, we would still be in our own respective “work modes”, with our brains going a hundred miles an hour about our courses. It is then of little surprise that our conversations would usually revolve around work: “Yeah, my day has been productive; got a lot of marking done”; or “today was a slow and unproductive day; didn't get much done.” This did not go unnoticed by me: in many ways, an equal sign has been drawn between my productivity and the quality of my day. But is this equal sign justified?
The idea of work has been highly regarded in the Catholic tradition. There is certainly a practical aspect about work. In the parts of the world where people grow what they themselves eat, work directly translates into food. In other places where one's work may not be involved with food per se, wages allow one to purchase food and other necessities. We may recall the passage from St. Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, that “… if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.” (2 Thes 3:10) Having said that, the purpose of work is not just about practicality. In his encyclical
Laborem Exercens, the late Pope John Paul II comments that “… work is a fundamental dimension of man's existence on earth” (LE 4). It is part and parcel of the meaning of our lives because we are called to be good stewards of what the Lord has given to us through creation. This is what ultimately gives meaning and dignity to work. (For more reflections on the nature of work, please refer to my fellow Jesuit blogger's
previous account)
