Human Person: Called to Live the Law of Work

As in the Holy Family of Nazareth … [in our communities] there should be manual work, and work for other necessities of life … There should be hardly any idleness, and they must shine in the most perfect actuality of every action. (OOCC, II, p. 148)

Everyday life of a human person, for St. Vincent Pallotti, calls for effectively living the law of work. It was the will of God that a person must submit himself to the law of work. Hence, God created the human being, made him the crown of creation, and commanded him to till the earth and to make it fruitful. Jesus became a human being, submitted to the law of work, and blessed the work of human hands. Acknowledging the importance of work in the life of the human person and its value for the human society, St. Vincent called his followers to live the law of work generously. He reminded his followers of the example of the Holy Family of Nazareth, where Joseph, Mary and Jesus lived the law of work in the perfect manner. He also invited them to do away with all forms of laziness in the various communities of the Society he founded. Idleness is the root cause of many evils. Hence, a person must shun it at all cost. Instead of wasting his time in idle and unwanted talk, the consecrated person must perform his God-given responsibilities everyday with joyfulness in his heart. In this manner, besides spending his life more fruitfully, he is also able to help the Society and its apostolate in caring for the poor and the needy.

Do I believe that it was God’s plan that humankind must submit himself to the law of work? Do I recognize the value of work in my consecrated living? Is there any form of idleness in my consecrated living? Do I waste my time in idle chatter? Do I understand what I can do for the Society and its apostolate by cultivating the attitude of hard work?

We exhort you, brethren … to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands. (I Thes. 4: 10 - 11)