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On the first Monday of September, the United States celebrates Labor Day. This day was designed to honor men and women who work, especially those who are not in administrative positions.
In Christianity, we celebrate work as something noble, something good, something we treasure. The Catholic Church, for example, has a long and rich history of honoring the nature of work. Pope Leo XIII wrote a famous encyclical called “Rerum Novarum” or “On the Condition of the Working Person.” This document grew out of the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century. The pope was concerned about the growing alienation of workers and the increasingly bitter division he saw between workers and their bosses.
This encyclical defended the right of workers to form labor unions for collective bargaining. It insisted that every worker deserves a just wage and decent working conditions. It said that the Church must be concerned not only with the spiritual aspects of the human being, but also about the financial and social aspects of a person’s welfare.
A second great encyclical on the worker was seen in Pope John Paul II’s work titled “Laborem Exercens” or “On Human Work.” This encyclical sees human work as an act of co-creation with God and as an expression of self-realization. The central theme is that the human being is always to be treated with respect and dignity.
How do you see your work? Do you see it as a gift to be treasured?
