Labor, as physical or mental work, is a means of disciplining ourselves, a necessary part of life, a way of sustaining ourselves. The Church has always seen labor as an important value: a way of participating in God's work of creation.
A priest-columnist in the Peace Weekly who works in the labor apostolate reflects on present day views of manual labor. It is seen by many as lowly, something to avoid. Our laborers, for the most part, do not see the results of their labor nor do they receive fair recompense for their efforts.
He goes back to his seminary days where he experienced working in volunteer service as a member of a club. However, perhaps because of his training as a priest, he found the work was more of the head and the lips than of the whole being. While in the seminary, he decided he wanted to continue being involved with manual labor after becoming a priest, but it always remained a dream.
Last year the opportunity to do manual labor came to him when the person working with him returned to the farm. Because of this he went to the country to help in the farm work once a month, spending many hours in the field doing back-wrenching work. He didn't realize how difficult farming was. When he hears people say that those who are unemployed should work on the farms he wants to lash out at them.
A priest-columnist in the Peace Weekly who works in the labor apostolate reflects on present day views of manual labor. It is seen by many as lowly, something to avoid. Our laborers, for the most part, do not see the results of their labor nor do they receive fair recompense for their efforts.
He goes back to his seminary days where he experienced working in volunteer service as a member of a club. However, perhaps because of his training as a priest, he found the work was more of the head and the lips than of the whole being. While in the seminary, he decided he wanted to continue being involved with manual labor after becoming a priest, but it always remained a dream.
Last year the opportunity to do manual labor came to him when the person working with him returned to the farm. Because of this he went to the country to help in the farm work once a month, spending many hours in the field doing back-wrenching work. He didn't realize how difficult farming was. When he hears people say that those who are unemployed should work on the farms he wants to lash out at them.
One day while working in the field, he wanted to show what he used to do, years before, when cutting sesame plants. However, his efforts was allowing the seeds to fall to the ground. He was criticized for doing so by an older farmer; the plants, he was told, are very sensitive to any shaking and seeds are easily scattered. After the reprimand, he wondered if he wasn't more of a hindrance than a help and expressed his concern to the owner of the farm. The owner told him: "Father, don't be concerned about being a help to us; if you want to do it for yourself, you're welcome to do so. "
He realized he was not suited to manual labor even though working in the labor apostolate. He remembers many of the older priests who wanted not to forget, after becoming priests, the value of labor, disciplining themselves by cleaning their rooms and washing their clothes. When he heard this for the first time he wasn't too impressed but with time his thinking has changed; he is beginning to live a simpler lifestyle, cleaning his own room, riding public transportation, and becoming more conscious of those who do manual labor for a living.
This spring he hopes to spend more time on farms experiencing the farmer's life. He wants to feel that he is a part of nature and believes this to be a wonderful form of prayer. Whether it is the farm or some other workplace, he expects that manual labor will be part of his life, taking advantage of its special gift of renewing both body and soul.
