Given how much of life is taken up with work, I think we give too little reflection to a key question: what really is, or should be, the point of our working? We often undertake our work simply as something that must be done. But the intention and so also the spirit with which we do it makes a significant and even essential difference.
One might wonder what the issue is here. Isn’t the reason for work pretty obvious and more or less implied in the work itself? We do our main ‘job’ for the sake of ‘making a living,’ and we do various other things (like building things, or repairs, or cleaning) to achieve the ends or products of those works. What calls then for re-examination?
Work is always about people. And we can undertake our work for deeply diverse reasons at least in this way: we either work most of all for ourselves or most as way of taking care of others. This difference might not be immediately apparent, at least from the outside. But this difference makes all the difference, given the true nature of work, grounded in human nature itself.
In his poem ‘The Portal of the Mystery of Hope,’ French author Charles Peguy writes:
But would the father have the heart to work if he didn’t have his children?
If it weren’t for the sake of his children.
And in winter when he works hard.
In the forest.
When he works the hardest.
We must be careful here. Of course it is appropriate to work for the fulfillment of one’s own needs, and not just for others. Such is clearly an essential part of the nature, and the gift, of work. Yet Peguy’s perhaps artistic exaggeration points to a key truth. Here we might remember that when a man becomes a husband and father (as when a woman becomes a wife and mother) his own true identity is expressed and fulfilled in a new, fundamentally other-directed stance, that is, toward spouse and children.
Perhaps the most obvious concrete expression of this reality is in the change—and we can say growth or development—in how he works. Now, his work takes on a whole new meaning in its being a way of loving and caring for his wife and children. With Peguy we can say that it is love for these people that actually gives heart to his work.
It is not exaggeration then when Stefan Wyszynski, primate of the Catholic Church in Poland for many years under communism, writes in his book on labor that “work itself is indeed love.”
But again, we should ask, whom are we loving, whom are we serving in our work? Are we most of all serving ourselves or others? Our work, and how we work, will be an expression of the fundamental dispositions in our heart. Of course there is an appropriate love of self that is not ‘selfish.’ But we are called to a life of service, of looking to the good of others. And selfishness has a way of creeping in unawares.
Our work is an exercise of our duty to support our family, and others closest to us. This itself calls for careful consideration: how can our work best serve the true needs of our loved ones? This calls for a robust examination of the kind of homelife we seek to foster.
But it does not stop there. Wyszynski, pointing to the radically demanding nature of the Christian view of work, writes,
“When Christian thought is the motivation for our work it makes us go beyond the narrow circle of our household…and as the social encyclicals tell us, those who cannot work must avail themselves of the toil of those who can. It is this thought that gives to human work its most sublime character. It cleanses our work of selfishness, of greed for profit, of the spirit of materialism and worldliness.”
Here is a rich foundation for us to look again at why and how we work, especially in our primary profession. Why should I work hard at the office? Wyszynski points to the depth and breadth of the love that should animate us. Also, why do we do all the work of making a household run? Why should a student study with diligence? All instances of work can and should point back to, and be animated by, rightly ordered love in our heart for persons–utlimately God. What a difference such love will make.
“Our work must be filled with the spirit of love, of sacrifice, of disinterestedness, of service to those who cannot work….” What can sound like an overly pious admonition might in fact point to the real key to discovering what alone can make our work the profoundly beautiful reality it should be. And perhaps in this new year we might ask ourselves, really, what are we working for? ~ ~ ~
NEW PODCAST! NEW YEAR’S GOALS: A PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH. It is fitting for us to mark certain times for new beginnings–such as January. Join Sofia and me in a principled and practical approach to making the new year an occasion for such intentionality. Perhaps we can being by re-examining our approach to WORK! Please check out and share our podcasts HERE, on youtube and wherever you get your podcasts.
ANNOUNCING an ALL-NEW COURSE on WORK starting in Lent! This will be a four session, live online free course open to all men and women. It will give principles and concrete direction for renewing our home life by how we work in our homes every day. Information and Registration HERE.
Husband, father, and professor of Philosophy. LifeCraft springs from one conviction: there is an ancient wisdom about how to live the good life in our homes, with our families; and it is worth our time to hearken to it. Let’s rediscover it together. Learn more.
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