Work is Not a Punishment for Original Sin
We started the New Year with some simple resolutions and a few basic ideas to get things off on the right foot. Let's stick with the basics now and spend some time discussing a most basic fact about our work as Catholic men: Work is not a punishment for Original Sin. Some Catholics believe this, but it's not true. According to Cardinal Wyszynski, work is a need of the rational nature of man. The great Cardinal wrote about work, and his work inspired John Paul II's own writings about work, for example, Laborem Exercens, an encyclical which is translated "On Human Work."
Our rational nature encompasses the moral law and the common good. In our work, assuming our efforts are ethical, as they always should be, we achieve certain ends that satisfy both ourselves in our struggle to live a good life, and the needs of others - expressed as the common good. Let's spend a few moments to understand what this might mean.
The fact is, even if we understand that work is good, that's it's not a punishment, it can be hard. Now, there's good hard and bad hard. Good hard is what we refer to when, at the end of the day, we're tired, even exhausted, after a hard day's work. We've worked our fingers to the bone, so to speak.
Then there's bad hard. Some examples might be when we're given an assignment that's tedious or boring or so difficult that we just want to give up on it. Or maybe we're stuck with co-workers who drive us crazy. I'm sure you can come up with plenty of examples of this bad hard.
When you think about this, the good hard - albeit it physically and mentally draining - typically leaves us feeling satisfied, even content, at the end of the day, doesn't it? That's why I called it "good." In fact, we're left feeling, in some way good. (I don't know about you, but a good hard day's work helps me get a good night's sleep, and I wake up feeling more refreshed the next morning.)
A bad hard day's work, though, can wind up keeping me up at night. I'm either thinking about the impossible or distasteful work in one way or another. Or maybe I'm grinding my teeth when those co-workers who drive me crazy come to mind. The night's sleep becomes restless and I don't wake up refreshed.
I think that the "bad hard" work is the sort of work that we're stuck with because of Original Sin. It's the "punishment" that we inherited; but, let's face it, that we also deserve, being sinners ourselves.
So it's not work itself that's a punishment. It's just that, because of that Original Sin of Adam and Eve, work can be difficult. It's the difficulty in performing our work that came about because of Original Sin.
Obviously, this isn't a theological assertion. It's just my attempt to understand how work, while not in itself a punishment, can be so difficult sometimes.
So while work of its very nature is not a punishment for Original Sin, it can be hard in such a way that it can seem like a punishment.
Of course we Catholics know that we can "offer up" our work when it's hard like this. And God in His Mercy accepts this offering and permits a certain degree of merit to be attached to it, which merit can provide some satisfaction for sin, either our own sins, or, if we so offer up our difficulties and sufferings for others (like the souls in Purgatory) for the sins of others.
Next time we'll look deeper into the dual nature of our work, the fact that through our work we achieve certain ends that satisfy both ourselves in our struggle to live a good life, and the needs of others - expressed as the common good.
Our rational nature encompasses the moral law and the common good. In our work, assuming our efforts are ethical, as they always should be, we achieve certain ends that satisfy both ourselves in our struggle to live a good life, and the needs of others - expressed as the common good. Let's spend a few moments to understand what this might mean.
The fact is, even if we understand that work is good, that's it's not a punishment, it can be hard. Now, there's good hard and bad hard. Good hard is what we refer to when, at the end of the day, we're tired, even exhausted, after a hard day's work. We've worked our fingers to the bone, so to speak.
Then there's bad hard. Some examples might be when we're given an assignment that's tedious or boring or so difficult that we just want to give up on it. Or maybe we're stuck with co-workers who drive us crazy. I'm sure you can come up with plenty of examples of this bad hard.
When you think about this, the good hard - albeit it physically and mentally draining - typically leaves us feeling satisfied, even content, at the end of the day, doesn't it? That's why I called it "good." In fact, we're left feeling, in some way good. (I don't know about you, but a good hard day's work helps me get a good night's sleep, and I wake up feeling more refreshed the next morning.)
A bad hard day's work, though, can wind up keeping me up at night. I'm either thinking about the impossible or distasteful work in one way or another. Or maybe I'm grinding my teeth when those co-workers who drive me crazy come to mind. The night's sleep becomes restless and I don't wake up refreshed.
I think that the "bad hard" work is the sort of work that we're stuck with because of Original Sin. It's the "punishment" that we inherited; but, let's face it, that we also deserve, being sinners ourselves.
So it's not work itself that's a punishment. It's just that, because of that Original Sin of Adam and Eve, work can be difficult. It's the difficulty in performing our work that came about because of Original Sin.
Obviously, this isn't a theological assertion. It's just my attempt to understand how work, while not in itself a punishment, can be so difficult sometimes.
So while work of its very nature is not a punishment for Original Sin, it can be hard in such a way that it can seem like a punishment.
Of course we Catholics know that we can "offer up" our work when it's hard like this. And God in His Mercy accepts this offering and permits a certain degree of merit to be attached to it, which merit can provide some satisfaction for sin, either our own sins, or, if we so offer up our difficulties and sufferings for others (like the souls in Purgatory) for the sins of others.
Next time we'll look deeper into the dual nature of our work, the fact that through our work we achieve certain ends that satisfy both ourselves in our struggle to live a good life, and the needs of others - expressed as the common good.
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