Work is Not a Punishment for Original Sin, continued
Last time, we talked about how work isn't a punishment for Original Sin. We saw that in 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. This struggle to live a good life encompasses both the material and spiritual parts of our lives; after all, we are made in God's image, body and soul.
And let's face it, most of us work for money - that medium which brings us some sense of security and which can be exchanged for material goods. Sure, some of us gain great satisfaction from the work we do. But in the end we still want to be paid good wages for a good day's work, don't we? And there's nothing wrong with that.
So if part of our pursuit of a good life includes making money and thereby increasing our material wealth, there's nothing wrong with that - as long as it doesn't distract us from seeking to be holy by knowing, loving and serving God. And one way to assure that our legitimate pursuit of money and the material goods and comforts it provides is to remember "the common good," which really means the needs of others. Indeed, Catholic teaching encourages us to be more successful if only to be in the position to attend to the needs of others.
This teaching has most recently come to us in the writings of John Paul II and his mentor Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. They both explain that we do well when we do well for not only ourselves, but for others. In fact, they both encourage us to do better in order to help others, or, more accurately, tell us that we are in fact obliged to do better in order to make our surplus available to those in need. And here our work - whether or not we find it particularly satisfying - takes on a most special role in serving the common good. Specifically, we work to not only satisfy our needs and wants, but the needs of others.
If you think about this, what these holy men teach us is to persist in our work tirelessly and as we improve our ability to earn money, to help others. Now most of us know that we ought to take a portion of our surplus, or even a portion of our substance, and give to others. But how many of us understand that we ought to work in such a way that we generate more earnings if only to help others?
Another way to look at this is to never be satisfied with our work. Using an old expression, "Don't rest on your laurels." Because even if you're not particularly ambitious or desirous of "getting more" of the material goods of this world, you're still obliged to work hard to provide for the common good.
Personally, I like this idea since I have a tendency to be "satisfied" when I achieve some level of professional or material success. Maybe it's laziness; maybe a lack of ambition; maybe I'm just not a "Type A" personality. I don't know, but it doesn't matter. I remind myself that putting my nose to the grindstone despite my desire to take it easy is something I'm called to do by my Faith. And this is quite different from being driven or obsessive about your work to a degree where you subject yourself to anxiety and stress. You're not focusing on yourself here, because the motivation to work hard here takes us out of ourselves. It focuses on others and their needs, not on ourselves and our needs.
I hope you see the fundamental and important difference here between driving ourselves to succeed just for ourselves and pushing ourselves to work hard for others. In the first instance, we're striving for material and professional success strictly because of our own ambition, or one of a myriad sometimes (mostly?) neurotic impulses that push us to crave money and signs of material success. In the second instance, we work hard because we're in a position to gain material success that can be put to good use - specifically the needs of others or, to use the more formal phrase, the common good.
One last point: Its OK if there's some self-interest mixed in with a desire to help others. That's just us human beings with fallen natures struggling in this world to do good while being pulled in the opposite direction by our selfish tendencies. Don't worry about this. Just forge ahead and do the best you can, if you're in a position to help others. And if you're not now in such a position, but you might be by working a bit harder or smarter, then do so.
So it all comes down to this: work not a punishment meted out to us because of Original Sin; rather work can be a means of doing good in this world. Indeed, we are all called to work hard to succeed in our work in order to provide for the common good.
And let's face it, most of us work for money - that medium which brings us some sense of security and which can be exchanged for material goods. Sure, some of us gain great satisfaction from the work we do. But in the end we still want to be paid good wages for a good day's work, don't we? And there's nothing wrong with that.
So if part of our pursuit of a good life includes making money and thereby increasing our material wealth, there's nothing wrong with that - as long as it doesn't distract us from seeking to be holy by knowing, loving and serving God. And one way to assure that our legitimate pursuit of money and the material goods and comforts it provides is to remember "the common good," which really means the needs of others. Indeed, Catholic teaching encourages us to be more successful if only to be in the position to attend to the needs of others.
This teaching has most recently come to us in the writings of John Paul II and his mentor Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski. They both explain that we do well when we do well for not only ourselves, but for others. In fact, they both encourage us to do better in order to help others, or, more accurately, tell us that we are in fact obliged to do better in order to make our surplus available to those in need. And here our work - whether or not we find it particularly satisfying - takes on a most special role in serving the common good. Specifically, we work to not only satisfy our needs and wants, but the needs of others.
If you think about this, what these holy men teach us is to persist in our work tirelessly and as we improve our ability to earn money, to help others. Now most of us know that we ought to take a portion of our surplus, or even a portion of our substance, and give to others. But how many of us understand that we ought to work in such a way that we generate more earnings if only to help others?
Another way to look at this is to never be satisfied with our work. Using an old expression, "Don't rest on your laurels." Because even if you're not particularly ambitious or desirous of "getting more" of the material goods of this world, you're still obliged to work hard to provide for the common good.
Personally, I like this idea since I have a tendency to be "satisfied" when I achieve some level of professional or material success. Maybe it's laziness; maybe a lack of ambition; maybe I'm just not a "Type A" personality. I don't know, but it doesn't matter. I remind myself that putting my nose to the grindstone despite my desire to take it easy is something I'm called to do by my Faith. And this is quite different from being driven or obsessive about your work to a degree where you subject yourself to anxiety and stress. You're not focusing on yourself here, because the motivation to work hard here takes us out of ourselves. It focuses on others and their needs, not on ourselves and our needs.
I hope you see the fundamental and important difference here between driving ourselves to succeed just for ourselves and pushing ourselves to work hard for others. In the first instance, we're striving for material and professional success strictly because of our own ambition, or one of a myriad sometimes (mostly?) neurotic impulses that push us to crave money and signs of material success. In the second instance, we work hard because we're in a position to gain material success that can be put to good use - specifically the needs of others or, to use the more formal phrase, the common good.
One last point: Its OK if there's some self-interest mixed in with a desire to help others. That's just us human beings with fallen natures struggling in this world to do good while being pulled in the opposite direction by our selfish tendencies. Don't worry about this. Just forge ahead and do the best you can, if you're in a position to help others. And if you're not now in such a position, but you might be by working a bit harder or smarter, then do so.
So it all comes down to this: work not a punishment meted out to us because of Original Sin; rather work can be a means of doing good in this world. Indeed, we are all called to work hard to succeed in our work in order to provide for the common good.
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