How Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski's Teachings About Work Help Each of Us and All of Us
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski summarized his teachings about work in the Introduction to Working Your Way to Heaven. (We've been discussing this great book.) To fully understand his objectives in describing what work means, we begin by understanding that work not only enhances the spiritual progress of each of our soul's as an individual. As we saw in our two previous posts,
But before we close for today, let's be sure to note the point that our deeper understanding of the nature of work won't alleviate the physical and spiritual suffering that comes with it. While, as we've said many times, work itself is not a punishment imposed on mankind after Adam and Eve got the heave-ho from the Garden of Paradise, their Original Sin did cause work to, in a sense, become infected with suffering, both physical and spiritual. In this sense, work is no different than all other aspects of our lives. To seek to avoid the reality of suffering would be to miss everything taught us by the private and public life of Our Lord, culminating in His own suffering. Mature Catholics, living their faith fully, know and experience this every day. So any suffering that comes with our work should be seen in that context.
For now we simply pick up our individual crosses and follow Him as we trudge off to our jobs today. And if the day brings any difficulties or suffering, just remember that's, well, part of the job.
- Work is one means of spiritual progress.
- Work is a need of the rational nature of man.
- Man gets to know himself fully through work.
- Man learns to express himself fully through work.
The endless hardship of work links man's most precious faculties - his physical strength and spiritual powers - in an indissoluble union. In submission to the laws of private life and social we devote the greater part of our lives to work. We are convinced that human work, although a burden, is our need, our joy, and a great blessing for humanity. Therefore we take on ourselves the task of work in a spirit of complete acceptance.The Cardinal sums up the individual and social nature of work as "our need, our joy, and a great blessing for humanity." While we'll continue to discuss the individual and his or her work, we'll pick up as well on the social aspect of work in future posts.
Such an attitude does not protect us, however, from the physical and spiritual suffering connected with work. Yet it is possible to diminish them to a considerable degree and to increase the educational meaning of human work, both in the personal and in the social field. Through this, human work will reveal its real aspect more fully, whether this be the moral religious, cultural, social, or economic aspect...
But before we close for today, let's be sure to note the point that our deeper understanding of the nature of work won't alleviate the physical and spiritual suffering that comes with it. While, as we've said many times, work itself is not a punishment imposed on mankind after Adam and Eve got the heave-ho from the Garden of Paradise, their Original Sin did cause work to, in a sense, become infected with suffering, both physical and spiritual. In this sense, work is no different than all other aspects of our lives. To seek to avoid the reality of suffering would be to miss everything taught us by the private and public life of Our Lord, culminating in His own suffering. Mature Catholics, living their faith fully, know and experience this every day. So any suffering that comes with our work should be seen in that context.
For now we simply pick up our individual crosses and follow Him as we trudge off to our jobs today. And if the day brings any difficulties or suffering, just remember that's, well, part of the job.
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