National Catholic Forester

National Catholic Forester 30 As summer fades to a distant memory, a more routine pace of life becomes more prominent. Children and young people go to school, and adults continue their vigorous life of work and obligations, even for many who are retired. Perhaps we need to pay more attention to the work we do, and why we even work. Our faith tradition teaches us about work and why we do it. The word 'toil' was for the longest time used to explain humanity's relationship with work, i.e. continuous arduous struggle. The view by many in the past was that work is punishment for our original sin, a consequence of human weakness. Sadly, this is not a balanced perspective to understand human labor. As we remember the creation account in Genesis, we read that God did not covet the role of Creator in an exclusive sense, but rather invited humanity to participate in and take responsibility for the ongoing creation of the world. It means that work is the primary means in which we share in God's creative life. Yes, it sounds odd, but your office, school, store, or work space is a place to encounter the holiness of God. What possibly could be more 'holy' than the act of love and dedication that goes into raising children, or using the gifts of our intellect, the productivity of our hands, or the hospitality and service offered by one's voice and presence? When work participates in something larger than domestic activity, and is performed with integrity/honesty it is a way we cooperate with God to build up a broken and struggling world. The Catholic Church has had a longstanding tradition of speaking on the issues of work and the dignity of workers. Beginning in 1891 at the onset of the industrial revolution up until the present day 1 , the struggles for workers' rights, dignity, healthcare, changing destructive economic policies, and the forging of the common good were initiatives the Church engaged. The writings of Pope John Paul II and of Pope Francis challenge the climate of work – charging that millions live and work in shameful poverty – they demand 'relief and hope' including the ecological systems of the planet that we all share 2 . As we listen to contending sides of various debates in the public sector about work and jobs we really have to ask ourselves some deeper faith questions, "How is this affecting human life and our families?" Work is a big and significant portion of our life. It involves so much of who we are and we must be careful to not allow it to consume our whole life. The labor movement in this nation fought hard to have our 24-hour day divided equally: eight hours of work, eight hours of family, and eight hours of rest. Much has changed in how we work or toil, and most people I know are engaged in work related matters far more than eight hours a day. Our work gives praise to God, our productivity or labor (no matter how mundane) is a participation in the good things from God reflecting beauty, creativity, and order. Blessings, FR. EDWARD PANEK, SPIRITUAL ADVISOR MY FAITH How great are Your works, O Lord, how deep are Your thoughts! Psalm 92:5 Our work gives praise to God! ... it is a participation in the good things from God reecting beauty, creativity, and order. We would like to introduce our Spiritual Advisor for the 2018-2022 term, Father Edward Panek Pastor at St. Raymond de Penafort Parish, DeanofVicariate I-F Presbyter, Archdiocese of Chicago 1- Rerum Novarum 2- Laudato Si

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