Section 2: Labor as a Moral Obligation

1. Labor is not only a natural necessity, it is also a moral obligation.¹

¹ Job V, 7. —Cfr. St. Thomas, Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, qu. 187, art. 3: “Secondly, [manual labor] is ordained to removing idleness, from which many evils arise.... But insofar as manual work is ordained to removing idleness or to mortification of the body, it does not, considered in itself, fall under the necessity of precept, because the flesh can be mortified and idleness removed in many other ways than by manual work.”

Labor was enjoined upon our first parents in Paradise as the primary condition and chief means of moral progress and perfection. Man has to labor in order to ennoble his nature and to attain sanctification. Labor should be his very breath and life. It preserves his bodily and mental health; it steels and fortifies his will; it makes him contented and happy. Even when the tangible products do not seem to correspond to the energy expended, the right sort of work has an intrinsic ideal value which makes it worth while, whereas idleness and sloth entail spiritual death and at the same time are a gross violation of the duty which the individual owes to society; for, as St. Paul says, "If any man will not work, neither let him eat."²

² 2 Thess. III, 10; cfr. A. Winterstein, Die christliche Lehre vom Erdengut, pp. 157 sqq.

2. To toil faithfully and assiduously in one's chosen vocation is to obey a divine command. Labor spells life; idleness, death. Distaste for labor has its source in repugnance to duty and involves contempt of the divine commandments which bind society together. There can be no doubt that labor brings its own reward. No matter how disagreeable any particular task or occupation may seem at first, after a while it becomes pleasant, as a bitter medicine grows sweet to the taste. Labor is a great blessing, and he who voluntarily renounces its benefits is a fool.

"Honor for every kind of work! In every man's labor a human will, an immortal soul, externalizes itself, a man's heart is throbbing and a man's blood is circulating. All work is capable of being spiritualized and ennobled to the highest degree. We must come at last to recognize that it is a sin against both culture and art for the 'upper' classes to brand as vulgar and dishonorable whole groups of occupations which are necessary, and in fact indispensable, in the human household. Those persons should rather regard themselves as under personal obligations to all who perform menial offices and services. 'If there were nobody to perform the menial tasks, the higher culture could not exist.'”³

³ P. W. von Keppler, More Joy, tr. by J. McSorley, C.S.P., St. Louis, 1914, p. 228.

READINGS.—See the authorities cited on page 129, and in addition: J. G. Uhlhorn, Die Arbeit im Lichte des Evangeliums betrachtet, Bremen 1877.—K. Eger, Die Anschauungen Luthers vom Beruf, Giessen 1900.—A. Sabatier, L'Eglise et le Travail Manuel, Paris 1895.—A. Lehmkuhl, S.J., Theologia Moralis, Vol. I, 11th ed., Freiburg 1910, pp. 410 sq.