Monday of the
Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time (Labor Day)
(I Corinthians 2:1-5; Luke 4:16-30)
Today many young people prefer to receive Holy Communion
on the tongue. A generation ago, most
took the host in the hand. Some of this
latter group probably had hygiene in mind, but others were thinking of the
dignity of the human hand. We work with
our hands – whether we are bricklayers or brain surgeons. In a sense work gives the hand its dignity.
We work so that we might eat, of course. But we also work to give glory to God by
making the world a better place to live.
In fact, the worthiness of one’s work may be measured by how much it
improves society. This does not mean
that those whose work is humble – an attendant in comparison with a technician
– are not significantly benefitting society.
Indeed, done with care, the work of the attendant may make a greater
contribution to the human community than the sloppy performance of a genius. The labor movement has assisted in this
effort by training and exhorting women and men to work with pride.
Jesus in the gospel is presented as a worker. We see him today returning to his hometown
where he is known as the son of Joseph, the carpenter. The Gospel of Mark calls Jesus a carpenter
himself. But he perceives a call to the
most worthy work of all. No more will he
be building houses. Rather, he
recognizes that God, his true Father, wants him to proclaim God’s love to the world.
