Monday of the Twenty-second Week in ordinary Time – Labor
Day
(I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Luke 4:16-30)
Humans were created to work.
According to Genesis, after creating male and female, God “blessed them
saying ‘Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.” In its origin, work was not meant as drudgery
but as a blessing. Through it humans
provide for themselves and their families, serve the common good, and give
glory to God by their achievement. Work,
therefore, is not a right but an obligation and a responsibility.
But workers do have rights.
To avoid exploitation, workers have rights to fair wages, safe working
conditions, and suitable rest. In
today’s gospel Jesus inaugurates his mission in the world. He says that he has come “to proclaim a year
acceptable to the Lord.” This is
shorthand for a Jubilee Year when rights are vindicated, injustices are
rectified and peace among people is restored.
Labor Day is a very brief Jubilee Year. Workers are free to rest with their rights publicized
and their achievements recognized. Also,
on this day we give thanks to God for workers, especially manual laborers. By the extension of their muscles, we live more
comfortably and more healthily than ever.
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