Ch. XXXV. A Spirit of Order and Labor

Me oportet operari opera ejus, qui misit me, donec dies est (I must work the works of Him that sent me, whilst it is day).— JOHN ix. 4.

ONE of the most indispensable virtues, because it most contributes to the solidity of all the others, is Christian industry, a spirit of labor, to which is attached a spirit of order and regularity. Let us give a short explanation of one and the other.

I. A spirit of labor. Why must we love labor, and how must we love labor?

1st. We must love labor for two reasons— because God wills it and because labor has precious fruits.

Necessity of labor. Labor is a universal law to which God subjects all His creatures. Has He not created all beings with wants and with imperfections? Now, after having created them thus He was satisfied to furnish them means which would enable them to provide for their wants themselves and to acquire the perfection suitable to them. This providential disposition reveals the intentions of the Creator: He evidently wishes that His creatures should exercise their faculties by employing the means He gives them to attain the end for which He has created them; it is this exercise which constitutes labor.

Look at the animals; they have need of food and shelter. Hence their continual movement, their activity, their industry, their labor, either in search of food, or to defend themselves from their enemies, or to find shelter for their young. . . .

Even plants and all vegetable nature is in continual action, as if subject to the law of labor to develop and produce fruit. . . .

And is not man obliged to obtain everything through labor? Yes, everything, absolutely everything, that is necessary and useful to him: food, habitation, clothes, and particularly knowledge and virtue, are at this price. Hence the well-known adage, Nihil sine labore—Nothing without labor. This state of things is the result not only of the general law of labor, but also of a positive decree uttered by divine Justice against guilty man. After the sin of our first parents God said to Adam: The earth shall bring forth thorns and thistles to thee. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread (Gen. iii. 18, 19).

But you will say there are men born in opulence who possess an abundance of all things; have they need to labor? They also are subject to the law of labor.

First, is it not evident that the rich no less than the poor at their birth are without knowledge and virtue? Therefore they must acquire them by labor and by serious and sustained efforts; without this mental and moral labor they will be, even with the most brilliant exterior, but ignorant, vicious men, meriting the name of gilded nothings, whited sepulchres. . . .

As to manual and corporal labor, it is true that for many it is not an obligation; but does that mean that they can abandon themselves to slothful idleness? Idleness is a vice in any one; and all are condemned to labor, either corporal or mental.

Thus the rich, like all men on earth, have a task to fulfil: they must employ their leisure and their faculties for the common good by taking part in the public administration, or in any other way as circumstances require. Woe to those rich sluggards who do nothing but enjoy their fortune, or who even abuse the temporal gifts they have received from God, using them to offend their Supreme Benefactor and to injure their fellow-beings!

Then labor is necessary and of obligation for all.

Fruits of labor. It is said with truth that labor is a treasure; it is, in fact, a source of blessings to soul and body.

It preserves us from all the evils of idleness and inactivity. Idleness is not only the mother of ignorance, but also of misery and nearly all vices. It is called with reason stagnant water, uncultivated land, the devil's pillow. . . . Now, a spirit of labor, by keeping us from idleness, preserves us from the fatal effects of this vice; it is for this reason that the saints recommend a spirit of labor as a safeguard of virtue: Let the devil find you always occupied, says St. Jerome.

It frees us from melancholy and ennui, which never fail to accompany inactivity. . . .

The natural fruit of labor is success either in studies or all other things. What does not the laborious cultivation of the earth effect, even when the ground is unfertile? What fine results are produced, what services rendered by men who by their labor make good use of the talent, even mediocre talent, which they have received from Providence! This saying of one of the ancients is true in every sense of the word: Labor omnia vincit improbus (Virg., Georg.

I. 145)—Everything yields to persevering labor.

A spirit of labor, finally, makes us utilize all the moments of a precious time and lay up treasures of merit for heaven.

Manner of laboring. How must we labor? With an upright and Christian intention, for God, and to accomplish our duty. We cannot, then, consider whether the labor which comes to us is agreeable, but whether it is God's will and constitutes a duty.

The subject or matter of labor may vary. We distinguish three kinds of subjects, which we call the labor of duty or obligation, useful labor, pleasurable labor. The last consists of innocent amusement, pastime, any honest occupation suitable to relax the mind.

In regard to amusing occupations, we must beware of indulging in them at the expense of our duties; we must make but a moderate use of them, in order not to lose in them a precious time of which we will each have to render an account to God. To avoid this shoal we have but one rule to follow—a rule as simple as it is just: The necessary before the useful, the useful before the agreeable.

We must labor patiently and faithfully in union with the labor of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and St. Joseph. . . . Let us add we must have order in our labor.

II. Order. To succeed in labor, to labor with facility, and even with the greatest possible speed, we must proceed with order. What is order? And how must we apply it to labor?

Order in general consists of a just and suitable disposition of things, as may be seen in the works of nature, in the human body, in a library, in a lexicon, in a musical instrument. . . . Many things afford a striking example of order and harmony. Disorder, on the contrary, is confusion, tumult, destruction, as we see in physical and moral disturbances, such as tempests, inundations, revolutions, wars. . . .

Order, being based on truth, becomes in its turn a principle of the good and the beautiful. . . .

Order comes from God and it leads to God. God, being supreme truth, imprints upon all His works His divine seal—the order and beauty which meet our eyes everywhere: He disposes all things in measure, and number, and weight (Wis. xi. 21). To convince ourselves of this we need only consider the heavens, their structure, their admirable movements; . . . or the Church founded by Christ, her hierarchy, and her march through ages; all therein is order, regularity, subordination, like an army ranged for battle. Order comes from God, and whoever loves order draws near to God: If there be order in your life, says St. Augustine, order will lead you to God.

Order is the principle of beauty, of strength, of prosperity. What is more beautiful than a well-constructed edifice, than a harmonious concert? And is not order the principle of this beauty? What is stronger than an army? But is not order also the principle of its strength? . . . Look at a prosperous country where commerce, agriculture, the arts flourish; whence is its prosperity, if not from the order produced there by the wisdom of its laws and its government? Would you succeed in your particular enterprises and in your different labors? Work with order and method; then you will omit nothing of what you have to do; you will accomplish much more; you will be happier; you will practise naturally, as it were, the precious virtue of Christian mortification. . . . If, on the contrary, you are lacking in order you will easily fall into a habit of acting through caprice, through humor, and even through passion; you will forget, you will neglect many things; hence losses, failures, and then regrets, vexations, and a thousand anxieties. . . .

How must we apply order to labor and to a life of labor? We must do so by means of a rule or order of life. We understand by this a plan, a sort of list, in which we mark the principal duties we have to perform and determine a time for them, according to the particular position in which we are placed. In this plan must be prominently marked an hour for rising and retiring, evening and morning prayer, spiritual reading, and the regular reception of the sacraments. Then the different exterior duties, labors, works of charity, even amusements, should have their place assigned them.

As to each one's special work, in order to carry it on with order and success we must apply ourselves to it with our whole heart, study it, if necessary, in order to thoroughly understand it, and then pursue it perseveringly. It is rare that persevering labor is not crowned with success.

Such is the spirit of order and labor, so valuable both to civil and Christian life. Let us devote ourselves to acquiring it by generous efforts; and let us ask the Blessed Virgin to help us by her powerful intercession.