For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. [2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, NRSV]
[L] Joseph’s Workshop in Montecassino Abbey, by Ricco Dante. [M] St Joseph and Christ in the Workshop by Pietro Annigoni. [R] Yu Youzhan, a millionaire street cleaner.
Saint Joseph of Nazareth, as the legal father of Jesus, worked as a carpenter. As a responsible parent, he taught his son the same trade so that Jesus would be able to stand on his own feet.
In 1 Corinthians 9, Saint Paul makes an impassioned defence of his manual labour in tent-making. He does not deny the right of a fully supported missionary ministry, but thrice he stresses that he and his co-workers never made use of that right, preferring instead to live off the work of their own hands. What St. Paul has done is to leave us with a model for ministry in which he worked to support himself so that he would not be a burden on those he sought to evangelise.
Evidently, these two saints – St. Joseph and St. Paul – were intimately familiar with the teaching in Scripture on human labour: “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied” [Proverbs 13:4].
For his catechesis on the dignity and importance of work on 1st May 2013, Pope Francis used St. Joseph the Worker as model of hard work. But even more importantly for the family, he chose St. Joseph to highlight the duty of parents in cultivating a healthy work ethic in their children.
- In the Gospel of St. Matthew, in one of the moments when Jesus returns to his town, to Nazareth, and speaks in the synagogue, the amazement of his fellow townspeople at his wisdom is emphasized, and the question they ask: “Is not this the carpenter’s son? “(13:55). Jesus comes into our history is among us, born of Mary by the power of God, but with the presence of Saint Joseph, the legal father who cares for him and also teaches him his work. Jesus is born and lives in a family, in the Holy Family, learning the craft of carpenter from Saint Joseph in his workshop in Nazareth, sharing with him the commitment, effort, satisfaction and also the difficulties of every day.
The Pope went on to link human work with God’s plan in creation, upon which work is honoured with dignity.
- This reminds us of the dignity and importance of work. The book of Genesis tells us that God created man and woman entrusting them with the task of filling the earth and subduing it, which does not mean exploiting it, but nurturing and protecting it, caring for it through their work (cf. Gen 1:28; 2 15). Work is part of God’s loving plan, we are called to cultivate and care for all the goods of creation and in this way participate in the work of creation! Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. Work, to use an image, “anoints” us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God, who has worked and still works, who always acts (cf. Jn 5:17); it gives you the ability to maintain ourselves, our family, to contribute to the growth of our nation. And here I think of the difficulties which, in various countries, today afflicts the world of work and business; I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice.
Parents unknowingly fail in their duty to teach their children a trade if all that they do is to give them things and more things. In 1982, a young man in Kuching inherited two million dollars from the estate of his deceased father. He lost it all in two weeks through gambling and promptly became a pauper. Apparently, a life of honest hard work was never passed on to him as a golden principle of meaningful human existence.
In contrast, we have a shining example in a simple millionnaire-woman in China. This is a story worth telling anytime anywhere for proper Christian family life. Here’s her story.
- 54 year-old Yu Youzhen is a sanitation worker in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. But now, she is also a celebrity after finding herself on the internet as a millionaire street cleaner. Six days a week she wakes up at 3 AM and works as a sanitation worker for the city. She has a salary of only 1,420 Yuan which is a mere 230 US Dollars. Despite the cold weather, she can be seen early in the morning picking up rubbish and emptying stinking trash cans. Yu comes from a poor background in vegetable farming. She and her husband worked day and night to save money, eventually becoming the first to build a three-storey private house in their village. They rented out spare rooms in their house which earned them enough money to build another three 5-storey buildings. In 2008, their properties were part of an area which was acquisitioned by the local government for redevelopment. As compensation, she was awarded 21 new apartments in return, which are worth more than 10 million Yuan or 1.6 million US Dollars. Yet, she lives a simple lifestyle and she works hard. People are surprised to learn that the woman, who is cleaning their street, is a millionaire.
- When interviewed, she said she did not want to talk about her money or her properties. “I am a born worker so I like to keep busy,” she said. Furthermore, “”The work is not just about wages, it gives me something to do, which is very important.” She has worked in the Sanitation Office for 14 years. She said the reason why she works so hard is because she wants to set a good example for her children. “I don’t want my children to stay at home and idle around. If they work hard, I will leave my properties to them when I die. But if they don’t, they won’t get any of my money. People need to work. If they don’t work, life is meaningless.” This is a mother determined to pass on to her children the value of good work ethics. She is truly a good role model. As it turns out, her two children are already following in her footsteps. Her son works as a driver and her daughter also has a full time job.
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, August 2014. All rights reserved.
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