Fernando Ocáriz
This year, Labour Day (May 1) invites us to consider the different realities and aspects which the Covid-19 coronavirus crisis has highlighted: that in the world there are so many good people, that progress must go hand in hand with a dominion over nature that at the same time respects it, that we depend on each other, that we are vulnerable and that a society, to be human, needs solidarity.
In the response to the pandemic, what stands out above all are the professions related to the care of people. Words associated with care make the headlines: accompany, cry, protect, listen… The situation has made us think about the what for and until where of any work. Somehow, we understand better that service is the soul of society; it is what gives work meaning.
Work is more than a necessity or a product. The book of sacred scripture that narrates the origins of mankind shows that God created man to work and care for the world (Genesis 2:15). Work is not a punishment, but the natural condition of man in the universe. By working we establish a relationship with God and others and each one develops as a person.
The exemplary response of so many professionals—believers and non-believers alike—in the face of the pandemic, has shown this dimension of service. It helps us to think that the ultimate beneficiary of any job or task is someone with a name (and last name), someone with an undeniable dignity. In the final analysis, all noble work boils down to caring for persons.
When we try to work well, being open to one’s neighbour, our work, whatever work, takes on a completely new meaning and can lead us to an encounter with God. It does us a lot of good to incorporate into one’s work, even in the most routine jobs, the perspective of the person, that is, of service that goes beyond what is required.
Just as in the times of the early Christians, we see clearly now the potential of each lay person who seeks to be a witness of the gospel, who shares with their colleagues a passion for work, commitment and humanity in the middle of the present suffering caused by the pandemic and the uncertain future.
Each Christian is Church and, despite one’s own limitations, united to Jesus Christ can bring the love of God to “the blood-stream of society,” the image St. Josemaria Escriva used when he preached the message of sanctity through professional work. With our work and our service, we can also bring God’s care to each person.
The celebration of May 1 is also about concern for the future, for the lack of short-term or long-term job security. Catholics turn to the intercession of St. Joseph the Worker so that no one loses hope, so that we know how to adjust to the new situation, so that he enlightens those who have to make decisions and that he helps us understand that work is for the person and not the other way around.
In the coming months or years, it will be important to remember if we have lived as Pope Francis has asked and to recall that “we have realised that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together.”
Hopefully, this May 1 has led us to desire that our freedom, recovered at the end of this confinement, will truly be a freedom “at the service of the others.” Our work then will be, as God’s design from the beginning, taking care of the world and in the first place, the persons who live in it.
Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz is the Prelate of Opus Dei
