Our work should foster dignity

Fr. Roy Cimagala

YES, that is how our work, whatever it is, should be. It should never enslave us, much less, corrupt and demonize us. It should foster our dignity as a person and a child of God. In other words, it should humanize and Christianize us! It should make us more human and more Christian as we go along.

To be sure, work is not meant to be a punishment for us because of our sins and weaknesses. It is part of our nature which, while already defined, will always be a work in progress. Work is our means to attain our perfection and ultimate goal, which is to grow in love for God and others, and as such is a dynamic thing.

Wherever we are, we should see to it that everyone has the proper understanding of work and always has work to do. Whether one is at home doing the usual household chores or immersed in the different levels of the world of business or the farms, schools, etc., he should know the true nature and purpose of work and act accordingly.

That way, whatever one’s work is, he is certain that he is affirming and developing his human and Christian dignity while working. A certain sense of joy and fulfillment would fill his heart.

For those who have people working for them, they have to make sure that their workers are happy with their work. Business leaders, for example, should give due attention to their workers and make due investments for the proper human and Christian development of their workers. In this, they should not be passive, but should take the initiative to know their workers’ condition and see how they can be developed.

It is usually in the world of business that a lot of violations and abuses are committed in the area of work. Businessmen should not worry only about profits and market shares. They should actively look into the over-all welfare of their workers who, with their inferior position in the organization, are usually prone to be taken advantage of.

Other than simply interested in the technical aspects of work, businessmen should see to it that their workers are properly motivated and properly remunerated. The relation and interaction between bosses and workers should be abiding, close and warm. Without compromising the professional aspect, the relation should be family-like. Everyone should deal with everybody else as persons and not just as some kind of automatons.

One can somehow gauge that one’s work is fostering his dignity when the worker can live his life and that of his family in a decent and happy way. He knows that his work, whatever it is, is his way of giving glory to God and of serving others for the common good.

He knows how to manage his work such that he has time for prayers and for his spiritual development.

Very important also is when he knows that his work has great apostolic dimension and takes full advantage of it. That’s when he is truly affirming his being a true child of God very much involved in God’s plan for human redemption.

What a revolution it would be if everyone has this sense of work when they work!

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No rights, just duties. A person who is truly in love with his beloved will happily invoke his right to reject all his rights and just assume all the duties toward his beloved. This is the ultimate language of love where one just gives himself completely to his beloved without expecting any return.

We have to aim at that kind of love because that is the love that Christ himself has shown and has given to us. In fact, he commanded us to love one another as he himself has loved us. And we know that his love for us goes all the way to giving up his life on the cross, assuming all our sins and giving us a way to extricate ourselves from the grip of our sinfulness.

It is a completely gratuitous love, a love given without measure and calculation. And the curious thing about this love is that what seems to get lost by living it or what we give up by loving, will actually gain for us a lot more than what is lost or given up.

Christ reassured us of this when he said that when we give up even the most precious things in our life, we would actually regain them a hundredfold. “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life more me will find it.” (Mt 16,25) And he walked his talk precisely by resurrecting three days after his most ignominious death.

We have to feel reassured of the effectiveness of this kind of love. We have to convince ourselves that it is all worthwhile to discard our rights and just think of duties with respect to loving.

In this way, we live in ourselves what Christ said of his own self: “The Son of Man came to serve and not to be served.”

A strong faith, of course, is needed here. And we just have to make that faith filter down to our heart and emotions so that we can get excited with the self-surrender involved in loving and that we find meaning in it.

Let’s find ways everyday to serve. Perhaps one good way is to start the day, as we wake up, by saying, “Serviam,” I will serve, addressing it to God and to everyone, whoever he may be. We should try not to make distinctions as to whom to serve.

Obviously, our serving others, which is the reason for discarding all our rights and just assuming duties, should be done in the context of God’s law of love, that can lend itself in different ways to the needs of all kinds of people, whether they deserve it or not, etc.

Sooner or later, we will notice that instead of depleting ourselves of energy, we will find ourselves filled with an unspeakable kind of satisfaction. Indeed, Christ’s words about losing in order to gain, really works.

In a sense, we live out the following words of Christ: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (Jn 12,24)

We should not be afraid to lose our rights. Just fulfill the duty to love everyone as Christ has loved and continues to love us!

E-mail: roycimagala@gmail.com