On this Labor Day weekend, let us rededicate ourselves to Christ and His work. We know what happens outside these doors when people refuse to work. What it does to their own souls, what it does to our economy, and what it does to our culture. And please don’t misunderstand me, I am not talking about official unemployment – many of the supposedly “unemployed” work really hard and many people who are drawing a paycheck are complete shirkers. The simple fact is that when people outside the of our church refuse to work, everyone is affected.
How much more true is that of what happens inside our doors, in the life of the church. We are the body of Christ in this world. We are called to do His work, to transform the world according to His will. When we refuse to work, when we shirk our duties, everyone is affected. It is too bad that we think of Sunday as a day off – it isn’t. It is the culmination of all we do. The work we do here is so important that we are forbidden to do any other work on this day.
We call what we do together the “liturgy”; this literally means “the work of the people.” Why do we so often treat this work as if it were unimportant? People who would never dream of showing up late to their jobs – much less skipping it entirely – think very little of doing this very same on Sunday. We know better; it isn’t right.
Outside our doors, very few people have the kind of jobs that allow them to see how much their efforts contribute to the health of our society; for people like farmers and nurses the contribution is obvious, but for others it is much more abstract. I want you to know that what you do here, what we all do here together, is making a real difference. The changes Christ is making to this world through His Church and through our parish are profound. Occasionally we get to see glimpses.
You can see it in the healing that goes on among those of us who have been hurt (e.g. through our grief ministry); you can see it in the joy that the we share when we gather and fellowship together; you can see it in the awe that grows among us during our celebrations; you can see it in the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation that is practiced through confession here; and you can see it in our communal participation in Christ’s Body and Blood.
Let me leave you with one final thought: Virtuous people do not work to make money or because they enjoy their jobs (although this is welcome when it comes). Virtuous people work because they are good and work is what good people do. The Liturgy on Sunday and Feast days is this kind of work. It is what good people do. It is what God’s people do. When people “out there” work, they become better and the economy and the culture flourish. This is wonderful, but it is a pale reflection of what happens here. Because the work we do here is done in Christ, we don’t just become better – we are perfected; more importantly, through this labor, the world doesn’t just flourish – it is recreated in Glory.
Let’s rededicate ourselves to Christ and his work.
