Over the past several days, we have meditated on the place of work in a life of faith.
Biblical principles, common temptations and their remedies, and the saintly and noble potential in work— all of these have opened up vistas from which to see the greatness of human labor.
At this point, it is helpful to return once more to the book of Genesis and to notice one additional and indispensable detail about the place of work in the Christian life: we do not rest for the sake of work; rather, we work for the sake of rest.
God himself sets the model here, creating the world in six days and then resting on the seventh day, blessing and hallowing it (see Genesis 2:2–3).
The overall trajectory of the first creation account makes clear that the sabbath rest is the culmination of creation and, paradoxically, the culmination of God’s work and ours.
Humans are created for a rhythm of work and rest (see CCC 2184).
Even on a natural level, we cannot work all the time.
We require rest for the body and rest for the mind.
This is not a lazy rest; we do not work in order to waste time or merely to go on vacation.
The rest that work tends toward is a fruitful, joyful, and contemplative rest.
For this reason— to take just one example— Sundays are not primarily days for sleeping in.
But rather, they are days dedicated to the Lord, to prayer, to liturgical worship, and to human community, especially communities of faith.
To work well, we must learn to take leisure well.
The highest type of leisure is worship.
But there are other types as well, and they are necessary for humans and necessary for good work.
Man as the working animal must also learn to be the leisurely animal.
If we are made to love and to work (see Genesis 1:28), and if love is primary, then our work must come to rest in time spent with those we love— with our family, friends, and, above all, with God in prayer.
So much of our work is “useful” in the eyes of the world that our leisure ought to be spent on seemingly “un-useful” things: appreciating beauty in art and in nature; enriching our minds with knowledge of higher and nobler truths; and enjoying the joy and delight of friendship.
There is a connection between work and leisure such that those who work well tend to know how to spend their leisure well too.
And those who fall short in the former tend to do so in the latter as well.
Love, work, rest— all of these are of central importance in the life of faith.
It is the adventure of a lifetime to hold them all together in the balance, and it is the challenge of a lifetime to do so consistently and without fail.
But this adventure and this challenge are what we are created for as men.
Let us not hesitate to take it up with the Lord at our side and with him providing for us along the way.
As our reflections on faith and work come to an end, ask the Lord to do just that— to be with you on the journey, guiding you along the paths of love, work, and rest so that you might arrive in his kingdom and hear the words: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).
Go forth, live the good life of faith and work, and with God’s grace, live it well.
