Reflect
The tension between unions—such as the Screen Actors Guild and United Auto Workers—and corporate interests has been making headlines again. It calls to mind the importance of workers’ well-being and and access to making a living wage. Pope Francis once said, “The more we take care of the dignity of work, the more certain we are that the quality and beauty of the work carried out will increase.” Today, let’s pray for the workers of the world and for a more equitable society.
Pray
Lord,
As I type away at my laptop,
buy groceries for weekday meals,
or stream a movie after work,
help me to remember all the labor
that went into making these products.
Remind me in your gentle way
to be grateful for the contributions of so many.
Guide me to recognize that everything around me
is touched by you, and so is truly holy.
Amen.
Act
Take a look around you, wherever you happen to be right now. Focus on one thing. Even if you’re completely surrounded by nature, the clothes you wear are the evidence of the efforts of human labor. Take a breath in to recognize this, and breathe out with gratitude.
2 thoughts on “To the Workers”
Another commenter noted on a late night show the other day that underlying matters of wages, benefits and work conditions is the related but seperate grievance of injured human dignity. Workers strike mostly out of this feeling, and less for any material consideration. It points to that often misplaced regard for workers as people and not just cogs in the machine. If Christans were Christians, work would be a place of some peace, no less so than can be home or church. But business is money. Not love. So we will have to fight the same fights over and over again. But the suggested acts of mindfulness mentioned in the essay will help those so disposed, to care. And as always, hopefully witness Christ in an example others may see and seek to follow.
Thanks Ross, you have expressed the fundamental underlying imbalance between dignity and’ usefulness ‘.
In many cases the only means of bringing awareness to inequity of values, profit v person it to strike,protest, to have a voice.
This is why we must value all people not just those who produce wealth.
… I recommend that each cup of coffee or glass of water be a little exercise of prayer and gratitude for all those whose labour went into it.
God bless.
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