The Grace of Work
To live is to contribute to the common good
Various reductive socio-economic visions tend to favor the individual at the expense of solidarity with other people; others tend to see the individual almost as a numerical unit, characterized only by his or her social connections with work and production. In contrast to these perspectives, Pope Francis, inspired by among other things, Franciscan socio-economic thinking, has introduced an all-encompassing paradigm in his encyclical Laudato Si: an integral ecology, which embraces both man and creation. This vision proclaims that all things are related: people, environment, work, economics, politics, society, culture, daily life, family, the common good, as well as the future.
The motto of Saint Benedict, ora et labora, placed within the context of the European economic system 'two' distinct actions – prayer and work – which take place in the establishment, that is, within the monastery. Saint Francis eight centuries later, going among the people, represented a revolution of sorts: a pilgrim in and for the world, he prays working and works praying. Hence the expression the "grace of work" (Official Rule, Chapter V), because work serves to humanize and perfect – not only the work accomplished, but also the worker and those persons the work impacts; work inspires collaboration, relationship, and fraternity. The conception of work as grace, and no longer as coercion, fatigue and punishment, means recognizing it as participation in God's creative act. Work done with "loyalty and devotion" becomes prayer: a song of the industriousness of the worker, joined with that of all the creatures of the universe, rises up as praise to the Creator in his magnificence and mercy.
Together with the chorus of stars, water, fire, earth, forgiveness, penance, death, evoked by Francis in his Canticle, which freely celebrate their Creator, the chorus of the world of work joins in, cooperating with his plans in creative freedom, with intelligence, professionalism, and even weariness. Work truly becomes an expression of the person in relationship -- with creation, other people and with God.
Reflecting upon the market as a form of fraternal reciprocity makes it possible to affirm that economic life involves the worker and his activity, not only for economic compensation, but also for the intrinsic community value it brings with it. Franciscan thought accentuates the notion of the common good in which the person is regarded not in his or her singularity, but rather one who is in an essential relationship with the other. The Franciscans, already in the beginning of the second half of the 13th century, missionary pilgrims in Italy and Europe, warned that the alms they received were intended for survival, but not to live: for the friar living meant producing the goods necessary for life, contributing to the common good; whereas begging did not produce.