Labor Day as a Holy Day of Obligation?

OK, the title for today’s post is just to get your attention. I don’t want to propose that Labor Day become a holy day of obligation. I like to sleep in once and a while. However, I would like to make the point that work is what we spend the majority of our time doing and, if the Church wanted to help people “find God” in their everyday lives, it would do well to help people focus on the spirituality of work.

As catechists, we can help those we teach to begin to develop a spirituality of work by talking about how we strive to live Gospel values and serve the Kingdom of God through our daily work. We should talk about our jobs…the challenges and the joys…and help our learners to see that we do not separate faith from our daily living.

I recommend Greg Pierce’s book Spirituality at Work as a good Labor Day weekend read. Likewise, Living the Mass, which I co-authored with Fr. Dom Grassi, shows how the Mass connects with daily living which, for most of us, involves going to work.

I wish you all a great Labor Day weekend and God’s blessings to all of you catechists who begin classes next week! (I start Sept. 10). I’m taking the weekend off from blogging and I’ll meet you back here on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

Here is a Labor Day prayer from the Archdiocese of Detroit Web Site:

On this weekend, when we rest from our usual labors, loving Father, we pray for all who shoulder the tasks of human labor—in the marketplace, in factories and offices, in the professions, and in family living. We thank you, Lord, for the gift and opportunity of work; may our efforts always be pure of heart, for the good of others and the glory of your name. We lift up to you all who long for just employment and those who work to defend the rights and needs of workers everywhere. May those of us who are now retired always remember that we still make a valuable contribution to our Church and our world by our prayers and deeds of charity. May our working and our resting all give praise to you until the day we share together in eternal rest with all our departed in your Kingdom as you live and reign Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Labor Day as a Holy Day of Obligation?

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