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Object and obligation of labor. — Limit of labor. — Rest. (Questions 320 to 327 b.)

Is the necessity of labor a law of Nature? [Question 674.]

“Yes, and civilization obliges you to labor still more.”

a. Why does Nature take it upon herself to provide for all the needs of the animals? [Question 677.]

“Everything in Nature labors. Like you, the animals labor.”

Man owes his nourishment, security, and well-being only to personal labor and activity. To the one who is too weak of body, God gave intelligence to supply the weakness.

Why is labor imposed on man? [Question 676.]

“Because it is a consequence of the coarseness of his corporeal nature. It is expiation and, at the same time, a means of perfecting his intelligence. Without labor, man would remain in intellectual infancy.”

a. In the more perfected worlds, is man submitted to the same necessity of laboring? [Question 678.]

“No, because he does not have the same needs. But do not judge from that that man keeps himself inactive and useless.”

Should we understand by labor only material occupations? [Question 675.]

“No; the Spirit labors, just as the body does. Every useful occupation is labor.”

Are there not men who find themselves unable to labor and whose existence is, therefore, useless? [Question 680.]

“God is just; He condemns only the one who has voluntarily rendered his existence useless, for such a one lives at the expense of others' labor. He wills that each one be useful, according to his faculties.”

Will the man who possesses goods sufficient to guarantee his subsistence be exempt from the law of labor? [Question 679.]

“No, because he has more means of making himself useful.”

a. Why does God favor with the gifts of fortune certain men, who do not seem to have merited them?

“It is a favor in the eyes of those who see only the present; but, know this well, fortune is a trial as great as poverty, often more dangerous.” Although the man to whom God has granted the possession of goods sufficient to assure his existence is not obliged to feed himself by the sweat of his brow, the duty to be useful to his fellow men is all the greater for him in proportion to the share of free time that has fallen to him in advance for doing good. [Question 679.]

Being a necessity for the one who labors, is rest not also a law of Nature? [Question 682.]

“Yes, and it is also necessary in order to give a little more freedom to the intelligence, so that it may raise itself above matter.”

a. What is the limit of labor? [Question 683.]

“The limit of one's strength; as for the rest, God leaves man free.”

What is to be thought of those who abuse their authority, imposing excessive labor on their inferiors? [Question 684.]

“That is one of the worst actions.”

Every man who has the power to command is responsible for the excess of labor that he imposes on his inferiors, because he transgresses the Law of God.

Does man have the right to rest in old age? [Question 685.]

“Yes, for he is obliged to nothing except in accordance with his strength.”

a. However, what is the old man to do who needs to labor in order to live, but is incapacitated for labor? [Question 685 a.]

“The strong must labor for the weak: it is the law of charity.”

b. Does the law of Nature impose on children the obligation to labor for their parents? [Question 681.]

“Yes, just as parents must labor for their children. This is ignored in your present society.”

It is not without reason that God made of filial love and paternal love a natural sentiment, in order that, by this reciprocal affection, the members of one same family might be led to help one another mutually.