Lex Cordis Caritas - The law of the heart is Love

Last Monday our nation observed the national holiday known as Labor Day. For many people, the topic of "labor" was noticed mainly insofar as it was a day free from work. But before the subject recedes too far from our minds, I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections on the theological significance of human work. After all, if work is understood as nothing more than the performance of tasks in order to get paid, we will have a hard time seeing a deeper meaning as a reason for our toil and our labors will be viewed as no more than drudgery to be endured until they are completed.

Nearly 4 billion people are estimated to have watched the Summer Olympics in London the past couple of weeks. That is an astounding number of people, considering there are 7 billion people in the world. Of these, 1.6 billion have no access to electricity. A further 300 million may have access to electricity, but are under 5 years old. So why do so many people watch?

In my previous (July 1) column in Catholic Times I asked if the United States of America was a great nation or simply a powerful country. I concluded by saying that “I remain hopeful that our nation can still live up to its potential for greatness.” I would like to continue that theme further today.

Summer is upon us, bringing vacations, picnics and beach parties. Actually we have been blessed with summer-like weather for several weeks. The warm weather has also brought out summer apparel earlier than usual. Unfortunately, skimpy garb more suitable for vacations, picnics and beach parties has also made its way into church as the clothing of choice for many people. In visiting many of our parishes this spring for confirmation as well as attending some commencement ceremonies, I have noticed more and more people wearing short shorts, tank-tops and flip-flops. Even the more formal wear with slit-leg dresses, bare midriffs and strapless tops looks more suited to a House of Blues than the House of God.

In his best-selling book published over 20 years ago, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey wrote of the importance of what he called the Character Ethic, which “is based on the fundamental idea that there are principles that govern human effectiveness — natural laws in the human dimension that are just as real, just as ‘unchanging’ ... as laws such as gravity are in the physical dimension.”