682- Since rest is needed after labor, isn’t rest therefore a law of nature?
“Absolutely. Rest serves to restore the strength of the body; it is also needed to give a little more freedom to the intelligence, which must raise itself above matter.”
683- What is the limit of labor?
“The limit of one’s strength; however, in this regard, God leaves people free to decide what their limit is.”
684- What is to be thought of those who abuse their authority by imposing too much work on their subordinates?
“It is one of the worst things they could do. All who have the power of command are responsible for any excessive work they impose on their subordinates since if they do so, they transgress the law of God.” (See no. 273)
685- Do humans have the right to retire in old age?
“Yes. None are required to labor beyond their ability to do so.”
– But what resources do aging people have available if they must earn a living but cannot?
“The strong should work for the weak. In the absence of a family, society should replace it. That is the law of charity.”
It is not enough to tell people they must work; it is also necessary for those who make their living from their labor to actually be able to find employment, but this does not always happen. Whenever the lack of available work is widespread, it assumes the proportions of a calamity, much like a famine. Economic science seeks a remedy in the balance between production and consumption, but this balance – supposing that it is possible – will always experience cycles, and during such phases workers must still make a living. There is an element that has not been sufficiently pondered, but without which economic science is nothing more than theory: education; not intellectual education but moral education; not moral education through books, but moral education that consists in the art of forming character; moral education that creates habits because education is the sum of acquired habits. When one considers the mass of individuals who are daily thrown into the torrent of the population, without principles, without restraints and handed over to their own instincts, can we wonder at the disastrous consequences? When the art of education is recognized, understood and practiced, all individuals the world over will follow the habits of order and forethought for themselves and their dependents. They will respect whatever is respectable, and will have habits that will enable them to less painfully endure unavoidable adverse days. Disorder and lack of forethought are two sores that only a sound education can heal. That is the starting point, the real element of well-being, the guarantee of security for all.
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