674- Is the necessity of labor a law of nature?
“Labor is a law of nature, and as such is a necessity per se. Because civilization both increases peoples’ needs and their enjoyments, it obliges them to work more.”
675- Should we understand labor to entail only material occupations?
“No; the spirit labors as much as the body. Every useful occupation is labor.”
676- Why has labor been imposed on humankind?
“It is a consequence of their corporeal nature. It is a means of expiation and at the same time a means of perfecting their intelligence. Without labor, humans would remain in intellectual infancy. Thus, they must owe their food, safety and well-being to their own labor and activity. God has granted more intelligence to certain persons in order to compensate for their physical weakness, but labor is involved nonetheless.”
677- Why does nature itself provide for all the needs of the animals?
“Everything in nature labors. Animals labor as you do, but their work, like their intelligence, is limited to their self-preservation. That is why labor does not lead to progress among them, while among human beings it has a double objective: the preservation of the body and the development of thought. The latter is also a necessity and raises them above themselves. When I say that the labor of animals is limited to self-preservation, I mean the objective toward which their labor is aimed. But while devoted entirely to providing for their physical needs, they are also unknowingly agents collaborating in the designs of the Creator. Their labor plays no less of a part in the final objective of nature, although you often do not see its immediate result.”
678- On more highly evolved worlds, are humans subjected to the same necessity of labor?
“The nature of the labor is relative to that of the needs; the fewer the material needs, the less material the labor. Yet, you must not assume that humans on such worlds remain inactive and useless; idleness would be a torture instead of a benefit.”
679- Are those who possess plenty of assets to ensure their welfare exempted from the law of labor?
“From physical labor, perhaps, but not from the obligation to render themselves useful according to their means and to perfect their own and others’ intelligence; this too is labor. If those to whom God has granted enough assets to ensure their welfare are not obligated to eat their bread from the sweat of their brow, their obligation to be useful to their fellow creatures is all the greater. It is a portion they have received in advance, allowing them more free time to do good.”
680- Aren’t there those who are incapable of working at anything at all and whose existence serves no purpose?
“God is just and only condemns those who intentionally live a life that serves no purpose because they live by depending on other peoples’ work. God desires for all to make themselves useful according to their own faculties.” (See no. 643)
681- Does the law of nature impose upon children the obligation to work for their parents?
“Certainly, just as parents must work for their children.
That is why God has made filial love and parental love natural sentiments so that by such mutual love the members of the same family may be led to help each other. This is frequently not recognized in your present society.” (See no. 205)
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