In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life

“To the man he said: ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, ‘Cursed be the ground because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.’”” (GN 3: 17-19)

Sometimes we listen to these words about work and the effort it requires as a punishment (read: God’s revenge for original sin). Such a perspective makes us treat work as a curse, a necessity which destroys people, taking away their best years. But God, in His wisdom, made a work as a means to restore our dignity. Through the difficulty of work we can partially regain what we lost through original sin—our inner harmony. We should remember that work was given to us before the original sin was committed.

“One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” (Gospel Acclamation)