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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

More on "The Joy of Love"



Here we see a family going home together. I remember coming home on Sunday nights after a day spent at the lake. My little brothers would be sound asleep, but my mother would have me wake them and, in spite of the hours in the water, make sure I gave them a bath before reading them to sleep again. Mother and Dad would be dealing with all the things packed into the car that allowed us to have such a great day - wet suits and towels, the empty picnic baskets, balls and bats, and sometimes sandy pails and shovels.

My Dad worked hard for us and I think we took it for granted. The Pope brings out the need for work and the dignity of it. Excuse the "English" spelling.

From "The Joy of Love"
At the beginning of Psalm 128, the father appears as a labourer who by the work of his hands sustains the physical well-being and tranquillity of his family: "You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you" (Ps 128:2). It is clear from the very first pages of the Bible that work is an essential part of human dignity; there we read that "the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it" (Gen 2:15). Man is presented as a labourer who works the earth, harnesses the forces of nature and produces "the bread of anxious toil" (Ps 127:2), in addition to cultivating his own gifts

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