International Workers' Day 2020

Can I be honest? I am honestly tired of hearing the term "essential workers," because, let's be real, do we, as a society, really treat these workers well, and will we treat them well post-pandemic? I'm a bit pessimistic about it.

My anger is really directed towards corporations. WalMart and Amazon can put up a sentimental commercial, gushing about how they value their workers, and yet have the audacity to still treat them terribly. These multi-billion dollar corporations are unwilling to provide their workers a fair, livable wage, and safe work conditions.

The history of work hasn't been pretty, to say the least. From serfdom to slavery, from indentured servitude to child labor, on and on different forms of labor abuse crops up and makes life terrible for those who are trying to survive and make a living for their family while an ungodly few hoards all of the wealth in greedy gluttony.

Do they not know that the Master of the Universe is watching their every action? That he hears the cries of the oppressed? How his anger will blaze forth against the oppressors?

Perhaps the prophet Amos should have prophesied at Davos, denouncing with great passion, about how "they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals - they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way... they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed."

Let my anger subside. As followers of Jesus, we need to begin to think about what is a Kingdom hope of labor. Just as how the Kingdom demands us to be concern with the environment, it demands us to be concerned with labor. And it goes beyond labor. It's about treating each other well. It's about being content with enough. It's about caring for our most vulnerable. It's about valuing those regardless of status.

The Kingdom is said to have an upside-down reality within its halls. The poor are said to be seated next to the King, while the rich are seated further away. The poor are said to be seated upon exalted thrones, while the rich are seated upon a low throne. The least will become the greatest. The greatest will become the least.

I know with every conceivable crises, there are always complexities involved, more variants of grays than I would like. Different sides to the story. Different worldviews. I know that I am not blameless or the messiah. I have committed actions that have contributed to the evils that I bemoaned. But the Father of all humans pleads with us to treat our siblings well, to use our moral imagination of what his planetary temple will be.

The Teacher asks us to consider who are our neighbors. The fast-food workers are my neighbors. The delivery persons are my neighbors. The sanitary workers are my neighbors. The teachers and child-care workers are my neighbors. The grocery workers are my neighbors. The factory workers are my neighbors. The farm workers are my neighbors. I haven't loved them well. May I love them well.

For these few days, I want to share with you about brothers and sisters who demanded mercy, not greed. Prayers to the Lord for dignity. Hebraic understanding of economics and community. Teachings of the Church. Songs of godly labor. And actions that we can take to love neighbor, worker, and God.

The prophet Isaiah envisioned the World to Come: "They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity, for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD - and their descendants as well."