DEACON 11: The Labourer

“Laborare est orare” and/or “ora et labora” are Latin phrases usually associated with the Rule of Saint Benedict. It is a way for monks to pray and to do manual labour. To labour, to work, is an essential duty of all men. I would say that no man can demand anything if that man has not performed his daily labour.

The worker deserves his wages. Jesus expressed this and Saint Paul as well as it is written in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. In St. Luke chapter 10, we find that Jesus has sent out many to preach the Kingdom of God and he said to them: “The harvest is abundant but the labourers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest…I am sending you like lambs among wolves…Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household…Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the labourer deserves his payment.”

The Prophet Mohamed also praised work and spoke of the compensation due to workers. This is what he had to say: “You should pay the labourer his wages before his sweat dries” (Sunan Ibn Mâjah (2443). This makes it quite clear that he was advocating for wages to be paid on time and promptly to those who labour. Mohamed also said that one of the praiseworthy acts of worship was getting one’s sustenance from one’s work.

In Buddhism, the main ethical guidelines include the very clear, and precise statement that whatever work one engages in should be helpful to others and never harmful and that one must do one’s job well as to reap the fruits of one’s labour. One is not to overspend, or hoard and one should avoid debt.

The Torah also addresses the labour issue: “The wages of a labourer shall not remain with you until morning…you must pay him his wages on the same day before the sun sets (Lev. 19:13) and Deuteronomy 24:15 states that “When you enter your neighbour’s vineyard, you may, if you desire, eat your fill of the grapes…when you find yourself amid your neighbour’s standing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand.”

I wanted to emphasise and re-emphasise the point that the rights…and duties…of labourers, and we all are labourers, have been firmly established in the religious texts of the major religions of the world. The protection of those who labour, and as I said we all have to fall into that labour pool, has always been of utmost importance. To labour is to pray, and to pray and worship, as Mohamed said, one must first labour. It is imperative.

To gain the rights afforded in the magna carta (constitution) that governs every democratic nation on earth, one must have laboured. And the labourer deserves his pay. And health insurance, a fair wage, rights, and opportunities for advancement. A labours should be able to afford and own his home, his vehicle, vacations, and a well lived life. His children should be afforded elementary and higher education as well.

We work for the progress of the state but the state must work to allow workers to progress as well. There is no state without its workers and workers deserve all the benefits the state can offer. And no one in the state should be classified as anything other than a worker.