miniZibaldone

From Dear Theo: The Autobiography of Vincent Van Gogh   Dear Theo, ...Do you know an American magazine called 'Harper's Monthly'? There are wonderful sketches in it, which strike me dumb with admiration, among others 'Glass Works' and 'Steel Works,' all scenes from factories; and also sketches from a Quaker town in the olden days, by Howard Pyle. I am full of new pleasure in those things, because I have a new hope of making things myself that have soul in them. I should love to make, sooner or later, after some more study, drawings for illustration. Perhaps one thing will follow from another. The point is to continue to work.... Evacuation by Pyle Letter of Introduction by Pyle Men of Iron by Pyle Perfect Christmas by Pyle Quakers by Pyle Surprised by the Hero of Seventy Fights - The Good Lord James of Douglas (Howard Pyle)

How is it possible to experience work as a free subject who doesn’t depend on circumstances, but can face them head on? What is the meaning of work?

In defense of the ‘staycation’ of Pope Francis Austen Ivereigh, August 18, 2016 John Allen recently laid out three good reasons why Pope Francis should take a break during the burning Roman weeks of ferragosto:  for the sake of the wider Church, for the sake of his subordinates, and for his own health. Although it seemed a little unlikely that it should be, of all people, Allen — the Stakhanovite of the vaticanisti — giving such advice to the pope, the reasoning was unarguable. But I want to question the assumption that Francis cannot be taking a rest because he has not taken a vacation. We tend to assume that a change is as good as a rest, that getting away to hotels in mountains or by the sea breaks with our routines and obligations and therefore revivifies us. And that can be true. But there’s another part of the story: not just the stress of travel (the delayed flights, the clogged roads, the mediocre hotel that doesn’t look anything like it did online), ...

To greet, to listen and to support the faith of those simple people From a letter To greet, to listen and to support the faith of those simple people … and, so often, facing the anguish of men and women that want and seek work and do not find it.  I was only able to shake their hands, caress them, look into their tearful pain-ridden eyes, and weep within. Yes, weep, because it is hard in one’s life to come  across a father of a family who wants to work and has no possibility to do so....  But work is so difficult to obtain, especially as we continue to live moments in which the rates of unemployment are significantly high. Bread solves a part of the  problem, but only half of it, because that bread is not the one earned with one’s work. It is one thing to have bread to eat at home and another to bring it home as  the fruit of one’s work. That is what confers dignity....  The wisdom of our people uses a saying to label one who, though able to work, doe...

When we ask for work we are asking to be able to sense our dignity and, in this celebration of Saint Cajetan, we pray for that dignity that work confers on us: to be  able to bring bread home. That Work, which together with Roof and Land is in the basic framework of Human Rights. And when we ask for work to bring bread home, we  are asking for dignity. (Francis)

Very often, for this [a particular profession], too, the great criteria for a decision are only personal profit and desire. These should form part of the question, but not everything. In the choice of a job or a profession, one should keep in mind the third category we mentioned, the needs of society. For the Christian, however, these cannot be a criterion isolated from a deeper concept, the needs of the Christian community, because the needs of society are nothing else but an aspect of the needs of the Christian community, the needs of the Church in every era. (Luigi Giussani)

Professional work, whatever it is, becomes a lamp to enlighten your colleagues and friends. That is why I usually tell those who become members of Opus Dei, and the same applies to all of you now listening to me: ‘What use is it telling me that so and so is a good son of mine — a good Christian — but a bad shoemaker?’ If he doesn’t try to learn his trade well, or doesn’t give his full attention to it, he won’t be able to sanctify it or offer it to Our Lord. The sanctification of ordinary work is, as it were, the hinge of true spirituality for people who, like us, have decided to come close to God while being at the same time fully involved in temporal affairs. (Josemaria Escriva)

We might think that slaves no longer exist: they exist. It’s true, people no longer go to Africa to capture them in order to sell them in America, no. But it is in  our cities. And there are these traffickers, these people who treat the working people without justice. From the homily When riches are created by exploiting the people, by those rich people who exploit [others], they take advantage of the work of the people, and those poor people  become slaves. We think of the here and now, the same thing happens all over the world. “I want to work.” “Good, they’ll make you a contract, from September to  June.” Without a pension, without health care… Then they suspend it, and in July and August they have to eat air. And in September, they laugh at you about it. Those  who do that are true bloodsuckers, and they live by spilling the blood of the people who they make slaves of labour.  We consider this drama of today: the exploitation of the people, the blood of...

Prayer and Common Sense by Thomas Green When the Well Runs Dry by Thomas Green Lend Me Your Hands by Bernard Meyer   Centering Prayer by Basil Pennington Unconditional Love by John Powell  The Truth About Trouble by Michael Scanlan  Ethical Communities and the Faith Community by Stuart Speiser  I Love You/I Hate You by Carlos Valles  The Search for Human Values by Cornelius Van der Poel   The Need for Contemplation by Rene Voillaume  Converting 9 to 5 by John Haughey

From an address When faced with tenets of the Church’s Social Doctrine, it is objected frequently: “These teachings would have us be charitable organizations or that we transform our  businesses into philanthropic institutions”. We have heard this criticism. The only aspiration of the Church’s Social Doctrine is to guard over the integrity of  people and social structures. Every time that, for whatever reason, this integrity is threatened or reduced to a consumer good, the Church’s Social Doctrine will be a  prophetic voice to protect us all from being lost in the seductive sea of ambition. Every time that a person’s integrity is violated, society, in a certain sense,  begins to decline. And this Social Doctrine of the Church is against no one, but in favour of all. Every sector has the obligation of looking out for the good of all;  we are all in the same boat. We all have to struggle to make sure that work is a humanizing moment which looks to the future;...

From the letter to the World Economic Forum  The dawn of the so-called “fourth industrial revolution” has been accompanied by a growing sense of the inevitability of a drastic reduction in the number of jobs.  Diminished opportunities for useful and dignified employment, combined with a reduction in social security, are causing a disturbing rise in inequality and poverty in  different countries. Clearly there is a need to create new models of doing business which, while promoting the development of advanced technologies, are also capable  of using them to create dignified work for all, to uphold and consolidate social rights, and to protect the environment. Man must guide technological development,  without letting himself be dominated by it! To all of you I appeal once more: “Do not forget the poor!” This is the primary challenge before you as leaders in the  business world. [...] We must never allow the culture of prosperity to deaden us, to make us...

From an address It is true: work is a vocation, because it is born from a call that God has made to man from the beginning, to “till and keep” our common home (cf. Genesis 2:15). [...] How can we respond well to this vocation...? I would like to suggest three words to you, which can help you. The first is education. To educate means to “bring out.”... it is necessary to form a new “humanism of  work,” because we live in a time of exploitation of workers; in a time when work is not in fact at the service of the person’s dignity, but it is slave labor. We must  form, and educate to a new humanism of work, where man, not profit, is at the center; where the economy serves man and does not use man....To educate is a great  vocation: as Saint Joseph trained Jesus in the art of the carpenter, you are also called to help the young generations to discover the beauty of truly human work. [...] The second word that I would like to say to you is sharing. ....Work should unite pe...

The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt gratis Jerome Kohn On the God of the Christians by Remi Brague gratis Remi Brague A Generative Thought: Introduction to the Works of Luigi Giussani ed. Elisa Buzzi gratis CL The Radiance of Being by Stratford Caldecott gratis Angelico Press Together on the Road by Massimo Camisasca gratis CL G. K. Chesterton: Collected Works I gratis Ralph Wood G. K. Chesterton: Collected Works II G. K. Chesterton: The Autobiography gratis Ralph Wood At the Service of the Church by Henri de Lubac gratis Joseph Fessio The Mystery of the Supernatural by Henri de Lubac The Splendor of the Church by Henri de Lubac gratis Paul McPartlan Being and Some Philosophers by Etienne Gilson gratis Curtis Hancock, Caitlin Gilson, James Farge At the Origin of the Christian Claim by Luigi Giussani gratis CL Is It Possible to Live This Way: Vol. 1, Faith by Luigi G...