Farmer, mason, baker, rope-maker, or whatever else you be, who, obliged as you are to gain your bread with the sweat of your brow, seek a momentary recreation in the reading of these pages, you surely are not one of those who see in their ordinary labor an obstacle to rise to the pinnacle of Christian sanctity. If, however, you unfortunately be a prey to so pernicious an error, shake it off, for God’s sake, for your state of life, humble as it may appear in the eyes of the world, is very different, indeed, from what the mortal enemy of your soul represents it. The Lord in His ineffable designs, guided by His loving and paternal providence, had it laid out for you from all eternity as the most suitable means for you to attain the degree of sanctity to which He desired to raise you.
This world, that is present to our eyes all the beauty its Divine Maker intended for His glory or the manifestation of His incomparable perfections, stands in no less need of the trade you follow than of the scepter swayed by monarchs. Each one’s glory, then, is not exactly in the dignity of the position he holds, but in filling it according to the beneficent plans of the Creator. The world is compared to a great theatre, in which is represented the sublime drama of the divine glorification. In it all mortals are at once spectators and actors, and they should perform the part entrusted to them by that sovereign Director who knows thoroughly well the talents and capacity of each. And just as if one act the part of a servant better than another does that of an emperor, the latter is hissed by the audience, whilst the former receives applause from all quarters, so God, the wisest and most impartial of judges, does not so much regard in us the personage we represent — one a beggar, another a landlord, this one a religious, that one a secular — as He does the perfection with which we discharge our duty; and it is according to the latter He rewards us when death drops the curtain, and the scene of this world closes for mortal man.
These are the consoling truths which Catholicity teaches us. In the eyes of men, who do not penetrate beyond the surface, those who occupy brilliant positions are alone worthy of praise and admiration; but in the eyes of God, who sounds the depths of the human heart, and gives to each thing its just and true value, the humble who discharge with fidelity their respective duties, though never so despicable, have a claim on equal estimation. He is an impartial and just Judge, and whilst in His divine tribunal He reproves and condemns all those who, puffed up with the dignity of their office, forget to discharge its duties, He at the same time ennobles and glorifies those who, in their laborious toil, know how to raise their eyes and their heart to Him whose
Courage, then, Christian workman, for you can he a saint, and a great saint, if you co-operate with the graces the Lord will pour out on your soul according to the measure of your correspondence. Thus, only shall you form part of that royal people, who in the kingdom of glory all reign with Jesus Christ. A sweet and grand thing it is to die in defense of religion and country, but he not deceived by subversive doctrines, which sanctify anti-Catholic rebellion; listen not to the voice of those who exaggerate your dignity by deifying labor, for they are only homicidal sirens, who try to decoy you into becoming food for powder, that they may make a stepping-stone of your corpse to the employment and dignity they ambition. They apparently glorify you in their writings and speeches, but in reality they lower you; for they make your noble labor daily more irksome to you, and subject you to the slavery of filthy passions. Only in Catholicity does labor find its true grandeur, for in it, and only in it, does labor serve the real Christian as a means to satisfy the debts contracted with the divine justice, and as a merit to gain eternal glory. Every drop of sweat you lose in your Christian labor will be converted in heaven into a pearl to adorn your eternal crown. Who wonders now that the ancient Catalans carved on their tombstones the implements of their arts — this one the mold, that one the scissors, another the shuttle — as signs of true and imperishable nobility? Love, then, with holy pride the profession to which God has called you ; labor to discharge its duties as the Almighty expects from you, and you will reach a degree of sanctity much higher than you dream of.
To convince you, not by argument, but by experience, I am going to place before you the examples of illustrious Christians, who in the midst of occupations analogous to yours, and perhaps employed in labor more lowly and painful, gained the Heart of God, and conquered in heaven a kingdom and glory superior to that which surrounds many monarchs who also died adorned with divine grace. Study them as you should, and endeavor to faithfully follow their edifying examples. The reading of the Acts of the Martyrs, which took place in the Church on their feast days, in the early ages of Christianity, animated the faithful to give their lives for Jesus Christ. All, except the sick and convalescent, heard them standing, to indicate their readiness to follow in the footsteps of those glorious heroes. Read with advantage, then, the lives I offer you. I have taken them from the writings of the Bollandists, Ruinart, Butler, and Baronius, or from the documents they quote; and in writings of this sort each of these authorities is worth a hundred.
And that you may see that the heroes I offer for your consideration copied the model of all the predestined, I will just relate the principal acts of our Divine Savior, who, for the honor and encouragement of the poor, chose to be born, not among emperors and kings, as He could have been if He only wished, and as His glorious ancestors were, but of lowly artisans, who had to moisten their bread with the sweat of their brow. Follow in His footsteps like His renowned servants, and you will be happy in this life, as far as a poor exile can be, and you will reign in the other for an endless eternity.
Adapted from Light From the Lowly. By Rev. Francis Butino, S.J. Imprimatur – 1886.