Maurin's Christian Philosophy of Work

Peter's Christian philosophy of work was this.  God is our creator.  God made us in his image and likeness.  Therefore we are creators.  He gave us a garden to till and cultivate. We become co-creators by our responsible acts, whether in bringing forth children, or producing food, furniture or clothing.  The joy of creativeness should be ours.

But because of the Fall the curse is laid on us of having to earn our bread by the sweat of our brows, in labor. St. Paul said that since the Fall nature itself travaileth and groaneth. So man has to contend with fallen nature in the beasts and in the earth as well as in himself. But when he overcomes the obstacles, he attains again to the joy of creativity. Work is not then all pain and drudgery.

All of us know these things instinctively, like Tom Sawyer whose example led others to covet his whitewashing job--or the workman, healthy tired, after a good day's toil like Levin reaping with the peasants in Anna Karenina

Craftsmen, not assembly-line workers, know this physical, but not nervous, fatigue and the joy of rest after labor. Peter was never a craftsman but he was an unskilled laborer who knew how to use an ax, a pick and a shovel, how to break rocks and mend roads.--Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness, pg. 227