… work has always been virtuous. I believe much of our trouble today comes from a simple fact: we have lost the virtue we were meant to in our vocations.
He Saw That It Was Good p. 26
We lose virtue in work when we fail to see work as part of the rhythm of life. Work begins the 4th commandment. There is no purpose or meaning to the command to rest if we ignore or belittle the command to work. And so it has meaning because it is part of our very structure.
But it’s also how we bear God’s image and how we express the joy of toiling and tilling in our garden plot where we were planted. Planted and planter: we submit to the Master Gardener’s tending hand and exercise our own dominion over each of our small plots. It is virtuous to submit to the higher (and good) authority of God. It is virtuous to exercise dominion—properly exercised—despite the culture’s pronouncement of anathema to power.
Lingering Over Leaves 