Work and the Interior Life

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This is a Catholicism and the Disciplines (CAD) course that can fulfill a core curriculum requirement, or can be taken as an elective. Work has long been a subject of Catholic thought, with the first chapter of Genesis regarded as "the first gospel of work" (Laborem Exercens, para. 25). This course focuses on the interior spiritual aspects of work, and does so via the Catholic intellectual and social traditions. A person's interior spiritual life, or "interior life" for short, has been described as the intimate conversation that the person carries on with God during the daily moments and seasons of life. When it comes to the subject of work, the interior life involves one's internal disposition toward his or her work, how one understands his or her work, and one's intentions for work. The Church's proposition is that all have the ability to envelope their work in the interior life. In this discussion-based course, we will seek to understand what that means for your intended profession or discipline.