Manual Labor

Now that we are unpacked and settled, “Sister Gardener” focuses on the terrain that our heavenly Father has loaned to us through a very generous benefactor. Manual labor is a very important part of the day of a religious. Saint Francis of Assisi strongly emphasized manual labor as an integral part of the Franciscan way of life, believing it to be a way to imitate Christ and to combat idleness, which he considered to be the enemy of the soul. By working with their hands, the friars imitated Christ, Who worked as a carpenter to provide for Himself and His family. St. Francis’s love for nature extended also to his view of work, seeing it as a way to contribute to God’s creation and care for it.