Work And Food

Item quaeritur de hoc quod dicit: Operamini non cibum, qui perit. Quaerit Chrysostomus: utrum debeat homo operari pro cibo corporali? Quod non, videtur: Per litteram istam. Item, Matthaei sexto: Nolite solliciti esse, quid manducetis etc. Item, Lucae decimo reprehendit Dominus Martham, quae circa cibum corporalem sollicita erat. Ergo non videtur, quod debeat homo pro cibo corporali operari. CONTRA: Primae ad Thessalonicenses quarto: Operamini manibus vestris, sicut praecepimus vobis. Item, secundae ad Thessalonicenses ultimo: Qui non laborat non manducet; ubi etiam Apostolus dicit, se praebuisse exemplum. RESPONDEO: Dicendum, quod bonum est operari pro habendo cibo corporali, sicut dicitur: Labores manuum tuarum manducabis; beatus es etc. Sed circa hanc manuum operationem triplex contingit esse inordinatio: in intentione, ut cum finaliter hunc cibum requirit, et Dominus hoc prohibet hic; in sollicitudine , ut quando absorbetur mens circa terrena, et sic prohibet Dominus in Matthaeo; in tempore, ut quando debet vacare auditioni verbi Dei, vacat operi vel cibo corporali; et sic Christus reprehendit Martham, quae debuisset audire Dominum praedicantem. Sanctus Bonaventura, Commentarius In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput VI Source: Here, p671-2

Likewise a question must be asked concerning this which He says, 'Do not labour for the food which perishes.' 1 Chrysostom asks if a man should work for material food. 2 It seems one should not by this word in John, and likewise in the sixth chapter of Matthew: 'Do not worry about what you shall eat...' 3 and likewise in the tenth chapter of Luke the Lord reproves Martha for fretting over material food. 4 Therefore it does not seem that a man should labour for corporeal bread. Against this in the fourth chapter of the First Letter to the Thessalonians it says: 'Work with your hands, as we have instructed you.' 5 Likewise in the last chapter of the second letter to the Thessalonians: 'He who shall not work, he shall not eat,' which the Apostle says, having given himself as an example. 6 I answer that it should be said that it is a good to work for the possession of material food, as it is said: 'You shall eat of the labour of your hands, happy are you...' 7 But concerning this work of the hands a threefold disorder is found: in intention, that this food is sought as the final end, and this is what the Lord prohibits here in John; in worry, when the mind is absorbed by care for worldly things, and this the Lord prohibits in Matthew; and in time, when one should give space to the hearing of the word of God but one instead gives oneself to work for material food, and so Christ reproves Martha, who should have listened to the preaching of the Lord. Saint Bonaventura, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 6 1 Jn 6.27 2 Homily John 44.1 3 Mt 6.31 4 Luke 10.41 5 1 Thes 4.11 6 2 Thes 3.9-10 7 Ps 127.2