ORA ET LABORA

by Klaus and Gundi Heinemann

These three words (“pray and work”), dating back 1500 years ago to the “Rule of Saint Benedict,” imply a prescription for life that has become out of balance, so much so that mankind is now faced with the unprecedented challenge of bringing it back into balance as a matter of survival. Will we collectively master this challenge?

“Glück ist nicht Stimmung und jubelnde Freude, Glück ist Friede über dem Leid”
(”Happiness is not fun and cheering elation, happiness is peacefulness over suffering”)
Guiding principle for Elisabeth Quellenberg-Schutte

Introduction

Way back in the late 1970s, Adelgund (“Gundi”) and I were fortunate to be able to leave our two grade school age sons with their grandmother in Germany and enjoy a short road trip to Northern Italy. On the recommendation of friends we had made a reservation in an ancient castle that had been converted to a guest house, in the countryside near Florence. It so happened that the romantic guest room that had been assigned to us used to be — you guessed it — the Chapel back in the days when our hotel was actually used a castle. On the vaulted ceiling, in command view when lying on our bed, the inscription “ora et labora” was looking at us.

We were flabbergasted — not about the what the hotel owners might have wanted to impose on us during our vacation, but about a stunning coincidence these words represented to us. The three Latin words “ora et labora” had a meaning for Gundi that went well beyond the sober translation “pray and work.” Gundi’s maternal ancestry is the Schutte Family (her grandmother’s maiden name was Elisabeth Schutte), which dates back to the 15th century and has consistently been known for caring for others. The motto and emblem of the Schutte family was “ora et labora.”

The meaning of “ora et labora” to the Schutte family is best described in the poem by Gundi’s grand-uncle Robert Schutte. Gundi remembers it being recited at every family meeting. It was written in the distinct dialect of the Siegerland (a region centered about 60 miles east of Cologne) and can be translated as follows:

Pray and work and be content;
pray and work and do your duty;
thankfully accept God’s gifts:
happiness and sorrow, night and light.

Pray and work in sorrow and in worries,
pray that the sun shines in your heart, 
pray — and every morning will 
sweeten your burden, your sorrow and pain. 

Pray and work with joy and singing,
and forget not giving thanks,
thankful is the sound of your bells,
freeing, and easing your steps. 

Praying and working can bring you joy,
everything shines in bright colors,
you see the sun's smile in the flower;
therefore always: pray and work. 

“ORA ET LABORA” — an Ancient Wisdom Prescription for Life

As we are writing this “feature article” (on 6 April 2020), the world is in midst of the most profound existential crisis it has ever experienced in modern times. We ask, “What is happening?” …. We ask again, “Why is this happening at this time?” …. And we keep asking, “What are we to learn from what is happening?”

The phrase “ora et labora” is believed to date back some 1500 years to monastic practice of working and praying, generally associated with its use in the “Rule of Saint Benedict.” We desire to bring it alive in the context of the current world situation. Let us start with putting meaning into the words and into the order of placement of these three words:

• ora (pray) is an expression that implies the existence of, and our dependence on, a “power greater,” which provides an abundance of life sustaining resources; it communicates that everything we own, have achieved, know, or control is ultimately given to us for our custodial, responsible temporary use. This ascribes a distinctly different meaning to the word “possession” as opposed to that which we have come to understand in our western society.

• labora (work) is the imperative that working is our part, is what we must do, to legitimize our use of that which is given to us from the abundance of the life sustaining riches which this world provides for us. We are given, and we must work for it.

• et (and) is the connecting word describing that one is to follow the other, one should not be used without the other. We live in a society characterized by a constant give and take. Praying alone is not the answer, we need to also work; and working without feeling gratitude for having gainful employment and the rewards of our work is also insufficient.

• “ora” first: not withstanding the importance of doing both, work and pray, the imperative to pray is mentioned first — telling us that the insight of gratefulness for that which is provided to us, given our commensurate work for it, comes first.

We thus have in these three simple Latin words a basic guideline for conducting our lives: with gratefulness we may accept from the abundance of that which is available to us to sustain our lives, but we must joyfully work for it and not take it for granted.

What have we done with this Wisdom?

It is no secret that, by an large, the world has lost the connection between these two principles: working hard and being thankful for the fruits of our work. Our collective underlying attitude, viewed from the perspective of how much of humanity has evolved during the decades after WW II, has markedly changed from gratefulness to entitlement. The “ora” imperative — the principle of expressing gratitude for what we have — has been replaced with the notion that we “deserve,” that we are “entitled.” This has helped to fuel an exponential growth pattern in consumerism. In a closed environment — and the earth is an environment with finite resources — exponential growth is unsustainable.

Mankind at large has arrived at that point of irreversible unsustainibility. We have caused unhealthy pollution of our air with hydrocarbons to the extent that the surface of our planet is warming at an alarming rate, causing huge areas of thick polar ice caps to melt, rising the level of the oceans. The warming is causing dramatic climate changes with devastating effects on humanity. Our lifelines, earth, air and water, are contaminated. Our children are inheriting a sick planet — all this if we continue unchecked with the way we have been living. We now stand at a crossroads like never before in the history of mankind. We must choose to change the way we use our resources and provide new breathing ground for our wounded planet to recuperate. This is an imperative, not a choice. This is what we must do for the sake of future generations. It is an obligation that should supersede all economic and all political considerations. It must be our highest priority.

The Covid-19 pandemic is a tragedy for the world that may only have been surpassed by the two world wars — or perhaps not even that. Nonetheless, viewed from a larger perspective, this pandemic is not the primary disease to worry about. It is rather a symptom of this underlying disease of the living planet Earth which we have to come to grips with. The coronavirus attacks us humans at the lung, the all-important organ with which we breathe. Is there an irony, or is there a deep meaning behind the fact that the coronavirus manifests as severe lung disease and that we are suffocating the Earth?

The pandemic has provided us a prescription to stay in our homes and gives us an opportunity to reflect on what is really important in life. Will we make proper use of this prescription? Do we see the powerful connection between what the coronavirus is doing to us and what we are doing to the Earth? Will we learn that we must find our way back to the principle of “ora et labora” and turn the tide from thinking and acting in terms of economic growth, which is uncontrollable and unsustainable, to need-based economics, which is sustainable? Will humankind embark on this paradigm shift in ethics?

We invite you to press here for further thoughts on this subject.

Klaus and Gundi Heinemann

[ Klaus' Bio] [ Gundi's Bio ] [ Oneness Principle] [ Orbs Research ]  [ Healing-Guidance ] 

Books:
[ Orbs: Their Mission and Messages of Hope ] 
[ The Orb Project ] 
[ Expanding Perception ] 
[ Being the Change ]
[ Phenomena: Code of the Grand Original Design ]

Selected Reports and Videos:
[The Orb Phenomenon ]  [ Magnificence ]  [ Alpenparlament.TV ]  [Feature Articles]