MY FAITH AS A LABORER

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Man, by means of daily work, procures his daily bread and contributes to the continual progress of the sciences and technology and to the cultural and moral elevation of the society in which he lives together with all other human beings. The word "labor" means every possible work of man, that is every human activity.

Work is one of the characteristics which distinguishes man from other creatures; only man is capable of it and only man carries it out. As such work carries with it a particular sign of being human and of humanity, the sign of the person laboring in a community.

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Work distinguishes man from all other creatures.

Given that work in its subjective dimension is always a personal action,

it follows that the whole person participates, body and spirit, whether the work be manual or intellectual. The Word of the living God is addressed to the entire human being and many references in the Gospel message of salvation are directed to and shed light on human work. Now an adequate integration of this message is necessary. The interior effort of the human spirit must be guided by faith, by hope and by charity with the help of this understanding, in order to give to the work of the concrete individual that meaning which it already has in the eyes of God. This shows how much work enters into the plan of salvation even in its trivial and ordinary aspects, which are, at the same time, specifically important.

The Gospel of Work.

For the believer, "one thing is certain, individual and collective activity, that monumental effort of man through the centuries to improve the circumstances of the world, presents no problem to believers: considered in itself, it corresponds to the plan of God. Man was created in God's image and was commanded to conquer the earth with all it contains and to rule the world in justice and holiness...."(GS 34)

In the Word of Divine Revelation this fundamental truth is profoundly inscribed, that man, created in the image of God by means of his work participates in the work of the Creator, and according to the measure of its own possibility, in a certain sense, continues to develop and complete it, advancing always more in the discovery of the resources of the values contained within all of creation. This truth we find already at the very beginning of Sacred Scriptures in the Book of Genesis where the same work of creation is presented in the from of a "work" complete by God during the "six days" so as to "rest" on the seventh day.

IN WORK AND REST MAN IMITATES GOD, HIS CREATOR

In his work, man should imitate God, his Creator, because he carries in himself -and he alone- the unique element of similarity to God. Man should imitate God whether working or resting, given that God Himself has chosen to present work itself as a creature under the form of work and of rest. Therefore, human work not only needs rest every "seventh day" but it also does not exist only to renew human energy. It should leave an interior space in which man, becoming ever closer to what God wants him to be, is prepared for that "rest" which the Lord reserves to his servants and friends.

WORK AS A PARTICIPATION IN THE WORK OF THE CREATOR.

The awareness that human work may be a participation in the work of God should permeate-as the Council teaches-"ordinary daily activity".

In fact men and women in order to make a living for themselves and

their families by exercising the activities proper to them, also provide a profitable service to society. They can consider it a right to continue the work of the Creator with their work and thus return something useful to their own brothers and sisters, making a personal contribution to the realization of God's providence in history.

It is necessary therefore for this Christian spirituality of work to become the common patrimony of all. It is necessary especially in this day and age that the spirituality of work demonstrate that maturity which the tensions and the anxieties of mind and heart demand.

WITH GOD OR AGAINST GOD

Christians therefore not only do not think of comparing the conquests of intelligence and of the power of man to the power of God, except in so far as the rational creature can reveal the Creator. Rather they are convinced that the victories of humanity are signs of the greatness of God and the fruit of his ineffable design. And as the power of man develops more, the more his individual and collective responsibility also extend and expand.

WHY THE BURDEN OF WORK?

In human labor, the Christian discovers a little part of the cross of Christ and accepts it in the same spirit of redemption in which Christ has accepted his cross for us. Thanks to the light of the resurrection of Christ which permeates us, we always find in work a glimmer of new life, of a new goodness, almost like the announcement of " new heavens and a new earth", coming about by means of the burden of work shared in by man and by the world.

By means of the hard work and never without it. On the one hand, this confirms the indispensability of the cross in the spirituality of human labor. On the other hand, a new good is brought forth in this cross and in the hard labor, which springs forth from the work itself- work understood in its deepest sense, in all its various forms.

Nevertheless, the expectation of a new earth should not weaken us, rather it should at the least stimulate eagerness to cultivate this earth, where that body of a new humanity, already rises to offer a certain prefiguration that veils the new world.

WORK AND PRAYER, A POSSIBLE COMBINATION?

The Christian who is hearing the living Word of God, uniting work to prayer, knows the place work occupies not only in the earthly progress, but also in the expansion of the Kingdom of God, to which we are all called by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the Word of the Gospel.