WORK

    A summary of a reflection given by the Rev. Dr. Giacomo Cassese's
    at an Annual Meeting of SFIWJ

  • For work to be honorable it must always be related to God the Creator and to his
    creation.

  • The original intention of the Creator when he instituted work was that of
    preserving and promoting what he created: life.

  • Work must always be considered as a sacred activity because the human being
    was given what God did in six days.

  • The Hebrew word Avodah means not only work but also worship.  God’s plan is
    that man’s work be an act of communion with and worship to God.  Thus the
    human being would be in perfect harmony with the immanent (creation) and the
    transcendent (God).  With that double and perfect relationship, the human being
    would give sense and purpose to his/her existence.

    - It then can be said that work mandated by God to Adam (Gn 1:27) was the
    first religion, the first form of worship to God: “Prelaxary Religion” (before The
    Fall).

    -  We could also assume that the original intention of work was to create
    communion as well as community.

  • According to Genesis, the two main characteristics of the work are:

    - It is a humanizing event.  Through work, the human being was to build a
    special relationship with his/her Creator that would allow him/her to reach
    his/her highest potential and integrate his/her existence where there was no
    division between the holy and the profane.

    - The human being assumed the work as a “holistic” or cosmic act where
    his/her double physical and spiritual dimension were to be used.

  • It is a sacramental event.  According to the theology of Genesis, work must be
    considered as a “means of Grace, that is, a way through which God makes himself
    present, permeates our reality and finds us in the midst of that reality.  The
    sacraments serve to build deep and intimate relationships with God that transcend
    our own limited reality.  Frey Bartolomé de las Casas understood this perfectly
    when he became the defender of the oppressed.  In Sirac 34:22 it says, “He slays
    his neighbor who deprives him of his living.  He sheds blood who denies the
    laborer his wages.”  He understands that at the time of the colonial system “Holy
    Communion” was a macrocosm of an oppressive regime; not only were the
    American Indians denied the holy communion, but their salary and the sustenance
    this action represented as well.  

    Conclusion:

    Decent work is a God-created activity that allows the human being to hold a
    special relationship with the Creator and his creation.  That is to say that the
    human being is co-creator with God, a responsible partner in taking care of what
    God has made.  As he/she works, the human being promotes and fulfills
    him/herself, develops his/her divine creativity, becomes humanized and reaches
    his/her potential; however, when one works alienated from God’s original intention,
    he/she is exploited, used and dehumanized.

    Work is not only a resource to obtain our material sustenance, but rather a divine
    instrument to defend and preserve life.  Life only belongs to the Creator, our Lord.  
    In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon sums it up like this: “The only pleasure he
    has in this life is eating and drinking and enjoy himself. He can at least do this as
    he labors…” Ecclesiastes 8:15.
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