Everyone who works in union with the life, mission and paschal mystery of Jesus Christ is engaged in a profoundly apostolic activity

The nobility of human work as a sharing in the creative activity of God was the subject of the Holy Father's weekly catechesis at the General Audience of Wednesday, 20 April. Continuing his discussion of the lay faithful's role in the Church, the Pope stated that their labours can be a profoundly apostolic activity that spiritually transforms the world. The Holy Father's address was the 89th in the series on the mystery of the Church and was given in Italian. 

1. Among the lay faithful special mention should be made of workers. The Church is aware of the importance of work in human life and recognizes it as an essential component of society at both the socioeconomic, political level and the religious level. She considers this latter aspect a primary expression of the "secular character" (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 31) of the laity, most of whom are workers and can find in work the path to holiness. Because of this conviction, the Second Vatican Council considers the work of those who are engaged in it from perspective of the task of salvation and calls them to collaborate in the apostolate (cf. ibid., n. 41). 

2. I dedicated the Encyclical Laborem exercens and other documents and addresses to this topic, thus seeking to shed light on the value, dignity and dimensions of work in all its exceptional greatness. Here I will only recall that the first reason for this greatness and dignity is that work is a co-operation in God's creative activity. The biblical account of creation teaches us this when it says: "The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it" (Gn 2;15), thus referring to the order to subdue the earth (cf. Gn 1:28). As I wrote in the Encyclical mentioned above: "Man is the image of God partly through the mandate received from his Creator to subdue, to dominate, the earth. In carrying out this mandate, man, every human being, reflects the very action of the Creator of the universe" (Laborem exercens, n. 4). 

Work is not a selfish but an altruistic activity 

3. According to the Second Vatican Council (Lumen gentium, n. 41), work is a path to holiness, because it provides the opportunity: 

a) to perfect oneself. Work actually develops man's personality, cultivating his qualities and abilities. We understand this better in our era, with the drama of so many unemployed people who feel their dignity as human persons is diminished. The greatest attention must be paid to this personalist dimension for the sake of all workers, and the attempt must be made in every case to ensure working conditions worthy of man.

b) to help one's fellow citizens. Here is the social dimension of work, which is a service for the good of all. This orientation should always be stressed: work is not a selfish but an altruistic activity; one does not work exclusively for oneself, but also for others.

c) to promote the progress of all society and creation. Work thus attains a historical-eschatological and, one could say, cosmic dimension, because its purpose is to help improve the material conditions of life and the world, aiding humanity in this way to reach the higher goals to which God is calling it. The orientation of work to universal betterment is made more obvious by today’s progress. However much remains to be done in adapting work to these ends desired by the Creator himself.

d) to imitate Christ with active love. We will return to this point.

4. Also in the light of the Book of Genesis, according to which God established and enjoined work in addressing the first human couple (cf. Gn 1:27-29), the intention of so many men and women who work for the good of their families finds its meaning. The love of spouse and children , which inspires and motivates the majority of human beings to work, confers greater dignity on this work and makes it easier and more pleasant to perform, even when it is toilsome.

In this regard it should be noted that in contemporary society too, where the principle of the right of men and women to paid labor holds sway, recognition and appreciation must always be given to the value of the not directly profitable work of many women who devote themselves to the needs of home and family. This work today also has a basic importance for family life and the good of society.

5. Here let it suffice to note this aspect of the issue, in order to move on to a point discussed by the Council, which mentions the "labours, often toilsome" (Lumen gentium, n. 41), that are involved in work, which even today verifies the biblical words: "By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat" (Gn 3:19). As I wrote in the Encyclical Laborem exercens: "Toil is something that is universally known, for it is universally experienced . It is familiar to those doing physical work under sometimes exceptionally laborious conditions… It is likewise familiar to those at an intellectual workbench… It is familiar to women, who, sometimes without proper recognition on the part of society and even of their own families, bear the daily burden and responsibility for their homes and the upbringing of their children" (n. 9).

Here we find not only the ethical, but one could say, the ascetical dimension, which the Church teaches us to recognize in work, because, precisely due to the effort it imposes, it requires the virtues of courage and patience, and thus can become a path to holiness.

6. Precisely because of the toil it implies, work appears more clearly as a task of co-operation with Christ in his redemptive work. Its value, already established by sharing in God’s creative work, receives new light when considered as a sharing in Christ’s life and mission. We cannot forget that in the Incarnation, God’s Son, who became man for our salvation, did not fail to work hard to common labour. Jesus Christ learned the carpenter’s trade from Joseph and practiced it until the beginning of his public mission. At Nazareth Jesus was know as "the carpenter" himself (Mk 6:3). For this reason too it seems so natural for him to refer in his parables to men’s professional work or to women’s domestic work, as I noted in the Encyclical Laborem exercens (n. 16), and to show his esteem for the humblest tasks. It is an important aspect of the mystery of his life: as the Son of God, Jesus could and did confer a supreme dignity on human work. With human hands and human abilities the Son of God worked like us and with us, men of need and daily toil!

7. In the light of Christ’s example work takes on for believers its highest purpose, one connected with the paschal mystery. After giving the example of work similar to that of so many other workers, Jesus accomplished the highest work for which he was sent: Redemption, culminating in the saving sacrifice of the Cross. On Calvary Jesus, in obedience to the Father, offered himself for the salvation of all.

Well then, workers are invited to unite themselves with the Saviour’s work. As the Council says: "Indeed by their active charity, rejoicing in hope and bearing one another’s burdens, they imitate Christ, who worked as a carpenter and is always working with the Father for the salvation of all" (Lumen gentium, n. 41). Thus the salvific value of work in some way perceived also in recent centuries by philosophy and sociology, is revealed at a very high level as a sharing in the sublime work of Redemption

Hardship finds meaning in Christ’s paschal mystery

8. For this reason the Council states that all can, "by their daily work, rise to a higher and truly apostolic holiness" (ibid.). Here lies the high mission of workers, called to co-operate not only in building a better material world, but also in the spiritual transformation of human and cosmic reality, made possible by the paschal mystery. 

Hardship and suffering, stemming from both the toil of work itself and from the social conditions in which it is performed, thus acquire, because of their sharing in Christ's redeeming sacrifice, a supernatural fruitfulness for the entire human race. The words of St Paul apply to this case too: "Yes, we know that all creation groans and is in agony even until now. Not only that, but we ourselves although we have the Spirit as first fruits groan inwardly while we await the redemption of our bodies" (Rom 8:22-23). This certainty of faith, in the Apostle's historical and eschatological vision, is the basis of his hope-filled assertion: "I consider the sufferings of the present to be as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us" (Rom 8: 18).