Tuesday, December 2, 2008

1Thes 4, 11-12 Live a tranquil life, work with your hands

(1Thes 4, 11-12) Live a tranquil life, work with your hands
[11] And to aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your (own) hands, as we instructed you, [12] that you may conduct yourselves properly toward outsiders and not depend on anyone.
(CCC 2427) Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another (Cf. Gen 1:28; GS 34; CA 31). Hence work is a duty: "If any one will not work, let him not eat" (2 Thess 3:10; Cf. 1 Thess 4:11). Work honors the Creator's gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work (Cf. Gen 3:14-19) in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish (Cf. LE 27). Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ. (CCC 2428) In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his nature. The primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its beneficiary. Work is for man, not man for work (Cf. LE 6). Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community. (CCC 2429) Everyone has the right of economic initiative; everyone should make legitimate use of his talents to contribute to the abundance that will benefit all and to harvest the just fruits of his labor. He should seek to observe regulations issued by legitimate authority for the sake of the common good (Cf. CA 32; 34).

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