Lk 24, 25-32 + CSDC and CV

Luke 24, 25-32 + CSDC and CV

CV 64a While reflecting on the theme of work, it is appropriate to recall how important it is that labour unions — which have always been encouraged and supported by the Church — should be open to the new perspectives that are emerging in the world of work. Looking to wider concerns than the specific category of labour for which they were formed, union organizations are called to address some of the new questions arising in our society: I am thinking, for example, of the complex of issues that social scientists describe in terms of a conflict between worker and consumer.

World of work enriched with new professions while others are disappearing

CDS 313 Work, above all within the economic systems of the more developed countries, is going through a phase that marks the passage from an industrial-type economy to an economy essentially built on services and technological innovations. In other words, what is happening is that services and activities with a predominant informational content show a much greater rapidity of growth than traditional primary and secondary sectors. This entails far-ranging consequences for organizing the production and exchange of goods, defining job requirements and providing effective social protection. Thanks to technological innovations, the world of work is being enriched with new professions while others are disappearing. In fact, in the present phase of transition there is a continuous movement of workers from the industrial sector to that of services. As the economic and social models connected with big factories and with a homogenous working class lose ground, the employment prospects in the third sector improve. In particular, there is an increase in job activity in the area of personal services, in part-time, temporary and “non-traditional” employment, that is, work that does not fit into a category that would classify the job-holder either as an employee or as self-employed.

(Luke 24,25-32) Service to the human person emerges as a priority

[25] And he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! [26] Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer 8 these things and enter into his glory?" [27] Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. [28] As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. [29] But they urged him, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. [30] And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. [31] With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. [32] Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?"

CDS 552 Among the areas of the social commitment of the laity, service to the human person emerges as a priority. Promoting the dignity of every person, the most precious possession of men and women, is the “essential task, in a certain sense, the central and unifying task of the service which the Church, and the lay faithful in her, are called to render to the human family”[1155]. The first form in which this task is undertaken consists in the commitment and efforts to renew oneself interiorly, because human history is not governed by an impersonal determinism but by a plurality of subjects whose free acts shape the social order. Social institutions do not of themselves guarantee, as if automatically, the common good; the internal “renewal of the Christian spirit” [1156] must precede the commitment to improve society “according to the mind of the Church on the firmly established basis of social justice and social charity”[1157]. It is from the conversion of hearts that there arises concern for others, loved as brothers or sisters. This concern helps us to understand the obligation and commitment to heal institutions, structures and conditions of life that are contrary to human dignity. The laity must therefore work at the same time for the conversion of hearts and the improvement of structures, taking historical situations into account and using legitimate means so that the dignity of every man and woman will be truly respected and promoted within institutions.

Notes: [1155] John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici, 37: AAS 81 (1989), 460. [1156] Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931), 218. [1157] Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno: AAS 23 (1931), 218.

[Initials and Abbreviations.- CSDC: Pontifical Council for Justice And Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church; -  SDC: Social Doctrine of the Church; - CV: Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in truth)]