THE NATURE OF WORK

Focus Question:

How are the DIGNITY OF WORK and the RIGHTS OF WORKERS related to your own DIGNITY as as person?

work

• a sustained effort with the intent to produce or accomplish something
• can involve physical or mental labor
• value rests in the person, not the work being done

CHRIST'S GREATEST WORK WAS HIS WORK OF REDEMPTION--HIS SACRIFICE ON THE CROSS, AN UNMERITED GIFT

DIMENSIONS OF WORK

• OBJECTIVE DIMENSION OF WORK: the product or outcome of work
• SUBJECTIVE DIMENSION OF WORK: The human person and his or her involvement in work

work and politics

• any political or economic system that makes the objective element of work its good violates the human person
• economic systems like socialism and communism that subordinate individual workers and their rights to the work being doine are immoral

More Vocabulary

• CAPITAL: The natural resources God has given people to use as well as to all the means of producing and developing them

The origins of work

• a gift from creation
• work is not a punishment
• God's first instructions for adam and eve were to "subdue the earth" (Gn 1:28) and "cultivate and care for God's creation" (gn 2:15)

The duties of work

• Duty to work: wE live in a human community and are called to communion with others; reject dependency
• duty to share fruits of work: the poor have a right to accept charity of others but it is not an excuse not to look for employment; work is for good of others and the worker

THE BENEFITS OF WORK

WORK IS A FUNDAMENTAL MEANS FOR YOU TO EXPRESS AND DEVELOP YOURSELF AS A HUMAN BEING, A UNIQUE CREATURE OF GOD

the benefits of work As a Provider:
work is a way to provide for your material needs, especially true for heads of family who need to take care of children

work benefits you as a member of society
work enables people to contribute to a community's well-being; work is not for one's self but for family, nation, and for the entire human family

"WORK CAN BE A MEANS OF SANCTIFICATION AND A WAY OF ANIMATING EARTHLY REALITIES WITH THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST" (CCC, 2427)

WORK AS A SHARE IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST

• the suffering you endure as part of earthly work prepare you for the trials of death
• eARTHLY WORK HELPS LEAD YOU TO REDEMPTION

ST. JOSEPH

• PATRON SAINT OF WORKERS
• CHOSEN BY GOD TO HELP RAISE JESUS
• A HUMBLE MAN WHO TRUSTED IN GOD AND HAD A QUIET LIFE AS A CARPENTER
• PRIME EXAMPLE OF THE DIGNITY OF WORK

INTRODUCTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY HANNAH CHUA-REYES, TAYLOR TRISTINE, KAITLYN REGAN, AND AVERY REARDON