In a world where things are exponentially evolving, it is easy to lose and forget God’s plan on humanity and on this World. Nowadays, we are used to hearing and seeing here and there what degrades and undervalues the dignity of human being. Sometimes, it is due to the fruit of the “work” done by people. What sadness! But God, as creator of all and the first Worker through his creation, has showed us how, through our daily work we can preserve life instead of damaging it. Then, this must be our mere goal. The book of Genesis testifies that we have been created in the image and likeness of God (Gen1:26); that is why we are called to contemplate and imitate what God has done since creation. However, some questions arise: What is the purpose of the work? Who are or should be the workers? Can robots care for our world? Or are they only to replace us? From whom our work must be done? These are the questions we will try to answer through this article.
⁕ Jesus, a man at work
As Christians, we recognize in Jesus many values that always shape our personality and build up the Church and the world. From him, we learn to love and consider work not like a burden but like a blessing through which we’ll reach the fulfillment of goodness. In Mark 6, 3, we see how Jesus is identified as the son of the Carpenter Joseph. It means that he must have learned to work from his foster father, and indeed he worked. Aside from this, through his incarnation, Jesus elevated human work and taught us a good way of “subduing the earth’’ (Gn 1, 28) without exploiting and destroying it, and to respect the life of others (our neighbors). Therefore, love of work and desire of developing this world, must be a moral obligation to all of us because we are "heirs of the work of generations and at the same time shapers of the future of all who will live after us." (Compendium of the Catholic Church, No.274).
⁕ Work and love
Referring to God who has created heaven and earth including human beings, there is the sense of love and responsibility before and after work. This helps us take advantage of not making the world in danger. Work must help us as well grow and contemplate the greatness of God through the fruit of the latter and not the contrary. Good work ennobles us promotes our lives. Thus, respect towards others and nature must be taken into account: "Work, therefore, cannot be properly evaluated if its social nature is not taken into account." Saint Paul, in some of his letters, encourages believers to work diligently to support themselves and to contribute to the needs of others (Cf.1 Thes 4:11-12, Eph 4:28). Unfortunately, today we are selling our capacities and potentialities to what we have made as “robots”. However, we cannot compare human abilities with robots. For sure, there are some unexpectable situations that only persons can handle than those man-made things. We must make use of our God- given faculty of intelligence in everything we do. With this, we may be able to avoid many dangers that threaten our lives. As we work, our mission is to make this world more beautiful, preserve the beauty of nature, and our life. We do this for fear that everything may collapse if we let ourselves be replaced by what we make or manufacture.
Conclusion
Work is good, and by this, we have a moral obligation to work. This obligation must help us to transform the world for the better. We work for us, for others and above all for Christ, our model. When Christ is put at the center of all, our life becomes safer (or more beautiful). Therefore, we are called to follow the example of our Creator, who has done and made all things for our good. Moreover, we have to know that in whatever we do, “We are not God; the earth was here before us and it has been given to us” (Laudato Si, n067). Our challenge now is to continue to carry out our role as stewards of our mother earth for our good and that of the whole creation.
