MAN IS THE SUBJECT OF WORK

 

MAN IS THE SUBJECT OF WORK

What is meant by stating that man is the subject of work?  Pope St. John Paul II clarifies it for us in his encyclical “On Human Work” (Laborem Exercens).  “Man has to subdue the earth and dominate it, because as the image of God he is a person, that is to say, a subjective being capable of acting in a planned and rational way, capable of deciding about himself, and with a tendency to self-realization. As a person, man is therefore the subject of work. As a person he works, he performs various actions belonging to the work process; independently of their objective content, these actions must all serve to realize his humanity, to fulfil the calling to be a person that is his by reason of his very humanity.”  Catholic social teaching places human beings at the center of all economic activity. 

The product of work may be objectively good or bad.  For example, building a hospital is good, but building a concentration camp is bad.  The subject of work, however, always has value, because the subject is created in the image and likeness of God.  A worker never loses his or her humanity.  Sometimes we are tempted to judge a person by what they do for a living, as if a janitor has less value or dignity than a multimillionaire executive.  All are loved by God.  Scripture tells us that “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Whatever the project, whatever the actual work being done, whatever the position, high or low, it is held by people for whom Christ gave his life that they may be saved.  In fact, in the Bible God prefers the lowly and the poor.  Our Blessed Mother declared in her Magnificat, “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly” (Luke 1:52).

With the development of the industrial age the Church came to the defense of workers who were often exploited, and continues to support their right to organize.  She rejects certain forms of economic systems that are inherently unjust, such as communism and unmitigated capitalism.  The view of work which reduces it to a form of merchandise, something to be bought and sold, or which can be organized to lead humanity to an earthly paradise, is never acceptable.  But Pope John Paul II is clear that it is not the Church’s competence to determine specific economic policies or how a society is politically organized.  Her duty lies in defending human rights.  People cannot be treated merely as instruments of production.  Both reason and faith teach us that work is good for man because it not only allows him to transform nature and adapt it to his needs, but also enables him to achieve his fulfillment by obeying the Creator’s command: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.  Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth” (Gen 1:28).  The pope reminds us that man is to subdue but not abuse the earth, and must exercise his dominion over creatures in a reasonable manner.  Only in this way can man achieve his human fulfillment.

Work is good at the personal level and at the communal level.  The first communal good is the family.  “In a way, work is a condition for making it possible to found a family, since the family requires the means of subsistence which man normally gains through work. Work and industriousness also influence the whole process of education in the family, for the very reason that everyone ‘becomes a human being’ through, among other things, work, and becoming a human being is precisely the main purpose of the whole process of education.”  We were created to be productive.  While the Church insists on the right to a weekly day of rest and the observance of holidays, she insists that we truly begin to realize ourselves not by our leisure but by our work.

The third element to the dignity of work is that it builds society, which contributes to a persons’ identity: “man combines his deepest human identity with membership of a nation, and intends his work also to increase the common good developed together with his compatriots, thus realizing that in this way work serves to add to the heritage of the whole human family, of all the people living in the world.”  We may take consolation in the fact that our hard work benefits other people and contributes to the building of our community, our nation, and our world.  From this perspective, it is a patriotic thing to work hard!  It is also a Christian thing, for Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We apply his teaching in the marketplace by treating others – employees, co-workers, owners, consumers – as we would like to be treated in the same position.