Dear Parishioners,
 
Last week we celebrated Labor Day. The Church’s mission entails the good of humanity. Work is an essential part of human life. So, the Church’s social teaching necessarily discusses and elaborates on the dignity of work. From the beginning work was a part the very fabric of creation. “On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken” (Genesis 2:2). In God’s original plan, mankind was meant to participate in the work of God; caring for creation. This past May Pope Francis elaborated on this participation. He said: “Human labor is the vocation that mankind received from God ever since the creation of the universe. It is work that makes us similar to God, because through work men and women act as creators, and are capable of creating many things, even of creating a family.” Even the Son of God worked during his time here on earth as the crowd asked: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” 
After the Fall, work remains a necessary part of human existence, but due to sin it can become twisted and deformed. “Cursed is the ground because of you! In toil you shall eat its yield all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:17). Hence, throughout history, the dignity of work and the worker has, at times, been under threat. God reminds humanity, through the Church, of the proper understanding of work. 
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Work is for man, not man for work” (CCC 2428). This expression gets to the heart of an essential principle of Catholic Social Teaching; namely, the dignity of every human person. This dignity derives from a person’s creation in the image and likeness of God, as well as each person’s possession of free will. This dignity means that a person cannot be used as a means to an end. Hence, political or economic systems which compromise a person’s dignity and use him simply for production, deny him legitimate forms of labor, or refuse a just wage, are immoral. At the same time 
At the same time, persons have a duty and responsibility to contribute to the common good of society. “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 labor” (CCC 2429). A person who refuses to contribute to society in some form of labor commits an injustice. Paul reminds us: “…if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). The common good does not simply mean the production of material prosperity. Instead the purpose and common good of society is for the formation of virtue of its members. Hence, just as a body has many parts but is one, society itself has many forms of labor which ultimately should contribute to the formation of virtue. 
 
In Christ,
Fr. Barrow