ON HUMAN WORK

“Whatever you do, work at it

with all your heart…”
-Col 3:23

fray Mhark Dominic M. Macaranas, OADs, MAThS, MPA (CAR), PhD (cand.)
ASF4 Professor
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Discuss and enunciate with firm convictions the importance of

Church teachings that human work is for the development of
humanity and society towards salvation;
2. Appreciate with love the teachings of Saint Augustine and the
Church that work transformed the person to become a more
human being for the greater glory of God;
3. Demonstrations of proactive Augustinian values for the love of
God and neighbor especially in times of uncertainties and crisis.

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 SCRIPTURAL BASIS OF WORK
1. Genesis 2:15 (God settles man in the garden of Eden to
cultivate and care for it).
2. Deuteronomy 14:28-29 (The Lord blesses our work so that
we may share its fruits with others).
3. Deuteronomy 24:14-15 (Do not withhold wages from your
workers, for their livelihood depends on them).
4. Sirach 34:26-27 (To deprive an employee of wages is to
commit murder).
5. Isaiah 58:3-7 (To observe religious practices, but oppress
your workers is false worship).
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 SCRIPTURAL BASIS OF WORK
6. Jeremiah 22:13 (Woe to him who treats his workers
unjustly).
7. Matthew 20:1-16 (All workers should be paid a just and
living wage).
8. Mark 2:27 (The Sabbath was made for people, not
people for the Sabbath).
9. Luke 12:13-21 (One’s worth is not determined by an
abundance of possessions).
[Link] 5:1-6 (Those who become rich by abusing their
workers have sinned against God).
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 THE DUTY TO CULTIVATE
AND CARE FOR THE EARTH
The Old Testament depicts God as the all-powerful Creator who
creates man in his image and asks him to till the soil, cultivate, and
care for the garden of Eden where he has set him. God entrusts
the job of subduing the planet and exerting dominion over all
living creatures to the first human couple. The dominion over all
living things is to nurture and care for God's creations. These
goods were not produced by man but were given to him as a
treasured gift from the Creator and placed under his care.
Cultivating the earth does not imply abandoning it to itself; rather,
exerting control over it entails caring for it, as a wise monarch
does for his people and a shepherd does for his sheep. (CSDC 255)
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 JESUS, A MAN OF WORK
(CSDC 259)

➢In his preaching, Jesus teaches that we should appreciate

work. He Himself, having “become like us in all things,
devoted most of the years of His life on earth to manual
work at the carpenter’s bench” in the workshop of Joseph
(Mt. 13:55; Mk 6:3), to whom He was obedient (Luke 2:51).
➢Jesus condemns the behavior of the useless servant, who
hides his talent in the ground (Mt.25:14-30), and praises the
faithful and prudent servant whom the Master finds at work
at the duties entrusted to him (Mt.24:46).
➢He describes his own mission as that of working: “My Father is
working still, and I am working” (Jn. 5:17), and His disciples as
workers in the harvest of the Lord, which is the
evangelization of humanity (Mt.9:37-38).
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 JESUS, A MAN OF WORK
(CSDC 259)

➢Those who put up with the difficult rigors of work in union

with Jesus cooperate, in a certain sense, with the Son of
God in his work of redemption and show that they are
disciples of Christ bearing his cross, every day, in the
activity they are called to do.
➢In this perspective, work can be considered a means of
sanctification and enlivening of earthly realities with the
Spirit of Christ.

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 TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
ON HUMAN WORK
Work holds a special place in society since
it provides a source of wealth, or at the
very least the means to live a good life,
and is, in principle, an effective anti-
poverty tool. However, one must resist the
urge to make labor an idol, because work
does not contain the ultimate and final
purpose of life. Work is necessary, but God
- not work – is the source of life and man's
ultimate aim. (CSDC 257)
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 TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
ON HUMAN WORK
According to Pope Francis, work should be
the environment for this rich personal
development, where many parts of life come
into play: creativity, future planning,
developing our abilities, living out our values,
relating to others, and bringing praise to God.
As a result, in today's global society, it is critical
that "we continue to prioritize the objective of
access to sustainable work for everyone."

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 TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
ON HUMAN WORK

We were born with the desire to work. The

objective should not be for technology
development to gradually replace human
labor, as this would be harmful to mankind.
Work is a need, a component of the meaning
of life on Earth, a means of progress, human
development, and personal fulfillment.
(Laudato Si', nos. 127-28; USCCB, 2021).

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 TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
ON HUMAN WORK

Pope Benedict XVI reminded everyone, especially

governments working to improve the world's
economic and social assets, that the fundamental
capital to be protected and appreciated is man,
the human person in his or her entirety: "Man is the
source, the center, and the goal of all economic
and social activity."
(Caritas in Veritate, no. 25; citing the Second
Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, no. 63)

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 TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
ON HUMAN WORK
“…poverty is often caused by a
violation of the dignity of human work,
either because work opportunities are
limited (due to unemployment or
underemployment) or ‘because a low
value is placed on work and the rights
that flow from it, particularly the right to
a just wage and to the personal
security of the worker and his or her
family.’ (Caritas in Veritate, no. 63).

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 TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
ON HUMAN WORK
Saint John Paul II stated that the responsibility
to earn one's living by the sweat of one's
brow presupposes the right to do so as well. A
society in which this right is consistently
denied, in which economic policies prevent
people from achieving adequate levels of
employment, cannot be justified ethically,
nor can it achieve social harmon.
(Centesimus Annus, no. 43)

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 TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
ON HUMAN WORK
Man needs labor, both because the Creator
has commanded it and because his humanity
requires effort to be preserved and
developed. Man must work out of concern for
others, especially his own family, but also for
the society to which he belongs, the country of
which he is a child, and the entire human
family of which he is a member, because he is
the heir to the work of generations and a
participant in building the future of those who
will come after him in the. succession of history
(Laborem Exercens, no. 16)
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 TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
ON HUMAN WORK
Labor is beneficial for man because through
work, man not only alters nature, adapting it to
his own requirements, but he also finds fulfillment
as a human being and, in a way, becomes "more
a human person." (Laborem Exercens, no. 9). All
of these rights, combined with the necessity for
workers to protect them, give rise to a new right:
the right of association, which is the right to join
groups in order to defend the essential interests of
individuals engaged in diverse professions. These
organizations are known as labor or trade unions.
(Laborem Exercens, no. 20)

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 TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH
ON HUMAN WORK
As the Church solemnly declared in the last
Council, "the beginning, the subject and the goal
of all social institutions is and must be the human
person." All people have the right to work, to the
opportunity to develop their qualities and
personalities through the exercise of their
professions, to equitable remuneration that will
enable them and their families "to lead a worthy
life on the material, social, cultural, and spiritual
levels," and to assistance in the event of need
due to sickness or old age.
(Paul VI, Octogesima Adveniens, no. 14)
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 THE TEACHING OF SAINT
AUGUSTINE ON HUMAN WORK
Man was formed in God's "image and likeness" (Gen
1:26), not only because he has the same memory,
understanding, and loving capacity as God, but also
because he is invited to participate in God's continuous
creation. According to Sir 18:1, Saint Augustine believes
that the six days stated in the biblical narrative of
creation cannot be successive. God, on the other hand,
created all things at once according to their causal
reasons (cf. Stoic notion of “seminal reasons”) – that is,
potentially (cf. De div. quaest. 46; TeSelle: 32-33;
Knuuttila: 107), which were then destined to unfold or be
actualized visibly over time (cf. De Gen. ad litt. 4.35.56;
5.7.20; MacCormack: 22f). Man's assistance is required
for the full growth of creation (cf. De Gen. ad litt. 8.8.15).
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 THE TEACHING OF SAINT
AUGUSTINE ON HUMAN WORK
Saint Augustine distinguishes between two ways in which he sees how divine
providence works in creation – naturally and voluntarily: “Through natural
activity, indeed, is working the hidden management of God by which he
also gives growth to trees and herbs, while voluntary activity comes through
the works of angels and human beings. As regards the first mode, celestial
things are arrayed up above …, day and night are moved around in turn, the
earth with its foundations in waters has them washing round it and in
amongst it, the air is poured over it at a higher level ….; while in this other
mode, signs are given, taught and learned, field cultivated, communities
administered, arts and skills practiced ...” (De Gen ad litt. 8.9.17). Thus, man
can contribute to the development of creation or cooperate with God in his
act of creation. Education, training, acquisition of knowledge, arts and skills
are necessary. Therefore, creation continues to unfold and man has a role to
play in this regard. Through his work, he renders visible what God has already
potentially created at the beginning of time. T. van Bavel elaborates:
“Human effort helps God in developing creation, because through our labor
God’s gifts come forth from the earth in a more abundant and productive
way” ( The Creator and the Integrity of Creation,16).

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 THE TEACHING OF SAINT
AUGUSTINE ON HUMAN WORK

Created to God’s “likeness” (similitudo), only man is

created according to God’s “image and likeness.”
An “image” (imago) possesses an immediate
tendency toward that which created it (cf. Teske:
272; TeSelle: 34). Thus, compared with other
creatures, man as “imago Dei” naturally tends
towards God who created him (cf. De Trin. 7.6.12).
This gives man a far higher dignity compared to the
rest of creation (cf. Ps 8:5). In fact, God has given
him dominion over other creatures (cf. Gen 1:26).

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 THE TEACHING OF SAINT
AUGUSTINE ON HUMAN WORK

Having dominion over the rest of creation does not

mean that man can do with it whatever he
pleases. It is not an absolute power given to man.
Thus, even in the way man exercises his dominion
on the rest of creation, there must be some
limitation to it. He is expected to take care of it and
use it only according to God’s plan (Van Bavel,
“The Creator and the Integrity of Creation ….”: 14;
16). He is to use it in view of eternity and not enjoy it
in itself (cf. De doctr. chr. 1.4.4).

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 THE TEACHING OF SAINT
AUGUSTINE ON HUMAN WORK
Relative to man’s attitude towards work, the
ultimate purpose why a person should work is to
provide for one’s self or satisfy one’s temporal
needs, not to unnecessarily amass material
possessions and exploit the material world and
everything it contains. He is likewise expected not
to use the material fruits of his labor to dominate
other people and commit injustice. Saint Augustine
warns us against inappropriate use of the world’s
resources, in this case, and the temptation of
avarice, describing it as “what goads people to go
for anything more greedily than is right because of
their superiority” (De Gen. ad litt. 11.15.19).
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