VATICAN - The Pope celebrates Mass with workers: “Work is of primary importance for the realisation of the person and the development of society which is why it must be organised and undertaken with full respect for human dignity and as a service to the common good.”

Monday, 20 March 2006

Vatican City (Fides Service) - Work is important for self realisation but on no account should it be seen as the ultimate purpose of life Pope Benedict XVI said on Sunday 19 March, the feast of St Joseph, during Mass celebrated for thousands of workers and their families gathered in St Peter’s Basilica. “Work is of primary importance for the realisation of the person and the development of society - the Pope said in his homily - which is why it must be organised and undertaken in full respect for human dignity and as a service to the common good. At the same time on no account must man let himself be enslaved by work, or become an idolater of work thinking to find in it the ultimate and definitive meaning of life”. Before the Mass began Bishop Arrigo Miglio of Ivrea, president of the Italian Bishops’ Commission for social questions, work and justice and peace, wished the Pope (Jozef) a happy feast day .
In his homily reflecting on the readings of the third Sunday in Lent the Pope said God’s Commandments were a confirmation of the freedom obtained by Israel: “In fact if we look at the commandments closely - he said - we realise they are a means given us by the Lord to defend our freedom from inward conditioning of passions and from external abuse of the evil minded. The "no" of the commandments is equally a ‘yes’ to growth and authentic freedom”. Moreover “with the Law he gives through Moses the Lord reveals that he intends to make a Covenant with Israel. The Law is therefore a gift rather than an imposition”. The second message in the Sunday readings highlighted by the Pope was that “that law of Moses is fully accomplished in Jesus who reveals God’s wisdom and love through the mystery of the Cross … in this season of Lent as we prepare to relive that event in the Easter Triduum contemplating the Crucified One we already perceive in Him the splendour of the Risen Lord”.
Another important aspect of human life taken into consideration by Pope Benedict XVI in his homily was the reality of work. “More than one page of the Gospel shows how work was an original condition of man” the Holy Father said, and “the Church has always shown, during the last century in particular, attention and concern for this ambit of society”. The Pope then mentioned the words of the first reading - "Remember to keep holy the Sabbath Day: six days you will labour and do all kinds of work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath Day in honour of the Lord your God" (Ex 20, 8-9) - and he said: “the Sabbath is a holy day, that is, consecrated to God, on which man understands better the meaning of life and also of his working activity. So we can say the Bible’s teaching on work is crowned with the commandment to rest”.
If “work is to promote the authentic good of humanity”, technical and professional qualification, the creation of a social order which is just and concerned for the good of all, is not sufficient Pope Benedict XVI said, “believers must live a spirituality which helps them be sanctified through their work, imitating St Joseph who provided every day for the needs of the Holy Family with the work of his hands and this is why the Church made him patron of workers. His testimony shows that man is the subject and protagonist in work”. At the end of his homily the Pope made special mention of “young people who find it hard to insert themselves in the world of work and the unemployed who suffer hardship because of widespread employment crisis”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 20/3/2006 - righe 41, parole 586)


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