PUBLISHED ON May 1, 2024
Today is the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.
John Paul II makes clear that in the first pages of introduction to “Laboren Exercems:” Animals don’t work. Machines don’t work. Only Persons work. And the reason is that only person are capable of making the gift of self. In machines and animals, there are no persons. and the meaning of person is taken from the revelation of God as person, the only one known to us empirically in the flesh is Jesus Christ,.
Let me explain: since Jesus Christ is the meaning of person, and therefore, the human person, His Work of destroying the sin of man is the very meaning of work. Only He could do this.
St. Paul in 2 Cor. 5, 21 reads: He was made sin who knew nothing of sin. Christ, God, man of one person and two natures (Chalcedon year 250). The Person of Christ assumes all the sin (disobedience) of all men. He assumes it in His human created nature. However, He obeys as divine uncreated person to death on the Cross to destroy the sin of disobedience, which He does. The human will of Jesus Christ, as created, could not take on the guilt of all sin of all men. However, He obeys the will of the Father as divine Person. that is, He, as divine Person, obeys the will of the Father to go to death. In doing so, He destroys the sin of disobedience of human nature since He is, as God-man, the prototype of man. Again, wills don’t will. Only Persons will.
The point to the infinity of Self gift is that it is not the human will of the man Jesus of Nazareth that obeys, but the human will of the divine infinite Person Who is the Son of God Who wills. This is the divine Self-gift that redeems all disobedience (sin) of men. And this is the “work” of Jesus Christ which our work can become.
John Paul II makes clear that in the first pages of introduction to “Laboren Exercems:” Animals don’t work. Machines don’t work. Only Persons work. And the reason is that only person are capable of making the gift of self. In machines and animals, there are no persons. and the meaning of person is taken from the revelation of God as person, the only one known to us empirically in the flesh is Jesus Christ,.
Let me explain: since Jesus Christ is the meaning of person, and therefore, the human person, His Work of destroying the sin of man is the very meaning of work. Only He could do this.
St. Paul in 2 Cor. 5, 21 reads: He was made sin who knew nothing of sin. Christ, God, man of one person and two natures (Chalcedon year 250). The Person of Christ assumes all the sin (disobedience) of all men. He assumes it in His human created nature. However, He obeys as divine uncreated person to death on the Cross to destroy the sin of disobedience, which He does. The human will of Jesus Christ, as created, could not take on the guilt of all sin of all men. However, He obeys the will of the Father as divine Person. that is, He, as divine Person, obeys the will of the Father to go to death. In doing so, He destroys the sin of disobedience of human nature since He is, as God-man, the prototype of man. Again, wills don’t will. Only Persons will.
The point to the infinity of Self gift is that it is not the human will of the man Jesus of Nazareth that obeys, but the human will of the divine infinite Person Who is the Son of God Who wills. This is the divine Self-gift that redeems all disobedience (sin) of men. And this is the “work” of Jesus Christ which our work can become.