Life and dignity of the Human Person - part 2

Life and Dignity of the Human Person

“Look on the needs of the saints as your own, be generous in offering hospitality. Bless your persecutors; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same attitude toward all. Put away ambitious thoughts and associate with those who are lowly.  Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never repay injury with injury.” (Romans 12:13-17)

“Human persons are willed by God; they are imprinted with God’s image. Their dignity does not come from the work they do, but from the persons they are.” St. John Paul II On The Hundredth Year, Centesimus annus. #11

We continue with the first theme of Catholic Social Teaching, Life and Dignity of the Human Person. In the first part we talked mostly about human life issues. This section we will talk about what we mean by the dignity of the human person. Each person is made in the image and likeness of God. Each person, therefore, has inherent dignity. This dignity does not depend on ethnicity, religion, or country of origin. Nor is it effected by job, financial status, or position in the community. Workers who labor at minimum wage have the same dignity and are due the same respect as corporate leaders. Nor can they be treated as “mere tools for profit.” Because of the dignity of each person, racism in all its forms must be fought against by all Catholics. People must not be separated into groups because of how they look, how they speak, and where they come from. No one has the right to treat others as inferior to them for any reason.

How we treat one another and how we will be judged by that treatment is summed up in the “Corporal Works of Mercy.” “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me. I was ill and you comforted me, in prison and you visited me.” (Matt. 25:35-36) Thus the Church calls on societies and individuals to see that all have enough to eat, all have decent housing, all have adequate health care. They Church calls on society to treat prisoners with dignity, and to welcome strangers and refugees. How we treat each other, especially the poor, the sick, and the marginalized, is the measurement of the justice of a country and a community.

“All human beings, therefore, are ends to be served by the institutions that make up the economy, not means to be exploited for more narrowly defined goals.  Human personhood must be respected with a reverence that is religious. When we deal with each other, we should do so with a sense of awe that arises in the presence of something holy and sacred. For that is what human beings are.” The United States Catholic Bishops, “Economic Justice for All. #28