The dignity of the human being and the fruitfulness of labour

56. God does not cease wishing to restore creation to humanity and, thanks to Christ the Redeemer, to help all to till and care for the garden (Cf. Gen. 2:15-17) avoiding spoiling it or excluding anyone from it. In this situation every effort made to restore the dignity of the human person and the harmony between the human being and the whole of creation forms, for the Church, part of the mystery of the Redemption wrought by Christ, symbolically represented by the tree of life in the original garden (Cf. Gen. 2:9). When the human being enters freely into communion with this mystery, the person transforms the wandering into a pilgrimage, visiting places and performing actions of faith, learning once again to create a just relationship with God, with one's brothers and sisters and with the whole of creation. The person then knows that this justification comes about and is nourished by faith and by trust in God, and that it is often illustrated in the poor in spirit. This person then becomes once again a full participant in the completion of creation, that had fallen as a result of original sin: "... for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God... (to) obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom. 8:19, 21).

The sense of the human economy is thus revealed in its fullness. Each person and all of humanity can now cultivate the earth, and live from "the earth ... [where] the body of a new human family grows, foreshadowing in some way the age which is to come(⁸⁰)." The dynamic of this economy on the move comes from our acceptance of this pilgrimage, so that it can "become flesh" in our own person. Surrendering to it, gradually shedding all our reservations, brings us back to the Church, this people of pilgrims on the move, and leads her forward together towards the Kingdom of God. It is therefore the responsibility of each person, each man and woman baptised in Christ, to reveal this fruitfulness of which the Church is the custodian, with the mission to restore fertility to the whole of creation. When faced with the rationales of the "structures of sin" which weaken the human economy, we are called to be men and women who allow themselves to be intimately examined by God and who thus take up a critical attitude regarding the dominant models.

In this perspective, the Church invites all people to develop their knowledge, skills and experience, each according to the gifts received and according to their own vocation. These gifts and these vocations, that are proper to each person, are admirably expressed in the three parables (the Servant, the Ten Bridesmaids and the Talents) which quite rightly precede the parable of the Last Judgment (Cf. Mt. 24:45-51 and 25:1-46) mentioned earlier. The complementarity and diversity of vocations and charisms direct the human being's response of love, called as one is to become "providence" for all men and women "a wise and intelligent providence, guiding human development of the world along the path of harmony with the Creator's will for the well-being of the human family and the fulfilment of each individual's transcendent calling(⁸¹)."