The Uniqueness of Christianity
Man, made in the image and likeness of God, was placed by God in the visible world to order the world and thus to cooperate in God's work of creation.
Man's calling to work did not change after he disobeyed God, it only became more irksome to accomplish. Through grace, which is the love of God that he has put into our hearts, man's work and ordinary activities take on a salvific dimension, forming him more closely in the image of Jesus, and thus uniting him more fully to all men. (cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Laborem Exercens, greeting)
Through the life of grace, that is, the life of God, to which Christ restored his followers, they come to share in his priestly ministry[*] so that in uniting their lives to his sacrifice, they can offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet 2:5)
It is not only when Christians participate in `churchy' activities that they contribute to the spread of the Gospel and the salvation of souls. All human endeavors, every kind of work, including study, contributes to man's salvation if it is done for love of God, with all the perfection and concern for others that that love entails.The world is not evil because it has come from God's hands, because it is his creation, because Yahweh looked upon it and saw that it was good (cf. Gen 1:7 ff.). We ourselves, mankind, make it evil and ugly with our sins and infidelities. Have no doubt: any kind of evasion from the honest realities of daily life is for you, men and women of the world, something opposed to the will of God.
On the contrary, you must understand now more clearly that God is calling you to serve him in and from the ordinary, material and secular activities of human life. He waits for us everyday, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home and in all the immense panorama of work. Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine hidden in the most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.
I assure you, my children, that when a Christian carries out with love the most insignificant everyday action, that action overflows with the transcendence of God. That is why I have told you repeatedly, and hammered away once and again on the idea, that the Christian vocation consists in making heroic verse out of the prose of each day. Heaven and earth seem to merge, my children, on the horizon. But where they really meet is in your hearts, when you sanctify your everyday lives. (Blessed Josemaria Escriva, `Passionately Loving the World' a homily delivered at the University of Navarre, 8 Oct 1967. Conversations with Monsignor Josemaria Escriva, 114, 116)
Pleasures ordered to the love of God and of neighbor are also worthy matter for Christians to offer to God. As St. Paul tells the Corinthians, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Cor 10:31)
As we identify all we do with Christ, we come to live his life more fully, so that we can repeat with St. Paul, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20)
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