Chaput: Using and Being Used

Jun 2, 2009
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap.
Archbishop of Denver

Excerpt:
The fatal flaw in our developed societies and their idolatry of science--because that's what it is, a form of idolatry and avarice for power--is that their idea of man is too vain and too despairing, too big and too small at the same time. We're less than gods but more than smart monkeys. And the glory God intends for each of us can only be found one way, through one Man.

I've always been struck by the fact that the human stepfather of Jesus was a tekton; a carpenter and builder. So was Jesus himself. Jesus would have known, from a very early age, the feeling of sweat and stone and wood, the sting of splinters in his hands, and the satisfaction of shaping raw material to human need. He would have learned from Joseph real skill at his labor and a respect for the ingenuity of his craft. But he also would have learned the place of his work and his tools in a genuinely human life--i.e., a life shaped by prayer, study in the synagogue, love for his family and people, and a reverence for the Torah, the Word of God. He also would have understood the treasure of silence, and Scripture tells us that Jesus sought it out. the rest image