When I have spoken of designing and building a more perfect, loving, and just world, the kind of world prophesied throughout scripture, this biblical standard and ethical imperative to progressively conform our lives and our world towards the perfect image, will and intention of God is the One and only thing I am referring to.
While ultimately the full realization of God's plan for our lives and our world is beyond human control and can only be fulfilled through God's redemptive intervention, nevertheless if we know what God intends and what Jesus would do, are we not spiritually and morally obligated to work as competently as possible towards that One Vision and Goal?
Jesus was clear that his advent did not in any way abolish the Old Covenant, Law, and Prophets, but rather fulfilled them and called us up to an even higher standard of embodying not only their letter, but also their perfect Spirit through the power of Spirit of God (Matthew 5:17). This is the essence of the New Covenant.
It is a clear spiritual, moral, and ethical imperative that if we understand the will and intention of God, we should do our best to embody it right here on earth as it is in heaven. And we know that God has a perfect design and intention for properly ordered lives, in a properly ordered society, in a properly ordered world, in a properly ordered universe.
We can walk through a series of steps:
This is the basic understanding at the heart of Jewish and Christian tradition as I understand them.
For instance in Judaism tikkun olam, or "repairing the world," is an important part of faith and practice. This belief holds that it is our responsibility to actively work towards creating a more just and compassionate world, and to bring about the coming of the world to come. This belief is based on the idea that God created the world and all it contains, and that it is our responsibility to care for it and to work towards its healing, restoration, and ultimate perfection.
In Catholic social thought, work is not seen as a punishment or a plague, but rather as a core part of the receptive process through which we and our world are transformed. Work is not just a means of provision for our families, but also a way to partner with God to finish what he started. Meaningful work is the way we participate with God in the ongoing creation and perfection of our lives and our world. By engaging in work that is meaningful and that serves the common good, we can contribute to the transformation of the lives and our world, and the embodied realization of God's kingdom on earth. In this way, meaningful work becomes an act of worship and an expression of our faith.
In both Jewish and Christian traditions, this understanding is also reflected in the importance placed on education and learning, as this is seen as a way to develop the knowledge, skills, and capacity needed to work ever more competently and powerfully towards the repair, restoration and perfection of the world.
Throughout the millennia, God has extended his wisdom and loving hand of partnership to us, and invited us to join with Him to live out the Covenant relationship through which both we and our world are simultaneously and mutually transformed “from glory to glory” towards the perfect image and intention of God.
As we partner with God in His work by the power of His Spirit, we transform and are transformed towards His image and perfection, we become co-creators of our reality, and co-heirs with Christ to the fullness of the Kingdom of God.
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