Today's meditation: Human activity

Human activity, as it derives from man, is thus ordered to man. In fact, when man works, he not only changes things and society, but also perfects himself. He learns many things, develops his faculties, is led to go out of himself and overcome himself. This development, if it is well understood, is worth more than the external wealth that can accumulate. Man is worth more for what he is than for what he has.
Likewise, everything that men do in order to achieve greater justice, a wider fraternity and a more humane order in social relationships has more value than technical progress. These, in fact, can provide, so to speak, the matter for human promotion, but alone they are not worth in any way to carry it out.
So here is what the norm of human activity is. According to God's plan and his will, man's activity must correspond to the true good of humanity, and allow individuals, both as individuals and as members of the community, to cultivate and implement their integral vocation.
Many of our contemporaries, however, seem to fear that, if the links between human activity and religion are tightened, the autonomy of men, societies and sciences will be impeded. Now if by autonomy of earthly realities we mean that created things and societies themselves have their own laws and values, which man must gradually discover, use and order, then it is a legitimate requirement, which is not only postulated by the men of the our time, but also conforms to the will of the Creator. In fact, it is from their very condition as creatures that all things obtain their own consistency, truth, goodness, their own laws and their order; and all this man is required to respect, recognizing the methodological needs of each individual science or art. Therefore if the methodical research of each discipline proceeds in a truly scientific way and according to moral norms, it will never be in real contrast with faith, because the profane realities and the realities of faith originate from the same God. Indeed, those who strive with humility and with perseverance to fathom the secrets of reality, even without him being aware of it, it is conducted by the hand of God, who, keeping all things in existence, makes them what they are. At this point, let us deplore certain mental attitudes, which sometimes are not lacking even among Christians. Some for not having sufficiently perceived the legitimate autonomy of science, provoke disputes and controversies and pervert many spirits to the point of making them believe that science and faith oppose each other.
If, however, the expression "autonomy of temporal realities" means that created things do not depend on God, that man can use them without referring them to the Creator, then all those who believe in God feel how false these opinions are. In fact, the creature vanishes without the Creator.