Acts 18, 1-4 Stayed with them and worked

Acts 18

(Acts 18, 1-4) Stayed with them and worked

[1] After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. [2] There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. He went to visit them [3] and, because he practiced the same trade, stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. [4] Every sabbath, he entered into discussions in the synagogue, attempting to convince both Jews and Greeks.

(CCC 2427) Human work proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another (Cf. Gen 1:28; GS 34; CA 31). Hence work is a duty: "If any one will not work, let him not eat" (2 Thess 3:10; Cf. 1 Thess 4:11). Work honors the Creator's gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work (Cf. Gen 3:14-19) in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish (Cf. LE 27). Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ. (CCC 531) During the greater part of his life Jesus shared the condition of the vast majority of human beings: a daily life spent without evident greatness, a life of manual labor. His religious life was that of a Jew obedient to the law of God (Cf. Gal 4:4), a life in the community. From this whole period it is revealed to us that Jesus was "obedient" to his parents and that he "increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man" (Lk 2:51-52).