On Sunday, Pope Francis met with a group that is studying "an increasingly more inclusive economy". In the meeting he decried the tendencies of economic systems to reduce the human being to a simple means to an end, a cog in a wheel, a mere tool in a system that promotes economic imbalance. In this system, mankind loses humanity. (Notice the chart above - it doesn't even mention human beings.) And when we lose are humanity, what happens? What is the outcome of a society where the human is reduced to his or her productive capability and usefulness to the ends of an economic system? That is when the human being becomes dehumanized and disposable. (Neither the Pope nor I are criticizing or affirming any particular type of economic system, simply the inhumane ways people are treated in different systems.) It doesn't take long to look at the state of our world today, indeed our own country, to see the effects. Many are seen as a burden and looked at as persons who have lost (or never had) any usefulness. This shows an increased suicide rates particularly among persons over 65 who kill themselves 20% more often than the general rate (according to a New York Times article 8/7/2013). It shows in our willingness to "mercifully kill" those in terminal conditions instead of loving them and affirming their great value right up to the natural end of their life. It shows in our willingness to abort babies because their continued existence is seen as inconvenient or burdensome.
We as Christians, indeed as HUMAN BEINGS, should be railing against the reduction of the human person to their economic usefulness. Please work in your own life and in your treatment of others to affirm their (and your) great worth despite age, illness, infirmity or economic status. Each and every person is in need of others to show them their great value. How will you and I respond to that need?
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