Catholic anthropology views the human person as endowed with inherent and inestimable worth and dignity. Sacred Scripture declares this truth in the opening chapter of Genesis, “God created (humankind) in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them….And so it happened. God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good” (Genesis 1:27-31). God deems the other acts of creation as good; God finds His creation of humans, however, as very good. Every person bears the imago Dei, the image of our all-loving, powerful, and knowing God.
Fundamentally good yet fallen because of original sin, humankind stands in need of a Savior. It is our Savior, Jesus Christ, Who reminds us of our goodness and value in the eyes of our Heavenly Father, “Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:30-31).
In addition to our inherent giftedness, God also bestows His followers with His grace, “the free and undeserved help that (He) gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons (and daughters), partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1997, para. 1996).
This grace takes on supernatural forms through our baptisms and confirmations, wherein we receive our charism, the Greek word used in the New Testament for "favor" or "gratuitous gift." Charisms, or spiritual gifts, are special abilities given to all Christians by the Holy Spirit to give them power both to represent Christ and to be a channel of God's goodness for people (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1997, para. 799-801).
In this way, we understand our giftedness both as something we are and something we are called to selflessly give away to others.
Since every person is a gift from God, our unified collaboration provides a coordinated diversity of talents, multiplying the effects that any one of us can have alone. Recognizing our strengths, talents, and charisms allows us to meaningfully contribute to the collective mission of Catholic education. Being aware of both our and others’ giftedness empowers us to purposefully involve and partner with others in carrying out this important work. In celebrating the accomplishments of our teams, we also recognize the offerings of each individual.
Because of this belief - that every person is in fact a gift from God - we presume the positive intentions of each other, tempering our frustrations and quickening our understanding. We hold each others’ well-being as sacred, investing time and resources in fellowship, faith-sharing, fun, and frequent check-ins.
Honor the giftedness of each person we encounter in our ministries by seeing them as Christ and being Christ to them in turn, incarnationally serving all people with love, “...for whatever you did for (others), you did for me” (Matthew 25:40).
