Responsibility

The lecture revolves around responsibility as a spiritual law that includes every human being in his personal life, his family, the Church, society, and before God. His Holiness the Pope emphasizes that a person was not created in vain, but was given talents, gifts, and abilities that he must invest in service and spiritual fruitfulness.

First: The concept of responsibility before God

• The mere existence of the human being is a responsibility, for God gave him life to make it fruitful.

• Every gift is a talent for which one will be asked: intelligence, knowledge, talents, time, money, and the love of people.

• Responsibility is not honor or titles, but a trust and a weight before God.

Second: Responsibility in service and leadership

• Every position in the Church is a responsibility before it is an honor, from the servant up to the patriarch.

• God will ask each one: “Give me the account of your stewardship.”

• Individual service is great work even if it has no official title, for much good is done “along the way.”

Third: Responsibility within the family

• Marriage is a mutual responsibility between man and woman, not merely a social bond.

• Both parents are responsible for raising their children spiritually, through teaching, training, and good example.

• The first school for the child is his mother, then his father, before the Church and Sunday School.

Fourth: The responsibility of spiritual influence on others

• A person is entrusted with everyone whom God places in his path, even if he is not officially responsible for them.

• Like the Good Samaritan who did not let “formalities” stop him from doing good.

• Whoever knows how to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Fifth: The dimensions of doing good

• Good has three levels: material, psychological, and spiritual; and the highest is leading people to the Kingdom of God.

• Comforting people psychologically without spiritual guidance may harm them.

• Personal example may be the greatest means of influence.

Sixth: Spiritual models of responsibility

• Saint Paul, Athanasius the Apostolic, and Saint Anthony: leaders who bore great responsibilities for the sake of truth and faith.

• History remembers those who bear abundant fruit.

Spiritual conclusion

Responsibility is the path to fruit, and fruit is a person’s testimony before God.
Everything God gave you is a trust in your hands: use it for good, for service, and for the salvation of souls.
And every labor for the sake of responsibility will be rewarded by God manyfold.

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