Lk 8, 22-25 + CSDC and CV

Luke 8, 22-25 + CSDC and CV

CV 34b. The Church's wisdom has always pointed to the presence of original sin in social conditions and in the structure of society: “Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals”[85]. In the list of areas where the pernicious effects of sin are evident, the economy has been included for some time now. We have a clear proof of this at the present time.

Notes: [85] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 407: cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 25: loc. cit., 822-824.  

Pope Pius XI did not fail to raise his voice against the totalitarian regimes

CSDC 92a. Pope Pius XI did not fail to raise his voice against the totalitarian regimes that were being imposed in Europe during his pontificate. Already on 29 June 1931 he had protested against the abuse of power by the totalitarian fascist regime in Italy with the Encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogno [155]. He published the Encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, on the situation of the Catholic Church under the German Reich, on 14 March 1937[156]. The text of Mit Brennender Sorge was read from the pulpit of every Catholic Church in Germany, after having been distributed in the greatest of secrecy. The Encyclical came out after years of abuse and violence, and it had been expressly requested from Pope Pius XI by the German Bishops after the Reich had implemented ever more coercive and repressive measures in 1936, particularly with regard to young people, who were required to enrol as members of the Hitler Youth Movement. The Pope spoke directly to priests, religious and lay faithful, giving them encouragement and calling them to resistance until such time that a true peace between Church and State would be restored. In 1938, with the spreading of anti-Semitism, Pope Pius XI affirmed: “Spiritually we are all Semites”[157].

Notes: [155] Cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Non Abbiamo Bisogno: AAS 23 (1931), 285-312. [156] The official German text can be found in AAS 29 (1937), 145-167. [157] Pius XI, Address to Belgian Radio Journalists (6 September 1938), in John Paul II, Address to international leaders of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (22 March 1984): L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 26 March 1984, pp. 8, 11.

(Luke 8, 22-25)  He asked them, "Where is your faith?

[22] One day he got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, "Let us cross to the other side of the lake." So they set sail, [23] and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A squall blew over the lake, and they were taking in water and were in danger. [24] They came and woke him saying, "Master, master, we are perishing!" He awakened, rebuked the wind and the waves, and they subsided and there was a calm. [25] Then he asked them, "Where is your faith?" But they were filled with awe and amazed and said to one another, "Who then is this, who commands even the winds and the sea, and they obey him?"

CSDC 451. The living experience of the divine presence in history is the foundation of the faith of the people of God: “We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand” (Deut 6:21). A look at history permits one to have an overview of the past and discover God at work from the very beginning: “A wandering Aramean was my father” (Deut 26:5); of his people God can say: “I took your father Abraham from beyond the river” (Josh 24:3). This reflection permits us to look to the future with hope, sustained by the promise and the covenant that God continually renews. The faith of Israel is lived out in the space and time of this world, perceived not as a hostile environment, nor as an evil from which one must be freed, but rather as the gift itself of God, as the place and plan that he entrusts to the responsible management and activity of man. Nature, the work of God's creative action, is not a dangerous adversary. It is God who made all things, and with regard to each created reality “God saw that it was good” (cf. Gen 1:4,10,12,18,21,25). At the summit of this creation, which “was very good” (Gen 1:31), God placed man. Only man and woman, among all creatures, were made by God “in his own image” (Gen 1,27). The Lord entrusted all of creation to their responsibility, charging them to care for its harmony and development (cf. Gen 1:26-30). This special bond with God explains the privileged position of the first human couple in the order of creation.

 
[Initials and Abbreviations.- CSDC: Pontifical Council for Justice And Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church; -  SDC: Social Doctrine of the Church; - CV: Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in truth)]