LET¨S MEDITATEABOUT JESUS CHRIST THIS CHRISTMAS.

 LEST´S MEDITATE ABOUT JESUS CHRIST.

He lived in the time of “Augusto and Tiberio, emperors of the empire of Rome, his comtemporaries saw him working with his hands as a carpenter, probably with a chip of wood in his ear, as a sign of his trade, he walked in the ways that they can show us today. They saw him eating bread and olives and those fishes that are a delicacy for his fellow mates, at nigth they could see him in a mat or in a hammock, resting or sleeping, dead tired, just like any other man, similar to any one of us.

Never the less he said the most surprising words that can be heard: He said that he was the Messiah, that he was the person that would promote his “chosen people”  to its glory and culmination, and what is most surprising, that He was the Son of God. and they belived Him and acompany and escort Him  along those ways of Palestine, that He perenigrated through.

Prodigies  came out of his hands with surprising easyness, miracles of resurrections, miraculous cures, exortions, etc. however many of them hoped for a political liberation from the romans, but his thing was spiritual, and for the culmination of it, the end of his normal existance, all came with a stroke to wich He did not put resistance. But far from geting discouraged, his followers spread through all the world sealing with blood the testimony of his divinity and from then on, the humanity has converted that defeat in proof of his victory  and prostrate to the cross, ( his gallows,  just imagine what would have to happen to make of the electric chair an adorable thing )

All his life, from his birth, his childhood, and adult existence was pletoric of supernatural evidence, and at the third day of his death by unjust execution,  he resurrected by his own power. St Paul says that this is what confirms our faith, and if the ressurection had not taken place, our faith would have been useless. BUT HE DID,  AND ALL WHAT HE LEFT US IS VALID: THE REVELATION THE TRADITION, THE GOSPELS, ETC.

Speaking of his Gospels the Evangelical Beatitudes, taken as an example have possitibly influenced the humanity since they were known, and will stay for all menkind  until the end of times. It is amazing what Jesus Christ, taugth, for our salvation, the Doctrine left for us, the Church he founded, the gospels, Revelation and Tradition, inherited to his followers, and the rest of humanity, in all the extention of its meaning. Nothing on earth has the value of the Sacraments, that his church enables, being the Holy Mass the center of our catholic life, it is the commemoration of the Sacrifice that he offers as  victim, to God Father, for the love of us. This is a double consideration, he offers himself in painful passion for He loves us and the Father offers his son, to be sacrificed, also for the love of us.

In this days that we conmemorate His Nativity, it is very usefull for our spirituality to contemplate this ítems, along with the rolls of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, that took such important and vital participation in His comming to this world, the gospels of this liturgical time, tell those important happenings. We must pay special attention to them.

Jorge Casas y Sánchez.

FRAGMENT OF ENCICLICAL "REDEMPTOR HOMINIS".

This post is a fragment of the enclical of Saint John Paul II, I consider that we should not forget what his way of thinking and acting, was. It Will alwais be actual.

  Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer of Man), promulgated on the 4th March, 1979, was the first encyclical of John Paul II. The Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla had been elected Pope John Paul II in October 1978, after the very brief pontificate of John Paul I (AugustSeptember 1978; Paul VI had been Pope from 1963-1978. John Paul II was the first nonItalian Pope since the early sixteenth century). Like John Paul I, John Paul II chose a name which combined the names of the two Popes of the Second Vatican Council (1962- 65), John XXIII and Paul VI, in order to emphasize that he was committed to the legacy of the Council, in which he had been an active participant. Commitment to Vatican II This commitment is very clear in Redemptor Hominis, in which John Paul II emphasizes the great achievement of Gaudium et Spes, the Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. At the Council, he had also been an important supporter of Dignitatis Humanae, the Declaration on Religious Freedom, arguing that the Church could not insist on its own freedom from Communist oppression unless it extended full religious freedom to non-Catholics in traditionally Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal. The ‘cold war’ context Karol Wojtyla was born in 1920, had found his vocation to the priesthood during the Nazi occupation of Poland and been consecrated bishop during the post-war Stalinist dictatorship. He had been a professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of Lublin and was Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow at the time of his election as Pope. When Redemptor Hominis was issued, global politics were still bound up with the ‘Cold War’, the tension between the Soviet Union and its satellite states and the United States of America and its allies. The Communist government of North Vietnam had conquered South Vietnam in 1975. Some parts of Portugal’s former African empire had become Soviet-aligned. There was to be a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan at the end of 1979. Although the end of the ‘Cold War’ was little more than a decade away, geopolitical tensions were high at the time when Redemptor Hominis was issued. The call for human rights The call for human rights was also gaining in strength at this time. The US President Jimmy Carter (in office 1976-80), a devout Baptist, sought to make respect for human rights an important criterion in the foreign policy of the United States. This resulted in tensions between the Carter administration and military dictatorships in Latin America, which had formerly enjoyed more American support. Liberation theology had been 1 gaining influence in Latin America throughout the 1970s, and John Paul’s relationship to liberation theology was to be an important aspect of his pontificate in the 1980s. First visit to Poland – the ‘Solidarity’ movement A few months after issuing Redemptor Hominis, John Paul II made his first pontifical visit to Poland. Attracting huge crowds, he reminded his fellow Poles of the Christian roots of their culture, and affirmed them in their struggle for human rights. In the next year, 1980, the Solidarity movement began to challenge the dictatorship of the Communist Party, and John Paul II was to give it crucial advice and support in the following years of struggle until the end of Communism in Poland in 1989. 2. Executive Summary Christ the centre of history The central theme of Redemptor Hominis is the centrality of Jesus Christ in human history and as the answer to the human search for meaning and identity. Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes was a reflection on the situation of humanity in the mid-twentieth century that constantly returned to Christ as the true meaning of humanity, the one who reveals us to ourselves. Redemptor Hominis takes up this theme and develops it as the charter of John Paul II’s pontificate. The argument with Marxism-Leninism and other ‘materialisms’ The encyclical was deeply influenced by the imposition of Marxist atheism on Poland. In a very important sense, it was a Christian answer to Marxism-Leninism, which had sought to weaken and eventually abolish the Catholic Church. Yet the encyclical does not see Marxism-Leninism as the only enemy of authentic humanity: it is critical of any form of power or set of attitudes that degrades the human person, including other forms of materialism, such as consumer capitalism. Marx’s theory of religious and economic alienation As a professor of philosophy and church leader in the post-war period, Karol Wojtyla had had to resist Communist ideology and Communist power in many different contexts. At the same time, he was eager to debate with Marxist thinkers and to engage with the foundations of Marxist thought. For Marx, ‘the root of man is man himself’(Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, 1844): in this atheistic world-view, there is no purpose to human existence other than what human beings can shape for themselves through work and historical struggle. Marx had argued that human beings lose their humanity in a multi-dimensional process he called ‘alienation’. In religious alienation (and here Marx drew heavily on the philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach), humanity seeks hope and meaning in the false consolation of heaven: rather than realizing that only struggle in this world can liberate us from oppression, human beings become resigned to injustice by 2 transferring or ‘alienating’ all their hopes to the next world. (It is fair to note that the early nineteenth-century Christian response to industrialization gave Marx some evidence for this judgement.) In economic alienation, human beings become enslaved to their own products. Their work and ingenuity is transformed into ‘capital’, the accumulation of wealth, and this capital in turns rules them, making work into drudgery and bondage, rather than the spontaneous expression of the human capacity to transform nature. John Paul II’s response to Karl Marx Karol Wojtyla accepted some of Marx’s insights concerning economic alienation. He was critical of any economic system that deprived work of its human character, that made the products of work more important than the human person, the subject of work. At the same time, he rejected the utopian illusions of Marxism, the belief that the abolition of private ownership of the means of production would usher in a classless society of spontaneous work. In its Stalinist form, it had in fact become a totalitarian dictatorship. John Paul II’s reflections on the meaning of work as a dimension of our humanity were to be developed in his third encyclical Laborem Exercens (On Human Labour) (1981). A foundation of Redemptor Hominis is the rejection of the Marxist idea of religious alienation. Whereas Marx had argued that ‘Communism is the solution to the riddle of history, and knows itself to be the solution’ (Communist Manifesto, 1848), Redemptor Hominis is inspired by the faith that Jesus Christ is at the centre of human history, and that faith in Jesus Christ is not alienating, but rather the true source of fulfilled and joyful human existence. 3. Key Points of the Document Christ, the revealer of the mystery of humanity Redemptor Hominis (RH) is a proclamation of Christ’s central role in human history as the redeemer of humanity. It affirms the highest values of modern humanism - religious freedom and social justice - and seeks to relate Christian proclamation to the universal human search for meaning – to the transcendent dimension of the human person. Its central message is that Christ is the answer to this search. It affirms a key passage of Gaudium et Spes: ‘The truth is that only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light’ (GS 22; RH 8). Drawing on this teaching of Vatican II, Redemptor Hominis proclaims Jesus Christ as the revelation of the meaning of our humanity, the divine manifest in the human. Our redemption takes place within human history, since Christ is present in that history and shares our human condition in all things but sin.

IN RELATION TO OUR SALVATIO AND LOVE

 IN RELATION TO OUR SALVATION  AND LOVE.                                                                                           1

 

GOD gives us life and Pope Johanes Paulus II, says to us: …”human life in general has value in the sense and measure that it is the answer to the question: ¿ do you love ¿, ¿do you love me” ? . Only  thanks to the affirmative answer, life is worth to be lived. And I say to you, ¿how is it posible not to love, God father, Jesus Christ, the second person, and the Holy Spirit,  of the Trinity one God?  All we are is given to us  by God Creator, our existance, life, and all we have as unrrepeatable person. Jesus is the savior that gives his own life for our salvation, and the Holy Spirit that inspires us all we need to win the promises of the Eternal life of happiness. Owr soul´s main duty is to love God and after that mankind, all humanity, of course with the preference of our nearest family.

Lets for a moment remember what Jesus does for us: He lived as human, being God and all what this is, he took human flesh, and being perfect God, he is (and was among us a perfect man), same as us in all except sin, he was absolutely pure all his life. His love of us is greater, much greater tan ours for him, in all cases. He formed his apostles, and through them left us the Gospels. He iniciated the only true church:  The Only, Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic, Roman Church, and its Sacraments. In his agony,  nailed to the Holy Cross, He gave us his own Mother as our Mother (in Heaven). He gives us the Doctrine, the example of his family and personal life, he sufered injustice, was hited, lashed, tortured, crowned with spines, insulted, and finnaly crucified. And all He did was good and only good, curing, saving the possessed by demons, teaching, forming  women and men, performed miracles  bringing to life the dead.  Finally, gave his own human life dying in agony for us,  crucified in the cross, the instrument of torture of the romans and other civizations of those times, and He did it for  our salvation. His love for each one of us, (all humanity) is eternal, it exists for ever before we were nothing, He allready loved us.  ¿HOW NOT TO LOVE THIS?.

The plan for us menkind from God, after the Original Sin, and according with his promise is: the anouncement by the prophets of the incarmation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity,  that was among us to grant the possibility of salvation for those who believe in Jesus Christ, and that follow his doctrine, obey the Commandments of his Law and his Church, in other words those who follow God´s will. ¿HOW NOT TO LOVE THIS?.

In regard to the Holy Spirit, we must remember what was said  by Jesus, before He went back to His Father in Haven, ….”I most go away, and it is for your advantage, because the Counsellor will come, and He will bring to you, from the Father the spirit of truth,  and speak what the Father tells Him, he will guide you to all the truth and bear witness to my teachings”.…….He will with his precense among you strenghten and deepen the conciousness of its divine presence and our human misión. ¿HOW NOT TO LOVE THIS?

  Accepting the spirit of obedience, accepting the command: “ feed my lambs” given to saint Peter and trough him to all of us,  this is the reason why we have to keep and promote our religión, helping its permanece in time, wich we do first of all trough our own children, that we must introduce into catholic faith, and then after, to wich we can, and that is true love,  do our own apostolate.

Since we receive so much love from God, in return seeking others to love him, trough knowing him, given that we cannot love what we do not know. Making known  God and his religión is how we contribute to the development of chistinity, this can be done in every place we are living. Lets remember that first is praying, second friendship and only third teaching those who know less tan we do. Let us seek the help of our Mother of heaven, by asking in pray, for  her to enligthen us to do our apostolate duty whith love of God. ¿ HOW NOT TO LOVE THIS ? .

Jorge Casas y Sánchez.

JESUS OF NAZARETH.

 JESUS OF NAZARETH. 

By the observation af any thing in nature, and practically every thing, not hand made, or designed, wether it is pysical or chemical, or mechaninal,  by human persons, whether it is inert, living, physical, chemical, can and should be considered to belong to nature, including humanity. We are the most important part of Creation and of nature due to being the only reasoning creatures created by God.

Taking in account what is been said, we can see that God Creator is love, and that The bears  love to every creature, specialy us, mankind on earth, and he sent his son  into the world to save us fron Adam and Eve´s Original sin, and all the sins that we commit in our lives, if we repent and go to the Sacrament of confession in order to obtain his pardon, such is his love of us.

This words of Jesus Christ: “If I be lifted  up on the cross I will drive into me all mankind “, this prophecy of himself was a reality and is being completed as per today, as we can see the missionaries moving to every corner of the planet in order to preach his Holy Gospel, and convert those who listen to them.

In the synagogue he unrolled the hebrew scriptures and picked the following: “ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me bcause  he hath anoited me to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sigth to the blind,  to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach  the aceptable year of the lord”.

How few of us, there are who know our own failing, see into our hearts, what is really good for us, in those  parts of his teachings. He was clear to tell us, mankind, that he came for the saving of the irreligious or the non religious, to those that thougth little of themselves, to the rough working with their hands, to the heretical samaritans,  to the heathen soldier, to the poor peasants to the swarming population of Galilee, so as we see, our relation to Jesus of Nazareth, should be not ony be for our salvation, but for the knowledgment of God until the limits of our capabilities, and our love of The, since, as it is widely known, we cannot love what we do not know. The Catholic Church is devoted to  its apostolic and catechesis activities in all the stratum of society, but with option for the: humble, neglected, dangerous, friendless, oppresed, forgoten, unthougth, uncared and poor.

We do not refer with these adjetives to the material status only, but to the spiritual, as well.

This is the way we help others to their own salvation and get our own, for doing it. Our work weather it is done in the instances and directions of our church, or given under guidelines from a catholic organisation to wich we belong. In other words, our dedication should follow the instructions of the Pope Franciscus, that has told us, that we have to take our efforts to the street. Meaning that we have to look for the developing,  of the catholic church following  the teachings of Jesus and his example. It is a matter of our love for the others. “ one new commandment I give you, that you love one another”. Thy loves us from eternity, and wants us to love all his creation, starting with our neighbors, and then our common house, the earth. Lets ask ourselves: ¿do I realy love the others? ¿do I try to keep our planet unpoluted?.

All the activities that we do in these fields,  are a treasure that we invest in Heaven, where it does not rust or be  stolen or deteriorated and in due time Jesus our King,  judge, legislator, savior, will take this treasure in account, and for our favour. If we seriously thik of these, we will see the enormous convenience of carrying it out, because we are speaking of eternity, inmediatly after we are called by our Creator to the afterlife. Our earthly existence is short compared to eternity, and we have been created for it, so we better do the best we can, in this life, to save ourselves.

Lets pray to our Mother in Heaven, the holy Virgin Mary, for her help that we need, intervening for the strength, discipline, perseverance, we must have,  in order to comply with God´s will.

Jorge Casas y Sánchez.

LOOSING OUR TRADITIONAL VALUES

 

VALUES BEING LOST.   

In the begining of christianity our traditional values started, in the begining with the church fathers time, in feudalism, and the middle ages values  grew, they were kept and lived, and gave a substratum to the occidental, western European civilization and the rest of the world, other new religions took them as precious  parts of their beleives, before, civilization did not have difficulty in stablishing them, at the reinessance they started to be lost, and with the french revolution, many were simply forgotten. Step by step the influence of the catholic church, that has been the origin and defender of them has been loosing its influence.

Persons in the old times did not have the distractors of modern times, from the end of the XVIII century reading became popular, books reached the middle and lower clases, the comunication technology has supplemented reading and instead, the popular electronics of tv., inteligent tablets and lap tops, móvil phones that are practicaly computers, that are full of information, memories,  photographs, games, news practicaly at the time they are happening, have taken the much of the place of books, now academic and technology texts are in its place,  all around the globe. Persons used to read books much more than today.

Some values are in use in bussines as indispensable issues, and others are thaugth, specially with offspring at home, but not enough. It is very little family comunication, here the technology is widely used by youths in poor conversations with their friends. Some parents use modern technology  very conveniently when the offspring are away from home, and they use it with great advantages for their studies, investigation, general information, But not all is good, there is a perverse side of it, dangerous to the kids and persons of all ages, from young to oldies. Some examples of this are, improper films, pornography, wich can reach  despicable addictions, fake news and wrong information, it is also a political instrument, widely used, in many oportunities to deceive audience. This shows us the need of applying new manners of teaching values, in accord with times.

Regarding computer technology, in our horizon we have to learn how to win the needed battles, trying to erase the dark side and enhence the good part of technology, being consent, of the advantages that a good use grants, and the evil it can generate if used wrongfully, this can be succesful if values are well teached in order to be well understood.

Of course this is a responsability in the first place of the parents, but also goverments must play its roll, in centers of education and also in general information to the public in the mass advertisement. If this points are not well taken care off, the society will suffer pains, and the ideologies will spread its bad influence.

Human persons are generaly open to assimilation of the good education, but if it is not realy active then come the bad ways of thinking and acting. The catholic church is alwais very aware of the problem of the value lost, and acting, but needs our support and help, this is not a simple task, we all must take part of it in a very responsable way.

Jorge Casas y Sánchez.

FAMILY ORIENTATION.

 

FAMILY ORIENTATION.

The dignity of the family is one of those eternal issues, that will be discussed alwais, our catholic religión in many cases, even if not in a direct manner, makes references to it, in both the old and the new testaments. Not only in the written Word but in the TRADITION.  Another topic very interesting in the dignity area is the relief we enjoy of the women that keeping their family household is  getting a higher education, is working outside home and competing with men in the finding of Jobs, and in the demonstration of their capacities, in all the fields, technical, scientific, administrative, political and the rest.

The first thing we must consider seriously is the responsability of giving our decendents an INTEGRAL education, it  is the introduction into catholic faith at home, supposedly our own childs are baptized as son as posible after they are born, when very young they must receive the Sacraments for wich they are previously prepared by cathequists of children, courses for First Comunion, Confirmation and Confession, they will understand much better if they have boon introduced by their parents in knowledments like: there is only one God, that love us, that has given to us a guardian angel, that the holy Virgin is our mother in heaven,  the most important prayers like Our Father, Ave María, and the nigth orations before going to bed. The great importance of going to mas son sundays

Family Orientation  was included in universities all arround the world, starting in the “Universidad de Navarra”, Spain, that sent all the information needed to the interested. When it began to be known,  the interest from universities was great, they wanted the posibilities of the teaching of it in courses for professors and family parents. Navarra university introduced many other institutions in this discipline. The Harvard “Method of the Case” was used, let me tell you that relations between Harvard and Navarra, have been alwais very close.

Family Orientation (F.O.) courses were not easy to start with. Parents taugth that they did not have any thing to learn from an education instance, that their experience at home was the very place for learning how to educate their descendants, but once they started, and I tell you these out of my own experience as organicer and teacher in my Alma Mater, I withnesed and received personaly from parents, opinions like these:

                How usefull would have been, to know this things when my children were younger.

                From today on, we will educate our sons much better.

                ¿Why did not tell us before about orientation of the family?

                ¿How is it posible that as parents, we were  ignorant of so important issues?

And so on. Realy the profound investigation done in the universities and specialized different schools of F.O. have found very rich knowledgments, very useful in the formation of better human beings. It has taken professors of F.O. years of high studies, and the universities that teach it, and  PH.D. degrees are granted to the ones that opt to it, and pass. This discipline includes couseling for matrimonies, unfit members, education of descendats at all ages,  our own education, treatment of some cases of adictions, and many other difficult situations of families.

We all agree that the lack of values and virtues in our society is as bad as it can be, and  that it is urgent to restore them, F.O. is the best way to teach them in the minors, so that they,  learn values and virtues that will acompany  them for the rest oftheir existance. It is not an exageration to say that in most cases these matters, if taugth properly and at the indicated age, will be part of their personality,  and for such reason, they will carry them the rest of their lives. In the personal freedon in wich God creates us, they will make use of them, or not. But any way we will have done our best, and acomplished our obligation. God wants us to be as good educators, as said before starting with the introduction of our catholic faith, and going trough the virtues and values acording  age. Lets ask for the help we need from Heaven to be good educators and assist to courses of F.O.

Jorge Casas y Sánchez.  

FIDELITY TO OUR CHURCH.

 

FIDELITY TO OUR CHURCH. 

There are some things that have to be clearly present in our minds, regarding our catholic church, they are:   1).- Our church is one and only one, founded by Jesus Christ.   2).- Our church is  holy has santity, given by God himselve.  3).- Our church is catholic, because it is universal, for all mankind.  4).- Our church is apostolic because its knowledge and teachings are for all human kind.

IT IS ONE, clearly Jesus Christ cries to his Father: “let´s  all be one, as you and I are, let all be one thing, as you are in me,  and I am in you. On an other occasion Jesus says: “every kingdom, or house divided in oposite factions wil not subsist”. And  in his  predication says,” I also have other sheeps that do not belong to this herd, and I must pick them up, they will hear my voice and  will be one single herd and I will be their Pastor”.

“ I am the true vine, and my father is the farmer, every branch  that does not carry its fruit, He will cut it, and all those that give fruit, He will prune to bear fruit. Stay with me and I will stay with you, as the branch canot produce fruit alone, united to the vine will do”.

“ I am the vine and you are the branches, if you are united to me, and I with you, the fruit  will be a great harvest. Without me you cant have a crop”.

Saint John Crisostumus, insists: “do not separate from the Church, nothing is stronger, your hopes, your spiritual health, your refuge, is in it, never will get old, its strenght is for ever”.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS HOLY.-  Santity is exactly unity with God, the better this unity the more santity. The Church has been founded and loved  by Jesus Christ in accorrdance with GOD FATHER, this way it is the spouse of Jesus, and asisted by the Holy Spirit. The Church is “opus” of the Holy Trinity. It  will never disappear, the gates of hell wil never prevail against it.

Jesus Christ  not excluded sinners of the society He founded, so if some members are affected by spiritual sickness, this should not diminish our love to our Church, on the contrary it should increase our sorrow  and compasión to those members.

The Church is not governed by Peter or John, or Paul, it is governed by the Holy Spirit, and the Lord has promised, that  will be at its side, all the days until the end of times. Thy has compared it to a troul net, that gets all kind of fish, good and bad, and will trow away the bad.

THE CHURCH IS CATHOLIC.-  God wants all humanity to save its soul, to go to heaven, and have knowledgment of the truth, and Jesus as the mediator between God Father and Jesus Christ the son in the Holy Trinity, for centuries the Catholic Church has had persons of all races, and social status, but its catholicity does not depend of the geographic extensión, even if it is a visual sign and a motive of credibility, at Pentecost when being born, it is all ready universal.

We call it catholic because from one end to the other of the earth her teachings and dogmas are being taugth without defects, and teaches the same doctrine of the visible as well as the invisible, to the governants and citizens of the terrenal as well as the heavenly. It does it with the sapient and the ignorant, in all values, virtues and spirutual gifts. And of course in things done, and words.

It will be observed that any ideology or thinking are in some way related to veracity, will have in its part of truth the influence, eco, or founding  of the Catholic  permanent sapience, that comes from the Divine Revelation, and lets remember that for the loyal interpretation we have the Church Magisterium.

The Catholic Church is not a political party, or a social ideology, or an not govermental organization  (NGO),  it is the sign of the divinity of the Holy Revelation. It is not looking for concord or material progress, it is the spouse of Christ, even if persecuted, and does a tremendous work in favor of the poor,  marginalaized and  outcasts.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS APOSTOLIC.- Jesus Christ founded its Church based on the weak, but they were loyal and faithful, the apostles were assisted by the Holy Spirit, that was a promise to them.  Christ did tell them:  “to me was given all authority in heaven and earth, so go and intruct all people, baptize them in the name in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the things that I have commanded to you, and be certain that I will be with you until the consummation of the centuries”.

We are santified in the church after being baptized, we can access to the grace that saves, this is a great advantage to catholics. Jesus grants his grace out of his church also, due to his Divine Justice. But in our church we get all the help necessary, the guidance, the knowledment, we learn how to live in state of grace, we have the inmense help of the holy Sacraments, specially the forgiveness of sins. This is thanks to the missión of the church that is to save us, to grant the eternal salvation, if we comply with the will of God.  

Trough more than two thousand years of history in the church, the succession of the apostles is preserved, in their place we have the bishops, and the Pope that is the succession line of S. Peter, specially named by Jesus as  the first Pope of the Church.” YOU ARE PETER AND OVER THIS ROCK I  WILL BUILD  MY CHURCH”.

Peter will move to Rome in due time, and there he will found the primacy of the church. This is the reason for wich in América the protestants some times call our church ROMAN CATHOLIC .

The suprime power of the Catholic Church is Jesus Christ himself, all the rest are subdued to Thy, and taking his will, that comes from God Father as our supreme commandment.

Lets pray to our mother of heaven the Holy Virgin, to Access salvation by obeying God´s will, her help is of the outmost importance.

Jorge Casas y Sánchez.

EDUCATION IN THE FAMILY.

 

EDUCATION IN THE FAMILY.

This is an issue that has been very important alwais, but today due to several social circumstances, has become more necessary and needed than ever. In the matter of education of our sons, the parents are the first responsable, the most useful and irreplaceble in their first years, later priests, professors and else, will have important influence also. So we see the reason to prepare ourselves to perform this important part of our lives. Some of the very important things to consider are: Introduction to catholic faith, knowledment of environement, vocation, authonomy, career, responsability at home, study center, social surounding, good manners and exquicite social education etc. with the objective of having a happy life, and the eternal happiness in tho next life. This is the enormous advantage of salvation teached in cathoic families. A life full of contents, loving humanity, as Jesus Christ taugth us in the new comandment, given to his disciples as part of his final instructions: “just as I have loved you, you must also love one another”  John 13, 34.

At home children are subject to: Expectations in:  experiences, answers to environment, love, affection, sympathy, reaction to learning process, and adults are supossed to give them the tools to grow and mature. Their personalities will come out in due time, and the feeling of freedom will have a definite roll in their lives. This calls our attention in relation to the quality of teachings ,that we, as parents have to use in order to have a good catholic influence that forms their spiritual way of being, acting, living, with rectitude of intention in all their decisions, with the inner power to govern themselves, keeping away the bad influences of our own pasions, and giving space to all good acts, intentions, manners of being good persons in front of God and the human race, being example of how we must live as good catholics. All the actual problems in the world would be solved, just by living by all humans, the New Comandment, given to all us from Jesus Christ.

Overall education includes many aspects, we can mention as example besides the allready mentioned of Spiritual deep conviction, introduction to catholic faith, hope and love, moral convictions, matters as keeping good health, physical devepment, hygiene, affinity to art, good attitudes and habits in social life, possitive aproach towards work, predisposition to be be good citizens and family persons, and have preference for realy honest relations to others. As we can see, with this in mind and many other good caractheristics of a fine personality, the family education is a challenging but payable experience of life.

Following I have taken some parographs from:

 The Role of Parents in the Education of Children Ardita Ceka1* Rabije Murati2 1.Faculty of Philosophy, University of Tetova, 176 no.53A, Tetovo,1200 Macedonia 2.Faculty of Philosophy, University of Tetova,1200 Macedonia.

“ THE MOTHER AS AN EDUCATOR.- Mother is the first and the best teacher- proverb The family enables children protection in that suggestively that makes parents responsible for their developing and to make their children grow into a total personality.  The role of the woman or the mother as an educator represents a crucial resource to the development of the individual identity, which from researchers is seen even as more important as the very marital status of the parents and the occupation of the parents themselves. It seems that the feeling of being a mother, to the woman is more powerful than being a father of given child for the husband. Always in accordance to the biological as well as physiological relation of mother to the child, represents the first and reasonable part or segment of the child’s development. This for the reason that mother assures child’s life, as she is the one who brings the child in this world, and further on she raises them from being little towards reaching a total independency in mature life. The mother’s function in this regard, has a very important role which as such may be divided into two parts or directions: The first one is related to the child’s defense, while the other one to the child’s overall development. Mother’s protection as a function embeds several types of actions or types of functions. The 1st type is connected to the physical protection of the child, which means that the child must be provided healthcare and hygienic conditions, so that he/she could have a healthy life in a worm home environment in every sense of the word, including here the ambiance where the child lives, which must be well enlighten, a healthy place which offers the child to be showered, feed up and taken care in general. The 2nd type is the Psychological protection, which can be reflected through the child’s emotional security and psychological protection, especially in moments when the child feels it when the mother is next to him i.e. her. Another group of activities in this regard, are the maternal functions regarding the child’s development involving here the physical development, the intellectual development as well as the emotional development of the child. (Grancic, Radovan, 2006) Each child which grows up and is educated in the presence of mother, for sure is expected to reach an appropriate physical, psychological as well as social development. In this regard, these children have a much better appearance, the look happy and they enjoy the childhood in general. They are communicative and as such they are ready to cooperate. (Brada, Riza. 1995) For this reason, mother’s love and care to the child, is full and well completed, and as such is often accepted by other members of the very family. This type of cultivated love and affection can be qualified as a key condition for an appropriate development of the children in a given family. The children experience the physical as well as psychological effects of the mother, and as such they are taken as model which influences their further development during their emotional stage of development of their moral values as whole. This element of the so called child’s identification, the child embeds it in his/her personality for years on and on, throughout his/her total lifespan. It is planted in their character as well as temperament, and as such it is reflected through his/ her attitudes and thoughts in interaction or behavior comportment with the society in general. Almost all culture have developed arrangements which enable mothers to provide for basic child care while maintaining other duties that are instrumental to family well – being. (James, Garbarino. 1982) However, depending on the economic, social as well as emotional limitations, mothers, nowadays have a variety of opportunities to be able to reach or make real their mother’s role, which helps the child’s overall development and enables mothers to enjoy the fact of being mother. The modern experiences, show quite Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.7, No.5, 2016 63 frequent derailments from this path of action, which as such can be illustrated with the fact of single mothers, mothers coming from unemployed background, under age mother etc.”.

 

 “THE FATHER AS AN EDUCATOR.- The father in a family is a very important factor, concerning the organization of a nice and appropriately functional development of a house hold, with a specific accent on the children. Helping fathers be the ‘best fathers they can be’ is therefore of enormous importance to children. A god father must be a good parent and a good husband. This person is extremely important factor in the organization of the family life as a whole, which are the basic ground towards a happily and joyful family for all the members of a respective family. Many young fathers want to do things better than how they have experienced in their lives. (Claudia&Eberhard Muhlan. 2008) His presence in the family has a particular importance while it leads the family members, i.e. the children towards a feeling of safety in their life reigning on the overall family members as a compact union of members. In these circumstances of safety, the children are the ones who benefit mostly. However, the so called subjective experiencing of the parents by their children varies in different ways and family models, and as such his relevance in a family is much more different from the one that is performed by mothers. As a result of the gender prejudices in terms of the duties to be performed in their family, especially regarding their approach and contribution towards their children’s education, it turns out that mothers are more prepared to undertake their role in their children’s education, rather than their fathers. Fathers make a powerful difference in defining expectation and challenging children to do their best. (Constantine, Tammy. 1999) As such, the children learn their responsibilities and role in the family, when they themselves grow up and become parents, which is they are mature to play the father’s role in this regard. Given this theory, there has been done much research, which proves that the relationship between father and child becomes stronger. This relationship does not result to be dependent from neither of the other two relations i.e. the one between father and child neither the one mother-child. (Cowan, C. 1992) In order to have a successfully brought up and well educated children in one family, parents are crucial and they must be careful to some elements which play a key role in raising, bringing up and educating their children; Firstly, while the parent’s principal role in the family is the education and the bringing up of their children, then the main obligation of their children is to study harder and properly. For this aim, they need to be well instructed how to study, based upon rules and principles of an appropriate learning and studying. This approach would open to them the doors of the world of a behaviorist attitude towards the work, making possible for them to get to know better the relevance of working as one of the main behaviorist elements of the human kind. Secondly, the development of the child is in fact an overall child’s personality formation. The parents as educators must be able to recognize the basic features of their child, interests, temperament and especially the child’s emotional features regarding the child’s character. Thirdly, the child’s personality formation has resulted to be constructed mostly based upon child’s socialization in general. The socialization process as such, for sure nowadays represents the most important one of all other processes involved in his formation as a child. Thus, the child commences to socialize within a given society since the early stage of his/her childhood at parents’ home, circled by parental atmosphere and the relationship between family members in general. In this entourage, the child makes the first steps in the society, manifesting the basic features of behavior, which as such are the fundaments of further social development and integration of the child in a given society”. Lets pray to the holy Virgin our mother in heaven to make us good educators in the family.        JCS.

ALWAIS THE TRUTH.

 

ALWAIS THE TRUTH.

Catholics are alwais in the search of the truth, specialy in relation to our existance. Knowing the truth makes us capable of giving sense and direction to our lives, we should never be satisfied until we are sure that we own the truth in whatever issue. This, because of the abundance of fake information, specially in the social pages of Internet, many persons are interested in deviating the proper way of thinking of as many persons as they can, the other side is trough the truth that allows us to thihk properly, to know what is real, and the advantages of this are many.  Nobody is happy not knowing the reality of things, instead of being misguided by lies and information that is not adecuate but tendentious.

The truths are in many areas, like the sciences, just thik for a moment in the information that astronomy, chemestry, phisics, mathematics, give us, and has the good finnality of information, but, when it is about politics, history, catholicism, the lies are shamefully abundant.

When things are very serious, like in religión we have to try to clear as much as posible, lets take as an example “faith”. There are two different kinds,: human faith and divine faith, for us catholics the divine faith comes from God´s Revelation, and since God cannot mistake things, it is absolutly thuth. However human faith can be mistaken, can be wrong or on purpose a lie. We catholics learn trough the teachings of our church those knowledgments related to our beliefs.

 It is of great importance to know exactly what Jesus Christ trough his church´s knowledge wanted to reveal us. The Catholic Chuch trough its Magisterium, that is carefully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the instance trough wich we receive the absolute truth. This thanks to the organization of our church and trough its bishops, priests and well prepared laymen.

Nothing is in human life compared to the wonderful situation of being in the possession of the truth, and it may be even dangerous not to own it.

Jorge Casas.

LIBERTY.

 

LIBERTY.-

“Acts of men”  and “human acts”,   there is a diference wich is that human acts are those that fall under the concience and due to it  are moral or inmoral, and acts of men, are those simple things as taking a glass of wáter, or having a stroll, that are not subjct to moral judgement. We are going to see a the human acts under various points of vieu, and circumstances, specially in relation to the responsability of them and to our salvation. Liberty has to be seen as a faculty of our soul, our will, and not determinism, we consider it as our free will to do things wether they are appropiate, correct, or wrong. Here I would like to make clear that thare is not “absolute liberty” for mankind and along the next paragraphs, it will be clear.

This free of will is a distintion of humans, not animals, since all they have is instint and whatever they do is because of it. Humans can choose among diffrent ways of aproaching our acts, that is oposed to following instint, wich we have, but can or can-not follow it, animals fatally have to follow it. Besides instint, us, thinking humans have the moral side of human acts.

“Thank you Father, because you have given me the privilege, and the decision  of following your steps, or offend thy”.  With  this words S. Josemaría, give us one of the aspects  of our freedom of will. This takes us to the dichotomy of doing what is moraly good ot not.  That way it is our decisión to do the things that will put us in the path of salvation, if  our acts are acording to the will of God. For acomplishing this we count with the help os Jesus Christ and our Mother in Heaven the Holy Mary. God helps us though the practice of our virtues, especially if we pray for them. If we fall in sin, we are sin slaves, it is proper to remember “The truth will make you free”. (J, 8-32) This in reference of the sapience  that the Jesus, teaches us. Liberty makes us responsable of our acts, and, we are in Christ. On  the contrary sin is against liberty, because in spiritual sense, instead of being in Christ we are in the devil.

Chistianity makes us try to do well and refuse bad, but there may be circunstances that make us do wrong, such as scareness, violence, ignorance, this attenuate the wrong doing. Another facet would be the wrong that we do that could be avoided, like the man that produces a car accident being drunk, if sober the accident would not had happened. The catholic formation gives us a profound sese of responsability and this promotes our liberty, taking us to its exercise. So in our inner being we become freely responsibile. Humanity  starts with Adan and Eve, they were created with a liberty much greater than our atual liberty, but due to their sin, they lost it, so in us the heirs, our liberty is very limited, and the slavery of sin could ony be rescued by God himself, so given his love for us, the only creatures made to his image and likeness, in the perfection of his love, Thy sent his oun son to rescue us, and institute his Church and the Sacraments that allow us to be in “Grace of God”, and to aquire the sense of freedom. That way we are free to reject sins as, divorce, abortion, sins against purity, eutanasia, eugenics, in vitro gestation, or not carring out the Commandments, etc.

About our actions, we say that they are free, when in accord to our will we discard determinism, and admit that they come from volunty, the error in wich Luther and Calvin fell was precisely determinism, Luther tougth that men could not avoid sining, that we humans are not capable of avoiding to sin, great error, God gives us the tools and the capacity, to avoid sin and in the case of needed recuperation of the state of grace, if we fall in sinful behavior, the Sacrament of confession. King David pleads with God “Restore to me the joy of my salvation, and uphold me with willing spirit” he wrote this after he had fallen into the sins of murder and adultery, as we can see it is repent and the virtue of hope, that he shows the Creator.

The acts of our will do not come casually, they proceed from our inner consciense, from our        casuistry. All the time we are taking decisions,some of them are inconsequential, like taking a “siesta” on Sunday, or in front of a fruit salad to pick first the bannana or the water melón. But others are important in our every day life, like pricing our merchendice, or picking a film between one that is profane or other that is decent, these acts are subject to moral judgement, others are so important that afect our existance, like who to marry with, or what career to study in the university, one difference that is important to manage consists in using our free will to do things that are in the sphere of our decisions, according to Gods will, and being happy in this life is in first place, or doing what “I feel like it”, without worrying in any way,  wich is debauchery.

We have to be carefull to not invade others rights, to be pure, to comply with just laws, to be in favor of morality in general, our own and that of others, those are acts of liberty, due to our acceptance of them, as examples of mistakes in this área, we could say: I am married but if I decide to have an intimate relation with an other woman, I can do so, to this we can say, you have the phicological liberty to do it, but you do not have the moral liberty. Here we see these two kinds of opossed liberties, expressed in plain lenguage: “I can do it, but I should not do it”  like this example we can find many. On other point of vieu, we can take the example of transit laws, they do not realy decrease our liberty, because we decide freely to obey them, as we consider that they are for the good af all of us. It is positive election, not repression, but confirm that there is not absolute freedom.

Lets ask the Virgin Mary to help us use our liberty to better serve the will of God.

Jorge Casas.

LENT, a very special time, of love.

 LENT, is a 40 days of liturgical time in wich our love for  God must be very special, we must not sufer, instead we must increase our love to our savior, Thy will sufer to save us, let us be touched by that luminous and brilliant ligth that respandesee, from the heigth of the cross. In that cross is crucified the God that has taken human flesh, to be among us and giving an example as a family man, as a prophet, as a professor, leaving to us the highest point of the Divine Revelation, founding the only true Cristian Church, the Catholic. And in it the knowledgment, the wisdom that trough the Holy Tradition and the Gospels, our church is the professor, the institution to teach us all about God and thy, will, thy wishes, the meaning of all thy Revelation, is also in charge of the Holy Sacramts, in other words, what is necessary for us to gain the eternal happiness, as the must great gift possible  for us.

All the life of Jesus Christ has been for the love that he has for you, for me, for all  humanity, a God that wants to spend eternity with you and me, ¡ that is the size of his love to us !. 

That is the reason to give his live for. There is no greater love that the one that gives his life for you. This 40 days must be of gratitude, of thankfullness, of joy, due to its purpose of salvation of its loving followers, of those of us, that beleive in Thy, also this 40 days are of pain because we see the suffering, the way Thy delivers his body and soul to God the Father, and that way he cleans us from the Original Sin, inherited from our first parents Adan and Eve, and leaving us, in charge of the Church, the Sacrament of pardon, for all of us, that repent of our sins.

Also in this Lent we have reasons to pray for due to the invasion of Ukranea, this is a tremendous way of slaugther of inocent persons, women, children, oldies, etc.  to soften the heart of Putin, and stop the bloodshed. In this Lent, the protagonist must be the love of peace, the love of our suffering brothers of Ukrania and Russia, the love of Christ that gave his entire life and a very painfull death for tho love of us. 

Numbers 21 to 32 GAUDIUM ET SPES.

 

21. In her loyal devotion to God and men, the Church has already repudiated(16) and cannot cease repudiating, sorrowfully but as firmly as possible, those poisonous doctrines and actions which contradict reason and the common experience of humanity, and dethrone man from his native excellence.

Still, she strives to detect in the atheistic mind the hidden causes for the denial of God; conscious of how weighty are the questions which atheism raises, and motivated by love for all men, she believes these questions ought to be examined seriously and more profoundly.

The Church holds that the recognition of God is in no way hostile to man's dignity, since this dignity is rooted and perfected in God. For man was made an intelligent and free member of society by God Who created him, but even more important, he is called as a son to commune with God and share in His happiness. She further teaches that a hope related to the end of time does not diminish the importance of intervening duties but rather undergirds the acquittal of them with fresh incentives. By contrast, when a divine instruction and the hope of life eternal are wanting, man's dignity is most grievously lacerated, as current events often attest; riddles of life and death, of guilt and of grief go unsolved with the frequent result that men succumb to despair.

Meanwhile every man remains to himself an unsolved puzzle, however obscurely he may perceive it. For on certain occasions no one can entirely escape the kind of self-questioning mentioned earlier, especially when life's major events take place. To this questioning only God fully and most certainly provides an answer as He summons man to higher knowledge and humbler probing.

The remedy which must be applied to atheism, however, is to be sought in a proper presentation of the Church's teaching as well as in the integral life of the Church and her members. For it is the function of the Church, led by the Holy Spirit Who renews and purifies her ceaselessly,(17) to make God the Father and His Incarnate Son present and in a sense visible. This result is achieved chiefly by the witness of a living and mature faith, namely, one trained to see difficulties clearly and to master them. Many martyrs have given luminous witness to this faith and continue to do so. This faith needs to prove its fruitfulness by penetrating the believer's entire life, including its worldly dimensions, and by activating him toward justice and love, especially regarding the needy. What does the most reveal God's presence, however, is the brotherly charity of the faithful who are united in spirit as they work together for the faith of the Gospel(18) and who prove themselves a sign of unity.

While rejecting atheism, root and branch, the Church sincerely professes that all men, believers and unbelievers alike, ought to work for the rightful betterment of this world in which all alike live; such an ideal cannot be realized, however, apart from sincere and prudent dialogue. Hence the Church protests against the distinction which some state authorities make between believers and unbelievers, with prejudice to the fundamental rights of the human person. The Church calls for the active liberty of believers to build up in this world God's temple too. She courteously invites atheists to examine the Gospel of Christ with an open mind.

Above all the Church knows that her message is in harmony with the most secret desires of the human heart when she champions the dignity of the human vocation, restoring hope to those who have already despaired of anything higher than their present lot. Far from diminishing man, her message brings to his development light, life and freedom. Apart from this message nothing will avail to fill up the heart of man: "Thou hast made us for Thyself," O Lord, "and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee."(19)

22. The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come,(20) namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown.

He Who is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15),(21) is Himself the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled,(22) by that very fact it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too. For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice(23) and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin.(24)

As an innocent lamb He merited for us life by the free shedding of His own blood. In Him God reconciled us(25) to Himself and among ourselves; from bondage to the devil and sin He delivered us, so that each one of us can say with the Apostle: The Son of God "loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20). By suffering for us He not only provided us with an example for our imitation,(26) He blazed a trail, and if we follow it, life and death are made holy and take on a new meaning.

The Christian man, conformed to the likeness of that Son Who is the firstborn of many brothers,(27) received "the first-fruits of the Spirit" (Rom. 8:23) by which he becomes capable of discharging the new law of love.(28) Through this Spirit, who is "the pledge of our inheritance" (Eph. 1:14), the whole man is renewed from within, even to the achievement of "the redemption of the body" (Rom. 8:23): "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the death dwells in you, then he who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also bring to life your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who dwells in you" (Rom. 8:11).(29) Pressing upon the Christian to be sure, are the need and the duty to battle against evil through manifold tribulations and even to suffer death. But, linked with the paschal mystery and patterned on the dying Christ, he will hasten forward to resurrection in the strength which comes from hope.(30)

All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all men of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way.(31) For, since Christ died for all men,(32) and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery.

Such is the mystery of man, and it is a great one, as seen by believers in the light of Christian revelation. Through Christ and in Christ, the riddles of sorrow and death grow meaningful. Apart from His Gospel, they overwhelm us. Christ has risen, destroying death by His death; He has lavished life upon us(33) so that, as sons in the Son, we can cry out in the Spirit; Abba, Father(34)

CHAPTER II

THE COMMUNITY OF MANKIND

23. One of the salient features of the modern world is the growing interdependence of men one on the other, a development promoted chiefly by modern technical advances. Nevertheless brotherly dialogue among men does not reach its perfection on the level of technical progress, but on the deeper level of interpersonal relationships. These demand a mutual respect for the full spiritual dignity of the person. Christian revelation contributes greatly to the promotion of this communion between persons, and at the same time leads us to a deeper understanding of the laws of social life which the Creator has written into man's moral and spiritual nature.

Since rather recent documents of the Church's teaching authority have dealt at considerable length with Christian doctrine about human society,(1) this council is merely going to call to mind some of the more basic truths, treating their foundations under the light of revelation. Then it will dwell more at length on certain of their implications having special significance for our day.

24. God, Who has fatherly concern for everyone, has willed that all men should constitute one family and treat one another in a spirit of brotherhood. For having been created in the image of God, Who "from one man has created the whole human race and made them live all over the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26), all men are called to one and the same goal, namely God Himself.

For this reason, love for God and neighbor is the first and greatest commandment. Sacred Scripture, however, teaches us that the love of God cannot be separated from love of neighbor: "If there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.... Love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law" (Rom. 13:9-10; cf. 1 John 4:20). To men growing daily more dependent on one another, and to a world becoming more unified every day, this truth proves to be of paramount importance.

Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father, "that all may be one. . . as we are one" (John 17:21-22) opened up vistas closed to human reason, for He implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the unity of God's sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.(2)

25. Man's social nature makes it evident that the progress of the human person and the advance of society itself hinge on one another. For the beginning, the subject and the goal of all social institutions is and must be the human person which for its part and by its very nature stands completely in need of social life.(3) Since this social life is not something added on to man, through his dealings with others, through reciprocal duties, and through fraternal dialogue he develops all his gifts and is able to rise to his destiny.

Among those social ties which man needs for his development some, like the family and political community, relate with greater immediacy to his innermost nature; others originate rather from his free decision. In our era, for various reasons, reciprocal ties and mutual dependencies increase day by day and give rise to a variety of associations and organizations, both public and private. This development, which is called socialization, while certainly not without its dangers, brings with it many advantages with respect to consolidating and increasing the qualities of the human person, and safeguarding his rights.(4)

But if by this social life the human person is greatly aided in responding to his destiny, even in its religious dimensions, it cannot be denied that men are often diverted from doing good and spurred toward and by the social circumstances in which they live and are immersed from their birth. To be sure the disturbances which so frequently occur in the social order result in part from the natural tensions of economic, political and social forms. But at a deeper level they flow from man's pride and selfishness, which contaminate even the social sphere. When the structure of affairs is flawed by the consequences of sin, man, already born with a bent toward evil, finds there new inducements to sin, which cannot be overcome without strenuous efforts and the assistance of grace.

26. Every day human interdependence grows more tightly drawn and spreads by degrees over the whole world. As a result the common good, that is, the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment, today takes on an increasingly universal complexion and consequently involves rights and duties with respect to the whole human race. Every social group must take account of the needs and legitimate aspirations of other groups, and even of the general welfare of the entire human family.(5)

At the same time, however, there is a growing awareness of the exalted dignity proper to the human person, since he stands above all things, and his rights and duties are universal and inviolable. Therefore, there must be made available to all men everything necessary for leading a life truly human, such as food, clothing, and shelter; the right to choose a state of life freely and to found a family, the right to education, to employment, to a good reputation, to respect, to appropriate information, to activity in accord with the upright norm of one's own conscience, to protection of privacy and rightful freedom even in matters religious.

Hence, the social order and its development must invariably work to the benefit of the human person if the disposition of affairs is to be subordinate to the personal realm and not contrariwise, as the Lord indicated when He said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.(6)

This social order requires constant improvement. It must be founded on truth, built on justice and animated by love; in freedom it should grow every day toward a more humane balance.(7) An improvement in attitudes and abundant changes in society will have to take place if these objectives are to be gained.

God's Spirit, Who with a marvelous providence directs the unfolding of time and renews the face of the earth, is not absent from this development. The ferment of the Gospel too has aroused and continues to arouse in man's heart the irresistible requirements of his dignity.

27. Coming down to practical and particularly urgent consequences, this council lays stress on reverence for man; everyone must consider his every neighbor without exception as another self, taking into account first of all His life and the means necessary to living it with dignity,(8) so as not to imitate the rich man who had no concern for the poor man Lazarus.(9)

In our times a special obligation binds us to make ourselves the neighbor of every person without exception and of actively helping him when he comes across our path, whether he be an old person abandoned by all, a foreign laborer unjustly looked down upon, a refugee, a child born of an unlawful union and wrongly suffering for a sin he did not commit, or a hungry person who disturbs our conscience by recalling the voice of the Lord, "As long as you did it for one of these the least of my brethren, you did it for me" (Matt. 25:40).

Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia or wilful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are supreme dishonor to the Creator.

28. Respect and love ought to be extended also to those who think or act differently than we do in social, political and even religious matters. In fact, the more deeply we come to understand their ways of thinking through such courtesy and love, the more easily will we be able to enter into dialogue with them.

This love and good will, to be sure, must in no way render us indifferent to truth and goodness. Indeed love itself impels the disciples of Christ to speak the saving truth to all men. But it is necessary to distinguish between error, which always merits repudiation, and the person in error, who never loses the dignity of being a person even when he is flawed by false or inadequate religious notions.(10) God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts, for that reason He forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of anyone.(11)

The teaching of Christ even requires that we forgive injuries,(12) and extends the law of love to include every enemy, according to the command of the New Law: "You have heard that it was said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you" (Matt. 5:43-44).

29. Since all men possess a rational soul and are created in God's likeness, since they have the same nature and origin, have been redeemed by Christ and enjoy the same divine calling and destiny, the basic equality of all must receive increasingly greater recognition.

True, all men are not alike from the point of view of varying physical power and the diversity of intellectual and moral resources. Nevertheless, with respect to the fundamental rights of the person, every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, color, social condition, language or religion, is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God's intent. For in truth it must still be regretted that fundamental personal rights are still not being universally honored. Such is the case of a woman who is denied the right to choose a husband freely, to embrace a state of life or to acquire an education or cultural benefits equal to those recognized for men.

Therefore, although rightful differences exist between men, the equal dignity of persons demands that a more humane and just condition of life be brought about. For excessive economic and social differences between the members of the one human family or population groups cause scandal, and militate against social justice, equity, the dignity of the human person, as well as social and international peace.

Human institutions, both private and public, must labor to minister to the dignity and purpose of man. At the same time let them put up a stubborn fight against any kind of slavery, whether social or political, and safeguard the basic rights of man under every political system. Indeed human institutions themselves must be accommodated by degrees to the highest of all realities, spiritual ones, even though meanwhile, a long enough time will be required before they arrive at the desired goal.

30. Profound and rapid changes make it more necessary that no one ignoring the trend of events or drugged by laziness, content himself with a merely individualistic morality. It grows increasingly true that the obligations of justice and love are fulfilled only if each person, contributing to the common good, according to his own abilities and the needs of others, also promotes and assists the public and private institutions dedicated to bettering the conditions of human life. Yet there are those who, while possessing grand and rather noble sentiments, nevertheless in reality live always as if they cared nothing for the needs of society. Many in various places even make light of social laws and precepts, and do not hesitate to resort to various frauds and deceptions in avoiding just taxes or other debts due to society. Others think little of certain norms of social life, for example those designed for the protection of health, or laws establishing speed limits; they do not even avert to the fact that by such indifference they imperil their own life and that of others.

Let everyone consider it his sacred obligation to esteem and observe social necessities as belonging to the primary duties of modern man. For the more unified the world becomes, the more plainly do the offices of men extend beyond particular groups and spread by degrees to the whole world. But this development cannot occur unless individual men and their associations cultivate in themselves the moral and social virtues, and promote them in society; thus, with the needed help of divine grace men who are truly new and artisans of a new humanity can be forthcoming

31. In order for individual men to discharge with greater exactness the obligations of their conscience toward themselves and the various group to which they belong, they must be carefully educated to a higher degree of culture through the use of the immense resources available today to the human race. Above all the education of youth from every social background has to be undertaken, so that there can be produced not only men and women of refined talents, but those great-souled persons who are so desperately required by our times.

Now a man can scarcely arrive at the needed sense of responsibility, unless his living conditions allow him to become conscious of his dignity, and to rise to his destiny by spending himself for God and for others. But human freedom is often crippled when a man encounters extreme poverty just as it withers when he indulges in too many of life's comforts and imprisons himself in a kind of splendid isolation. Freedom acquires new strength, by contrast, when a man consents to the unavoidable requirements of social life, takes on the manifold demands of human partnership, and commits himself to the service of the human community.

Hence, the will to play one's role in common endeavors should be everywhere encouraged. Praise is due to those national procedures which allow the largest possible number of citizens to participate in public affairs with genuine freedom. Account must be taken, to be sure, of the actual conditions of each people and the decisiveness required by public authority. If every citizen is to feel inclined to take part in the activities of the various groups which make up the social body, these must offer advantages which will attract members and dispose them to serve others. We can justly consider that the future of humanity lies in the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming generations with reasons for living and hoping.

32. As God did not create man for life in isolation, but for the formation of social unity, so also "it has pleased God to make men holy and save them not merely as individuals, without bond or link between them, but by making them into a single people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness."(13) So from the beginning of salvation history He has chosen men not just as individuals but as members of a certain community. Revealing His mind to them, God called these chosen ones "His people" (Ex. 3:7-12), and even made a covenant with them on Sinai.(14)

This communitarian character is developed and consummated in the work of Jesus Christ. For the very Word made flesh willed to share in the human fellowship. He was present at the wedding of Cana, visited the house of Zacchaeus, ate with publicans and sinners. He revealed the love of the Father and the sublime vocation of man in terms of the most common of social realities and by making use of the speech and the imagery of plain everyday life. Willingly obeying' the laws of his country He sanctified those human ties, especially family ones, which are the source of social structures. He chose to lead the life proper to an artisan of His time and place.

In His preaching He clearly taught the sons of God to treat one another as brothers. In His prayers He pleaded that all His disciples might be "one." Indeed as the redeemer of all, He offered Himself for all even to point of death. "Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). He commanded His Apostles to preach to all peoples the Gospel's message that the human race was to become the Family of God, in which the fullness of the Law would be love.

As the firstborn of many brethren and by the giving of His Spirit, He founded after His death and resurrection a new brotherly community composed of all those who receive Him in faith and in love. This He did through His Body, which is the Church. There everyone, as members one of the other, would render mutual service according to the different gifts bestowed on each.

This solidarity must be constantly increased until that day on which it will be brought to perfection. Then, saved by grace, men will offer flawless glory to God as a family beloved of God and of Christ their Brother.

GAUDIUM ET SPES Taken from the original numbers 1 to 20

 

GAUDIUM ET SPES     PREFACE TAKEN FROM THE ORIGINAL, PARTS 1 TO 20, WILL CONTINUE IN A FEW DAYS 1. The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men. United in Christ, they are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man. That is why this community realizes that it is truly linked with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds. 2. Hence this Second Vatican Council, having probed more profoundly into the mystery of the Church, now addresses itself without hesitation, not only to the sons of the Church and to all who invoke the name of Christ, but to the whole of humanity. For the council yearns to explain to everyone how it conceives of the presence and activity of the Church in the world of today. Therefore, the council focuses its attention on the world of men, the whole human family along with the sum of those realities in the midst of which it lives; that world which is the theater of man's history, and the heir of his energies, his tragedies and his triumphs; that world which the Christian sees as created and sustained by its Maker's love, fallen indeed into the bondage of sin, yet emancipated now by Christ, Who was crucified and rose again to break the strangle hold of personified evil, so that the world might be fashioned anew according to God's design and reach its fulfillment. 3. Though mankind is stricken with wonder at its own discoveries and its power, it often raises anxious questions about the current trend of the world, about the place and role of man in the universe, about the meaning of its individual and collective strivings, and about the ultimate destiny of reality and of humanity. Hence, giving witness and voice to the faith of the whole people of God gathered together by Christ, this council can provide no more eloquent proof of its solidarity with, as well as its respect and love for the entire human family with which it is bound up, than by engaging with it in conversation about these various problems. The council brings to mankind light kindled from the Gospel, and puts at its disposal those saving resources which the Church herself, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, receives from her Founder. For the human person deserves to be preserved; human society deserves to be renewed. Hence the focal point of our total presentation will be man himself, whole and entire, body and soul, heart and conscience, mind and will. Therefore, this sacred synod, proclaiming the noble destiny of man and championing the Godlike seed which has been sown in him, offers to mankind the honest assistance of the Church in fostering that brotherhood of all men which corresponds to this destiny of theirs. Inspired by no earthly ambition, the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served.(2) INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT THE SITUATION OF MEN IN THE MODERN WORLD 4. To carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics. Some of the main features of the modern world can be sketched as follows. Today, the human race is involved in a new stage of history. Profound and rapid changes are spreading by degrees around the whole world. Triggered by the intelligence and creative energies of man, these changes recoil upon him, upon his decisions and desires, both individual and collective, and upon his manner of thinking and acting with respect to things and to people. Hence we can already speak of a true cultural and social transformation, one which has repercussions on man's religious life as well. As happens in any crisis of growth, this transformation has brought serious difficulties in its wake. Thus while man extends his power in every direction, he does not always succeed in subjecting it to his own welfare. Striving to probe more profoundly into the deeper recesses of his own mind, he frequently appears more unsure of himself. Gradually and more precisely he lays bare the laws of society, only to be paralyzed by uncertainty about the direction to give it. Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the worlds citizens are still tormented by hunger and poverty, while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy. Never before has man had so keen an understanding of freedom, yet at the same time new forms of social and psychological slavery make their appearance. Although the world of today has a very vivid awareness of its unity and of how one man depends on another in needful solidarity, it is most grievously torn into opposing camps by conflicting forces. For political, social, economic, racial and ideological disputes still continue bitterly, and with them the peril of a war which would reduce everything to ashes. True, there is a growing exchange of ideas, but the very words by which key concepts are expressed take on quite different meanings in diverse ideological systems. Finally, man painstakingly searches for a better world, without a corresponding spiritual advancement. Influenced by such a variety of complexities, many of our contemporaries are kept from accurately identifying permanent values and adjusting them properly to fresh discoveries. As a result, buffeted between hope and anxiety and pressing one another with questions about the present course of events, they are burdened down with uneasiness. This same course of events leads men to look for answers; indeed, it forces them to do so. 5. Today's spiritual agitation and the changing conditions of life are part of a broader and deeper revolution. As a result of the latter, intellectual formation is ever increasingly based on the mathematical and natural sciences and on those dealing with man himself, while in the practical order the technology which stems from these sciences takes on mounting importance. This scientific spirit has a new kind of impact on the cultural sphere and on modes of thought. Technology is now transforming the face of the earth, and is already trying to master outer space. To a certain extent, the human intellect is also broadening its dominion over time: over the past by means of historical knowledge; over the future, by the art of projecting and by planning. Advances in biology, psychology, and the social sciences not only bring men hope of improved self-knowledge; in conjunction with technical methods, they are helping men exert direct influence on the life of social groups. At the same time, the human race is giving steadily-increasing thought to forecasting and regulating its own population growth. History itself speeds along on so rapid a course that an individual person can scarcely keep abreast of it. The destiny of the human community has become all of a piece, where once the various groups of men had a kind of private history of their own. Thus, the human race has passed from a rather static concept of reality to a more dynamic, evolutionary one. In consequence there has arisen a new series of problems, a series as numerous as can be, calling for efforts of analysis and synthesis. 6. By this very circumstance, the traditional local communities such as families, clans, tribes, villages, various groups and associations stemming from social contacts, experience more thorough changes every day. The industrial type of society is gradually being spread, leading some nations to economic affluence, and radically transforming ideas and social conditions established for centuries. Likewise, the cult and pursuit of city living has grown, either because of a multiplication of cities and their inhabitants, or by a transplantation of city life to rural settings. New and more efficient media of social communication are contributing to the knowledge of events; by setting off chain reactions they are giving the swiftest and widest possible circulation to styles of thought and feeling. It is also noteworthy how many men are being induced to migrate on various counts, and are thereby changing their manner of life. Thus a man's ties with his fellows are constantly being multiplied, and at the same time "socialization" brings further ties, without however always promoting appropriate personal development and truly personal relationships. This kind of evolution can be seen more clearly in those nations which already enjoy the conveniences of economic and technological progress, though it is also astir among peoples still striving for such progress and eager to secure for themselves the advantages of an industrialized and urbanized society. These peoples, especially those among them who are attached to older traditions, are simultaneously undergoing a movement toward more mature and personal exercise of liberty. 7. A change in attitudes and in human structures frequently calls accepted values into question, especially among young people, who have grown impatient on more than one occasion, and indeed become rebels in their distress. Aware of their own influence in the life of society, they want a part in it sooner. This frequently causes parents and educators to experience greater difficulties day by day in discharging their tasks. The institutions, laws and modes of thinking and feeling as handed down from previous generations do not always seem to be well adapted to the contemporary state of affairs; hence arises an upheaval in the manner and even the norms of behavior. Finally, these new conditions have their impact on religion. On the one hand a more critical ability to distinguish religion from a magical view of the world and from the superstitions which still circulate purifies it and exacts day by day a more personal and explicit adherence to faith. As a result many persons are achieving a more vivid sense of God. On the other hand, growing numbers of people are abandoning religion in practice. Unlike former days, the denial of God or of religion, or the abandonment of them, are no longer unusual and individual occurrences. For today it is not rare for such things to be presented as requirements of scientific progress or of a certain new humanism. In numerous places these views are voiced not only in the teachings of philosophers, but on every side they influence literature, the arts, the interpretation of the humanities and of history and civil laws themselves. As a consequence, many people are shaken. 8. This development coming so rapidly and often in a disorderly fashion, combined with keener awareness itself of the inequalities in the world beget or intensify contradictions and imbalances. Within the individual person there develops rather frequently an imbalance between an intellect which is modern in practical matters and a theoretical system of thought which can neither master the sum total of its ideas, nor arrange them adequately into a synthesis. Likewise an imbalance arises between a concern for practicality and efficiency, and the demands of moral conscience; also very often between the conditions of collective existence and the requisites of personal thought, and even of contemplation. At length there develops an imbalance between specialized human activity and a comprehensive view of reality. As for the family, discord results from population, economic and social pressures, or from difficulties which arise between succeeding generations, or from new social relationships between men and women. Differences crop up too between races and between various kinds of social orders; between wealthy nations and those which are less influential or are needy; finally, between international institutions born of the popular desire for peace, and the ambition to propagate one's own ideology, as well as collective greeds existing in nations or other groups. What results is mutual distrust, enmities, conflicts and hardships. Of such is man at once the cause and the victim. 9. Meanwhile the conviction grows not only that humanity can and should increasingly consolidate its control over creation, but even more, that it devolves on humanity to establish a political, social and economic order which will growingly serve man and help individuals as well as groups to affirm and develop the dignity proper to them. As a result many persons are quite aggressively demanding those benefits of which with vivid awareness they judge themselves to be deprived either through injustice or unequal distribution. Nations on the road to progress, like those recently made independent, desire to participate in the goods of modern civilization, not only in the political field but also economically, and to play their part freely on the world scene. Still they continually fall behind while very often their economic and other dependence on wealthier nations advances more rapidly. People hounded by hunger call upon those better off. Where they have not yet won it, women claim for themselves an equity with men before the law and in fact. Laborers and farmers seek not only to provide for the necessities of life, but to develop the gifts of their personality by their labors and indeed to take part in regulating economic, social, political and cultural life. Now, for the first time in human history all people are convinced that the benefits of culture ought to be and actually can be extended to everyone. Still, beneath all these demands lies a deeper and more widespread longing: persons and societies thirst for a full and free life worthy of man; one in which they can subject to their own welfare all that the modern world can offer them so abundantly. In addition, nations try harder every day to bring about a kind of universal community. Since all these things are so, the modern world shows itself at once powerful and weak, capable of the noblest deeds or the foulest; before it lies the path to freedom or to slavery, to progress or retreat, to brotherhood or hatred. Moreover, man is becoming aware that it is his responsibility to guide aright the forces which he has unleashed and which can enslave him or minister to him. That is why he is putting questions to himself. 10. The truth is that the imbalances under which the modern world labors are linked with that more basic imbalance which is rooted in the heart of man. For in man himself many elements wrestle with one another. Thus, on the one hand, as a creature he experiences his limitations in a multitude of ways; on the other he feels himself to be boundless in his desires and summoned to a higher life. Pulled by manifold attractions he is constantly forced to choose among them and renounce some. Indeed, as a weak and sinful being, he often does what he would not, and fails to do what he would.(1) Hence he suffers from internal divisions, and from these flow so many and such great discords in society. No doubt many whose lives are infected with a practical materialism are blinded against any sharp insight into this kind of dramatic situation; or else, weighed down by unhappiness they are prevented from giving the matter any thought. Thinking they have found serenity in an interpretation of reality everywhere proposed these days, many look forward to a genuine and total emancipation of humanity wrought solely by human effort; they are convinced that the future rule of man over the earth will satisfy every desire of his heart. Nor are there lacking men who despair of any meaning to life and praise the boldness of those who think that human existence is devoid of any inherent significance and strive to confer a total meaning on it by their own ingenuity alone. Nevertheless, in the face of the modern development of the world, the number constantly swells of the people who raise the most basic questions or recognize them with a new sharpness: what is man? What is this sense of sorrow, of evil, of death, which continues to exist despite so much progress? What purpose have these victories purchased at so high a cost? What can man offer to society, what can he expect from it? What follows this earthly life? The Church firmly believes that Christ, who died and was raised up for all,(2) can through His Spirit offer man the light and the strength to measure up to his supreme destiny. Nor has any other name under the heaven been given to man by which it is fitting for him to be saved.(3) She likewise holds that in her most benign Lord and Master can be found the key, the focal point and the goal of man, as well as of all human history. The Church also maintains that beneath all changes there are many realities which do not change and which have their ultimate foundation in Christ, Who is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.(4) Hence under the light of Christ, the image of the unseen God, the firstborn of every creature,(5) the council wishes to speak to all men in order to shed light on the mystery of man and to cooperate in finding the solution to the outstanding problems of our time. PART I THE CHURCH AND MAN'S CALLING 11. The People of God believes that it is led by the Lord's Spirit, Who fills the earth. Motivated by this faith, it labors to decipher authentic signs of God's presence and purpose in the happenings, needs and desires in which this People has a part along with other men of our age. For faith throws a new light on everything, manifests God's design for man's total vocation, and thus directs the mind to solutions which are fully human. This council, first of all, wishes to assess in this light those values which are most highly prized today and to relate them to their divine source. Insofar as they stem from endowments conferred by God on man, these values are exceedingly good. Yet they are often wrenched from their rightful function by the taint in man's heart, and hence stand in need of purification. What does the Church think of man? What needs to be recommended for the upbuilding of contemporary society? What is the ultimate significance of human activity throughout the world? People are waiting for an answer to these questions. From the answers it will be increasingly clear that the People of God and the human race in whose midst it lives render service to each other. Thus the mission of the Church will show its religious, and by that very fact, its supremely human character. CHAPTER I THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON 12. According to the almost unanimous opinion of believers and unbelievers alike, all things on earth should be related to man as their center and crown. But what is man? About himself he has expressed, and continues to express, many divergent and even contradictory opinions. In these he often exalts himself as the absolute measure of all things or debases himself to the point of despair. The result is doubt and anxiety. The Church certainly understands these problems. Endowed with light from God, she can offer solutions to them, so that man's true situation can be portrayed and his defects explained, while at the same time his dignity and destiny are justly acknowledged. For Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created "to the image of God," is capable of knowing and loving his Creator, and was appointed by Him as master of all earthly creatures(1) that he might subdue them and use them to God's glory.(2) "What is man that you should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet" (Ps. 8:5-7). But God did not create man as a solitary, for from the beginning "male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27). Their companionship produces the primary form of interpersonal communion. For by his innermost nature man is a social being, and unless he relates himself to others he can neither live nor develop his potential. Therefore, as we read elsewhere in Holy Scripture God saw "all that he had made, and it was very good" (Gen. 1:31). 13. Although he was made by God in a state of holiness, from the very onset of his history man abused his liberty, at the urging of the Evil One. Man set himself against God and sought to attain his goal apart from God. Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, but their senseless minds were darkened and they served the creature rather than the Creator.(3) What divine revelation makes known to us agrees with experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations toward evil too, and is engulfed by manifold ills which cannot come from his good Creator. Often refusing to acknowledge God as his beginning, man has disrupted also his proper relationship to his own ultimate goal as well as his whole relationship toward himself and others and all created things. Therefore man is split within himself. As a result, all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness. Indeed, man finds that by himself he is incapable of battling the assaults of evil successfully, so that everyone feels as though he is bound by chains. But the Lord Himself came to free and strengthen man, renewing him inwardly and casting out that "prince of this world" (John 12:31) who held him in the bondage of sin.(4) For sin has diminished man, blocking his path to fulfillment. The call to grandeur and the depths of misery, both of which are a part of human experience, find their ultimate and simultaneous explanation in the light of this revelation. 14. Though made of body and soul, man is one. Through his bodily composition he gathers to himself the elements of the material world; thus they reach their crown through him, and through him raise their voice in free praise of the Creator.(6) For this reason man is not allowed to despise his bodily life, rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day. Nevertheless, wounded by sin, man experiences rebellious stirrings in his body. But the very dignity of man postulates that man glorify God in his body and forbid it to serve the evil inclinations of his heart. Now, man is not wrong when he regards himself as superior to bodily concerns, and as more than a speck of nature or a nameless constituent of the city of man. For by his interior qualities he outstrips the whole sum of mere things. He plunges into the depths of reality whenever he enters into his own heart; God, Who probes the heart,(7) awaits him there; there he discerns his proper destiny beneath the eyes of God. Thus, when he recognizes in himself a spiritual and immortal soul, he is not being mocked by a fantasy born only of physical or social influences, but is rather laying hold of the proper truth of the matter. 15. Man judges rightly that by his intellect he surpasses the material universe, for he shares in the light of the divine mind. By relentlessly employing his talents through the ages he has indeed made progress in the practical sciences and in technology and the liberal arts. In our times he has won superlative victories, especially in his probing of the material world and in subjecting it to himself. Still he has always searched for more penetrating truths, and finds them. For his intelligence is not confined to observable data alone, but can with genuine certitude attain to reality itself as knowable, though in consequence of sin that certitude is partly obscured and weakened. The intellectual nature of the human person is perfected by wisdom and needs to be, for wisdom gently attracts the mind of man to a quest and a love for what is true and good. Steeped in wisdom. man passes through visible realities to those which are unseen. Our era needs such wisdom more than bygone ages if the discoveries made by man are to be further humanized. For the future of the world stands in peril unless wiser men are forthcoming. It should also be pointed out that many nations, poorer in economic goods, are quite rich in wisdom and can offer noteworthy advantages to others. It is, finally, through the gift of the Holy Spirit that man comes by faith to the contemplation and appreciation of the divine plan.(8) 16. In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged.(9) Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths.(10) In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor.(11) In fidelity to conscience, Christians are joined with the rest of men in the search for truth, and for the genuine solution to the numerous problems which arise in the life of individuals from social relationships. Hence the more right conscience holds sway, the more persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and strive to be guided by the objective norms of morality. Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity. The same cannot be said for a man who cares but little for truth and goodness, or for a conscience which by degrees grows practically sightless as a result of habitual sin. 17. Only in freedom can man direct himself toward goodness. Our contemporaries make much of this freedom and pursue it eagerly; and rightly to be sure. Often however they foster it perversely as a license for doing whatever pleases them, even if it is evil. For its part, authentic freedom is an exceptional sign of the divine image within man. For God has willed that man remain "under the control of his own decisions,"(12) so that he can seek his Creator spontaneously, and come freely to utter and blissful perfection through loyalty to Him. Hence man's dignity demands that he act according to a knowing and free choice that is personally motivated and prompted from within, not under blind internal impulse nor by mere external pressure. Man achieves such dignity when, emancipating himself from all captivity to passion, he pursues his goal in a spontaneous choice of what is good, and procures for himself through effective and skilful action, apt helps to that end. Since man's freedom has been damaged by sin, only by the aid of God's grace can he bring such a relationship with God into full flower. Before the judgement seat of God each man must render an account of his own life, whether he has done good or evil.(13) 18. It is in the face of death that the riddle a human existence grows most acute. Not only is man tormented by pain and by the advancing deterioration of his body, but even more so by a dread of perpetual extinction. He rightly follows the intuition of his heart when he abhors and repudiates the utter ruin and total disappearance of his own person. He rebels against death because he bears in himself an eternal seed which cannot be reduced to sheer matter. All the endeavors of technology, though useful in the extreme, cannot calm his anxiety; for prolongation of biological life is unable to satisfy that desire for higher life which is inescapably lodged in his breast. Although the mystery of death utterly beggars the imagination, the Church has been taught by divine revelation and firmly teaches that man has been created by God for a blissful purpose beyond the reach of earthly misery. In addition, that bodily death from which man would have been immune had he not sinned(14) will be vanquished, according to the Christian faith, when man who was ruined by his own doing is restored to wholeness by an almighty and merciful Saviour. For God has called man and still calls him so that with his entire being he might be joined to Him in an endless sharing of a divine life beyond all corruption. Christ won this victory when He rose to life, for by His death He freed man from death. Hence to every thoughtful man a solidly established faith provides the answer to his anxiety about what the future holds for him. At the same time faith gives him the power to be united in Christ with his loved ones who have already been snatched away by death; faith arouses the hope that they have found true life with God. 19. The root reason for human dignity lies in man's call to communion with God. From the very circumstance of his origin man is already invited to converse with God. For man would not exist were he not created by Gods love and constantly preserved by it; and he cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and devotes himself to His Creator. Still, many of our contemporaries have never recognized this intimate and vital link with God, or have explicitly rejected it. Thus atheism must be accounted among the most serious problems of this age, and is deserving of closer examination. The word atheism is applied to phenomena which are quite distinct from one another. For while God is expressly denied by some, others believe that man can assert absolutely nothing about Him. Still others use such a method to scrutinize the question of God as to make it seem devoid of meaning. Many, unduly transgressing the limits of the positive sciences, contend that everything can be explained by this kind of scientific reasoning alone, or by contrast, they altogether disallow that there is any absolute truth. Some laud man so extravagantly that their faith in God lapses into a kind of anemia, though they seem more inclined to affirm man than to deny God. Again some form for themselves such a fallacious idea of God that when they repudiate this figment they are by no means rejecting the God of the Gospel. Some never get to the point of raising questions about God, since they seem to experience no religious stirrings nor do they see why they should trouble themselves about religion. Moreover, atheism results not rarely from a violent protest against the evil in this world, or from the absolute character with which certain human values are unduly invested, and which thereby already accords them the stature of God. Modern civilization itself often complicates the approach to God not for any essential reason but because it is so heavily engrossed in earthly affairs. Undeniably, those who willfully shut out God from their hearts and try to dodge religious questions are not following the dictates of their consciences, and hence are not free of blame; yet believers themselves frequently bear some responsibility for this situation. For, taken as a whole, atheism is not a spontaneous development but stems from a variety of causes, including a critical reaction against religious beliefs, and in some places against the Christian religion in particular. Hence believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism. To the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine, or are deficient in their religious, moral or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion. 20. Modern atheism often takes on a systematic expression which, in addition to other causes, stretches the desires for human independence to such a point that it poses difficulties against any kind of dependence on God. Those who profess atheism of this sort maintain that it gives man freedom to be an end unto himself, the sole artisan and creator of his own history. They claim that this freedom cannot be reconciled with the affirmation of a Lord Who is author and purpose of all things, or at least that this freedom makes such an affirmation altogether superfluous. Favoring this doctrine can be the sense of power which modern technical progress generates in man. Not to be overlooked among the forms of modern atheism is that which anticipates the liberation of man especially through his economic and social emancipation. This form argues that by its nature religion thwarts this liberation by arousing man's hope for a deceptive future life, thereby diverting him from the constructing of the earthly city. Consequently when the proponents of this doctrine gain governmental power they vigorously fight against religion, and promote atheism by using, especially in the education of youth, those means of pressure which public power has at its disposal.

GAUDIUM ET SPES     PREFACE TAKEN FROM THE ORIGINAL, PARTS 1 TO 20, WILL CONTINUE IN A FEW DAYS 1. The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts. For theirs is a community composed of men. United in Christ, they are led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the Kingdom of their Father and they have welcomed the news of salvation which is meant for every man. That is why this community realizes that it is truly linked with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds. 2. Hence this Second Vatican Council, having probed more profoundly into the mystery of the Church, now addresses itself without hesitation, not only to the sons of the Church and to all who invoke the name of Christ, but to the whole of humanity. For the council yearns to explain to everyone how it conceives of the presence and activity of the Church in the world of today. Therefore, the council focuses its attention on the world of men, the whole human family along with the sum of those realities in the midst of which it lives; that world which is the theater of man's history, and the heir of his energies, his tragedies and his triumphs; that world which the Christian sees as created and sustained by its Maker's love, fallen indeed into the bondage of sin, yet emancipated now by Christ, Who was crucified and rose again to break the strangle hold of personified evil, so that the world might be fashioned anew according to God's design and reach its fulfillment. 3. Though mankind is stricken with wonder at its own discoveries and its power, it often raises anxious questions about the current trend of the world, about the place and role of man in the universe, about the meaning of its individual and collective strivings, and about the ultimate destiny of reality and of humanity. Hence, giving witness and voice to the faith of the whole people of God gathered together by Christ, this council can provide no more eloquent proof of its solidarity with, as well as its respect and love for the entire human family with which it is bound up, than by engaging with it in conversation about these various problems. The council brings to mankind light kindled from the Gospel, and puts at its disposal those saving resources which the Church herself, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, receives from her Founder. For the human person deserves to be preserved; human society deserves to be renewed. Hence the focal point of our total presentation will be man himself, whole and entire, body and soul, heart and conscience, mind and will. Therefore, this sacred synod, proclaiming the noble destiny of man and championing the Godlike seed which has been sown in him, offers to mankind the honest assistance of the Church in fostering that brotherhood of all men which corresponds to this destiny of theirs. Inspired by no earthly ambition, the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served.(2) INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT THE SITUATION OF MEN IN THE MODERN WORLD 4. To carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics. Some of the main features of the modern world can be sketched as follows. Today, the human race is involved in a new stage of history. Profound and rapid changes are spreading by degrees around the whole world. Triggered by the intelligence and creative energies of man, these changes recoil upon him, upon his decisions and desires, both individual and collective, and upon his manner of thinking and acting with respect to things and to people. Hence we can already speak of a true cultural and social transformation, one which has repercussions on man's religious life as well. As happens in any crisis of growth, this transformation has brought serious difficulties in its wake. Thus while man extends his power in every direction, he does not always succeed in subjecting it to his own welfare. Striving to probe more profoundly into the deeper recesses of his own mind, he frequently appears more unsure of himself. Gradually and more precisely he lays bare the laws of society, only to be paralyzed by uncertainty about the direction to give it. Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the worlds citizens are still tormented by hunger and poverty, while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy. Never before has man had so keen an understanding of freedom, yet at the same time new forms of social and psychological slavery make their appearance. Although the world of today has a very vivid awareness of its unity and of how one man depends on another in needful solidarity, it is most grievously torn into opposing camps by conflicting forces. For political, social, economic, racial and ideological disputes still continue bitterly, and with them the peril of a war which would reduce everything to ashes. True, there is a growing exchange of ideas, but the very words by which key concepts are expressed take on quite different meanings in diverse ideological systems. Finally, man painstakingly searches for a better world, without a corresponding spiritual advancement. Influenced by such a variety of complexities, many of our contemporaries are kept from accurately identifying permanent values and adjusting them properly to fresh discoveries. As a result, buffeted between hope and anxiety and pressing one another with questions about the present course of events, they are burdened down with uneasiness. This same course of events leads men to look for answers; indeed, it forces them to do so. 5. Today's spiritual agitation and the changing conditions of life are part of a broader and deeper revolution. As a result of the latter, intellectual formation is ever increasingly based on the mathematical and natural sciences and on those dealing with man himself, while in the practical order the technology which stems from these sciences takes on mounting importance. This scientific spirit has a new kind of impact on the cultural sphere and on modes of thought. Technology is now transforming the face of the earth, and is already trying to master outer space. To a certain extent, the human intellect is also broadening its dominion over time: over the past by means of historical knowledge; over the future, by the art of projecting and by planning. Advances in biology, psychology, and the social sciences not only bring men hope of improved self-knowledge; in conjunction with technical methods, they are helping men exert direct influence on the life of social groups. At the same time, the human race is giving steadily-increasing thought to forecasting and regulating its own population growth. History itself speeds along on so rapid a course that an individual person can scarcely keep abreast of it. The destiny of the human community has become all of a piece, where once the various groups of men had a kind of private history of their own. Thus, the human race has passed from a rather static concept of reality to a more dynamic, evolutionary one. In consequence there has arisen a new series of problems, a series as numerous as can be, calling for efforts of analysis and synthesis. 6. By this very circumstance, the traditional local communities such as families, clans, tribes, villages, various groups and associations stemming from social contacts, experience more thorough changes every day. The industrial type of society is gradually being spread, leading some nations to economic affluence, and radically transforming ideas and social conditions established for centuries. Likewise, the cult and pursuit of city living has grown, either because of a multiplication of cities and their inhabitants, or by a transplantation of city life to rural settings. New and more efficient media of social communication are contributing to the knowledge of events; by setting off chain reactions they are giving the swiftest and widest possible circulation to styles of thought and feeling. It is also noteworthy how many men are being induced to migrate on various counts, and are thereby changing their manner of life. Thus a man's ties with his fellows are constantly being multiplied, and at the same time "socialization" brings further ties, without however always promoting appropriate personal development and truly personal relationships. This kind of evolution can be seen more clearly in those nations which already enjoy the conveniences of economic and technological progress, though it is also astir among peoples still striving for such progress and eager to secure for themselves the advantages of an industrialized and urbanized society. These peoples, especially those among them who are attached to older traditions, are simultaneously undergoing a movement toward more mature and personal exercise of liberty. 7. A change in attitudes and in human structures frequently calls accepted values into question, especially among young people, who have grown impatient on more than one occasion, and indeed become rebels in their distress. Aware of their own influence in the life of society, they want a part in it sooner. This frequently causes parents and educators to experience greater difficulties day by day in discharging their tasks. The institutions, laws and modes of thinking and feeling as handed down from previous generations do not always seem to be well adapted to the contemporary state of affairs; hence arises an upheaval in the manner and even the norms of behavior. Finally, these new conditions have their impact on religion. On the one hand a more critical ability to distinguish religion from a magical view of the world and from the superstitions which still circulate purifies it and exacts day by day a more personal and explicit adherence to faith. As a result many persons are achieving a more vivid sense of God. On the other hand, growing numbers of people are abandoning religion in practice. Unlike former days, the denial of God or of religion, or the abandonment of them, are no longer unusual and individual occurrences. For today it is not rare for such things to be presented as requirements of scientific progress or of a certain new humanism. In numerous places these views are voiced not only in the teachings of philosophers, but on every side they influence literature, the arts, the interpretation of the humanities and of history and civil laws themselves. As a consequence, many people are shaken. 8. This development coming so rapidly and often in a disorderly fashion, combined with keener awareness itself of the inequalities in the world beget or intensify contradictions and imbalances. Within the individual person there develops rather frequently an imbalance between an intellect which is modern in practical matters and a theoretical system of thought which can neither master the sum total of its ideas, nor arrange them adequately into a synthesis. Likewise an imbalance arises between a concern for practicality and efficiency, and the demands of moral conscience; also very often between the conditions of collective existence and the requisites of personal thought, and even of contemplation. At length there develops an imbalance between specialized human activity and a comprehensive view of reality. As for the family, discord results from population, economic and social pressures, or from difficulties which arise between succeeding generations, or from new social relationships between men and women. Differences crop up too between races and between various kinds of social orders; between wealthy nations and those which are less influential or are needy; finally, between international institutions born of the popular desire for peace, and the ambition to propagate one's own ideology, as well as collective greeds existing in nations or other groups. What results is mutual distrust, enmities, conflicts and hardships. Of such is man at once the cause and the victim. 9. Meanwhile the conviction grows not only that humanity can and should increasingly consolidate its control over creation, but even more, that it devolves on humanity to establish a political, social and economic order which will growingly serve man and help individuals as well as groups to affirm and develop the dignity proper to them. As a result many persons are quite aggressively demanding those benefits of which with vivid awareness they judge themselves to be deprived either through injustice or unequal distribution. Nations on the road to progress, like those recently made independent, desire to participate in the goods of modern civilization, not only in the political field but also economically, and to play their part freely on the world scene. Still they continually fall behind while very often their economic and other dependence on wealthier nations advances more rapidly. People hounded by hunger call upon those better off. Where they have not yet won it, women claim for themselves an equity with men before the law and in fact. Laborers and farmers seek not only to provide for the necessities of life, but to develop the gifts of their personality by their labors and indeed to take part in regulating economic, social, political and cultural life. Now, for the first time in human history all people are convinced that the benefits of culture ought to be and actually can be extended to everyone. Still, beneath all these demands lies a deeper and more widespread longing: persons and societies thirst for a full and free life worthy of man; one in which they can subject to their own welfare all that the modern world can offer them so abundantly. In addition, nations try harder every day to bring about a kind of universal community. Since all these things are so, the modern world shows itself at once powerful and weak, capable of the noblest deeds or the foulest; before it lies the path to freedom or to slavery, to progress or retreat, to brotherhood or hatred. Moreover, man is becoming aware that it is his responsibility to guide aright the forces which he has unleashed and which can enslave him or minister to him. That is why he is putting questions to himself. 10. The truth is that the imbalances under which the modern world labors are linked with that more basic imbalance which is rooted in the heart of man. For in man himself many elements wrestle with one another. Thus, on the one hand, as a creature he experiences his limitations in a multitude of ways; on the other he feels himself to be boundless in his desires and summoned to a higher life. Pulled by manifold attractions he is constantly forced to choose among them and renounce some. Indeed, as a weak and sinful being, he often does what he would not, and fails to do what he would.(1) Hence he suffers from internal divisions, and from these flow so many and such great discords in society. No doubt many whose lives are infected with a practical materialism are blinded against any sharp insight into this kind of dramatic situation; or else, weighed down by unhappiness they are prevented from giving the matter any thought. Thinking they have found serenity in an interpretation of reality everywhere proposed these days, many look forward to a genuine and total emancipation of humanity wrought solely by human effort; they are convinced that the future rule of man over the earth will satisfy every desire of his heart. Nor are there lacking men who despair of any meaning to life and praise the boldness of those who think that human existence is devoid of any inherent significance and strive to confer a total meaning on it by their own ingenuity alone. Nevertheless, in the face of the modern development of the world, the number constantly swells of the people who raise the most basic questions or recognize them with a new sharpness: what is man? What is this sense of sorrow, of evil, of death, which continues to exist despite so much progress? What purpose have these victories purchased at so high a cost? What can man offer to society, what can he expect from it? What follows this earthly life? The Church firmly believes that Christ, who died and was raised up for all,(2) can through His Spirit offer man the light and the strength to measure up to his supreme destiny. Nor has any other name under the heaven been given to man by which it is fitting for him to be saved.(3) She likewise holds that in her most benign Lord and Master can be found the key, the focal point and the goal of man, as well as of all human history. The Church also maintains that beneath all changes there are many realities which do not change and which have their ultimate foundation in Christ, Who is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.(4) Hence under the light of Christ, the image of the unseen God, the firstborn of every creature,(5) the council wishes to speak to all men in order to shed light on the mystery of man and to cooperate in finding the solution to the outstanding problems of our time. PART I THE CHURCH AND MAN'S CALLING 11. The People of God believes that it is led by the Lord's Spirit, Who fills the earth. Motivated by this faith, it labors to decipher authentic signs of God's presence and purpose in the happenings, needs and desires in which this People has a part along with other men of our age. For faith throws a new light on everything, manifests God's design for man's total vocation, and thus directs the mind to solutions which are fully human. This council, first of all, wishes to assess in this light those values which are most highly prized today and to relate them to their divine source. Insofar as they stem from endowments conferred by God on man, these values are exceedingly good. Yet they are often wrenched from their rightful function by the taint in man's heart, and hence stand in need of purification. What does the Church think of man? What needs to be recommended for the upbuilding of contemporary society? What is the ultimate significance of human activity throughout the world? People are waiting for an answer to these questions. From the answers it will be increasingly clear that the People of God and the human race in whose midst it lives render service to each other. Thus the mission of the Church will show its religious, and by that very fact, its supremely human character. CHAPTER I THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON 12. According to the almost unanimous opinion of believers and unbelievers alike, all things on earth should be related to man as their center and crown. But what is man? About himself he has expressed, and continues to express, many divergent and even contradictory opinions. In these he often exalts himself as the absolute measure of all things or debases himself to the point of despair. The result is doubt and anxiety. The Church certainly understands these problems. Endowed with light from God, she can offer solutions to them, so that man's true situation can be portrayed and his defects explained, while at the same time his dignity and destiny are justly acknowledged. For Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created "to the image of God," is capable of knowing and loving his Creator, and was appointed by Him as master of all earthly creatures(1) that he might subdue them and use them to God's glory.(2) "What is man that you should care for him? You have made him little less than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under his feet" (Ps. 8:5-7). But God did not create man as a solitary, for from the beginning "male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27). Their companionship produces the primary form of interpersonal communion. For by his innermost nature man is a social being, and unless he relates himself to others he can neither live nor develop his potential. Therefore, as we read elsewhere in Holy Scripture God saw "all that he had made, and it was very good" (Gen. 1:31). 13. Although he was made by God in a state of holiness, from the very onset of his history man abused his liberty, at the urging of the Evil One. Man set himself against God and sought to attain his goal apart from God. Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, but their senseless minds were darkened and they served the creature rather than the Creator.(3) What divine revelation makes known to us agrees with experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations toward evil too, and is engulfed by manifold ills which cannot come from his good Creator. Often refusing to acknowledge God as his beginning, man has disrupted also his proper relationship to his own ultimate goal as well as his whole relationship toward himself and others and all created things. Therefore man is split within himself. As a result, all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness. Indeed, man finds that by himself he is incapable of battling the assaults of evil successfully, so that everyone feels as though he is bound by chains. But the Lord Himself came to free and strengthen man, renewing him inwardly and casting out that "prince of this world" (John 12:31) who held him in the bondage of sin.(4) For sin has diminished man, blocking his path to fulfillment. The call to grandeur and the depths of misery, both of which are a part of human experience, find their ultimate and simultaneous explanation in the light of this revelation. 14. Though made of body and soul, man is one. Through his bodily composition he gathers to himself the elements of the material world; thus they reach their crown through him, and through him raise their voice in free praise of the Creator.(6) For this reason man is not allowed to despise his bodily life, rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day. Nevertheless, wounded by sin, man experiences rebellious stirrings in his body. But the very dignity of man postulates that man glorify God in his body and forbid it to serve the evil inclinations of his heart. Now, man is not wrong when he regards himself as superior to bodily concerns, and as more than a speck of nature or a nameless constituent of the city of man. For by his interior qualities he outstrips the whole sum of mere things. He plunges into the depths of reality whenever he enters into his own heart; God, Who probes the heart,(7) awaits him there; there he discerns his proper destiny beneath the eyes of God. Thus, when he recognizes in himself a spiritual and immortal soul, he is not being mocked by a fantasy born only of physical or social influences, but is rather laying hold of the proper truth of the matter. 15. Man judges rightly that by his intellect he surpasses the material universe, for he shares in the light of the divine mind. By relentlessly employing his talents through the ages he has indeed made progress in the practical sciences and in technology and the liberal arts. In our times he has won superlative victories, especially in his probing of the material world and in subjecting it to himself. Still he has always searched for more penetrating truths, and finds them. For his intelligence is not confined to observable data alone, but can with genuine certitude attain to reality itself as knowable, though in consequence of sin that certitude is partly obscured and weakened. The intellectual nature of the human person is perfected by wisdom and needs to be, for wisdom gently attracts the mind of man to a quest and a love for what is true and good. Steeped in wisdom. man passes through visible realities to those which are unseen. Our era needs such wisdom more than bygone ages if the discoveries made by man are to be further humanized. For the future of the world stands in peril unless wiser men are forthcoming. It should also be pointed out that many nations, poorer in economic goods, are quite rich in wisdom and can offer noteworthy advantages to others. It is, finally, through the gift of the Holy Spirit that man comes by faith to the contemplation and appreciation of the divine plan.(8) 16. In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged.(9) Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths.(10) In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor.(11) In fidelity to conscience, Christians are joined with the rest of men in the search for truth, and for the genuine solution to the numerous problems which arise in the life of individuals from social relationships. Hence the more right conscience holds sway, the more persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and strive to be guided by the objective norms of morality. Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity. The same cannot be said for a man who cares but little for truth and goodness, or for a conscience which by degrees grows practically sightless as a result of habitual sin. 17. Only in freedom can man direct himself toward goodness. Our contemporaries make much of this freedom and pursue it eagerly; and rightly to be sure. Often however they foster it perversely as a license for doing whatever pleases them, even if it is evil. For its part, authentic freedom is an exceptional sign of the divine image within man. For God has willed that man remain "under the control of his own decisions,"(12) so that he can seek his Creator spontaneously, and come freely to utter and blissful perfection through loyalty to Him. Hence man's dignity demands that he act according to a knowing and free choice that is personally motivated and prompted from within, not under blind internal impulse nor by mere external pressure. Man achieves such dignity when, emancipating himself from all captivity to passion, he pursues his goal in a spontaneous choice of what is good, and procures for himself through effective and skilful action, apt helps to that end. Since man's freedom has been damaged by sin, only by the aid of God's grace can he bring such a relationship with God into full flower. Before the judgement seat of God each man must render an account of his own life, whether he has done good or evil.(13) 18. It is in the face of death that the riddle a human existence grows most acute. Not only is man tormented by pain and by the advancing deterioration of his body, but even more so by a dread of perpetual extinction. He rightly follows the intuition of his heart when he abhors and repudiates the utter ruin and total disappearance of his own person. He rebels against death because he bears in himself an eternal seed which cannot be reduced to sheer matter. All the endeavors of technology, though useful in the extreme, cannot calm his anxiety; for prolongation of biological life is unable to satisfy that desire for higher life which is inescapably lodged in his breast. Although the mystery of death utterly beggars the imagination, the Church has been taught by divine revelation and firmly teaches that man has been created by God for a blissful purpose beyond the reach of earthly misery. In addition, that bodily death from which man would have been immune had he not sinned(14) will be vanquished, according to the Christian faith, when man who was ruined by his own doing is restored to wholeness by an almighty and merciful Saviour. For God has called man and still calls him so that with his entire being he might be joined to Him in an endless sharing of a divine life beyond all corruption. Christ won this victory when He rose to life, for by His death He freed man from death. Hence to every thoughtful man a solidly established faith provides the answer to his anxiety about what the future holds for him. At the same time faith gives him the power to be united in Christ with his loved ones who have already been snatched away by death; faith arouses the hope that they have found true life with God. 19. The root reason for human dignity lies in man's call to communion with God. From the very circumstance of his origin man is already invited to converse with God. For man would not exist were he not created by Gods love and constantly preserved by it; and he cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and devotes himself to His Creator. Still, many of our contemporaries have never recognized this intimate and vital link with God, or have explicitly rejected it. Thus atheism must be accounted among the most serious problems of this age, and is deserving of closer examination. The word atheism is applied to phenomena which are quite distinct from one another. For while God is expressly denied by some, others believe that man can assert absolutely nothing about Him. Still others use such a method to scrutinize the question of God as to make it seem devoid of meaning. Many, unduly transgressing the limits of the positive sciences, contend that everything can be explained by this kind of scientific reasoning alone, or by contrast, they altogether disallow that there is any absolute truth. Some laud man so extravagantly that their faith in God lapses into a kind of anemia, though they seem more inclined to affirm man than to deny God. Again some form for themselves such a fallacious idea of God that when they repudiate this figment they are by no means rejecting the God of the Gospel. Some never get to the point of raising questions about God, since they seem to experience no religious stirrings nor do they see why they should trouble themselves about religion. Moreover, atheism results not rarely from a violent protest against the evil in this world, or from the absolute character with which certain human values are unduly invested, and which thereby already accords them the stature of God. Modern civilization itself often complicates the approach to God not for any essential reason but because it is so heavily engrossed in earthly affairs. Undeniably, those who willfully shut out God from their hearts and try to dodge religious questions are not following the dictates of their consciences, and hence are not free of blame; yet believers themselves frequently bear some responsibility for this situation. For, taken as a whole, atheism is not a spontaneous development but stems from a variety of causes, including a critical reaction against religious beliefs, and in some places against the Christian religion in particular. Hence believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism. To the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine, or are deficient in their religious, moral or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion. 20. Modern atheism often takes on a systematic expression which, in addition to other causes, stretches the desires for human independence to such a point that it poses difficulties against any kind of dependence on God. Those who profess atheism of this sort maintain that it gives man freedom to be an end unto himself, the sole artisan and creator of his own history. They claim that this freedom cannot be reconciled with the affirmation of a Lord Who is author and purpose of all things, or at least that this freedom makes such an affirmation altogether superfluous. Favoring this doctrine can be the sense of power which modern technical progress generates in man. Not to be overlooked among the forms of modern atheism is that which anticipates the liberation of man especially through his economic and social emancipation. This form argues that by its nature religion thwarts this liberation by arousing man's hope for a deceptive future life, thereby diverting him from the constructing of the earthly city. Consequently when the proponents of this doctrine gain governmental power they vigorously fight against religion, and promote atheism by using, especially in the education of youth, those means of pressure which public power has at its disposal.