Matthew 7, 1-12  + CSDC and CV

(CV 11a) The publication of Populorum Progressio occurred immediately after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, and in its opening paragraphs it clearly indicates its close connection with the Council [14]. Twenty years later, in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, John Paul II, in his turn, emphasized the earlier Encyclical's fruitful relationship with the Council, and especially with the Pastoral Constitution  Gaudium et Spes [15]. I too wish to recall here the importance of the Second Vatican Council for Paul VI's Encyclical and for the whole of the subsequent social Magisterium of the Popes.

Notes: [14] Cf. nos. 3-5: loc. cit., 258-260. [15] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter  Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (30 December 1987), 6-7:  AAS 80 (1988), 517-519.

The Church's social doctrine is an integral part of her evangelizing ministry

CSDC 66a. The Church's social doctrine is an integral part of her evangelizing ministry. Nothing that concerns the community of men and women — situations and problems regarding justice, freedom, development, relations between peoples, peace — is foreign to evangelization, and evangelization would be incomplete if it did not take into account the mutual demands continually made by the Gospel and by the concrete, personal and social life of man[85].

Notes: [85] Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Evangelii Nuntiandi, 29: AAS 68 (1976), 25.

(Mt 7, 1-12) The dimension of gift and gratuitousness    

[1] "Stop judging, that you may not be judged. [2] For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. [3] Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? [4] How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? [5] You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye. [6] "Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. [7] "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. [8] For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. [9] Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, [10] or a snake when he asks for a fish? [11] If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. [12] "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.

CSDC 20. Every authentic religious experience, in all cultural traditions, leads to an intuition of the Mystery that, not infrequently, is able to recognize some aspect of God's face. On the one hand, God is seen as the origin of what exists, as the presence that guarantees to men and women organized in a society the basic conditions of life, placing at their disposal the goods that are necessary. On the other hand, he appears as the measure of what should be, as the presence that challenges human action — both at the personal and at the social levels — regarding the use of those very goods in relation to other people. In every religious experience, therefore, importance attaches to the dimension of gift and gratuitousness, which is seen as an underlying element of the experience that the human beings have of their existence together with others in the world, as well as to the repercussions of this dimension on the human conscience, which senses that it is called to manage responsibly and together with others the gift received. Proof of this is found in the universal recognition of the golden rule, which expresses on the level of human relations the injunction addressed by the Mystery to men and women: “Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do so to them” (Mt 7:12)[23].

Notes: [23] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1789, 1970, 2510.

 

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