Matthew 10, 34-39 + CSDC and CV

(CV 15b) This is not a question of purely individual morality: Humanae Vitae indicates the strong links between life ethics and social ethics, ushering in a new area of magisterial teaching that has gradually been articulated in a series of documents, most recently John Paul II's Encyclical Evangelium Vitae [28]. The Church forcefully maintains this link between life ethics and social ethics, fully aware that “a society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized.” [29]

Notes: [28] Cf. Encyclical Letter  Evangelium Vitae (25 March 1995), 93: AAS 87 (1995), 507-508. [29] Ibid., 101: loc. cit., 516-518. 

Three levels of theological-moral teaching: foundational, directive, deliberative

CSDC 73a. In fact, this social doctrine reflects three levels of theological-moral teaching: the foundational level of motivations; the directive level of norms for life in society; the deliberative level of consciences, called to mediate objective and general norms in concrete and particular social situations. These three levels implicitly define also the proper method and specific epistemological structure of the social doctrine of the Church.

(Mt 10, 34-39) Peace: fruit of justice and love  

[34] "Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. [35] For I have come to set a man 'against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; [36] and one's enemies will be those of his household.' [37] "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; [38] and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. [39] Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

CSDC 494. Peace is a value [1015] and a universal duty [1016] founded on a rational and moral order of society that has its roots in God himself, “the first source of being, the essential truth and the supreme good”.[1017] Peace is not merely the absence of war, nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies.[1018] Rather it is founded on a correct understanding of the human person [1019] and requires the establishment of an order based on justice and charity. Peace is the fruit of justice,[1020] (cf. Is 32:17) understood in the broad sense as the respect for the equilibrium of every dimension of the human person. Peace is threatened when man is not given all that is due him as a human person, when his dignity is not respected and when civil life is not directed to the common good. The defence and promotion of human rights is essential for the building up of a peaceful society and the integral development of individuals, peoples and nations.[1021] Peace is also the fruit of love. “True and lasting peace is more a matter of love than of justice, because the function of justice is merely to do away with obstacles to peace: the injury done or the damage caused. Peace itself, however, is an act and results only from love”.[1022]

Notes: [1015] Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 1986 World Day of Peace, 1: AAS 78 (1986), 278-279. [1016] Cf. Paul VI, Message for the 1969 World Day of Peace: AAS 60 (1968), 771; John Paul II, Message for the 2004 World Day of Peace, 4: AAS 96 (2004), 116. [1017] John Paul II, Message for the 1982 World Day of Peace 4: AAS 74 (1982), 328. [1018] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 78: AAS 58 (1966), 1101-1102. [1019] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 51: AAS 83 (1991), 856-857. [1020] Cf. Paul VI, Message for the 1972 World Day of Peace: AAS 63 (1971), 868. [1021] Cf. Paul VI, Message for the 1969 World Day of Peace: AAS 60 (1968), 772; John Paul II, Message for the 1999 World Day of Peace, 12: AAS 91 (1999), 386-387. [1022] Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Ubi Arcano: AAS 14 (1922), 686. In the Encyclical, reference is made to Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 29, a. 3, ad 3um: Ed. Leon. 8, 238; cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 78: AAS 58 (1966), 1101-1102.

[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)]