Matthew 12, 38-42 + CSDC and CV

(CV 18d) Integral human development on the natural plane, as a response to a vocation from God the Creator [48], demands self-fulfilment in a “transcendent humanism which gives [to man] his greatest possible perfection: this is the highest goal of personal development”[49]. The Christian vocation to this development therefore applies to both the natural plane and the supernatural plane; which is why, “when God is eclipsed, our ability to recognize the natural order, purpose and the ‘good' begins to wane”[50]. 

Notes: [48]Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 16: loc. cit., 265. [49] Ibid. [50] Benedict XVI, Address to young people at Barangaroo, Sydney, 17 July 2008.

The Church's social doctrine is  the work of the Magisterium

CSDC 79b. These many and varied contributions — which are themselves expressions of the “supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) of the whole people” [112] — are taken up, interpreted and formed into a unified whole by the Magisterium, which promulgates the social teaching as Church doctrine. To the Church's Magisterium belongs those who have received the “munus docendi”, or the ministry of teaching in the areas of faith and morals with the authority received from Christ. The Church's social doctrine is not only the thought or work of qualified persons, but is the thought of the Church, insofar as it is the work of the Magisterium, which teaches with the authority that Christ conferred on the Apostles and their successors: the Pope and the Bishops in communion with him[113].

Notes:  [112] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 12: AAS 57 (1965), 16. [113] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2034. 

(Mt 12, 38-42) Evangelizing the social sector 

 

[38] Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." [39] He said to them in reply, "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. [40] Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. [41] At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. [42] At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.

CSDC 63. By means of her social doctrine, the Church takes on the task of proclaiming what the Lord has entrusted to her. She makes the message of the freedom and redemption wrought by Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom, present in human history. In proclaiming the Gospel, the Church “bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She teaches him the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom”[80]. As the Gospel reverberates by means of the Church in the today of men and women[81], this social doctrine is a word that brings freedom. This means that it has the effectiveness of truth and grace that comes from the Spirit of God, who penetrates hearts, predisposing them to thoughts and designs of love, justice, freedom and peace. Evangelizing the social sector, then, means infusing into the human heart the power of meaning and freedom found in the Gospel, in order to promote a society befitting mankind because it befits Christ: it means building a city of man that is more human because it is in greater conformity with the Kingdom of God.

Notes: [80] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2419.[81] Cf. John Paul II, Homily at Pentecost for the First Centenary of Rerum Novarum (19 May 1991): AAS 84 (1992), 282.

[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)]