Monday, March 17, 2014

Matthew 24, 15-22 + CSDC and CV



Matthew 24, 15-22 + CSDC and CV    


(CV 37a) The Church's social doctrine has always maintained that justice must be applied to every phase of economic activity, because this is always concerned with man and his needs. Locating resources, financing, production, consumption and all the other phases in the economic cycle inevitably have moral implications. Thus every economic decision has a moral consequence. The social sciences and the direction taken by the contemporary economy point to the same conclusion. Perhaps at one time it was conceivable that first the creation of wealth could be entrusted to the economy, and then the task of distributing it could be assigned to politics.  

Church's social doctrine has often denounced the many violations of human dignity 


107b. In her manifold expressions of this knowledge, the Church has striven above all to defend human dignity in the face of every attempt to redimension or distort its image; moreover she has often denounced the many violations of human dignity. History attests that it is from the fabric of social relationships that there arise some of the best possibilities for ennobling the human person, but it is also there that lie in wait the most loathsome rejections of human dignity.

(Mt 24,15-22) Violence destroys what it claims to defend


[15] "When you see the desolating abomination spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), [16] then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, [17] a person on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house, [18] a person in the field must not return to get his cloak. [19] Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days. [20] Pray that your flight not be in winter or on the sabbath, [21] for at that time there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be. [22] And if those days had not been shortened, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect they will be shortened.


CSDC 496. Violence is never a proper response. With the conviction of her faith in Christ and with the awareness of her mission, the Church proclaims “that violence is evil, that violence is unacceptable as a solution to problems, that violence is unworthy of man. Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings”.[1029] The contemporary world too needs the witness of unarmed prophets, who are often the objects of ridicule.[1030] “Those who renounce violence and bloodshed and, in order to safeguard human rights, make use of those means of defence available to the weakest, bear witness to evangelical charity, provided they do so without harming the rights and obligations of other men and societies. They bear legitimate witness to the gravity of the physical and moral risk of recourse to violence, with all its destruction and death”.[1031]

  
Notes: [1029] John Paul II, Address at Drogheda, Ireland (29 September 1979), 9: AAS 71 (1979), 1081; cf. Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 37: AAS 68 (1976), 29. [1030] Cf. John Paul II, Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (12 November 1983), 5: AAS 76 (1984), 398-399. [1031] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2306.
 
[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)]

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