Matthew 27, 39-44 + CSDC and CV

(CV 43b) A link has often been Notesd between claims to a “right to excess”, and even to transgression and vice, within affluent societies, and the lack of food, drinkable water, basic instruction and elementary health care in areas of the underdeveloped world and on the outskirts of large metropolitan centres. The link consists in this: individual rights, when detached from a framework of duties which grants them their full meaning, can run wild, leading to an escalation of demands which is effectively unlimited and indiscriminate. An overemphasis on rights leads to a disregard for duties.

To the subjective dimension of work must be given due priority

CSDC 317a. Enlightenment for all can be found in the appeal of the subjective dimension of work, which according to the teaching of the Church's social doctrine must be given due priority, because human work “proceeds directly from persons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth”.[678]  

  

 Notes: [678] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2427.

(Mt 27, 39-44)  

[39] Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads [40] and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, (and) come down from the cross!" [41] Likewise the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, [42] "He saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. [43] He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" [44] The revolutionaries who were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way.

CSDC 108. The fundamental message of Sacred Scripture proclaims that the human person is a creature of God (cf. Ps 139:14-18), and sees in his being in the image of God the element that characterizes and distinguishes him: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). God places the human creature at the centre and summit of the created order. Man (in Hebrew, “adam”) is formed from the earth (“adamah”) and God blows into his nostrils the breath of life (cf. Gen 2:7). Therefore, “being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. Further, he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead”[204]. 

Notes: [204] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 357.

[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)]