Mark 7, 31-37 + CSDC and CV

Mark 7, 31-37 + CSDC and CV

CV 76d. When he is far away from God, man is unsettled and ill at ease. Social and psychological alienation and the many neuroses that afflict affluent societies are attributable in part to spiritual factors. A prosperous society, highly developed in material terms but weighing heavily on the soul, is not of itself conducive to authentic development. The new forms of slavery to drugs and the lack of hope into which so many people fall can be explained not only in sociological and psychological terms but also in essentially spiritual terms. The emptiness in which the soul feels abandoned, despite the availability of countless therapies for body and psyche, leads to suffering. There cannot be holistic development and universal common good unless people's spiritual and moral welfare is taken into account, considered in their totality as body and soul.   

No one is permitted to identify the authority of the Church exclusively with his own opinion

CSDC 574a. The distinction that must be made on the one hand between the demands of faith and socio-political options, and on the other hand between the choices made by individual Christians and the Christian community as such, means that membership in a party or in a political alliance should be considered a personal decision, legitimate at least within the limits of those parties and positions that are not incompatible with Christian faith and values[1202].

Notes: [1202] Cf. Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens, 50: AAS 63 (1971), 439-440.

(Mk 7, 31-37) His speech impediment was removed and he spoke

[31] Again he left the district of Tyre and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. [32] And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. [33] He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; [34] then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!") [35] And (immediately) the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. [36] He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. [37] They were exceedingly astonished and they said, "He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and (the) mute speak." 

CSDC 109. The likeness with God shows that the essence and existence of man are constitutively related to God in the most profound manner.[205] This is a relationship that exists in itself, it is therefore not something that comes afterwards and is not added from the outside. The whole of man's life is a quest and a search for God. This relationship with God can be ignored or even forgotten or dismissed, but it can never be eliminated. Indeed, among all the world's visible creatures, only man has a “capacity for God” (“homo est Dei capax”).[206] The human being is a personal being created by God to be in relationship with him; man finds life and self-expression only in relationship, and tends naturally to God.[207] 

   

 Notes: [205] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 356, 358. [206] Catechism of the Catholic Church, title of Chapter 1, Section 1, Part 1; cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 12: AAS 58 (1966), 1034; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 34: AAS 87 (1995), 440. [207] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 35: AAS 87 (1995), 440-441; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1721.

[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)].