Mark 12,35-37 + CSDC and CV

Mark 12,35-37 + CSDC and CV

CV 9b. The Church does not have technical solutions to offer[10] and does not claim “to interfere in any way in the politics of States.”[11] She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation. Without truth, it is easy to fall into an empiricist and sceptical view of life, incapable of rising to the level of praxis because of a lack of interest in grasping the values — sometimes even the meanings — with which to judge and direct it.

Notes: [10] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 36; Paul VI, Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens (14 May 1971), 4: AAS 63 (1971), 403-404; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus  (1 May 1991), 43: AAS 83 (1991), 847. [11] Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 13: loc. cit., 263-264.

The basic questions that characterize the course of human life

CSDC 14b. Who am I? Why is there pain, evil, death, despite all the progress that has been made? What is the value of so many accomplishments if the cost has been unbearable? What will there be after this life? These are the basic questions that characterize the course of human life[17]. In this regard, we can recall the admonition “Know yourself”, carved on the temple portal at Delphi, which testifies to the basic truth that man, called to be set apart from the rest of creation, is man precisely because in his essence he is oriented to knowing himself.

Notes: [17] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 10: AAS 58 (1966), 1032.

(Mk 12,35-37) How do the scribes claim that the Messiah is the son of David?

[35] As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said, "How do the scribes claim that the Messiah is the son of David? [36] David himself, inspired by the holy Spirit, said: 'The Lord said to my lord, "Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies under your feet."' [37] David himself calls him 'lord'; so how is he his son?" (The) great crowd heard this with delight.

CSDC 34. The revelation in Christ of the mystery of God as Trinitarian love is at the same time the revelation of the vocation of the human person to love. This revelation sheds light on every aspect of the personal dignity and freedom of men and women, and on the depths of their social nature. “Being a person in the image and likeness of God ... involves existing in a relationship, in relation to the other ‘I'”[36], because God himself, one and triune, is the communion of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In the communion of love that is God, and in which the Three Divine Persons mutually love one another and are the One God, the human person is called to discover the origin and goal of his existence and of history. The Council Fathers, in the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, teach that “the Lord Jesus Christ, when praying to the Father ‘that they may all be one ... as we are one' (Jn 17:21-22), has opened up new horizons closed to human reason by implying that there is a certain parallel between the union existing among the divine Persons and the union of the children of God in truth and love. It follows, then, that if man is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake, man can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself (cf. Lk 17:33)”[37]. 

Notes: [36] John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, 7: AAS 80 (1988), 1664. [37] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 24: AAS 58 (1966), 1045. 

[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)]