Mark 13,28-37 + CSDC and CV

Mark 13,28-37 + CSDC and CV

CV 11b. Paul VI set out from this vision in order to convey two important truths. The first is that the whole Church, in all her being and acting — when she proclaims, when she celebrates, when she performs works of charity — is engaged in promoting integral human development. She has a public role over and above her charitable and educational activities: all the energy she brings to the advancement of humanity and of universal fraternity is manifested when she is able to operate in a climate of freedom. In not a few cases, that freedom is impeded by prohibitions and persecutions, or it is limited when the Church's public presence is reduced to her charitable activities alone. The second truth is that authentic human development concerns the whole of the person in every single dimension [16].

Notes: [16] Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 14: loc. cit., 264.

The boundary and relation between nature, technology and morality

CSDC 16b. The boundary and relation between nature, technology and morality are issues that decisively summon personal and collective responsibility with regard to the attitudes to adopt concerning what human beings are, what they are able to accomplish and what they should be.

(Mk 13,28-37) What I say to you, I say to all: Watch!

[28] "Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. [29] In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. [30] Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. [31] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. [32] "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. [33] Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. [34] It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch. [35] Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. [36] May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. [37] What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'"

CSDC 39. The salvation offered by God to his children requires their free response and acceptance. It is in this that faith consists, and it is through this that “man freely commits his entire self to God”[40], responding to God's prior and superabundant love (cf. 1 Jn 4:10) with concrete love for his brothers and sisters, and with steadfast hope because “he who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23). In fact, the divine plan of salvation does not consign human creatures to a state of mere passivity or of lesser status in relation to their Creator, because their relationship to God, whom Jesus Christ reveals to us and in whom he freely makes us sharers by the working of the Holy Spirit, is that of a child to its parent: the very relationship that Jesus lives with the Father (cf. Jn 15-17; Gal 4:6-7).

Notes: [40] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 5: AAS 58 (1966), 819.

[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)]