Mark 14, 43-52 + CSDC and CV

Mark 14, 43-52 + CSDC and CV

CV 13. In addition to its important link with the entirety of the Church's social doctrine, Populorum Progressio is closely connected to the overall magisterium of Paul VI, especially his social magisterium. His was certainly a social teaching of great importance: he underlined the indispensable importance of the Gospel for building a society according to freedom and justice, in the ideal and historical perspective of a civilization animated by love. Paul VI clearly understood that the social question had become worldwide [25]  and he grasped the interconnection between the impetus towards the unification of humanity and the Christian ideal of a single family of peoples in solidarity and fraternity. In the notion of development, understood in human and Christian terms, he identified the heart of the Christian social message, and he proposed Christian charity as the principal force at the service of development. Motivated by the wish to make Christ's love fully visible to contemporary men and women, Paul VI addressed important ethical questions robustly, without yielding to the cultural weaknesses of his time.

Notes: [25] Cf. Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 3: loc. cit., 258.

It is man himself who must be saved; it is human society which must be renewed 

CSDC 18b. The Second Vatican Council gave an eloquent demonstration of solidarity, respect and affection for the whole human family by engaging in dialogue with it about many problems, “bringing the light kindled from the Gospel and putting at the disposal of the human race the saving resources which the Church has received from her Founder under the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It is man himself who must be saved; it is human society which must be renewed”[20].

Notes:  [20] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 3: AAS 58 (1966), 1026.

(Mk 14, 43-52) They laid hands on him and arrested him

[43] Then, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who had come from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. [44] His betrayer had arranged a signal with them, saying, "The man I shall kiss is the one; arrest him and lead him away securely." [45] He came and immediately went over to him and said, "Rabbi." And he kissed him. [46] At this they laid hands on him and arrested him. [47] One of the bystanders drew his sword, struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his ear. [48] Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs, to seize me? [49] Day after day I was with you teaching in the temple area, yet you did not arrest me; but that the scriptures may be fulfilled." [50] And they all left him and fled. [51] Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, [52] but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.

CSDC 135. Man can turn to good only in freedom, which God has given to him as one of the highest signs of his image[251]: “For God has willed that man remain ‘under the control of his own decisions' (Sir 15:14), so that he can seek his Creator spontaneously, and come freely to utter and blissful perfection through loyalty to Him. Hence man's dignity demands that he act according to a knowing and free choice that is personally motivated and prompted from within, neither under blind internal impulse nor by mere external pressure”[252]. Man rightly appreciates freedom and strives for it passionately: rightly does he desire and must form and guide, by his own free initiative, his personal and social life, accepting personal responsibility for it[253]. In fact, freedom not only allows man suitably to modify the state of things outside of himself, but it also determines the growth of his being as a person through choices consistent with the true good[254]. In this way man generates himself, he is father of his own being[255], he constructs the social order[256]. 

Notes: [251] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1705. [252] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 17: AAS 58 (1966), 1037; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1730-1732. [253] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, 34: AAS 85 (1993), 1160- 1161; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 17: AAS 58 (1966), 1038. [254] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1733. [255] Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, De Vita Moysis, II, 2-3: PG 44, 327B-328B: “unde fit, ut nos ipsi patres quodammodo simus nostri ... vitii ac virtutis ratione fingentes”. [256] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 13: AAS 83 (1991), 809-810.

[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)]