Lk 1, 57-79 + CSDC and CV

Luke 1, 57-79 + CSDC and CV

CV 25d. The mobility of labour, associated with a climate of deregulation, is an important phenomenon with certain positive aspects, because it can stimulate wealth production and cultural exchange. Nevertheless, uncertainty over working conditions caused by mobility and deregulation, when it becomes endemic, tends to create new forms of psychological instability, giving rise to difficulty in forging coherent life-plans, including that of marriage. This leads to situations of human decline, to say nothing of the waste of social resources.

Jesus is the tangible and definitive manifestation of how God acts towards men and women

CSDC 64. With her social doctrine not only does the Church not stray from her mission but she is rigorously faithful to it. The redemption wrought by Christ and entrusted to the saving mission of the Church is certainly of the supernatural order. This dimension is not a delimitation of salvation but rather an integral expression of it[82]. The supernatural is not to be understood as an entity or a place that begins where the natural ends, but as the raising of the natural to a higher plane. In this way nothing of the created or the human order is foreign to or excluded from the supernatural or theological order of faith and grace, rather it is found within it, taken on and elevated by it. “In Jesus Christ the visible world which God created for man (cf. Gen 1:26-30) — the world that, when sin entered, ‘was subjected to futility' (Rom 8:20; cf. Rom 8:19-22) — recovers again its original link with the divine source of Wisdom and Love. Indeed, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son' (Jn 3:16). As this link was broken in the man Adam, so in the Man Christ it was reforged (cf. Rom 5:12-21)”[83].

Notes:  [82] Cf. Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi 9, 30: AAS 68 (1976), 10-11; John Paul II, Address to the Third General Conference of Latin American Bishops, Puebla, Mexico (28 January 1979), III/4-7: AAS 71 (1979), 199-204; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Libertatis Conscientia, 63-64, 80: AAS 79 (1987), 581-582, 590-591. [83] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis, 8: AAS 71 (1979), 270.

(Lk 1, 57-79) To shine on those who sit in darkness and death's shadow

[57] When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. [58] Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. [59] 18 When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, [60] but his mother said in reply, "No. He will be called John." [61] But they answered her, "There is no one among your relatives who has this name." [62] So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. [63] He asked for a tablet and wrote, "John is his name," and all were amazed. [64] Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. [65] Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. [66] All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, "What, then, will this child be?" For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. [67] Then Zechariah his father, filled with the holy Spirit, prophesied, saying: [68] "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people. [69] He has raised up a horn for our salvation within the house of David his servant, [70] even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old: [71] salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, [72] to show mercy to our fathers and to be mindful of his holy covenant [73] and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father, and to grant us that, [74] rescued from the hand of enemies, without fear we might worship him [75] in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. [76] And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, [77] to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, [78] because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us [79] to shine on those who sit in darkness and death's shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

CSDC 28b. Jesus therefore places himself on the frontline of fulfilment, not only because he fulfils what was promised and what was awaited by Israel, but also in the deeper sense that in him the decisive event of the history of God with mankind is fulfilled. He proclaims: “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). Jesus, in other words, is the tangible and definitive manifestation of how God acts towards men and women.

[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)]