Lk 19, 1-10 + CSDC and CV

Luke 19, 1-10 + CSDC and CV 

CV 53a One of the deepest forms of poverty a person can experience is isolation. If we look closely at other kinds of poverty, including material forms, we see that they are born from isolation, from not being loved or from difficulties in being able to love. Poverty is often produced by a rejection of God's love, by man's basic and tragic tendency to close in on himself, thinking himself to be self-sufficient or merely an insignificant and ephemeral fact, a “stranger” in a random universe. Man is alienated when he is alone, when he is detached from reality, when he stops thinking and believing in a foundation [125]. All of humanity is alienated when too much trust is placed in merely human projects, ideologies and false utopias [126].

Notes: [125] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 41: loc. cit., 843-845. [126] Cf. ibid.

Rerum Novarum: heartfelt defence of the inalienable dignity of workers  

CDS 268 Rerum Novarum is above all a heartfelt defence of the inalienable dignity of workers, connected with the importance of the right to property, the principle of cooperation among the social classes, the rights of the weak and the poor, the obligations of workers and employers and the right to form associations. The orientation of ideas expressed in the Encyclical strengthened the commitment to vitalize Christian social life, which was seen in the birth and consolidation of numerous initiatives of high civic profile: groups and centres for social studies, associations, worker organizations, unions, cooperatives, rural banks, insurance groups and assistance organizations. All of this gave great momentum to labour-related legislation for the protection of workers, above all children and women; to instruction and to the improvement of salaries and cleanliness in the work environment.

(Luke 19, 1-10) The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost  

[1] He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. [2] Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, [3] was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. [4] So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. [5] When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." [6] And he came down quickly and received him with joy. [7] When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner." [8] But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over." [9] And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. [10] For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

CDS  172 CSDC 172. The universal right to use the goods of the earth is based on the principle of the universal destination of goods. Each person must have access to the level of well-being necessary for his full development. The right to the common use of goods is the “first principle of the whole ethical and social order” [363] and “the characteristic principle of Christian social doctrine”[364]. For this reason the Church feels bound in duty to specify the nature and characteristics of this principle. It is first of all a natural right, inscribed in human nature and not merely a positive right connected with changing historical circumstances; moreover it is an “inherent” [365] right. It is innate in individual persons, in every person, and has priority with regard to any human intervention concerning goods, to any legal system concerning the same, to any economic or social system or method: “All other rights, whatever they are, including property rights and the right of free trade must be subordinated to this norm [the universal destination of goods]; they must not hinder it, but must rather expedite its application. It must be considered a serious and urgent social obligation to refer these rights to their original purpose”[366]. 

  

 Notes: [363] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 19: AAS 73 (1981), 525. [364] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 42: AAS 80 (1988), 573.[365] Pius XII, Radio Message for the fiftieth anniversary of Rerum Novarum: AAS 33 (1941), 199. [366] Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 22: AAS 59 (1967), 268.

 
[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)]