Mark 16,15-20 + CSDC and CV

Mark 16,15-20 + CSDC and CV

CV 18b. As Paul VI wrote: “What we hold important is man, each man and each group of men, and we even include the whole of humanity” [43]. In promoting development, the Christian faith does not rely on privilege or positions of power, nor even on the merits of Christians (even though these existed and continue to exist alongside their natural limitations) [44], but only on Christ, to whom every authentic vocation to integral human development must be directed. The Gospel is fundamental for development, because in the Gospel, Christ, “in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals humanity to itself”[ 45]. Taught by her Lord, the Church examines the signs of the times and interprets them, offering the world “what she possesses as her characteristic attribute: a global vision of man and of the human race”[46].

Notes: [43] Ibid.; cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 53-62: loc. cit., 859-867; Id., Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis (4 March 1979), 13-14: AAS 71 (1979), 282-286. [44] Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 12: loc. cit., 262-263. [45] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22. [46] Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 13: loc. cit., 263-264.

Precepts of the sabbatical and jubilee years: a kind of social doctrine in miniature

CSDC 25a. The precepts of the sabbatical and jubilee years constitute a kind of social doctrine in miniature[28]. They show how the principles of justice and social solidarity are inspired by the gratuitousness of the salvific event wrought by God, and that they do not have a merely corrective value for practices dominated by selfish interests and objectives, but must rather become, as a prophecy of the future, the normative points of reference to which every generation in Israel must conform if it wishes to be faithful to its God.

Notes: [28] Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 13: AAS 87 (1995), 14. 

(Mk 16,15-20) Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature

[15] He said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. [16] Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. [17] These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. [18] They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." [19] So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. [20] But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

CSDC 577. Faith in God and in Jesus Christ sheds light on the moral principles that are “the sole and irreplaceable foundation of that stability and tranquillity, of that internal and external order, private and public, that alone can generate and safeguard the prosperity of States”[1210]. Life in society must be based on the divine plan because “the theological dimension is needed both for interpreting and solving present-day problems in human society”[1211]. In the presence of serious forms of exploitation and social injustice, there is “an ever more widespread and acute sense of the need for a radical personal and social renewal capable of ensuring justice, solidarity, honesty and openness. Certainly, there is a long and difficult road ahead; bringing about such a renewal will require enormous effort, especially on account of the number and gravity of the causes giving rise to and aggravating the situations of injustice present in the world today. But, as history and personal experience show, it is not difficult to discover at the bottom of these situations causes which are properly ‘cultural', linked to particular ways of looking at man, society and the world. Indeed, at the heart of the issue of culture we find the moral sense, which is in turn rooted and fulfilled in the religious sense”[1212]. As for “the social question”, we must not be seduced by “the naive expectation that, faced with the great challenges of our time, we shall find some magic formula. No, we shall not be saved by a formula but by a Person and the assurance that he gives us: I am with you! It is not therefore a matter of inventing a ‘new programme'. The programme already exists: it is the plan found in the Gospel and in the living Tradition, it is the same as ever. Ultimately, it has its centre in Christ himself, who is to be known loved and imitated, so that in him we may live the life of the Trinity, and with him transform history until its fulfilment in the heavenly Jerusalem”[1213].

Notes: [1210] Pius XII, Encyclical Letter Summi Pontificatus: AAS 31 (1939), 425. [1211] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 55: AAS 83 (1991), 860-861. [1212] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, 98: AAS 85 (1993), 1210; cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 24: AAS 83 (1991), 821-822. [1213] John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, 29: AAS 93 (2001), 285.

[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)]