Lk 11, 21-26 + CSDC and CV

Luke 11, 21-26 + CSDC and CV 

CV 40a. Today's international economic scene, marked by grave deviations and failures, requires a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise. Old models are disappearing, but promising new ones are taking shape on the horizon. Without doubt, one of the greatest risks for businesses is that they are almost exclusively answerable to their investors, thereby limiting their social value. Owing to their growth in scale and the need for more and more capital, it is becoming increasingly rare for business enterprises to be in the hands of a stable director who feels responsible in the long term, not just the short term, for the life and the results of his company, and it is becoming increasingly rare for businesses to depend on a single territory. Moreover, the so-called outsourcing of production can weaken the company's sense of responsibility towards the stakeholders — namely the workers, the suppliers, the consumers, the natural environment and broader society — in favour of the shareholders, who are not tied to a specific geographical area and who therefore enjoy extraordinary mobility.

Participation can be achieved in all the different relationships between the citizen and institutions

CSDC 191a. Participation can be achieved in all the different relationships between the citizen and institutions: to this end, particular attention must be given to the historical and social contexts in which such participation can truly be brought about. The overcoming of cultural, juridical and social obstacles that often constitutes real barriers to the shared participation of citizens in the destiny of their communities' calls for work in the areas of information and education[409]. In this regard, all those attitudes that encourage in citizens an inadequate or incorrect practice of participation or that cause widespread disaffection with everything connected with the sphere of social and political life are a source of concern and deserve careful consideration. For example, one thinks of attempts by certain citizens to “make deals” with institutions in order to obtain more advantageous conditions for themselves, as though these institutions were at the service of their selfish needs; or of the practice of citizens to limit their participation to the electoral process, in many cases reaching the point where they even abstain from voting[410].  

Notes:  [409] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1917. [410] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 30-31: AAS 58 (1966), 1049-1050; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 47: AAS 83 (1991), 851-852.

(Lk 11, 21-26) Whoever does not gather with me scatters

21 When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. 22 But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 24 "When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, 'I shall return to my home from which I came.' 25 But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first."

CSDC 583. Only love can completely transform the human person[1229]. Such a transformation does not mean eliminating the earthly dimension in a disembodied spirituality[1230]. Those who think they can live the supernatural virtue of love without taking into account its corresponding natural foundations, which include duties of justice, deceive themselves. “Charity is the greatest social commandment. It respects others and their rights. It requires the practice of justice and it alone makes us capable of it. Charity inspires a life of self-giving: ‘Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it' (Lk 17:33)”[1231]. Nor can love find its full expression solely in the earthly dimension of human relationships and social relations, because it is in relation to God that it finds its full effectiveness. “In the evening of this life, I shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself”[1232].

Notes: : [1229] Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, 49-51: AAS 93 (2001), 302-304. [1230] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 5: AAS 83 (1991), 798-800. [1231] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1889. [1232] Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Act of Offering in Story of a Soul, tr. John Clarke (Washington, D.C.: ICS 1981, p. 277), as quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2011. 

[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)]