John 6, 29-40 + CSDC and CV

John 6, 29-40 + CSDC and CV

CV 75d Insignificant matters are considered shocking, yet unprecedented injustices seem to be widely tolerated. While the poor of the world continue knocking on the doors of the rich, the world of affluence runs the risk of no longer hearing those knocks, on account of a conscience that can no longer distinguish what is human. God reveals man to himself; reason and faith work hand in hand to demonstrate to us what is good, provided we want to see it; the natural law, in which creative Reason shines forth, reveals our greatness, but also our wretchedness insofar as we fail to recognize the call to moral truth.  

The truth cannot be imposed except by virtue of its own truth

CSDC 421. The Second Vatican Council committed the Catholic Church to the promotion of religious freedom. The Declaration  Dignitatis Humanae  explains in its subtitle that it intends to proclaim “the right of the person and of communities to social and civil freedom in religious matters”. In order that this freedom, willed by God and inscribed in human nature, may be exercised, no obstacle should be placed in its way, since “the truth cannot be imposed except by virtue of its own truth”.[857] The dignity of the person and the very nature of the quest for God require that all men and women should be free from every constraint in the area of religion.[858] Society and the State must not force a person to act against his conscience or prevent him from acting in conformity with it.[859] Religious freedom is not a moral licence to adhere to error, nor as an implicit right to error.[860]

Notes: [857] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Dignitatis Humanae, 1: AAS 58 (1966), 929. [858] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Dignitatis Humanae, 2: AAS 58 (1966), 930-931; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2106. [859] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration Dignitatis Humanae, 3: AAS 58 (1966), 931-932. [860] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2108.

(Jn 6, 29-40) This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent

[29] Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." [30] So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? [31] Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" [32] So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." [34] So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." [35] Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. [36] But I told you that although you have seen (me), you do not believe. [37] Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, [38] because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. [39] And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it (on) the last day. [40] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him (on) the last day."   

CSDC 464. A vision of man and things that is sundered from any reference to the transcendent has led to the rejection of the concept of creation and to the attribution of a completely independent existence to man and nature. The bonds that unite the world to God have thus been broken. This rupture has also resulted in separating man from the world and, more radically, has impoverished man's very identity. Human beings find themselves thinking that they are foreign to the environmental context in which they live. The consequences resulting from this are all too clear: “it is the relationship man has with God that determines his relationship with his fellow men and with his environment. This is why Christian culture has always recognized the creatures that surround man as also gifts of God to be nurtured and safeguarded with a sense of gratitude to the Creator. Benedictine and Franciscan pirituality in particular has witnessed to this sort of kinship of man with his creaturely environment, fostering in him an attitude of respect for every reality of the surrounding world”.[975] There is a need to place ever greater emphasis on the intimate connection between environmental ecology and “human ecology”.[976]

Notes: [975] John Paul II, Address to participants in a convention on “The Environment and Health” (24 March 1997), 4: L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 9 April 1997, p. 2. [976] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 38: AAS 83 (1991), 841. 

[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)]