John 14, 27-31 + CSDC and CV

John 14, 27-31 + CSDC and CV   

CV 11a The publication of Populorum Progressio occurred immediately after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, and in its opening paragraphs it clearly indicates its close connection with the Council [14]. Twenty years later, in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, John Paul II, in his turn, emphasized the earlier Encyclical's fruitful relationship with the Council, and especially with the Pastoral Constitution  Gaudium et Spes [15]. I too wish to recall here the importance of the Second Vatican Council for Paul VI's Encyclical and for the whole of the subsequent social Magisterium of the Popes.

Notes: [14] Cf. nos. 3-5: loc. cit., 258-260. [15] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter  Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (30 December 1987), 6-7:  AAS 80 (1988), 517-519. 

Men may come to discover better the bonds that unite them together

CSDC 499. States do not always possess adequate means to provide effectively for their own defence, from this derives the need and importance of international and regional organizations, which should be in a position to work together to resolve conflicts and promote peace, re-establishing relationships of mutual trust that make recourse to war unthinkable.[1047] “There is reason to hope ... that by meeting and negotiating, men may come to discover better the bonds that unite them together, deriving from the human nature which they have in common; and that they may also come to discover that one of the most profound requirements of their common nature is this: that between them and their respective peoples it is not fear which should reign but love, a love which tends to express itself in a collaboration that is loyal, manifold in form and productive of many benefits”.[1048]

Notes: [1047] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 288-289. [1048] John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris: AAS 55 (1963), 291. 

(John 14, 27-31) Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you 

[27] Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. [28] You heard me tell you, 'I am going away and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. [29] And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. [30] I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, [31] but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up, let us go.

CSDC 33. The commandment of mutual love, which represents the law of life for God's people[32], must inspire, purify and elevate all human relationships in society and in politics. “To be human means to be called to interpersonal communion”[33], because the image and the likeness of the Trinitarian God are the basis of the whole of “human ‘ethos', which reaches its apex in the commandment of love”[34]. The modern cultural, social, economic and political phenomenon of interdependence, which intensifies and makes particularly evident the bonds that unite the human family, accentuates once more, in the light of Revelation, “a new model of the unity of the human race, which must ultimately inspire our solidarity. This supreme model of unity, which is a reflection of the intimate life of God, one God in three Persons, is what we Christians mean by the word 'communion'”[35].

Notes: [32] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 9: AAS 57 (1965), 12-14. [33] John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, 7: AAS 80 (1988), 1666. [34] John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, 7: AAS 80 (1988), 1665-1666. [35] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 40: AAS 80 (1988), 569. 

[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)]