Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 329 – Part III.

YOUCAT Question n. 329 – Part III. How does social justice come about in a society?

(Youcat answer - repeated) Social justice comes about where the inalienable dignity of every person is respected and the resulting rights are safeguarded and championed without reservation. Among these is also the right to active participation in the political, economic, and cultural life of the society.    

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1831) The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. They belong in their fullness to Christ, Son of David (Cf. Isa 11:1-2). They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. They make the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path(Ps 143:10). For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God… If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Rom 8:14 17).    

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) The basis of all justice is respect for the inalienable dignity of the human person, “whose defense and promotion have been entrusted to us by the Creator, and to whom the men and women at every moment of history are strictly and responsibly in debt” (Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis, published 1987). Human rights are an immediate consequence of human dignity, and no State can abolish or change them. States and authorities that trample these rights underfoot are unjust regimes and lose their authority. A society is not perfected by laws, however, but rather by love ofneighbor, which makes it possible for everyone to “look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as ‘another self’”  (GS 27, 1).

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1832) The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity" (Gal 5:22-23 Vulg.).    

(The next question is: To what extent are all men equal in God’s sight?)