|
33. Through his labors and his native endowments man has ceaselessly
striven to better his life. Today, however, especially with the help
of science and technology, he has extended his mastery over nearly the
whole of nature and continues to do so. Thanks to increased
opportunities for many kinds of social contact among nations, a human
family is gradually recognizing that it comprises a single world
community and is making itself so. Hence many benefits once looked
for, especially from heavenly powers, man has now enterprisingly
procured for himself
In the face of these immense efforts which already preoccupy the whole
human race, men agitate numerous questions among themselves. What is
the meaning and value of this feverish activity? How should all these
things be used? To the achievement of what goal are the strivings of
individuals and societies heading? The Church guards the heritage of
God's word and draws from it moral and religious principles without
always having at hand the solution to particular problems. As such she
desires to add the light of revealed truth to mankind's store of
experience. so that the path which humanity has taken in recent times
will not be a dark one.
34. Throughout the course of the centuries, men have labored to
better the circumstances of their lives through a monumental amount of
individual and collective effort. To believers, this point is
settled: considered in itself, this human activity accords with
God's will. For man, created to God's image, received a mandate
to subject to himself the earth and all it contains, and to govern the
world with justice and holiness;[56] a mandate to relate himself and
the totality of things to Him Who was to be acknowledged as the Lord
and Creator of all. Thus, by the subjection of all things to man,
the name of God would be wonderful in all the earth.[57]
This mandate concerns the whole of everyday activity as well. For
while providing the substance of life for themselves and their
families, men and women are performing their activities in a way which
appropriately benefits society. They can justly consider that by their
labor they are unfolding the Creator's work, consulting the
advantages of their brother men, and are contributing by their personal
industry to the realization history of the divine plan.[58]
Thus, far from thinking that works produced by man's own talent and
energy are in opposition to God's power, and that the rational
creature exists as a kind of rival to the Creator, Christians are
convinced that the triumphs of the human race are a sign of God's
grace and the flowering of His own mysterious design. For the greater
man's power becomes, the farther his individual and community
responsibility extends. Hence it is clear that men are not deterred by
the Christian message from building up the world, or impelled to
neglect the welfare of their fellows, but that they are rather more
stringently bound to do these very things.[59]
35. Human activity, to be sure, takes its significance from its
relationship to man. Just as it proceeds from man, so it is ordered
toward man. For when a man works he not only alters things and
society, he develops himself as well. He learns much, he cultivates
his resources, he goes outside of himself and beyond himself. Rightly
understood this kind of growth is of greater value than any external
riches which can be garnered. A man is more precious for what he is
than for what he has.[60] Similarly, all that men do to obtain
greater justice, wider brotherhood, a more humane disposition of
social relationships has greater worth than technical advances. For
these advances can supply the material for human progress, but of
themselves alone they can never actually bring it about.
Hence, the norm of human activity is this: that in accord with the
divine plan and will, it harmonize with the genuine good of the human
race, and that it allow men as individuals and as members of society to
pursue their total vocation and fulfill it.
36. Now many of our contemporaries seem to fear that a closer bond
between human activity and religion will work against the independence
of men, of societies, or of the sciences.
If by the autonomy of earthly affairs we mean that created things and
societies themselves enjoy their own laws and values which must be
gradually deciphered, put to use, and regulated by men, then it is
entirely right to demand that autonomy. Such is not merely required by
modern man, but harmonizes also with the will of the Creator. For by
the very circumstance of their having been created, all things are
endowed with their own stability, truth, goodness, proper laws and
order. Man must respect these as he isolates them by the appropriate
methods of the individual sciences or arts. Therefore if methodical
investigation within every branch of learning is carried out in a
genuinely scientific manner and in accord with moral norms, it never
truly conflicts with faith, for earthly matters and the concerns of
faith derive from the same God. [61] Indeed whoever labors to
penetrate the secrets of reality with a humble and steady mind, even
though he is unaware of the fact, is nevertheless being led by the hand
of God, who holds all things in existence, and gives them their
identity. Consequently, we cannot but deplore certain habits of
mind, which are sometimes found too among Christians, which do not
sufficiently attend to the rightful independence of science and which,
from the arguments and controversies they spark, lead many minds to
conclude that faith and science are mutually opposed.[62]
But if the expression, the independence of temporal affairs, is taken
to mean that created things do not depend on God, and that man can use
them without any reference to their Creator, anyone who acknowledges
God will see how false such a meaning is. For without the Creator
the creature would disappear. For their part, however, all believers
of whatever religion always hear His revealing voice in the discourse
of creatures. When God is forgotten, however, the creature itself
grows unintelligible.
37. Sacred Scripture teaches the human family what the experience
of the ages confirms: that while human progress is a great advantage to
man, it brings with it a strong temptation. For when the order of
values is jumbled and bad is mixed with the good, individuals and
groups pay heed solely to their own interests, and not to those of
others. Thus it happens that the world ceases to be a place of true
brotherhood. In our own day, the magnified power of humanity
threatens to destroy the race itself.
For a monumental struggle against the powers of darkness pervades the
whole history of man. The battle was joined from the very origins of
the world and will continue until the last day, as the Lord has
attested.[63] Caught in this conflict, man is obliged to wrestle
constantly if he is to cling to what is good, nor can he achieve his
own integrity without great efforts and the help of God's grace.
That is why Christ's Church, trusting in the design of the
Creator, acknowledges that human progress can serve man's true
happiness, yet she cannot help echoing the Apostle's warning: "Be
not conformed to this world" (Rom. 12:2). Here by the world
is meant that spirit of vanity and malice which transforms into an
instrument of sin those human energies intended for the service of God
and man.
Hence if anyone wants to know how this unhappy situation can be
overcome, Christians will tell him that all human activity,
constantly imperiled by man's pride and deranged self-love, must be
purified and perfected by the power of Christ's cross and
resurrection. For redeemed by Christ and made a new creature in the
Holy Spirit, man is able to love the things themselves created by
God, and ought to do so. He can receive them from God and respect
and reverence them as flowing constantly from the hand of God.
Grateful to his Benefactor for these creatures, using and enjoying
them in detachment and liberty of spirit, man is led forward into a
true possession of them, as having nothing, yet possessing all
things.[64] "All are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ
is God's" (1 Cor. 3:22-23).
38. For God's Word, through Whom all things were made, was
Himself made flesh and dwelt on the earth of men.[65] Thus He
entered the world's history as a perfect man, taking that history up
into Himself and summarizing it.[66] He Himself revealed to us
that "God is love" (1 John 4:8) and at the same time taught us
that the new command of love was the basic law of human perfection and
hence of to worlds transformation.
To those, therefore, who believe in divine love, He gives assurance
that the way of love lies open to men and that the effort to establish a
universal brotherhood is not a hopeless one. He cautions them at the
same time that this charity is not something to be reserved for
important matters, but must be pursued chiefly in the ordinary
circumstances of life. Undergoing death itself for all of us
sinners,[67] He taught us by example that we too must shoulder
that cross which the world and the flesh inflict upon those who search
after peace and justice. Appointed Lord by His resurrection and
given plenary power in heaven and on earth,[68] Christ is now at
work in the hearts of men through the energy of His Holy Spirit,
arousing not only a desire for the age to come, but by that very fact
animating, purifying and strengthening those noble longings too by
which the human family makes its life more human and strives to render
the whole earth submissive to this goal.
Now, the gifts of the Spirit are diverse: while He calls some to
give clear witness to the desire for a heavenly home and to keep that
desire green among the human family, He summons others to dedicate
themselves to the earthly service of men and to make ready the material
of the celestial realm by this ministry of theirs. Yet He frees all
of them so that by putting aside love of self and bringing all earthly
resources into the service of human life they can devote themselves to
that future when humanity itself will become an offering accepted by
God.[69]
The Lord left behind a pledge of this hope and strength for life's
journey in that sacrament of faith where natural elements refined by man
are gloriously changed into His Body and Blood, providing a meal of
brotherly solidarity and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet.
39. We do not know the time for the consummation of the earth and of
humanity,[70] nor do we know how all things will be transformed.
As deformed by sin, the shape of this world will pass away;[71]
but we are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new
earth where justice will abide,[72] and whose blessedness will
answer and surpass all the longings for peace which spring up in the
human heart.[73] Then, with death overcome, the sons of God
will be raised up in Christ, and what was sown in weakness and
corruption will be invested with incorruptibility.[74] Enduring
with charity and its fruits,[75] all that creation[76] which
God made on man's account will be unchained from the bondage of
vanity.
Therefore, while we are warned that it profits a man nothing if he
gain the whole world and lose himself,[77] the expectation of a new
earth must not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating
this one. For here grows the body of a new human family, a body which
even now is able to give some kind of foreshadowing of the new age.
Hence, while earthly progress must be carefully distinguished from the
growth of Christ's kingdom, to the extent that the former can
contribute to the better ordering of human society, it is of vital
concern to the Kingdom of God.[78]
For after we have obeyed the Lord, and in His Spirit nurtured on
earth the values of human dignity, brotherhood and freedom, and indeed
all the good fruits of our nature and enterprise, we will find them
again, but freed of stain, burnished and transfigured, when Christ
hands over to the Father: "a kingdom eternal and universal, a
kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love
and peace."[79] On this earth that Kingdom is already present in
mystery. When the Lord returns it will be brought into full flower.
|
|