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40. Everything we have said about the dignity of the human person,
and about the human community and the profound meaning of human
activity, lays the foundation for the relationship between the Church
and the world, and provides the basis for dialogue between them.[80]
In this chapter, presupposing everything which has already been said
by this council concerning the mystery of the Church, we must now
consider this same Church inasmuch as she exists in the world, living
and acting with it.
Coming forth from the eternal Father's love,[81] founded in time
by Christ the Redeemer and made one in the Holy Spirit,[82] the
Church has a saving and an eschatological purpose which can be fully
attained only in the future world. But she is already present in this
world, and is composed of men, that is, of members of the earthly
city who have a call to form the family of God's children during the
present history of the human race, and to keep increasing it until the
Lord returns. United on behalf of heavenly values and enriched by
them, this family has been "constituted and structured as a society in
this world"[83] by Christ, and is equipped "by appropriate means
for visible and social union."[84] Thus the Church, at once "a
visible association and a spiritual community,"[85] goes forward
together with humanity and experiences the same earthly lot which the
world does. She serves as a leaven and as a kind of soul for human
society[86] as it is to be renewed in Christ and transformed into
God's family.
That the earthly and the heavenly city penetrate each other is a fact
accessible to faith alone; it remains a mystery of human history,
which sin will keep in great disarray until the splendor of God's
sons, is fully revealed. Pursuing the saving purpose which is proper
to her, the Church does not only communicate divine life to men but in
some way casts the reflected light of that life over the entire earth,
most of all by its healing and elevating impact on the dignity of the
person, by the way in which it strengthens the seams of human society
and imbues the everyday activity of men with a deeper meaning and
importance. Thus through her individual matters and her whole
community, the Church believes she can contribute greatly toward
making the family of man and its history more human.
In addition, the Catholic Church gladly holds in high esteem the
things which other Christian Churches and ecclesial communities have
done or are doing cooperatively by way of achieving the same goal. At
the same time, she is convinced that she can be abundantly and
variously helped by the world in the matter of preparing the ground for
the Gospel. This help she gains from the talents and industry of
individuals and from human society as a whole. The council now sets
forth certain general principles for the proper fostering of this mutual
exchange and assistance in concerns which are in some way common to the
world and the Church.
41. Modern man is on the road to a more thorough development of his
own personality, and to a growing discovery and vindication of his own
rights. Since it has been entrusted to the Church to reveal the
mystery of God, Who is the ultimate goal of man, she opens up to man
at the same time the meaning of his own existence, that is, the
innermost truth about himself. The Church truly knows that only
God, Whom she serves, meets the deepest longings of the human
heart, which is never fully satisfied by what this world has to offer.
She also knows that man is constantly worked upon by God's spirit,
and hence can never be altogether indifferent to the problems of
religion. The experience of past ages proves this, as do numerous
indications in our own times. For man will always yearn to know, at
least in an obscure way, what is the meaning of his life, of his
activity, of his death. The very presence of the Church recalls
these problems to his mind. But only God, Who created man to His
own image and ransomed him from sin, provides the most adequate answer
to the questions, and this Ho does through what He has revealed in
Christ His Son, Who became man. Whoever follows after Christ,
the perfect man, becomes himself more of a man. For by His
incarnation the Father's Word assumed, and sanctified through His
cross and resurrection, the whole of man, body and soul, and through
that totality the whole of nature created by God for man's use.
Thanks to this belief, the Church can anchor the dignity of human
nature against all tides of opinion, for example those welch undervalue
the human body or idolize it. By no human law can the personal dignity
and liberty of man be so aptly safeguarded as by the Gospel of Christ
which has been entrusted to the Church. For this Gospel announces
and proclaims the freedom of the sons of God, and repudiates all the
bondage which ultimately results from sin.[87] (cf. Rom.
8:14-17); it has a sacred reverence for the dignity of
conscience and its freedom of choice, constantly advises that all human
talents be employed in God's service and men's, and, finally,
commends all to the charity of all (cf. Matt. 22:39).[88]
This agrees with the basic law of the Christian dispensation. For
though the same God is Savior and Creator, Lord of human history as
well as of salvation history, in the divine arrangement itself, the
rightful autonomy of the creature, and particularly of man is not
withdrawn, but is rather re-established in its own dignity and
strengthened in it.
The Church, therefore, by virtue of the Gospel committed to her,
proclaims the rights of man; she acknowledges and greatly esteems the
dynamic movements of today by which these rights are everywhere
fostered. Yet these movements must be penetrated by the spirit of the
Gospel and protected against any kind of false autonomy. For we are
tempted to think that our personal rights are fully ensured only when we
are exempt from every requirement of divine law. But this way lies not
the maintenance of the dignity of the human person, but its
annihilation.
42. The union of the human family is greatly fortified and fulfilled
by the unity, founded on Christ,[89] of the family of God's
sons.
Christ, to be sure, gave His Church no proper mission in the
political, economic or social order. The purpose which He set before
her is a religious one.[90] But out of this religious mission
itself come a function, a light and an energy which can serve to
structure and consolidate the human community according to the divine
law. As a matter of fact, when circumstances of time and place
produce the need, she can and indeed should initiate activities on
behalf of all men, especially those designed for the needy, such as
the works of mercy and similar undertakings.
The Church recognizes that worthy elements are found in today's
social movements, especially an evolution toward unity, a process of
wholesome socialization and of association in civic and economic
realms. The promotion of unity belongs to the innermost nature of the
Church, for she is, "thanks to her relationship with Christ, a
sacramental sign and an instrument of intimate union with God, and of
the unity of the whole human race."[91] Thus she shows the world
that an authentic union, social and external, results from a union of
minds and hearts, namely from that faith and charity by which her own
unity is unbreakably rooted in the Holy Spirit. For the force which
the Church can inject into the modern society of man consists in that
faith and charity put into vital practice, not in any external dominion
exercised by merely human means.
Moreover, since in virtue of her mission and nature she is bound to no
particular form of human culture, nor to any political, economic or
social system, the Church by her very universality can be a very close
bond between diverse human communities and nations, provided these
trust her and truly acknowledge her right to true freedom in fulfilling
her mission. For this reason, the Church admonishes her own sons,
but also humanity as a whole, to overcome all strife between nations
and race in this family spirit of God's children, an in the same
way, to give internal strength to human associations which are just.
With great respect, therefore, this council regards all the true,
good and just elements inherent in the very wide variety of institutions
which the human race has established for itself and constantly continues
to establish. The council affirms, moreover, that the Church is
willing to assist and promote all these institutions to the extent that
such a service depends on her and can be associated with her mission.
She has no fiercer desire than that in pursuit of the welfare of all
she may be able to develop herself freely under any kind of government
which grants recognition to the basic rights of person and family, to
the demands of the common good and to the free exercise of her own
mission.
43. This council exhorts Christians, as citizens of two cities,
to strive to discharge their earthly duties conscientiously and in
response he Gospel spirit. They are mistaken who, knowing that we
have here no abiding city but seek one which is to come,[92] think
that they may therefore shirk their earthly responsibilities. For they
are forgetting that by the faith itself they are more obliged than ever
to measure up to these duties, each according to his proper
vocation.[93] Nor, on the contrary, are they any less wide of
the mark who think that religion consists in acts of worship alone and
in the discharge of certain moral obligations, and who imagine they can
plunge themselves into earthly affairs in such a way as to imply that
these are altogether divorced from the religious life. This split
between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to
be counted among the more serious errors of our age. Long since, the
Prophets of the Old Testament fought vehemently against this
scandal[94] and even more so did Jesus Christ Himself in the New
Testament threaten it with grave punishments.[95] Therefore, let
there be no false opposition between professional and social activities
on the one part, and religious life on the other. The Christian who
neglects his temporal duties, neglects his duties toward his neighbor
and even God, and jeopardizes his eternal salvation. Christians
should rather rejoice that, following the example of Christ Who
worked as an artisan, they are free to give proper exercise to all
their earthly activities and to their humane, domestic, professional,
social and technical enterprises by gathering them into one vital
synthesis with religious values, under whose supreme direction all
things are harmonized unto God's glory.
Secular duties and activities belong properly although not exclusively
to laymen. Therefore acting as citizens in the world, whether
individually or socially, they will keep the laws proper to each
discipline, and labor to equip themselves with a genuine expertise in
their various fields. They will gladly work with men seeking the same
goals. Acknowledging the demands of faith and endowed with its force,
they will unhesitatingly devise new enterprises, where they are
appropriate, and put them into action. Laymen should also know that
it is generally the function of their well-formed Christian conscience
to see that the divine law is inscribed in the life of the earthly
city; from priests they may look for spiritual light and nourishment.
Let the layman not imagine that his pastors are always such experts,
that to every problem which arises, however complicated, they can
readily give him a concrete solution, or even that such is their
mission. Rather, enlightened by Christian wisdom and giving close
attention to the teaching authority of the Church,[96] let the
layman take on his own distinctive role.
Often enough the Christian view of things will itself suggest some
specific solution in certain circumstances. Yet it happens rather
frequently, and legitimately so, that with equal sincerity some of the
faithful will disagree with others on a given matter. Even against the
intentions of their proponents, however, solutions proposed on one
side or another may be easily confused by many people with the Gospel
message. Hence it is necessary for people to remember that no one is
allowed in the aforementioned situations to appropriate the Church's
authority for his opinion. They should always try to enlighten one
another through honest discussion, preserving mutual charity and caring
above all for the common good.
Since they have an active role to play in the whole life of the
Church, laymen are not only bound to penetrate the world with a
Christian spirit, but are also called to be witnesses to Christ in
all things in the midst of human society.
Bishops, to whom is assigned the task of ruling the Church of God,
should, together with their priests, so preach the news of Christ
that all the earthly activities of the faithful will be bathed in the
light of the Gospel. All pastors should remember too that by their
daily conduct and concern[97] they are revealing the face of the
Church to the world, and men will judge the power and truth of the
Christian message thereby. By their lives and speech, in union with
Religious and their faithful, may they demonstrate that even now the
Church by her presence alone and by all the gifts which she contains,
is an unspent fountain of those virtues which the modern world needs the
most.
By unremitting study they should fit themselves to do their part in
establishing dialogue with the world and with men of all shades of
opinion. Above all let them take to heart the words which this council
has spoken: "Since humanity today increasingly moves toward civil,
economic and social unity, it is more than ever necessary that
priests, with joint concern and energy, and under the guidance of the
bishops and the supreme pontiff, erase every cause of division, so
that the whole human race may be led to the unity of God's
family."[98]
Although by the power of the Holy Spirit the Church will remain the
faithful spouse of her Lord and will never cease to be the sign of
salvation on earth, still she is very well aware that among her
members,[99] both clerical and lay, some have been unfaithful to
the Spirit of God during the course of many centuries; in the present
age, too, it does not escape the Church how great a distance lies
between the message she offers and the human failings of those to whom
the Gospel is entrusted. Whatever be the judgement of history on
these defects, we ought to be conscious of them, and struggle against
them energetically, lest they inflict harm on spread of the Gospel.
The Church also realizes that in working out her relationship with the
world she always has great need of the ripening which comes with the
experience of the centuries. Led by the Holy Spirit, Mother
Church unceasingly exhorts her sons "to purify and renew themselves so
that the sign of Christ can shine more brightly on the face of ther Church[100].
44. Just as it is in the world's interest to acknowledge the
Church as an historical reality, and to recognize her good influence,
so the Church herself knows how richly she has profited by the history
and development of humanity.
The experience of past ages, the progress of the sciences, and the
treasures hidden in the various forms of human culture, by all of which
the nature of man himself is more clearly revealed and new roads to
truth are opened, these profit the Church, too. For, from the
beginning of her history she has learned to express the message of
Christ with the help of the ideas and terminology of various
philosophers, and and has tried to clarify it with their wisdom, too.
Her purpose has been to adapt the Gospel to the grasp of all as well
as to the needs of the learned, insofar as such was appropriate.
Indeed this accommodated preaching of the revealed word ought to remain
the law of all evangelization. For thus the ability to express
Christ's message in its own way is developed in each nation, and at
the same time there is fostered a living exchange between the Church
and' the diverse cultures of people.[101] To promote such
exchange, especially in our days, the Church requires the special
help of those who live in the world, are versed in different
institutions and specialties, and grasp their innermost significance in
the eyes of both believers and unbelievers. With the help of the Holy
Spirit, it is the task of the entire People of God, especially
pastors and theologians, to hear, distinguish and interpret the many
voices of our age, and to judge them in the light of the divine word,
so that revealed truth can always be more deeply penetrated, better
understood and set forth to greater advantage.
Since the Church has a visible and social structure as a sign of her
unity in Christ, she can and ought to be enriched by the development
of human social life, not that there is any lack in the constitution
given her by Christ, but that she can understand it more
penetratingly, express it better, and adjust it more successfully to
our times. Moreover, she gratefully understands that in her community
life no less than in her individual sons, she receives a variety of
helps from men of every rank and condition, for whoever promotes the
human community at the family level, culturally, in its economic,
social and political dimensions, both nationally and internationally,
such a one, according to God's design, is contributing greatly to
the Church as well, to the extent that she depends on things outside
herself. Indeed, the Church admits that she has greatly profited and
still profits from the antagonism of those who oppose or who persecute
her.[102]
45. While helping the world and receiving many benefits from it,
the Church has a single intention: that God's kingdom may come, and
that the salvation of the whole human race may come to pass. For every
benefit which the People of God during its earthly pilgrimage can
offer to the human family stems from the fact that the Church is "the
universal sacrament of salvation",[103] simultaneously manifesting
and a rising the mystery of God's love.
For God's Word, by whom all things were made, was Himself made
flesh so that as perfect man He might save all men and sum up all
things in Himself. The Lord is the goal of human history, the focal
point of the longings of history and of civilization, the center of the
human race, the joy of every heart and the answer to all its
yearnings.[104] He it is Whom the Father raised from the dead,
lifted on high and stationed at His right hand, making Him judge of
the living and the dead. Enlivened and united in His Spirit, we
journey toward the consummation of human history, one which fully
accords with the counsel of God's love: "To reestablish all things
in Christ, both those in the heavens and those on the earth" (Eph.
11:10).
The Lord Himself speaks: "Behold I come quickly And my reward is
with me, to render to each one according to his works. I am the
Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, tho beginning and the
end (Act;. 22;12-13).
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