In a homily delivered at a Mass the morning of 16 April, for the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the Holy Father said that in modern times we have seen a theoretical premise according to which human being would be, “free, autonomous, and nothing else.” Not only does this mean a freedom from every responsibility that we have as members of one common human race - models of morality, justice, compassion, charity - but also freedom from the duty of obedience to God. The Holy Father remarked that this, “Is a lie... because human being does not exist on its own, nor does it exist for itself.”
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, in part I titled, “God’s Liberating Action In the History of Israel,” explains that God’s gratuitous presence is seen “as the origin of what exists, as the presence that guarantees to men and to women organized in a society the basic conditions of life, placing at their disposal the goods that are necessary... On the other hand, he appears as the measure of what should be, as the presence that challenges human action - both at the personal and at the social levels - regarding the use of those very goods in relation to other people.” We should acknowledge all that we receive from God as coming from Him and, once acknowledged, we are called to be thankful for his gratuitousness (of which he has no obligation to us in any way) and manage the gifts received in a way praiseworthy of God and of neighbor.
Social Justice is a concept based on a socially just world. Its basis lies in concepts of human rights and equality, economic and political equality, and a common respect deserving of every human being, each receiving his equal due (that is, the Golden Rule). But, social justice is more than just equal due and concepts of equality. It is a participation in God and His divine attributes of Goodness, Truth, Oneness. Furthermore, when speaking about equality in general, especially in the political realm with a focus on economics, paramount emphasis must be and remain on the human person and the dignity therein. As a dear friend of mine pointed out, ‘laws and policies of
the state must uphold and defend dignity’ because the human person is a paragon of equality by means of participation in God. We must, therefore, take care in promoting certain political ideologies that assert a certain special type of equality among all members of society, particularly in areas of economics. This is because when promoting these sorts of ideologies there begins to take root, more times than not, a type of governance and society in which conflicts arise between members that, ultimately, lead to a distortion or abolition not only in a belief in God and universal truths including (and not limited to) respect for human life/dignity, but also members of society identifying the self via materialistic and individualistic notions. In the end and above all such notions the challenge is not that certain inequalities exist, but rather that our participation in the divine attributes help us to see ourselves reflected in God’s own image whereby we adhere more fully to His eternal ordinances that promote faith in God, hope for eternal life, and charity for oneself and towards each other.
We exist for God and nothing more. Pope Benedict XVI, in his homiletic remarks regarding human existence, promotes thoughts of God’s gratuitous presence in the Old Testament as manifested in the freeing of the Israelites from their captivity to Pharaoh in Egypt. “The gratuitousness of this historically efficacious divine action,” section 22 of The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church goes on to tell us, “is constantly accompanied by the commitment to the covenant proposed by God and accepted by Israel,” the covenant being the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Ex.19-20). It is the Ten Commandments that imply our involvement in and consequences of the Natural Law placed in every human heart by God to respond to His loving initiative by cooperating with his divine plan from the beginning of time: to love, worship, and subject ourselves to Him.
In his homily during the Mass for the Pontifical Biblical Commission the Holy Father also stressed that for Christians, true obedience to God depends on our truly knowing Him, and he warned against the danger of using “obedience to God” as a pretext for following our own human desires.
It is by our turning [back] to the Ten Commandments as the means for truly living in freedom from sin that we truly understand ourselves with the natural law written in our souls, the essential duties we are charged with as the highest of God’s created things, and the fundamental rights of all human persons, most especially the poorest of the poor and the unborn. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church concludes Part I sec. 22 by stating: “In the Gospel, Jesus reminds the rich young man that the Ten Commandments (cf. Mt. 19:18) ‘constitute the indispensable rules of all social life.’ ” In order to overcome the rebellious and disobedient mentality towards God and all things religious in the world today, we must seek God’s love once again as the Israelites of old went to great strides to seek resulting in their initial exodus out of Egypt, as well as God answering their cries for help time and time again whenever they orphaned themselves during their sojourn in the dessert on the way to the Promised Land. It is only through God’s love that we will begin to mend the rupture of unity among ourselves and other creatures we have been given dominion over (cf. Gen 1:26-31). The Ten Commandments will lead us back to God who is our freedom, knowledge, and truth; our means to overcome “all the evils that afflict social relations between people, of all the situations in economic and political life that attach the dignity of the person, [and those] that assail justice and solidarity” (The Compendium of the Social Doctrine, P.I, sec. 27).
The Holy Father concluded his homily during Mass by asking for prayers for true and eternal life, love, and truth.
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