A Beacon Of Light… Recognizing Our Christian Dignity

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON JR.

(Editor’s Note: Fr. Richard D. Breton Jr. is a priest of the Diocese of Norwich, Conn. He received his BA in religious studies and his MA in dogmatic theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Conn.)

• + + Welcome back to our continued explanation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We are exploring Section III dedicated to living our life in Christ. Last week we discussed the dignity of the human person and how each person is created in the image and likeness of God. Furthermore, we saw how each of us is called to enjoy “supreme blessedness” in this life and in eternal life. Accomplishing this “supreme blessedness” requires the ability to make right choices in how we live our lives. Making good moral choices by avoiding temptation and sin, assisted by the virtues, helps us to enjoy total happiness.
  Where do we go from here and what is the next step in living a life devoted to Christ? It begins by recognizing our Christian dignity. Each of us is created in the image and likeness of God, so we can participate in the divine happiness found in creation. In one sense, we are created to praise and glorify God as individuals, but in another sense, we can’t do this by ourselves. We don’t live on a planet created solely for individuals. We live together with other human beings, in a communal way, journeying together to the heavenly kingdom.
  So, when we are asked the question: Where do we go from here, or what is the next step in living our life in Christ? The answer is simply…we do it together living in society.
  Living in society is essential if we are going to thrive in living our human vocation. Remember what happened in the Garden of Eden? God recognized that man must not be alone, and so He created woman, ensuring that together they would have eternal happiness. Sadly, the corruption of the evil one caused Adam and Eve to wander away from divine happiness.

The Bright Light Of Truth

This happens so much in today’s society. Pope St. John XXIII saw the importance in this communal way of living. In fact, he wrote about it in his encyclical letter Pacem in Terris dated April 11, 1963:
“Human society must primarily be considered something pertaining to the spiritual. Through it, in the bright light of truth, men should share their knowledge, be able to exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations, be inspired to seek spiritual values; mutually derive genuine pleasure from the beautiful, of whatever order it be; always be readily disposed to pass on to others the best of their own cultural heritage; and eagerly strive to make their own the spiritual achievements of others” (Pacem in Terris, n. 36).
Now the question that arises is: How are we to function in society? Participation in society involves three things. First, there has to be an authority that leads. Again the Catechism turns to St. John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris to explain the competence of this authority: “Human society can be neither well-ordered nor prosperous unless it has some people invested with legitimate authority to preserve its institutions and to devote themselves as far as is necessary to work and care for the good of all” (PT, n. 46).
Every community of people needs someone to govern it. This is found in our human nature, and it is the role of those entrusted with this authority to ensure, as far as possible, the common good of all. This authority finds its roots in the moral law as revealed by God. The Catechism reminds us: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (CCC n. 1899).
In discussing this authority, we must also remember that there exists, on our part, an expectation of obedience. This is not a blind obedience, however, but an obedience to an authority that fulfills their obligation in working toward the common good. For example, we believe in the sanctity of all life. So much so that we go as far as defining it from conception to natural death.
Today there is a bitter war that exists regarding the sanctity of life. Society has distorted what this means and has allowed the horrific destruction of infants in the womb. Abortion, in any form, is a violation of the authority’s commitment toward common good. So in reality, we are not bound in obedience to follow a law or norm that violates the natural law.
Also, functioning in society requires that our final destination be oriented toward the common good. Using the term “common good” means: “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily” (CCC, n. 1906). The common good is the concern of all, but more importantly of those who exercise any authority. Understanding the common good involves three elements.
First, the common good presupposes respect for the person in this way: “In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as ‘the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion’” (CCC, n. 1907).
Second, the common good requires “a social well-being and development of the group itself” (CCC n. 1908).
And third, “the common good requires peace, that is, the stability and security of a just order” (CCC, n. 1909). Understanding the common good always requires us to orient things in society to the progress of peoples. The order of things in society must first be oriented toward the person and everything else comes after. This order is found in a society based on the principles of truth, justice, and love.

Social Justice

Finally our participation in society includes social justice. Social justice is the product of society, whereby the needs of the people are met. This allows for men and women to flourish in their own vocations and states of life. Doing this requires, first and foremost, a respect for the dignity of man. Society’s final end is for the progress of man.
In fact, Pope St. John Paul II was an avid defender of the rights of man in society. In his encyclical, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, published on December 30, 1986, the late Holy Father specifically points out what is at stake:
“What is at stake is the 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” (SRS, n. 47). A true understanding of social justice is both equal, and yet, different. Equal, because we are all made in the image and likeness of God, journeying together to the same final end that is Heaven. Different, because each person has been endowed with certain “talents” that will assist in their particular journey.
In the year 1370, St. Catherine of Siena, spoke of the Lord’s visions to her while in a state of ecstasy. She dictated the Lord’s words regarding how each is given different talents: “I distribute the virtues quite diversely; I do not give all of them to each person, but some to one, some to others….I shall give principally charity to one; justice to another; humility to this one, a living faith to that one…and so I have given many gifts and graces, both spiritual and temporal, with such diversity that I have not given everything to one single person, so that you may be constrained to practice charity towards one another….I have willed that one should need another and that all should be my ministers in distributing the graces and gifts they have received from me” (St. Catherine of Siena, Dial. I, 7.)
In the end, participation in society requires solidarity. This is accomplished by ensuring that there is an equitable distribution of the goods of society, as well as an equitable opportunity for work. Pope St. Pius XII foresaw the destruction of the principle of human solidarity way back in 1939. This prompted him to publish an encyclical letter entitled, Summi Pontificatus (On the Unity of Human Society).
In this encyclical the Holy Father reminds us: “An error, today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality in rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the cross to His heavenly Father, on behalf of sinful humanity.”
Maybe the time has come for a renewal of societal values? Maybe we need to go back and explore the great wisdom of our venerable forefathers? The society we find ourselves in today is not very different from what these great Popes experienced. We must do all we can to repair the great rift in society. Actually, if we continue living as we are, we risk a total destruction of society as we know it.
Next week we will dive into God’s Salvation: Law and Grace. See you then!