From: kriz@skat.usc.edu (KRIZ)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Cath. Christianity 101 - Gaudium et spes 1.1 - "Human Dignity"
Date: 6 Apr 1992 21:21:36 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
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posted to talk.religion.misc only.
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Gaudium et spes 1.1

Note: Gaudium et spes is the Constitution on the Church in the Modern
      World authored/approved by the Second Vatican Council.


				Part I

		     The Church and Man's Calling


  11. The People of God believes that it is led by the Lord's Spirit,
Who fills the earth.  Motivated by this faith, it labors to decipher
authentic signs of God's presence and purpose in the happenings, needs
and desires in which this People has a part along with other men of
our age.  For faith throws a new light on everything, manifests God's
design for man's total vocation, and thus directs the mind to
solutions which are fully human.

  This Council, first of all, wishes to assess in this light those
values which are most highly prized today and to relate them to their
divine source.  Insofar as they stem from endowments conferred by God
on man, these values are exceedingly good.  Yet they are often
wrenched from their rightful function by the taint in man's heart, and
hence stand in need of purification.

  What does the Church think of man?  What needs to be recommended for
the upbuilding of contemporary society?  What is the ultimate
significance of human activity throughout the world?  People are
waiting for an answer to these questions.  From the answers it will be
increasingly clear that the People of God and the human race in whose
midst it lives render service to each other.  Thus the mission of the
Church will show its religious, and by that very fact, its supremely
human character.


  			     Chapter I

		  The Dignity of the Human Person


  12.  According to the almost unanimous opinion of believers and
unbelievers alike, all things on earth should be related to man as
their center and crown.

  But what is man?  About himself he has expressed, and continues to
express, many divergent and even contradictory opinions.  In these he
often exalts himslef as the absolute measure of all things or debases
himself to the point of despair.  The result is doubt and anxiety.
The Church certainly understnads these problems.  Endowed with the
light from God, she can offer solutions to them, so that man's true
situation can be portrayed and his defects explained, while at the
same time his dignity and destiny are justly acknowledged.

  For Sacred Scripture teaches that man was created "to the image of
God," is capable of knowing and loving his Creator, and was appointed
by Him as master of all earthly creatures [1] that he might subdue
them and use them to God's glory [2].  "What is man that you should
care for him?  You have made him little less than the angels, and
crowned him with glory and honor.  You have given him rule over the
works of your hands, putting all things under his feet." (Ps. 8:5-7).

  But God did not create man to be alone, for from the beginning "male
and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27).  Their companionship produces
the primary form of itnerpersonal communion.  For by his innermost
nature man is a social being, and unless he relates himself to others
he can neither live nor develop his potential.  

  Therefore, as we read elsewhere in Holy Scripture, God saw "all that
he had made, and it was very good" (Gen 1:31).

  13.  Although he was made by God in a state of holiness, from the
very beginning of his history man abused his liberty, at the urging of
the Evil One.  Man set himself against God and sought to attain his
goal apart from God.  Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him
as God, but their senseless minds were darkened and they served the
creature rather than the Creator [3].  What divine revelation makes
known to us conforms with experience.  Examining his heart, man finds
that he has inclinations toward evil too, and is engulfed by manifold
ills which cannot come from his good Creator.  Often refusing to
acknowledge God as his beggining, man has disrupted also his proper
relationship to his own ultimate goal as well as his whole
relationship toward himself and others and all created things.

  Therefore man is split within himself.  As a result, all of human
life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic
struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness.  Indeed,
man finds that by himself he is incapable of battling the assaults of
evil successfully, so that everyone feels as though he is bound by
chains.  But the Lord Himself came to free and strengthen man,
renewing him inwardly and casting out the "prince of this world" (John
12:31) who held him in the bondage of sin [4].  For sin has diminished
man, blocking his path to fulfillment.

  The call to grandeur and the depths of misery, both of which are a
part of human experience, bind their ultimate and simultaneous
explanation in the light of this revelation.

  14.  Though made of bady and soul, man is one.  Through his bodily
composition he gathers to himself the elements of the material world;
thus they reach their crown through him, and through him rasie their
voice in free praise fo the Creator [5].  For this reason man is not
allowed to despise his bodily life; rather he is obliged to regard his
body as good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it
up on the last day.  Nevertheless wounded by sin, man experiences
rebellious stirrings in his body.  But the very dignity of man
postulates that man glorify God in his body [6] and forbids it to
serve evil inclinations of his heart.

  Now, man is not wrong when he regards himself as superior to bodily
concerns, and as more than a speck of nature or a nameless constituent
of the city of man.  For by his interior qualities he outstrips the
whole sum of mere things.  He plunges into the depths of reality
whenever he enters into his own herat; God, Who probes the heart [7],
awaits him there; there he discerns his proper destiny beneath the
eyes of God.  Thus, when he recognizes in himself a spiritual and
immortal soul, he is not being mocked by a fantasy born only of
physical or socail influences, but is rather paying hold of the proper
truth of the matter.

  15. Man judges rightly that by his intellect he surpasses the
material universe, for he shares in the light of the divine mind.  By
relentlessly employing his talents through the ages he has indeed made
progress in the practical sicences and in technology and the liberal
arts.  In our times he has won superlative victories, especially in
his probing of the material world and in subjecting it to himself.
Still he has always searched for more penetrating truths, and finds
them.  For his intelligence is not confined to observable data alone,
but can with genuine certitude attain to reality itself as knowable,
though in consequence of sin that certitude is partyly obscured and
weakened.

  The intellectual nature of the human person is perfected by wisdom
and needs to be, for wisdom gently attracts the mind of man to a quest
and a love for what is true and good.  Steeped in wisdom, man passes
through visible realities to those which are unseen.

  Our era needs such wisdom more than bygone ages if the discoveries
made by man are to be further humanized.  For the future of the world
stands in peril unless wiser men are forthcoming.  It should also be
pointed out that many nations, poorer in economic goods, are quite
rich in wisdom and can offer noteworthy advantages to others.  

  It is, finally, through the gift of the Holy Spirit that man comes
by fiath to the contemplation and appreciation of the divine plan [8].

  16. In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does
not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience.  Always
summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience
when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that.  For man has
in his heart a law written by God; to boey it is the very dignity of
man; according to it he will be judged [9].  Conscience is the most
secret core and sanctuary of a man.  There he is alone with God, Whose
voice echoes in his depths [10].  In a wonderful manner conscience
reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor [11].
In fidelity to conscience, Christians are joined with the rest of men
in the search for truth, and for the genuine solution to the numerous
problems which arise in the life of individuals and from social
relationships.  Hence the mroe correct conscience holds sway, the more
persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and strive to be
guided by the objective norms of morality.  Conscience frequently errs
from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity.  The same cannot
be siad for a man who care but little for truth and goodness, or for a
conscience which by gegrees grows practically sightless as a result of
habitual sin.

  17. Only in freedom can man direct himself toward goodness.  Our
contemporaries make much of this freedom and pursue it eagerly; and
rightly to be sure.  Often, however, they foster it perversely as a
licence for doing whatever pleases them, even if it is evil.  For its
part, authentic freedom is an exceptional sign of the divine image
within man.  For God has willed that man remain "under the control of
his own decisions," [12] so that he can seek his Creator
spontaneously, and come freely to utter and blissful perfection
through loyalty to Him.  Hence man's dignity demands that he act
according to a knowing and free choice that is personally motivated
and prompted from within, not under blind internal impulse nor by mere
external pressure.  Man achieves such dignity when, emancipating
himself from all captivity to passion, he pursues his goal in a
spontaneous choice of what is good and procures for himself, through
effective and skilful action, aids to that end.

  Since man's freedom has been damaged by sin, only by the aid of
God's grace can he bring such a relationship with God into full
flower.  Before the judgement seat of God each man must render an
account of his own life, whether he has done good or evil [13].

  18. It is in the face of death that the riddle of human existence
grows most acute.  Not only is man tormented by pain and by the
advancing deterioration of his body, but even more so by a dread of
perpetual extinction.  He rightly follows the intuition of his heart
when he abhors and repudiates the utter ruin and total disappearance
of his own person.  He rebels agaisnt death because he bears in
himself an eternal seed which cannot be reduced to sheer matter.  All
the endevours of technology, though useful in the extreme, can not
calm his anxiety; for a prolongation of biological life is unable to
satisfy the desire for a higher life which is inescapably lodged in
his breast.

  Although the mystery of death utterly beggars the imagination, the
Church has been taught by divine revelation and firmly teaches that
man has been created by God for the blissful purpose beyond the reach
of earthly misery.  In addition, that bodily death from whcih amn
would have been immune had he not sinned [14] will be vanquished,
according to the Christian faith, when man who was ruined by his own
doing is restored to wholeness by an almighty and merciful Saviour.
For God has called man and still calls him so that with his entire
being he might be joined to Him in an endless sharing of a divine life
beyond all corruption.  Christ won this victory when He rose to life,
for by His death He freed man from death [15].  Hence to every
thoughtful man a solidly established faith provides the answer to his
anxiety about what the future holds for him.  At the same time faith
gives him the power to be united in Christ with his loved ones who
ahve already been snatched away by death; faith arouses the hope that
they have found true life with God.

 19.  The basic source of human dignity lies in man's call to
communion with God.  From the very circumstance of his origin man is
already invited to converse with God.  For man would not exist were he
not created by God's love and constantly preserved by it; and he
cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges
that love and devotes himself to His Creator.  Still, many of our
contemporaries have never recognized this intimate and vital link with
God, or have explicitely rejected it.  Thus atheism must be accounted
among the most serious problems of this age, and deserving of closer
examination.

  The word atheism is applied to phenomena which are quite distinct
from one another.  For while God is expressly denied by some, others
believe taht man can assert absolutely nothing about Him.  Still
others use such a method to scrutinize the question of God as to make
it seem devoid of meaning.  Many, unduly transgressing the limits of
positive sciences, contend that everything can be explained by this
kind of scientific reasoning alone or, by contrast, they altogether
disallow the fact that there is any absolute truth.  Some laud man so
extravagantly that their faith in God lapses into a kind of anemia,
though they seem more inclined to affirm man than to deny God.  Again
some form for themselves such a fallacious idea of God that when they
repudiate this figment they are by no means rejecting the God of the
Gospel.  Some never get to the point of raising questions about God,
since they seem to experience no religious stirrings nor do they see
why they should trouble themsleves about religion.  Moreover, atheism
results not rarely from a violent protest against the evil in this
world, or from the absolute character with which certain human values
are unduly invested, and which thereby accords them the stature of
God.  Modern civilization itself often complicates the approach to God
not for any essential reason but beacuse it is so heavily engrossed in
earthly affairs.

  Undeniably, those who willfully shut out God from their hearts and
try to dodge religious questions are not following the dictates of
their consciences, and hance are not free of blame; yet believers
themselves frequently bear some responsibility for this situation.
For, taken as a whole, atheism is not a spontaneous development but
stems from a variety of causes, including a critical reaction against
relgious beliefs, and in some places against the Christian religion in
particular.  Hence believers can have more than a little to do with
the birth of atheism.  To the extent that they neglect their own
training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine or are deficient in
their religious, moral or socail life, they must be said to concal
rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion.

  20.  Modern atheism often takes on a systematic expression which, in
addition to other causes, stretches the desire for human independence
to such a point that it poses difficulties against any kind of
dependence on God.  Those who profess atheism of this sort maintain
that it gives man freedom to be an end unto himself, the sole artisan
and creator of his own history.  They clamin that this freedom cannot
be reconciled with the affirmation of a Lord Who is author and purpose
of all things, or at least that this freedom makes such an affirmation
altogether superfluous.  The sense of power which modern technical
progress generates in man can noursih this belief.

  Not to be overlooked among the forms of modern atheism is that which
anticipates liberation of man expecially through his economic and
social emancipation.  This form argues that by its nature relgion
thwarts this ligeration by arousing man's hope for a deceptive futre
life, thereby diverting him from the contructing of the earthly city.
Consequently when the proponents of this doctrine gain governmental
power they vigorously fight against religion, and promote atheism by
using, especially in the education of youth, those means of pressure
which public power has at its disposal.

  21. In her loyal devotion to God and men, the CHurch has already
repudiated [16] and cannot cease repudiating, sorrowfully but as
firmly as possible, those poisonous doctrines and actions which
contradict reason and common experience of humanity, and dethrone man
from his native excellence.

  Still, she strives to detect in the atheistic mind the hidden causes
for the denial of God; conscious of how weighty are the questions
which atheism raises, and motivated by love for all men, she believes
these questions ought to be examined seriously and more profoundly.

  The Chruch holds that the recognition of God is in no way hostile to
man's dignity, since this dignity is rooted and perfected in God.  For
man was made an intelligent and free member of society by God Who
created him; but even more important, he is called as a son to commune
with God and share in His happiness.  She further teaches that a hope
related to the end of time does not diminish the improtance of
intervening duties but rather undergirds the acquittal of them with
fresh incentives.  By contrast, when a divine substructure and the
hope of life eternal are wanting, man's dignity is most grievously
lacerated, as current evens often attest; the riddles of life and
death, of guilt and of grief go unsolved, with the frequent result
that men succumb to despair.

  Meanwhile every man remains to himself an unsolved puzzle, however
obscurely he may perceive it.  For on certain occasions no one can
entirely escape the kind of self-questioning mentioned earlier,
especially when life's major events take place.  To this qeustioning
only God fully and most certainly provides an answer as he summons man
to higher knowledge and humbler probing.

  The remedy which must be applied to atheism, however, is to be
sought in a proper presentation fo the Church's teaching as well as in
the integral life of the Church and her members.  For it is the
function of the Church, led by the Holy Spirit Who renews and purifies
her ceaselessly [17], to make God the Father and His INcarnate Son
present and in a sense visible.  This result is achieved chiefly by
the witness of a living and mautre faith, anmely one trained to see
difficulties clearly and to master them.  Many martyrs have given
luminous witness to this faith and continue to do so.  This faith
needs to prove its fruitfulness by penetrating the believer's entire
life, including its worldly dimensions, and by activating him toward
justice and love, especially regarding the needy.  What does the most
reveal God's presense, however, is the bortherly charity of the
faithful who are united in spirit as they work together for the faith
of the Gospel [18] and who prove themselves a sign of unity.

  Which rejecting atheism, root and branch, the Church sincerely
professes that all men, believers and unbelievers alike ought to work
for the rightful betterment of this world in which all alike live;
such an ideal cannot be realized, however, apart from sincere and
prudent dialogue.  Hence the Church protests agaisnt the distinction
which some state authorities make between believers and unbelievers,
with prejudice to the fundamental rights of the human person.  The
CHurch calls for the active freedom of believers to build up in this
world God's temple too.  She courteously invites atheist to examine
the Gospel of Christ with an open mind.

  Above all the Church knows that her message is in harmony with the
most secret desires of the human heart when she champions the dignity
of the human vocation, restoring hope to those who ahve already
despaired of anything higher than their presnet lot.  Far from
diminishing man, her message brings to his development light, life and
freedom.  Apart from this message nothing will avail to fill up the
heart of man: "Thau has mde us for Thyself," O Lord, "and our hearts
are restless till they find rest in Thee." [19].

  22. The truth is that only in the mystery of the Incarnate Word does
the mystery of man take on light.  For Adam, the first man, was a
figure of Him Who was to come [20]. namely Christ the Lord.  Christ,
the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His
love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling
clear.  It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned
truths find their root and attain their crown.

  He Who is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15), [21] is
Himself the perfect man.  To the sons of Adam He restores the divine
likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward.  Since
human nature as He assumed it was not annulled [22], by that very fact
it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too.  For by
His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with
every man.  He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind,
acted by human choice [23] and lvoed with a human heart.  Born of the
Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like in all thigns
except sin [24].

  As an innocent lamb He merited for us life by the free shedding of
His own blood.  In Him God reconciled us [25] to Himself and among
ourselves; from bondage to the devil and sin He delivered us, so that
each one of us can say with the Apostle: The Son of God "loved me and
gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20).  By suffering for us He not only
provided us with an example form our imitation [26], He blazed a
trail, and if we follow it, life and death are made holy and take on a
new meaning.

  The Chrstian man, conformed to the liekness of that Son Who is the
firstborn of many brothers [27], received "the first-fruits of the
Spirit" (Rom. 8:23) by which he becomes capable of discharging the new
law of love [28].  Through this Spirit, who is "the pledge of our
inheritance" (Ehp. 1:14), the whole man is renewed from within, even
to the achievement of "the redemption of the body" (Rom. 8:23): If the
Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he
who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also bring to life your
moral bodies because of his Spirit who dwells in you" (Rom. 8:11)
[29].  Pressing upon the Christian to be sure, are the need and the
duty to battle against evil through manifold tribulations and even to
suffer death.  But, linked with the paschal mystery and patterned
after the dying Christ, he will hasten forward to resurrection in the
strength whcih comes from hope [30].

  All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all men of good
will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way [31]/  For, since
Christ died for all men [32], and since the ultimate vocation of man
is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit
in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of
being associated with this paschal msystery.

  Such is the msystery of man, and it is a great one, as seen by
believers in the light of Christian revelation.  Through Christ and in
Christ, the riddles of sorrow and death grow meaningful.  Apart from
His Gospel, they overwhelm us.  Christ has risen, destroying death by
His death; He has lavished life upon us [33] so that, as sons in the
Son, we can cry out in the Spirit: Appa, Father! [34].

----------------------------

Footnotes Part 1, Chapter 1 "The Dignity of the Human Person"

[1] Cf. Gen. 1:26; Wis. 2:23

[2] Cf. Sir. 17:3-10.

[3] Cf. Rom. 1:21-25.

[4] Cf. John 8:34.

[5] Cf. Dan. 3:57-90.

[6] Cf. 1 Cor. 6:13-20.

[7] Cf. 1 Kings 16:7; Jer. 17:10.

[8] Cf. Sir. 17:7-8.

[9] Cf. Rom. 2:14-16.

[10] Cf. Pius XII, radio address on the correct formation of a
Christian conscience in the young, March 23, 1952: AAS (1952), pg 271.
 

[11] Cf. Matt. 22:37-40; Gal. 5:14.

[12] Cf. Sir. 15:14.

[13]. Cf. 2 Cor. 5:10.

[14] Cf. Wis. 1:13; 2:23-24; Rom. 5:21; 6:23; Jas. 1:15.

[15] Cf. 1 Cor. 15:56-57.

[16] Cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Divini Redemptoris, March 19,
1937: AAS 29 (1937), pp 65-106; Pius XIII, Encyclical Letter Ad
Apostolorum Principis, June 29, 1958: AAS 50 (1958), pp 601-614; John
XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra, May 15, 1961: AAS 53
(1961), pp. 451-453; Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Ecclesiam Suam, Aug.
6, 1964: AAS 56 (1964), pp. 651-653.

[17] Cf. Second Vatican COuncil, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
Chapter I, n. 8: AAS 57 (1965), pg 12.

[18] Cf. Phil. 1:27.

[19] Cf. St. Augustine, Confessions I, 1: PL 32, 661.

[20] Cf. Rom. 5:14. Cf. Tertulian, De carnis resurrectione 6: "The
shape that the slime of the earth was given was intended with a view
to Christ, the future man": P 2, 282: CSEL 47, pg. 33 1. 12-13

[21] Cf. 2 Cor. 4:4.

[22] Cf. Second Council of Constantinople, canon 7: "The divine Word
was not changed into a human nature, nor was a human nature absorbed
by the Word." Denzinger 219 (428).  -- Cf. also Third Council of
Constantinople: For just as His most holy and immaculate human nature,
though deified, was not destroyed (theotheisa ouk anerethe), but
rather remained in its proper state and mode of being": Denzinger 291
(556). -- Cf. Council of Chalcedon: "to be acknowledged in two
natures, without confusion, change, division or spearation."
Densizinger 149 (302).

[23] CF. Third COuncil of Constantinople: "and so His human will,
though deified, is not destroyed": Denzinger 291 (556).

[24] Cf. Heb. 4:15.

[25] Cf. 2 Cor. 5:18-19; Col. 1:20-22.

[26] Cf. 1 Pet. 2:21; Matt. 16:24; Luke 14:27.

[27] Cf. Rom. 8:29; Col. 1:18.

[28] Cf. Rom. 8:1-11.

[29] Cf. 2 Cor. 4:14.

[30] Cf. Phil. 3:10; Rom. 8:17.

[31] Cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,
Chatper 2, no. 16: AAS 57 (1965). pg 20.

[32] Cf. Rom 8:21.

[33] Cf. The Byzantine Easter Liturgy.

[34] Cf. Rom 8:15 and Gal. 4:6; cf. also John 1:12 and John 3:1-2.

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