From: kriz@skat.usc.edu (KRIZ)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Cath. Christianity 101 - CDFs 1986 Christian Freedom and Liberation - 5
Date: 16 Aug 1992 19:46:51 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: skat.usc.edu

The following is a portion of the CDF's 1986 "Instruction on
Christian Freedom and Liberation."  The document is organized in
the following manner:

     Introduction.
     Chpt 1. The State of Freedom in the World Today.
     Chpt 2. Man's Vocation to Freedom and the Tragedy of Sin.
     Chpt 3. Liberation and Christian Freedom.
-->  Chpt 4. The Liberating Mission of the Church.
     Chpt 5. The Social Doctrine of the Church: For a Christian
               Practice of Liberation.
     Conclusion.

Note: (-->) indicates the section of the document contained herein.

In Christ,

Dennis
kriz@skat.usc.edu

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CDFs 1986 Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation - Chpt 4


                           Chapter IV
              THE LIBERATING MISSION OF THE CHURCH

The Church and the anxieties of mankind
---------------------------------------

 61. The Church is firmly determined to respond to the anxiety of
contemporary man as he endures oppression and yearns for freedom.
The political and economic running of society is not a direct part
of her mission [85]. But the Lord Jesus has entrusted to her the
word of truth which is capable of enlightening consciences. Divine
love, which is her life, impels her to a true solidarity with
everyone who suffers. if her members remain faithful to this
mission, the Holy Spirit, the source of freedom, will dwell in
them, and they will bring forth fruits of justice and peace in
their families and in the places where they work and live.


I. FOR THE INTEGRAL SALVATION OF THE WORLD

The beatitudes and the power of the Gospel
------------------------------------------

 62. The Gospel is the power of eternal life, given even now to
those who receive it [86]. But by begetting people who are renewed
[87], this power penetrates the human community and its history,
thus purifying and giving life to its activities. in this way it is
a "root of culture" [88].

 The Beatitudes proclaimed by jesus expresses the perfection of
evangelical love, and they have never ceased to be lived throughout
the history of the Church by countless baptized individuals, and in
an eminent manner by the saints.

 The Beatitudes, beginning with the first, the one concerning the
poor, form a whole which itself must not be separated from the
entirety of the Sermon on the Mount [89]. In this Sermon, Jesus,
who is the new Moses, gives a commentary on the Decalogue, the Law
of the Covenant, thus giving it its definitive and fullest meaning.
Read and interpreted in their full context, the Beatitudes express
the spirit of the Kingdom of God which is to come. But, in the
light of the definitive destiny of human history thus manifested,
there simultaneously appear with a more vivid clarity the
foundations of justice in the temporal order.

 For the Beatitudes, by teaching trust which relies on God, hope of
eternal life, love of justice, and mercy which goes as far as
pardon and reconciliation, enable us to situate the temporal order
in relation to a transcendent order which gives the temporal order
its true measure but without taking away its own nature.

 In the light of these things, the commitment necessary in temporal
tasks of service to neighbor and the human community is both
urgently demanded and kept in its right perspective. The beatitudes
prevent us from worshipping earthly goods and from committing the
injustices which their unbridled pursuit involves [90]. They also
divert use from an unrealistic and ruinous search for a perfect
world, "for the form of this world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:31).


The proclamation of salvation
-----------------------------

 63. The Church's essential mission, following that of Christ, is
a mission of evangelization and salvation [91]. She draws her zeal
from the divine love. Evangelization is the proclamation of
salvation, which is a gift of God. Through the word of God and the
Sacraments, man is freed in the first place from the power of sin
and the power of the Evil One who oppress him; and he is brought
into a communion of the love with God. Following her Lord who "came
into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15), the Church desires
the salvation of all people.

 In this mission, the Church teaches the way which man must follow
in this world in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Her teaching
therefore extends to the whole moral order, and notably to the
justice which must regulate human relations. This is part of the
preaching of the Gospel.

 But the love which impels the Church to communicate to all people
a sharing in the grace of divine life also causes her, through the
effective action of her members, to pursue people's true temporal
good, help them in their needs, provide for their education and
promote an integral liberation from everything that hinders the
development of individuals. The Church desires the good of man in
all his dimensions,first of all as a member of the city of God, and
then as a member of the earthly city.


Evangelization and the promotion of justice
-------------------------------------------

 64. Therefore, when the Church speaks about the promotion of
justice in human societies, or when she urges the faithful laity to
work in this sphere according to their own vocation, she is not
going beyond her mission. She is however concerned that this
mission should not be absorbed by preoccupations concerning the
temporal order or reduced to such preoccupations. Hence she takes
great care to maintain clearly and firmly both the unity and the
distinction between evangelization and human promotion: unity
because she seeks the good of the whole person; distinction,
because these two tasks enter, in different ways, into her mission.


The Gospel and earthly realities
--------------------------------

 65. It is thus by pursuing her own finality that the Church sheds
the light of the Gospel on earthly realities in order that human
beings may be healed of their miseries and raised in dignity. The
cohesion of society in accordance with justice and peace is thereby
promoted and strengthened [92]. Thus the Church is being faithful
to her mission when she condemns the forms of deviation, slavery
and oppression of which people are victims.

 She is being faithful to her mission when she opposes attempts to
set up a form of social life from which God is absent, whether by
deliberate opposition or by culpable negligence [93].

 She is likewise being faithful to her mission when she exercises
her judgement regarding political movements which seek to fight
poverty and oppression according to theories or methods of action
which are contrary to the Gospel and opposed to man himself [94].

 It is of course true that, with the energy of grace, evangelical
morality beings man new perspectives and new duties. But its
purpose is to perfect and elevate a moral dimension which already
belongs to human nature and with which the Chruch concerns herself
in the knowledge that this is a heritage belonging to all people by
their very nature.


II. A LOVE OF PREFERENCE FOR THE POOR

Jesus and poverty
-----------------

 66. Christ jesus, although he was rich, became poor in order to
make us rich by means of his poverty [95]. Saint Paul is speaking
here of the mystery of the Incarnation of the eternal Son, who came
to take on mortal human nature in order to save man from the misery
into which sin had plunged him. Furthermore, in the human condition
Christ chose a state of poverty and deprivation [96] in order to
show in what consists the true wealth which ought to be sought,
that of communion of life with God. He taught detachment from
earthly riches so that we might desire the riches of heaven [97].
The Apostles whom he chose also had to leave all things and share
his deprivation [98].

 Christ was foretold by the Prophets as the Messiah of the poor
[99]; and it was among the latter, the humble, the "poor of
Yahweh", who were thirsting for the justice of the Kingdom, that he
found hearts ready to receive him. But he also wished to be near to
those who, though rich in the goods of the world, were exclude from
the community as "publicans and sinners", for he had come to call
them to conversion [100].

 It is this sort of poverty, made up of detachment, trust in God,
sobriety and readiness to share, that Jesus declared blessed.


Jesus and the poor
------------------

 67. But jesus not only brought the grace and peace of God; he also
healed innumerable sick people; he had comparison on the crowd who
had nothing to eat and he fed them; with the disciples who followed
him he practiced almsgiving [101]. Therefore the Beatitude of
poverty which he proclaimed can never signify that Christians are
permitted to ignore the poor who lack what is necessary for human
life in this world. This poverty is the result and consequence of
people's sin and natural frailty, and it is an evil from which
human beings must be freed as completely as possible.


Love of preference for the poor
-------------------------------

 68. In its various forms -- material deprivation, unjust
oppression, physical and psychological illnesses, and finally death
-- human misery is the obvious sign of the natural condition of
weakness in which man finds himself since original sin and the sign
of his need for salvation. Hence it drew the compassion of Christ
the Saviour to take it upon himself [102] and to be identified with
the let of his brethren (cf. Mt. 25:40,45). Hence also those who
are oppressed by poverty are the object of a love of preference on
the part of the Church, which since her origin and in spite of the
failings of many of her members has not ceased to work for the
relief, defence and liberation. She has done this through
numberless works of charity which remain always and everywhere
indispensable [103]. In addition, through her social doctrine which
she strives to apply, she has sought to promote structural changes
in society so as to secure conditions of life worthy of the human
person.

 By detachment from riches, which make possible sharing and opens
the gate of the Kingdom [104], the disciples of Jesus bear witness
through love for the poor and unfortunate to the love of the Father
himself manifested in the Saviour. This love comes from God and
goes to God. The disciples of Christ have always recognized in the
gifts placed on the altar a gift offered to God himself.

 In loving the poor, the Church also witnesses to man's dignity.
She clearly affirms that man is worth more for what he is than for
what he has. She bears witness to the fact that this dignity cannot
be destroyed, whatever the situation of poverty, scorn, rejection
or powerlessness to which a human being has been reduced. She shows
her solidarity with those who do not count in a society by which
they are rejected spiritually and sometimes even physically. She is
particularly drawn with maternal affection toward those children
who, through human wickedness, will never be brought forth from the
womb to the light of day, as also for the elderly, alone and
abandoned.

 The special option for the poor, far from being a sign of
particularism or sectarianism, manifests the universality of the
Church's being and mission. This option excludes no one.

 This is the reason why the Church cannot express this option by
means of reductive sociological and ideological categories which
would make this preference a partisan choice and a source of
conflict.


Basic communities and other Christian groups
--------------------------------------------

 69. The new basic communities or other groups of Christians which
have arisen to be witnesses to this evangelical love are a source
of great hope for the Church. If they really live in unity with the
local Church and the universal Church, they will be a real
expression of communion and a means for constructing a still deeper
communion [105]. Their fidelity to their mission will depend on how
careful they are to educate their members in the fullness of the
Christian faith through listening to the Word of God, fidelity to
the teaching of the Magisterium, to the hierarchical order of the
Church and to the sacramental life. If this condition is fulfilled,
their experience, rooted in a commitment to the complete liberation
of man, becomes a treasure for the whole Church.


Theological reflection
----------------------

 70. Similarly, a theological reflection developed from a
particular experience can constitute a very positive contribution,
inasmuch as it makes possible a highlighting of aspects of the Word
of God, the richness of which has not yet been fully grasped. But
in order that this reflection may be truly a reading of Scripture
and not a projection on to the Word of God of a meaning which it
does not contain, the theologian will be careful to interpret the
experience from which he begins in the light of the experience of
the Church herself. This experience of the Church shines with a
singular brightness and in all its purity in the lives of the
saints. it pertains to the pastors of the Church, in communion with
the Successor of Peter, to discern its authenticity.

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Footnotes;

[85] Cf. GAUDIUM ET SPES, 42 para. 2.

[86] Cf. Jn. 17:3.

[87] Cf. Rm. 6:4; 2 Cor. 5;17; Col. 3:9-11.

[88] Cf. Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation EVANGELII NUNTIANDI, 18 and
20: AAS 68 (1976), pp. 17-19.

[89] Cf. Mt. 5:3.

[90] Cf. GAUDIUM ET SPES, 37.

[91] Cf. Dogmatic Constititution on the Church LUMEN GENTIUM, 17;
Church's Decree on Missionary Activity AD GENTES, 1; Paul VI,
Apostolic Exhortation EVANGELII NUNTIANDI, 14: AAS 68 (1976), p.
13.

[92] GAUDIUM ET SPES, 40 para. 3.

[93] Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation RECONCILIATIO ET
PAENITENTIA, 14: AAS 77 (1985), pp. 211-212.

[94] Cf. LIBERTATIS NUNTIUS, XI, 10: AAS 76 (1984), p. 901.

[95] Cf. 2 Cor. 8:9.

[96] Cf. Lk. 2:7; 9:58.

[97] Cf. Mt. 6:19-20,24-34; 19:21.

[98] Cf. Lk 5:11, 28; Mt. 19:27.

[99] Cf. Is. 11:4; 61:1; Lk. 4:18.

[100] Cf. Lk. 19:1-10; Mk. 2;13-17.

[101] Cf. Mt. 8:6; 14:13-21; Jn. 13:29.

[102] Cf. Mt. 8:17.

[103] Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical POPULORUM PROGRESSIO, 12 and 46: AAS
59 (1967), pp. 262-263 and p. 280; DOCUMENT OF THE THIRD GENERAL
CONFERENCE OF THE LATIN-AMERICAN EPISCOPATE AT PUEBLA, 476.

[104] Cf. Acts 2:44-45.

[105] Cf. Second Extraordinary Synod, RELATIO FINALIS, II, C, 6:
L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO, 10 December 1985, p. 7; Paul VI, Apostolic
Exhortation EVANGELII NUNTIANDI, 58: AAS 68 (1976), pp. 46-49.

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