To achieve what is said in part one of the Little way, Therese resolves to seek out a mean to become a saint by a very short, straight, “Little Way” that is completely new.[1] In her mind, this way will be as new as a new technological invention; after all we live in an age of inventions; that way will be like “an elevator by which I may be raised unto God, for I am too tiny to climb the steep stairway of perfection.”[2] Grace inspires boldness in us. When the Holy Spirit overpowers us, we dare to try to find new ways to live the gospel. Where can she find that elevator or way? She turns to Holy Scripture where she finds “Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me…”(Prov. 9:4). There, she finds that Jesus’ arms are the elevator that will raise her up to heaven.[3] The inspired word of God, which is ever new and fresh while remaining old, “opens new vistas, new and unforeseeable paths”[4] for her. There we have it. the new way to greatness must be achieved through littleness.

Here is the great lesson Therese wants to teach us here: greatness comes from smallness. She wants to be a great saint, but instead of trying to do something noticeable, she lowers herself, persevere, and surrender her will to God. What the prophet Micah said in relation to the birth of Christ can be applied to Therese here. “You, Bethlehem-Ephratha too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2). Therese who thought herself too small to be among the great saints is counted among the greatest saints that had ever graced the Church because she chooses to live the opposite of what she wanted to be. St. Francis de Sales advised, “when dealing with a character flaw, resort as much as possible to practicing the contrary virtue, and connect everything to it”.[5] Therese did precisely that. She wanted greatness, yet she chose littleness. She wanted fame, yet she chose hiddenness. Later, she became all at once, not just before men, but also before and because of God. Is this not a common occurrence in Scripture— the little giving rise to the great, wonderful things coming where you least expect them? Did stuttering Moses not speak up to mighty Pharaoh? Did the slave nation not defeat the mightiest army? Did tiny David not slaughter the giant Goliath? It is clear that when we surrender to God’s way, mighty forces come to our help.

Therese seems to intuit that method from God. After the Fall, God called Abraham, an unknown and powerless man to leave his country and move to an unknown land (Gen. 12), and made a great nation out of him. Out of all the powerful nations of the world, God chose a small and insignificant country for the savior of the world to be born; what’s more, while under the occupation of the most powerful nation on earth—Rome. In the midst of a wide world full of kingdoms with their mighty events and dramas, he devoted himself to little things, to individual men and women, and on “little people”. In a country where there were popular movements to overthrow the Romans, our Lord devoted many hours to one Samaritan woman, the one Nicodemus, the one Martha, the one Mary Magdalene, the one Lazarus, the one Simon Peter. That tells us the infinite value of the one (the little) is the key to the Christian understanding of the many (the great). God’s greatness is magnified more evidentially in small things.[6]

Do you want to please God too? well, it is possible, don’t become hopeless. trust wholeheartedly; choose the opposite of your flaw. you will succeed.

[1] Jacques Philippe, The Way of Love, p. 9

[2] Story of a soul 207

[3] Story of soul, 208

[4] Phillipe, 19

[5] Rudolf Stertenbrink, Wisdom of the Little Flower, 127

[6] Inspired from a quote of Anglican Primate Michael Ramsey used by Stertenbrink, 65-66

Without a doubt, the foundation of the Christian life rests on love. All doctrines, all ecclesial laws, all spiritualties, all theologies aim at deepening the virtue of love. Without love, all efforts would miss the forest for the tree, or confound the stars for the sun, or prioritize means over end. Thats why love is always the unspoken attraction that brings two people together. St. Paul, powerful evangelizers that he was, understood the point of the Christian life profoundly. Thus, he wrote that even if we have all spiritual gifts and powers in the Christian community enabling us to occupy lofty position, if we don’t have love, it profits nothing. If we speak in tongues, they will cease; if we have knowledge, it will be done away. Love alone, the greatest of the spiritual gifts, will last (I Cor. 13:1-13). Love is the greatest equalizer in life.

This insight into the mystery of God encapsulates the call of every Christian. Love alone allows us to become godlike. From a Christian point of view, it is a noble task to be the mother Teresa of the poorest of the poor; it is praiseworthy to fight for justice like martin Luther king using nonviolence; it is ideal to convert a continent like the religious missionaries of the 16^th to 18^th centuries. However, unless charity constitutes the cornerstone of this endeavor, it does not leave an indelible mark in The Book of Life. All human inspiration must begin with charity and lead ultimately to greater charity. When she was seeking for her specific call (since she was already a Carmelite sister engaged to pray for priests) within the church, St. Therese of Lisieux discovered a pivotal and illuminating passage in the epistle of St. Paul that points her toward the epicenter of what it means to follow Christ.[1]

She went through a searching period. She felt that burning desire to do more in the church. It can be said that she was looking for her call within her call. At first, she wanted to be a warrior/martyr performing heroic deeds for Christ, guarding the pope, or going on crusade to defend the faith; she did not want just one type of martyrdom; she wanted to be flayed like St. Bartholomew, boiled in oil like St. John, tortured like St. Agnes and St. Cecilia, and guillotined like Joan of arc.[2] Then, she felt the vocation of the priest which would enable her to carry the living Christ in her hands and give him to thirsty souls; at the same time, she wanted the humility of St. Francis who did not feel worthy to receive the sublime dignity of the priesthood. As if the battle in her heart was not divisive enough, she felt the vocation of the apostles and the missionaries by which she would travel throughout the world to preach the glorious name of Christ.[3]

There are many who are reading this who felt like they are torn between many things in life or in the church. St. Therese can be a lamp within their feet. if you don’t know what God wants you to do with your life yet, you can never go wrong loving intensely. That’s enough to make you a saint, which is the goal of every life. As a faithful daughter of the church who wanted nothing but to do the will of God, she accepts that while they may be many spiritual gifts, not all can be doctors, martyrs, evangelists, priests etc. therefore, “I abase myself to the very depths of my nothingness, and raised myself so high I was able to reach myself”.[4] She then discovered something more excellent than all these wants. Without love, these desires don’t lead to God. In this discovery, her restless soul found solace.[5]

Charity is the breadth, length, height, and depth of all vocations. The heart of the church burns with love, as she understands her. Love is the heart that pumps blood in the body of the church enabling her to function. It is love that makes the heart of the church beats. “If love ever becomes extinct, apostles would not preach the gospel, martyrs would refuse to shed their blood, and priests would become social workers. Love is everything because it encapsulates all vocation. In the midst of this discovery, she uproariously exclaimed “MY VOCATION IS LOVE; in the heart of the church, my mother, I shall be Love”.[6] Now, this discovery gives her the key to be the greatest in the church. The measure of her greatness will be the measure of her love. Let this be known, dear friends, what was true for St. Therese is true for all of us we are to be love. We will be as great as our love. As Aquinas famously puts it, “from love we came, by means of love, to become love, and to return to love”. No one but ourselves can stop us from becoming love and returning to love. We are each called to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect. God is love, St. John the evangelist tells us. To be like him is to become enwrapped in love. Therefore, if you dream of the height, if you want to reach the mountaintop both in this life and the next, if you want to achieve something noble, worthwhile, if you want to shake the earth, unleash the power of love hidden within your heart. Genuine love is power.

How she lived her vocation to love marks the 20^th century and continues to be unraveled in the 21^st century. St. Pius IX did not hesitate as a result to dub her the greatest saint of the modern times. No small feats! St. John Paul II proclaimed a doctor of the church although she died at 24 and lived behind closed doors in her last 10 years on earth. The “Little Way” by which she lived her vocation to love is the most known and pursued spirituality right now. it is what inspired countless people to live holiness in an unprecedented way. That’s what inspired mother Teresa and her sisters to love the poorest of the poor so drastically.

I will explain the little way in the next post. Patience please!

[1] Story of a soul, 192

[2] Story of a soul, 193

[3] ibid 192

[4] ibid 194

[5] ibid 194

[6] ibid 194

It is often believed that doctrine and spirituality do not always go hand in hand. The former seems to care about maintaining the principles of the faith while the latter is concerned about the human person. In the apostolic exhortation Amoris Latitiae—the two seem to have juxtaposed beautifully; that’s almost an unprecedented move. It captures the attitude of our Lord who while he set forth a demanding ideal yet never failed to show compassion and closeness to the frailty of individuals. The way he treated the Samaritan woman and the woman caught in adultery are two illustrating examples.

Of course, the Church has always been aware of that attitude. John Paul II proposed the “law of gradualness” in the document Familiaris Consortium. It’s the understanding that the human person “knows, loves and accomplishes moral good by different stages of growth” (34). Just like a teacher would not teach his students Calculus until he goes through all the lower math levels, we should not impose the high idealism of the spiritual life until a person is ready to understand, interiorize, and embrace the full truth of Jesus’ teachings. It is prudent to gradually teach a person, accompany him/her until that person is in the position to fully carry out the objective demands of the law. We must say like St. Paul, “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.” (1 Cor. 3:2). When will we know the person is ready to embrace the full teaching depends on the pastor’s relationship with the Holy Spirit who reveals the truth to his shepherd. Not black or white! What if the person is never ready? That’s a fair question.

The church is in the business of reintegration not casting off. She is always ready to pour out the balm of God’s mercy on all those who ask for it with a sincere heart (Amoris Laetitia 296). So, if someone exhibits a way of life incompatible with the Christian ideal, that person needs to let the gospel penetrates his life so he can experience conversion. Pastors of souls are there to help through that process. that simply means there will be a lot of new beginnings and fall start. The church’s role is simple to patiently stand alongside each person as they keep on trying. Again, this is the first time a church document dealing with doctrine is juxtaposing doctrine and spiritual growth.

Remarkably, the document mentions that despite the struggles, a person can take part in the social service of the church like Knight of Columbus, Legion of Mary, St. Vincent de Paul, prayer meetings together with the discernment of the parish priest. That’s a way to avoid the person from feeling separated from the community. The goal is to help “people feel not an excommunicated member of the Church, but instead a living member” (299). It is important to understand that participation in the community does not always mean serving at the altar during the liturgy. I don’t think there has ever been any clearer statement on this issue until this. While no one was ever rejected, many did feel that way. The hope is that this clarification brings out some changes.

Now, in case of divorced and civilly remarried, “it is the responsibility of the church to help them understand the divine pedagogy of grace in their lives and assist them so they can reach the fullness of God’s plan for them” (Amoris Laetitia 297). Again, that’s when the law of gradualness comes handy. Pastors of souls must work with those living in an irregular marriage until they are fully integrated into the life of the Trinity. That means they must meet regularly with their pastor until they can find a solution that brings them fully into the flock of God. Currently, they are absolutely part of God’s flock, but not fully. Spiritual direction and instruction have as their ultimate goal to bring them fully into the church.

Without falling into casuistry, the document cleverly maintains that not all divorced and civilly remarried can be pigeonholed as one. There must be “a renewed encouragement to undertake a responsible personal and pastoral discernment of particular cases since the degree of responsibility is not equal in all cases”. Therefore, priests have a duty to initiate a process of accompaniment and discernment in order to “guide the divorced and remarried to an awareness of their situation before God (300). A pastor cannot feel that it is enough simply to apply moral laws to those living in “irregular” situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives (305).

The following cases cannot be treated in a general manner: A second union consolidated over time, with new children, proven fidelity, generous self giving, Christian commitment, a consciousness of its irregularity” must be treated atypically because it does not fit the general norm.

Or the case of someone who has made every effort to save her first marriage and was unjustly abandoned, and so entered into a second union for the sake of the children’s upbringing while subjectively certain in conscience that her previous and irreparably broken marriage had never been valid” deserves special attention.

Someone who has consistently failed in his obligations to the family cannot be seen as the same as the above.

The document throws light of factors at play when judging a case of divorced and civilly remarried. “ a person may know the rule full well, yet have great difficulty in understanding (notice it says understanding not accepting) “its inherent values”, or be in a concrete situation which does not allow him or her to act differently and decide otherwise without further sin.” This is an important point. It entails that a person may be living in an irregular situation yet possesses grace and charity. As Aquinas puts it, “someone may possess grace and charity, yet not be able to exercise any one of the virtues well” (ST I-II, 65, 3, ad2). This is very enlightening. That means because of the particular circumstances that surround a divorced and civilly remarried person, he/ she may not be as culpable as another person divorced and remarried couple (302). Again, not all cases can be put in the same basket. A negative judgment about an objective situation does not imply a judgment about the culpability of the person involved. So responsibility with respect to certain actions or decisions is not the same in all cases (302).

A logical question that follows from this unfamiliar teaching is: is this a departure from the mother doctrine as laid out in Familiaris Consortium, or is this part of hermeneutic of continuity? Put otherwise, is this a legitimate development of what Jesus said in Matthew 19:9 (whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.”), or a corruption of it?

That leads to what John Henry Newman, the great towering Anglican figure who converted to Catholicism, said n his work entitled On the Development of Christian Doctrine about the criteria for a doctrine to be developed genuinely. Chapter 5 is worth your time.

For a doctrine to be developed genuinely, it must preserve the essential form and structure of what came before it. It is genuine if it retains one and the same type, the same principles, the same organization; if its beginnings anticipate its subsequent phases, and its later phenomena protect and subserve its earlier; if it has a power of assimilation and revival, and a vigorous action from first to last. By the same token, butterfly can be seen as a genuinely development of caterpillar. While butterfly is not the same as a caterpillar, it preserves the essential form and structure of a caterpillar.

An authentic development illustrates, corroborates that from which it proceeds. A child is an illustration of the parents. Christianity is a legitimate development of Judaism.

An authentic development has the power to assimilate. While it takes what is best and sound for its own development, it rejects what does not square off with its future life. Doctrines and views as they relate to man are never placed in a void; they are found in the crowded world, and make way for themselves by interpenetration, and develop by absorption. They interpenetrate people and are absorbed according to the mode of the recipient. As recipients grow into deeper understanding and gain more experiences in life, their understanding of doctrines is bound to undergo deeper and expansive development.

So does Amoris Laetitia constitute a departure from Matthew 19:9? It would serve anyone interested in answering this question to take Cardinal Newman as a mentor and companion. He could save a great deal of embarrassment.

Scholars have explained the human person as a phenomenon because he bore within himself the spiritual and the physical. Through our body, we reach down to the lower elements and are one with the animals and minerals; through our mind, we reach upwards to God and the angels.

We know this is true instinctively; on one hand, we can enter into the depth of ourselves through silence and prayer, becoming as much like the angels as possible. On the other, we experience instincts and emotions that often get the better of us. as long as we are journey in this life, we struggle to strike a perfect balance between these two realities.

So, man is a mystery, a puzzle that generations have been trying to understand, but he still remains a depthless enigma incapable of being deciphered through and through; he is a paradox. He is simple yet complicated, straight yet crooked, lighted yet darkened, easy yet difficult. He often operates on the extreme; hence the need for direction. He can exalt himself as the absolute measure of all things or debases himself to the point of despair. Man needs help because he is split within himself. We tarnish the work of art that we are and destroy our inner beauty when we don’t control our divided self. We need God and that’s the truth. As Ecclesiastes shows and Blaise Pascal observes, “man without God is in total ignorance and inevitable misery.” The contrary is not true; God does not need us. we are completely contingent on him. What is man compared to God?

God could have left us in the lowliness of our choice, but like a mother who could not stop mothering, he intervenes. Why does he? After all, says Pascal, “what is man in nature? A nothing in relation to infinity, all in relation to nothing, a central point between nothing and all and infinitely far from understanding either….” our lives are less than a speck of dust lost among the solar system of the galaxies. Why does he have to intervene when live or die, it makes no difference? While we think we are the indispensable actor in the unfolding documentary of our lives, in God’s eyes, we don’t have to matter; we come, we live, we play, then we die. After a few years, no one remembers that we were here. While we think we are the most important, and our lives enfold before the camera of God, only one kind of things is recorded, those done for love. we are an empty show unless we marked our space through charity. Veni, Vidi, Vici we like to say! This is false unless God takes notice of us. We are great insofar as we get his attention.

There’ s only one way to do that. Embrace love! That’s the only part that his camera records. We had better keep this in mind as we are developing new episodes for the documentary. That’s the very reason why he broke into the scene. He wanted to teach us how to love. When we finally grasp the profundity of this, we will go speechless. We may even have to say like job: “I have heard of you by words of mouth, but now my eye has seen you; therefore, I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6).

Man has a natural inclination for peace even if he is engaged in all sort of malfeasance. Man naturally needs a foundation to lay his head though he is soaring high like an eagle in the sky. Though most powerful, he needs a rescuer. Though he renders an account to no one, he needs truth, honesty, true freedom, and love; he needs someone or something to put him in touch with his inner life, his conscience. No one was yearning for these more than the character named ‘Unnamed’ in Alessandro Manzoni’s masterful work, The Betrothed. Although he had power, wealth and security, his life was empty until he was converted to Christ who offers the best way to live.

After the peasant and naïve girl Lucia was kidnapped, she fervently turned to our Blessed Lady for help. Being a merciful mother, she helps her not directly, but by changing the lion heart of her captor (the Unnamed) into a little lamb. That is the only reasonable explanation behind his tormenting heart once he accepted the task of kidnapping her. He gets angry with himself for accepting; a sort of remorse and disquiet settle in his heart; the memory of past crimes start to emerge.[1] This man is not an ordinary personality. He was like “the godfather” of his time. He is above the law, feared by all, judge and master of the affair of others, and notorious for the number of crimes.[2] His castle is a veritable hotbed of murderous crimes.[3] He is thought of as a strange, ferocious, legendary, and barbarous figure. The villagers are so afraid of him, they don’t ever dare use his name. so they call him the Unnamed (l’Innominato in Italian).[4] Yet, the moment Lucia claims that “God will forgive his multitude of sins for one act of mercy”[5], he was filled with hope and the desire to hear more. This can be seen as the encounter that sets him on the path to conversion. How was this possible other than by the powerful intercession of Our Blessed Mother giving birth to a dead soul? This good news is the rescuer he was looking for, though unknowingly.

An encounter with God is life-changing and ensues a better future. As pope Benedict puts it, “one who has hope lives differently [because he] has been granted the gift of a new life.[6] Before this encounter, the Unnamed was conscious of his great vigor and confidence, no thoughts of the future poisoned his memories of the past, the non-stop spectacle of violence, revenge, and murder used to fill him with pleasure; after the encounter now, the idea of judgment… has revisited him every often. A glimpse of Lucia’s cart fills him with inexplicable depression, horrifying feeling of loneliness, ceaseless terror, and a little voice inside of him does not cease crying: “yet I am”.[7] Hope of the mercy of God can transform the most wretched heart into the most docile one. Seeing Lucia only increased his torment, and her begging softens him and moves him to compassion. Consequently, he orders a woman to care for her, entertain her, and ensure that nothing harmful happens to her.[8] This is the most brutal of men, yet encountering Lucia is turning him into a “softy”. After seeing Lucia, his conscience does not stop speaking; he spends the whole night ruminating his past crimes; he even thinks of suicide; he longs to escape from his thoughts; he lies awake the whole night; He longs to hear further words of hope and comfort from Lucia.[9] “When the feeling of compassion overpowers a person, [the latter] loses his manhood until he follows through”, Manzoni believes.[10] So we see before he enjoys that newfound hope, he went through a sort of “dark night of the soul”. At the end of these dark nights, he is motivated by the hope of a future where he can undo the past insofar that’s possible, and embrace the beginning of a new life, which is precisely what conversion entails.

The encounter with the saintly cardinal Borromeo reinforces the Unnamed’s desire to embrace Christ. That’s the contagious power of holiness; that’s the arresting beauty of truly embracing the gospel. The cardinal’s dignified and majestic bearing, his serious and yet lively eyes, his magnificent simplicity of his purple robe, and his penetrating gaze help welcome the Unnamed with the utterance: “… I am most grateful to you for taking your admirable decision to come to me, …although there should have been many times… when I should have come to you.[11] Unsure whether the cardinal is truly familiar with his notorious exploits that he (the Unnamed) had performed, the latter is surprised that he is so well received—“Did you say you should have come to me. Do you know who I am”[12], he exclaims. The cardinal points out to the Unnamed that the obvious pleasure he feels at seeing him could only be inspired by the visit of a man whose reputation he knows too well.[13]

The cardinal suggests that this visit could only be good news that God has touched his heart. However, the Unnamed asserts that there cannot be good news when hell is raging in his heart. “Where is that God anyway”.[14] The cardinal confidently reminds him that God is near him, agitates his spirit, allures him, gives him a foretaste of the hope of tranquility and happiness, so if he so chooses he can find real peace.[15] Then the Unnamed was dubious whether or not God will welcome him back— “There is indeed something oppressing my heart…, what do you think God can do for me”.[16] The cardinal authoritatively and paternally reassures him of God’s ocean of mercy— “Who are you to think that your wretchedness… can outweigh God’s goodness”.[17] It is God who stirs him to seek him…. He does not rejoice that thousands abhor his actions… God will be glorified when he acknowledges his sins.[18] Hearing these good news, that iron fist, the strong, the unbroken, the brave that is the Unnamed breaks into weeping.[19] That’s a powerful sign the Unnamed had turned around and touched by Christ. After all, we know that God is a father who is always waiting for the return of his prodigal sons or daughters. The good shepherd did leave the 99 to seek out the one lost sheep. Everyone matters in God’s eyes. So as an instrument of God, the cardinal gives thanks to God, though unfaithful steward and neglectful shepherd that he is, he is found worthy to witness a so happy a miracle[20] i.e. the conversion of a most wretched soul.

In conclusion, in case we forget what the church does, this conversion is how the church relates to the world. She is a mother who never disowns her children regardless of how low they have fallen into sin. As long as they turn around and return home, her arms are wide open waiting to hug them. That’s what the church does for every sinner; he should seek them out. That’s what the new evangelization is about—seek the lost, and if she does not, when they return, her doors are always wide open. The sins of one sinner affect the whole. So when one sinner is converted, the whole benefits. The bigger the sinner the more beneficial it is for the common good. The whole benefits when one person decides to embrace a holy life. Although it is the task of the state to establish peace and security by means of power, conversion of heart is the most powerful way to establish peace and security. Only the church can establish it in such way. The cardinal had thus done well to receive the Unnamed with such open arm given the threat he was for society at large. He was saved and I suspect many of his household will also be saved with him.

[1] Alessandro Manzoni, , The Betrothed, transl. by Bruce Penman, Penguin Books, 1^st publ in London, 1972, 369.

[2] Ibid 361

[3] ibid 363

[4] Ibid 364-6

[5] Ibid 386

[6] Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical Spe Salvi, 2

[7] Ibid 370

[8] Ibid 379

[9] Ibid 395

[10] Ibid 392

[11] Ibid 414

[12] Ibid 415

[13] Ibid

[14] Ibid

[15] Ibid

[16] Ibid 415-6

[17] Ibid 416

[18] Ibid 416

[19] Ibid 417

[20] Ibid 417

We strive by an indirect approach to lessen evils, but we know we will not win the war.[1] Our future lies beyond this world.[2] “We work toward a brighter and more humane society… yet [we know] that our daily efforts… either tire us or turn into fanaticism, unless the great hope that cannot be destroyed even by small-scale failures or historical breakdown” radiate within us.[3] “Caritas will always prove necessary; …no State can eliminate the need for a service of love”.[4] These are the mindset behind Catholic Social Doctrine. It is from this leitmotif that we are to understand pope Benedict XVI’s work on catholic social doctrine regarding church and state, and the human person.

Charity is an essential element of the church’s life; pope Benedict holds it to be on the same par as the sacraments and the proclamation of the Word.[5] In fact, he understands that while it is the fundamental norm of the state to create a just social order, it cannot flourish without upholding the principle of subsidiarity, which demands the coordination of society’s activities according to the needs of the community. In this sense, the church must not sit on the sidelines in the effort to build a just society, even if the latter remains the domain of the state.[6] That is where church and state need to cooperate, although they constitute two distinct entities. This perspective can be deemed pope Benedict’s fundamental contribution to catholic social doctrine.[7]

The church reinforces the state’s effort to build a just society. The State must inevitably answer what justice is.[8] If practical reason is to properly answer that question, it must be purified. Faith is that purifying force. Faith liberates reason from its blind spots; …it enables reason to do its work more effectively. To achieve this, faith and reason i.e. church and state must cooperate. So while it is not the church’s task to build a just society, it is her role to form conscience and stimulate greater insight about justice. While the church cannot and don’t intend to replace the state, she cannot remain on the sidelines without offering her position. The state obviously benefits when its citizens’ actions are born of a pure, virtuous, and moral conscience. But the church is right institution that can make that happen.[9]

Why is the church so needed? Here’s why: despite how well a society is organized, there will always be a need for love. So we don’t need a state that hugs all powers. We want a state that guarantees religious freedom and harmony between the followers of different religions.[10] We want a state that allows the principle of subsidiarity thrives. A State that attempts to absorb everything into itself would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy. The state can never eradicate loneliness, suffering, cry for consolation, and material need.[11] That’s where the church intervenes.

Governments cannot solve the world’s suffering. Despite the scientific and technological advancement, material and spiritual suffering will always linger (ibid 30a). Through the inescapable sense of solidarity, through their commitment to love, both material and spiritual sufferings are alleviated. Church agencies can especially serve as a reference point and inspiration for civil society on how best to serve the poor. Through this cooperation, it becomes clear how faith enlightens reason in its work all the while remaining above politics. Consequently, Christian charitable activity is free of parties and ideologies.[12] It is not proselytism for love is free, and must never be practiced as a way of achieving other ends.[13] Thus church personnel are guided by the faith working through love.[14]

Another major contribution of Pope Benedict to catholic social doctrine concerns construing the greatness of man to the modern world. They believe that our redemption no longer lies in faith in Christ, but through “the newly discovered link between science and praxis”.[15] Faith, in this newly built kingdom, becomes “a purely private, otherworldly affair, and irrelevant”.[16] Hope, the ‘known unknown’ of eternal life that drives our desires to look beyond this world[17], is envisioned as faith in progress.[18] They presumed that progress toward perfect freedom and the rules of reason could be the dominant force behind the human race and the sole guarantor of a perfect human community.[19] They believed that scientific development is the answer to our problem, but they forgot something.

They forgot who man is. They ignore that economic power does not solve man’s inclination for evil. “Man’s freedom always remains freedom for evil”.[20] They forgot that technical progress dissolved from man’s inner growth is actually regression. They forgot that human freedom and reason need a rule of law in order to fulfill their nature and mission. Again, while reason is great, it needs the saving forces of faith in order to differ between good and evil and look beyond itself.[21] Economic power, freedom of choice, and rational capacity severed from God are man’s greatest threat. Social structures devoid of charity would demean man of his greatness.[22] It is the indirect duty of the church to purify man’s inclination. …[23]

Man’s greatness is intrinsically bound to God. Man cannot be redeemed by science for he cannot be rebuilt from outside.[24] Man can only be redeemed by unconditional love.[25] Therefore, new generation can engage in the search for the right moral order by drawing upon the moral treasury of the whole of humanity while seeking to build itself anew.[26] New generation needs to be stimulated by new conviction that freedom can be won over for the cause of goodness[27], and that “the moral well-being of the world cannot be guaranteed through structures alone”.[28] That’s what it means to establish a convinced structure of freedom. This innate understanding is what redemption means.

True dignity lies by setting our hope on God, the great hope. He is the only one who can create the right structure that results in good moral order. This new vision should free us to live life in communion with God and neighbor, who free us from attachment to all material goods.[29] It allows us to accept our limitations to solve the problems of the world. It opens us up to believe that God alone can eliminate suffering, to accept our own suffering, and that of others.[30] In fact, the true measure of humanity is essentially determined in relationship to suffering and to the sufferer. It is cruel for a society to refuse to accept and share the suffering of its members.[31] The fundamental elements of humanity are the capacity and willingness to suffer with the other and for others, for truth, justice, and love.[32] That’s what it takes to become a person.

[1] Thomas More, Utopia, book I

[2] Augustine’s City of God, book XIX, Ch. 17

[3] Spe Salvi 35

[4] Deus Caritas Est 28b

[5] DCE 22

[6] ibid 28a

[7] Pope Paul VI’s address at the United Nations on October 4, 1965 about what the church desires in relationship to the state is arguably a wrong turn. Pope benedict can be said to correct that view in his unique understanding of CSD.

[8] DCE 28a

[9] DCE 28a

[10] ibid 28a

[11] ibid 28b

[12] ibid 31b

[13] ibid 31c

[14] Ibid 33

[15] Spe Salvi #17

[16] ibid

[17] ibid 12

[18] ibid 18

[19] ibid 20

[20] ibid 21

[21] ibid 23

[22] DCE 28b

[23] ibid 29

[24] Spe Salvi 25

[25] ibid 26

[26] ibid 24, 25

[27] ibid 24b

[28] ibid 24a

[29] ibid 28

[30] ibid 37

[31] ibid 38

[32] ibid 39