Idaho Lay Dominicans
Blessed Margaret of Castello
Chapter
Sunday, 21 May 2006; St. John's Cathedral, Boise, Idaho; 1:00 p.m. Rosary
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Chapter Meeting: Sunday, 21 May 2006
Date: Sunday, 21 May 2006;
Time: 1:00 p.m. Rosary; potluck to follow; 2:00 p.m. meeting.
Place: St. John’s Cathedral, Boise, Idaho
Agenda:
-
Rosary, 1:00 p.m., Chapel, St. John’s
Cathedral
-
Simple potluck dinner at 1:30 p.m.
MEETING STARTS PROMPTLY AT 2:00 p.m.
At last meeting, we had an excellent guest speaker, Brandi Swindell, but the
meeting went over time, so we will be
using a portion of last month's program for May, 2006
-
Prayer. Mark Gross, O.P.L.
-
St. Dominic. Mike Turner, O.P.L.
-
The Rule and The Pillars of
Dominican Life, Maralyn Wylde, Inquirer. (one-half
hour)
-
Vatican II. Chapter 2, Guadiam et Spes,
The Community of Mankind. Phil Ferguson, O.P.L. (20
minutes); Social Justice and issues thereon. John C. Keenan,
O.P.L. (20 minutes);
3. To prepare for this meeting, please read:
a. Vatican II documents.
Chapter 2, Guadiam et Spes.
[See below].
b. Chapters
Matthew 5,6, and 7 of the
Holy Scriptures. Also read pp. 895-900 of the
Divine Intimacy.
c. Foreword, Introduction, and Chapter One, Back to Virtue,
by Peter Kreeft, Ignatius Press © 1992. [The Chapter purchased a number of
these books, and if you are a member or visitor to the Chapter meetings, please
speak with Phil Ferguson, OPL to obtain a book at little or no cost to you.]
This reading is Chapter II
from:
PASTORAL CONSTITUTION: ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD -
GAUDIUM ET SPES
Proclaimed By His Holiness, Pope Paul VI on December 7, 1965.
CHAPTER II THE COMMUNITY OF MANKIND
23. One of the salient features of the modern world is the growing
interdependence of men one on the other, a development promoted chiefly by
modern technical advances. Nevertheless brotherly dialogue among men does not
reach its perfection on the level of technical progress, but on the deeper level
of interpersonal relationships. These demand a mutual respect for the full
spiritual dignity of the person. Christian revelation contributes greatly to the
promotion of this communion between persons, and at the same time leads us to a
deeper understanding of the laws of social life which the Creator has written
into man's moral and spiritual nature.
Since rather recent documents of the Church's teaching authority have dealt at
considerable length with Christian doctrine about human society,[1] this council
is merely going to call to mind some of the more basic truths, treating their
foundations under the light of revelation. Then it will dwell more at length on
certain of their implications having special significance for our day.
24. God, Who has fatherly concern for everyone, has willed that all men should
constitute one family and treat one another in a spirit of brotherhood. For
having been created in the image of God, Who "from one man has created the whole
human race and made them live all over the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26), all
men are called to one and the same goal, namely God Himself.
For this reason, love for God and neighbour is the first and greatest
commandment. Sacred Scripture, however, teaches us that the love of God cannot
be separated from love of neighbour: "If there is any other commandment, it is
summed up in this saying: Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself.... Love
therefore is the fulfilment of the Law" (Rom. 13:9-10; cf. 1 John 4:20). To men
growing daily more dependent on one another, and to a world becoming more
unified every day, this truth proves to be of paramount importance.
Indeed, the Lord Jesus, when He prayed to the Father, "that all may be one. . .
as we are one" (John 17:21-22) opened up vistas closed to human reason, for He
implied a certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons, and the
unity of God's sons in truth and charity. This likeness reveals that man, who is
the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find
himself except through a sincere gift of himself.[2]
25. Man's social nature makes it evident that the progress of the human person
and the advance of society itself hinge on one another. For the beginning, the
subject and the goal of all social institutions is and must be the human person,
which for its part and by its very nature stands completely in need of social
life.[3] Since this social life is not something added on to man, through his
dealings with others, through reciprocal duties, and through fraternal dialogue
he develops all his gifts and is able to rise to his destiny.
Among those social ties which man needs for his development some, like the
family and political community. relate with greater immediacy to his innermost
nature; others originate rather from his free decision. In our era. for various
reasons, reciprocal ties and mutual dependencies increase day by day and give
rise to a variety of associations and organizations, both public and private.
This development, which is called socialization while certainly not without its
dangers, brings with it many advantages with respect to consolidating and
increasing the qualities of the human person, and safeguarding his rights.[4]
But if by this social life the human person is greatly aided in responding to
his destiny, even in its religious dimensions, it cannot be denied that men are
often diverted from doing good and spurred toward evil by the social
circumstances in which they live and are immersed from their birth. To be sure
the disturbances which so frequently occur in the social order result in part
from the natural tensions of economic, political and social forms. But at a
deeper level they flow from man's pride and selfishness, which contaminate even
the social sphere. When the structure of affairs is flawed by the consequences
of sin, man, already born with a bent toward evil, finds there new inducements
to sin, which cannot be overcome without strenuous efforts and the assistance of
grace.
26. Every day human interdependence grows more tightly drawn and spreads by
degrees over the whole world. As a result the common good, that is, the sum of
those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual
members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment, today
takes on an increasingly universal complexion and consequently involves rights
and duties with respect to the whole human race. Every social group must take
account of the needs and legitimate aspirations of other groups, and even of the
general welfare of the entire human family.[5]
At the same time, however, there is a growing awareness of the exalted dignity
proper to the human person, since he stands above all things, and his rights and
duties are universal and inviolable. Therefore, there must be made available to
all men everything necessary for leading a life truly human, such as food,
clothing, and shelter; the right to choose a state of life freely and to found a
family, the right to education, to employment, to a good reputation, to respect,
to appropriate information, to activity in accord with the upright norm of one's
own conscience, to protection of privacy and to rightful freedom, even in
matters religious.
Hence, the social order and its development must invariably work to the benefit
of the human person if the disposition of affairs is to be subordinate to the
personal realm and not contrariwise, as the Lord indicated when He said that the
Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.[6]
This social order requires constant improvement. It must be founded on truth,
built on justice and animated by love; in freedom it should grow every day
toward a more humane balance.[7] An improvement in attitudes and abundant
changes in society will have to take place if these objectives are to be gained.
God's Spirit, Who with a marvellous providence directs the unfolding of time and
renews the face of the earth, is not absent from this development. The ferment
of the Gospel too has aroused and continues to arouse in man's heart the
irresistible requirements of his dignity.
27. Coming down to practical and particularly urgent consequences, this council
lays stress on reverence for man; everyone must consider his every neighbour
without exception as another self, taking into account first of all his life and
the means necessary to living it with dignity, [8] so as not to imitate the rich
man who had no concern for the poor man Lazarus.[9]
In our times a special obligation binds us to make ourselves the neighbour of
every person without exception, and of actively helping him when he comes across
our path, whether he be an old person abandoned by all, a foreign labourer
unjustly looked down upon, a refugee, a child born of an unlawful union and
wrongly suffering for a sin he did not commit, or a hungry person who disturbs
our conscience by recalling the voice of the Lord, "As long as you did it for
one of these the least of my brethren, you did it for me" (Matt. 25:40).
Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder,
genocide, abortion, euthanasia or willful self-destruction, whatever violates
the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on
body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human
dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment,
deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well
as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for
profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others
of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more
harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover,
they are a supreme dishonour to the Creator.
28. Respect and love ought to be extended also to those who think or act
differently than we do in social, political and even religious matters. In fact,
the more deeply we come to understand their ways of thinking through such
courtesy and love, the more easily will we be able to enter into dialogue with
them.
This love and good will, to be sure, must in no way render us indifferent to
truth and goodness. Indeed love itself impels the disciples of Christ to speak
the saving truth to all men. But it is necessary to distinguish between error,
which always merits repudiation, and the person in error, who never loses the
dignity of being a person even when he is flawed by false or inadequate
religious notions.[10] God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts; for that
reason He forbids us to make judgments about the internal guilt of anyone.[11]
The teaching of Christ even requires that we forgive injuries,[12] and extends
the law of love to include every enemy, according to the command of the New Law:
"You have heard that it was said: Thou shall love thy neighbour and hate thy
enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and
pray for those who persecute and calumniate you" (Matt. 5:43-44).
29. Since all men possess a rational soul and are created in God's likeness,
since they have the same nature and origin, have been redeemed by Christ and
enjoy the same divine calling and destiny, the basic equality of all must
receive increasingly greater recognition.
True, all men are not alike from the point of view of varying physical power and
the diversity of intellectual and moral resources. Nevertheless, with respect to
the fundamental rights of the person, every type of discrimination, whether
social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, colour, social condition,
language or religion, is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God's
intent. For in truth it must still be regretted that fundamental personal rights
are still not being universally honoured. Such is the case of a woman who is
denied the right to choose a husband freely, to embrace a state of life or to
acquire an education or cultural benefits equal to those recognized for men.
Therefore, although rightful differences exist between men, the equal dignity of
persons demands that a more humane and just condition of life be brought about.
For excessive economic and social differences between the members of the one
human family or population groups cause scandal, and militate against social
justice, equity, the dignity of the human person, as well as social and
international peace.
Human institutions, both private and public, must labour to minister to the
dignity and purpose of man. At the same time let them put up a stubborn fight
against any kind of slavery, whether social or political, and safeguard the
basic rights of man under every political system. Indeed human institutions
themselves must be accommodated by degrees to the highest of all realities,
spiritual ones, even though meanwhile, a long enough time will be required
before they arrive at the desired goal.
30. Profound and rapid changes make it more necessary that no one ignoring the
trend of events or drugged by laziness, content himself with a merely
individualistic morality. It grows increasingly true that the obligations of
justice and love are fulfilled only if each person, contributing to the common
good, according to his own abilities and the needs of others, also promotes and
assists the public and private institutions dedicated to bettering the
conditions of human life. Yet there are those who, while professing grand and
rather noble sentiments, nevertheless in reality live always as if they cared
nothing for the needs of society. Many in various places even make light of
social laws and precepts, and do not hesitate to resort to various frauds and
deceptions in avoiding just taxes or other debts due to society. Others think
little of certain norms of social life, for example those designed for the
protection of health, or laws establishing speed limits; they do not even avert
to the fact that by such indifference they imperil their own life and that of
others.
Let everyone consider it his sacred obligation to esteem and observe social
necessities as belonging to the primary duties of modern man. For the more
unified the world becomes, the more plainly do the offices of men extend beyond
particular groups and spread by degrees to the whole world. But this development
cannot occur unless individual men and their associations cultivate in
themselves the moral and social virtues, and promote them in society; thus, with
the needed help of divine grace men who are truly new and artisans of a new
humanity can be forthcoming.
31. In order for individual men to discharge with greater exactness the
obligations of their conscience toward themselves and the various groups to
which they belong, they must be carefully educated to a higher degree of culture
through the use of the immense resources available today to the human race.
Above all the education of youth from every social background has to be
undertaken, so that there can be produced not only men and women of refined
talents, but those great-souled persons who are so desperately required by our
times.
Now a man can scarcely arrive at the needed sense of responsibility, unless his
living conditions allow him to become conscious of his dignity, and to rise to
his destiny by spending himself for God and for others. But human freedom is
often crippled when a man encounters extreme poverty, just as it withers when he
indulges in too many of life's comforts and imprisons himself in a kind of
splendid isolation. Freedom acquires new strength, by contrast, when a man
consents to the unavoidable requirements of social life, takes on the manifold
demands of human partnership, and commits himself to the service of the human
community.
Hence, the will to play one's role in common endeavours should be everywhere
encouraged. Praise is due to those national procedures which allow the largest
possible number of citizens to participate in public affairs with genuine
freedom. Account must be taken, to be sure, of the actual conditions of each
people and the decisiveness required by public authority. If every citizen is to
feel inclined to take part in the activities of the various groups which make up
the social body, these must offer advantages which will attract members and
dispose them to serve others. We can justly consider that the future of humanity
lies in the hands of those who are strong enough to provide coming generations
with reasons for living and hoping.
32. As God did not create man for life in isolation, but for the formation of
social unity, so also "it has pleased God to make men holy and save them not
merely as individuals, without bond or link between them, but by making them
into a single people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in
holiness."[13] So from the beginning of salvation history He has chosen men not
just as individuals but as members of a certain community. Revealing His mind to
them,
God called these chosen ones "His people" (Ex. 3:7-12), and even made a covenant
with them on Sinai.[14]
This communitarian character is developed and consummated in the work of Jesus
Christ. For the very Word made flesh willed to share in the human fellowship. He
was present at the wedding of Cana, visited the house of Zacchaeus, ate with
publicans and sinners. He revealed the love of the Father and the sublime
vocation of man in terms of the most common of social realities and by making
use of the speech and the imagery of plain everyday life. Willingly obeying the
laws of his country, He sanctified those human ties, especially family ones,
which are the source of social structures. He chose to lead the life proper to
an artisan of His time and place.
In His preaching He clearly taught the sons of God to treat one another as
brothers. In His prayers He pleaded that all His disciples might be "one."
Indeed as the redeemer of all, He offered Himself for all even to point of
death. "Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his
friends" (John 15:13). He commanded His Apostles to preach to all peoples the
Gospel's message that the human race was to become the Family of God, in which
the fullness of the Law would be love.
As the firstborn of many brethren and by the giving of His Spirit, He founded
after His death and resurrection a new brotherly community composed of all those
who receive Him in faith and in love. This He did through His Body, which is the
Church. There everyone, as members one of the other, would render mutual service
according to the different gifts bestowed on each.
This solidarity must be constantly increased until that day on which it will be
brought to perfection. Then, saved by grace, men will offer flawless glory to
God as a family beloved of God and of Christ their Brother.
St. Dominic receives the rosary from the Blessed Virgin
Mary
according to a vision of St. Catherine of Siena
For further information on Lay Dominicans in Idaho, or
for information about becoming a Lay Dominican, please call John Keenan,
OPL at (208) 375-2532 or Mark Gross OPL at (208) 343-6894.
Or, you may contact John by email at john@keenan.org,
or Mark at mwgross@integrity.com
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