…the fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature. Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility which he exercises in the face of good or evil. Man is thus reduced to a series of social relationships, and the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decision disappears, the very subject whose decisions build the social order. From this mistaken conception of the person there arise both a distortion of law, which defines the sphere of the exercise of freedom, and an opposition to private property. A person who is deprived of something he can call “his own”, and of the possibility of earning a living through his own initiative, comes to depend on the social machine and on those who control it. This makes it much more difficult for him to recognize his dignity as a person, and hinders progress towards the building up of an authentic human community.
In contrast, from the Christian vision of the human person there necessarily follows a correct picture of society.
Pope St John Paul II / Centesimus Annus
There is nothing that man needs more than Divine Mercy — that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises man above his weakness to the infinite heights of the holiness of God.
In this place we become particularly aware of this. From here, in fact, went out the Message of Divine Mercy that Christ himself chose to pass on to our generation through Blessed Faustina.
And it is a message that is clear and understandable for everyone. Anyone can come here, look at this image of the merciful Jesus, His Heart radiating grace, and hear in the depths of his own soul what Blessed Faustina heard: “Fear nothing. I am with you always” (Diary, 586).
And if this person responds with a sincere heart: “Jesus, I trust in you,” he will find comfort in all his anxieties and fears. In this “dialogue of abandonment,” there is established between man and Christ a special bond that sets love free. And “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 Jn 4:18).
Pope Saint John Paul II
This second Sunday of Easter has matured in our spiritual consciousness as Divine Mercy Sunday. In the second reading of this liturgy, St. Peter praises God, who has given us, thanks to His mercy, a new birth. God’s mercy is a birthing process. It’s like a mother bringing forth a new baby. When Peter writes […]
Oh God who are rich in mercy, and who willed that blessed John Paul II should preside as pope over Your Universal Church, grant we pray that instructed by his teaching, that we my open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole redeemer of mankind, who lives and reigns for ever and ever, amen.
