Cardinal Wyszyński about the SOCIAL THOUGHT of the Church

photo: Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski Institute

Pearls and Aphorisms of Blessed Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński about the SOCIAL THOUGHT of the Church.

Social Teaching

The Social Thought of the Church

160. Christianity establishes a new assessment of values in the modern world. The criteria for this evaluation are non-economic. Christianity does not judge a person by “how much you have” but by “who you are,” “what you are.” Whether you are human or perhaps no longer… It is a great service for socio-economic life.[i]
161. The most important and urgent task today is the defense of human dignity. Let us remember that to defend this dignity, the God-man descended from heaven for us humans and for our salvation. Contemporary man has such great dignity[ii].
162. A person’s dignity does not depend on the work he or she does, the degrees he or she may have, what they have learned, the position they hold. It is the result of the awareness that the human person is God’s dwelling place, that God lives in him, that his body is consecrated to God, that each of us is to carry and worship God in our body.[iii]
163. God respects man’s freedom of will to the point of sin. Man is so free that he can resist God. God’s will is all-powerful and ours is very weak. We often easily become aware of this.[iv]
164. There will be true freedom when man, his reason, his will, and his heart are needed by the nation, the state, and not the other way around. [v]
165. It is not enough to have freedom; you must be able to use it. It is not enough to have reason; you have to know how to use it. It is not enough to have a will; it must be strengthened. It is not enough to have a heart; it must be expanded and renewed.[vi]
166. Man is his own most powerful self-ruler; man can become his own greatest slave, and man can give himself full freedom. That is why a prisoner arrested and locked behind bars can be free, and a man who rides through the wilderness of life, from which he generously draws, can be a slave. Now, in fact, that is very often the case.[vii]
167. We have said: morality, religion is a private thing. That is not true! It is the most public thing. And if in private life a man fails, then there, in public, he will be a sadist, he will be an embezzler, and will only go with those who are afraid and fearful and about whom we say: as from windstorms, hunger, fire, and war, save us, Lord, from such a State.[viii]
168. Today’s man, in his struggle for bread, peace, and social justice, may sometimes have the impression that we must first deal with Christ, with His Cross and the Gospel, and only then will justice come to the world. One often hears that there must be a struggle with God if the class struggle and the struggle among people is at last to cease. Some fight against God in order to bring justice. All know the results of that battle. More and more fighting, and less and less bread.[ix]
169. A man has the right to work because he also has the obligation to work. Since he must fulfill this obligation, the state that organizes the socio-economic and cultural life must create the possibility for people to work.[x]
170. Work is an honorable calling from God to cooperate in the implementation of the divine plan. It is not a punishment, but it is trust that is shown to a person. It is not only intended to preserve human life but to satisfy all our needs.[xi]
171. Through work, man becomes God’s friend (…). Working for the love of God is man’s participation not only in the work of creation but also in our redemption. For in every kind of work, we experience toil and a burden that we can give to God as a measure of our reparation for human faults.[xii]
172. Our work serves our needs and those of our neighbors. Just think about it! Whatever you take in your hand, know that human labor is hidden in everything. A piece of bread is produced by the work of a farmer, reapers, threshers, millers, and bakers. How many people have worked on the spoon you take to your mouth! What great multitudes of people have touched the book you are reading! Millions of people work for you. Does this not require us to reciprocate?[xiii]
173. All are looking for ways to overcome the crisis of which we accuse our young people. We can ask ourselves: Is this a youth crisis or a family crisis. Or perhaps a crisis of the State or some kind of social paresis. And we are so easily blaming the young! An honest examination of conscience is necessary in order to avoid assigning one’s faults to those who are not yet aware of the burden and tasks in life.[xiv]
174. we are supposed to count how many billions we owe, but if we were to find an answer today to the question of how many have been stolen, wasted, destroyed by dishonesty, which has become a popular way of doing things with its own civil law. The guilt of individuals passes to society. How often do we justify ourselves by saying that a man wants to save himself, that he has a family, and so on? So many excuses that even the one justifying himself does not believe. This is the source of great misfortune in the country, of the decay of domestic and economic life.[xv]
175. Our victory over the world is gained by our faith and love, our patient work and calm persuasion: Brothers, do not take that path! Not through hatred and anger, not through a class or a professional struggle, because it can lead to tensions from which there is no way out, that you fear yourself. You have to look for another way.[xvi]
176. The human problem resides in the fact that salvation is sought in places from which it cannot come. How often do people insure their lives with material goods, burden themselves with the cares of each day, with the effort of work, sometimes going beyond all their abilities? It seems that they no longer catch their breath, they are driven so hard, busy, and concerned, filled with all kinds of fears, anxieties, and predictions that make up the entire social, economic, and political life. Sometimes this anxiety is shifted to the matters of God and the matters of the Church, where there are also great concerns, while we need only one thing: an ever more growing and stronger relationship with Christ, our Savior, Lord, and Brother.[xvii]
177. Although it seems that material life has nothing to do with spiritual life, that the life of the Church should have absolutely nothing to do with the life of a nation or a State, look, my children, what the modern State looks like without God. And humankind, a nation, and a State without the Gospel, without Christ’s spirit, without God’s teaching absolutely cannot cope! They produce “paralytic” personalities, “paralytic” families, “paralytic” nations, “paralytic” States. What’s more, life gets so twisted that you really do not know anymore what is going on.[xviii]
178. If the Good Lord embraces all nations with His love, we must follow Him in this. For, God is recognized through love. God knows what it means to love.[xix]
179. We know that the world is full of legal codes and that the number of rights is increasing. Yet, there is no peace! Christ’s Church works to extend and deepen God’s peace by applying the law in a spirit of love.[xx]

 

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[i] A Desire for New Times, New Matters and Things. On the 80^th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum (from a sermon to the faithful of the Archdiocese of Wrocław), Wrocław, cathedral, 11 May 1971. KP 37, 54; Come on, 148.

[ii] Te Deum in the City of Copernicus (from the millennium sermon), Frombork, 19 June 1966. KP 24, 99-100.

[iii] Honor to the Mother of God in Royal Gniezno (from a sermon for the feast of Our Lady of Candlemas), Gniezno, Primate’s basilica, 2 February 1977. KP 57, 87.

[iv] Ojcze, 63.

[v] The Natural and the Supernatural Community (from a speech at the 2^nd conference to students), Warsaw, St. Anne’s academic church, 18 February 1957. KP 2, 75.

[vi] Through Water and Blood to the Millennium of Poland’s Baptism (from the sermon for the feast of Saint Adalbert), Gniezno, Primate’s basilica, 28 April 1957. Wielka, 83.

[vii] To Men with Great Desires (from conferences to educators), Warsaw, Saint Joseph’s Seminary Church, 18 March 1961. Ibid., 113.

[viii] From a sermon in Laski, 20 August 1955. Typescript.

[ix] New Life for the Old World – in Mary’s Arms (from a sermon for the feast of Our Lady of Candlemas), Gniezno, Primate’s basilica, 2 February 1965. KP 19, 253.

[x] The Duty and Right of Man’s Work (from a conference during a Retreat Day at the Primate’s Institute), Warszawa-Choszczówka, 1 May 1971. KP 37, 9.

[xi] Duch, 30.

[xii] Duch, 72, 75.

[xiii] Wypełniamy, 110.

[xiv] The Pope’s Voice to the Poles <Be profoundly Poles and Catholics> (from a sermon to the faithful of the capital after the return of a special delegation of the bishops of the Western and Northern Territories), Warsaw, Saint John’s Cathedral Basilica, 21 January 1973. KP 42, 55.

[xv] Freeing Modern Slaves (from a speech to the opening of the annual congregation of deans of the Archdiocese of Warsaw), Warsaw, Cathedral Basilica of Saint John, 24 September 1980. Church, 70.

[xvi] In Response to Name Day Wishes for the Clergy, Warsaw, Archbishop’s House, 2 August 1975. KP 51, 23.

[xvii] On a New Style of Love … (from the homily during the Primate’s Retreat Day), Warsaw-Choszczówka, 23 January 1977. KP 57, 55.

[xviii] That you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth! … (from a sermon during the 150^th anniversary of the diocese of Sandomierz and at the end of Marian days), Radom, 6 May 1968. KP 30, 19.

[xix] From a sermon in Laski during the All-Saints’ Day celebration on 1 November 1943. Typescript.

[xx] From the speech at the opening of the Second Synod of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, Warsaw, Cathedral Basilica of Saint John, 2 July 1962. KP 11, 231.