The Evangelical Pope | In Prayer It's Not Us Versus Them, It's We …

Each week we let Saint Pope John Paul II share meaningful signposts to spark socio-economic resolves through justice and righteousness combined with mercy and compassion; in short, love.

               ⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion …

               __ Philippians 1: 6 (New International Version)

The Vatican, 29 October 1991 | Today we live in a world that implores prayer, seeking the closeness of God.

               Instead of counting on innovations to upstage previous achievements, we should seek to heal the old. To change humanity is to restorepeople from their mistakes.

               We must redesign human society and bring those abandoned back into it, ordering and protecting their lives by all means.

               Today it takes a lot of courage to take these indispensable small steps of healing and fulfill the existential tasks to facilitate the actual renewal of man and our world.

And it takes courage to feel personally called and empowered by God's grace and start on the narrow path in life.

If we cannot achieve great things for all of humanity, then we must by no means abandon those closest to us, even if only one. We should start where there is room for something new. ¹

 
Vienna, 11 September 1983 | Following the Way of the Prodigal Son?

 
Humankind has received the gift of freedom from the Creator. Free will enables the human being to have that unique form of love, the human one, which is not merely the result of a natural attraction but also a free act of the heart. Freedom enables humanity, as the supreme act of human dignity, to love and worship God. But liberty has its price.

Everyone free should ask themselves whether they have preserved their human dignity when exercising free will. After all, freedom is not arbitrary. People should not do everything they can or want to do. There is no freedom without bondage. People are responsible for themselves, for their fellow human beings, and the world. They are accountable to God.

A society that sabotages responsibility, law, and conscience shakes the foundations of human life. Without commitment, the person will plunge into this life's enjoyment and, like the prodigal son, will become dependent, lose his home and freedom.

Then, in reckless selfishness, he begins to abuse his fellow human beings or in insatiability to acquire material goods. If the attachment to the latter values ​​is not recognized, marriage and family cease to exist, and the lives of especially the unborn, the old, and the sick person are neglected. In place of worshipping God comes the worship of money, prestige, or power.
 
Isn't the whole history of humankind also a history of abused freedom? Do not many - even in our day - follow the way of the prodigal son? ²
 
1 Excerpted from:

ANSPRACHE VON JOHANNES PAUL II. 
AN DIE PILGER, DIE ZUR SELIGSPRECHUNG 
VON ADOLPH KOLPING NACH ROM GEKOMMEN SIND 

Audienzenhalle - Dienstag, 29. Oktober 1991 

http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/de/speeches/1991/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19911027_pellegrini-kolping.html

2 Excerpted from:

PASTORALBESUCH IN ÖSTERREICH 

EUCHARISTIEFEIER ZUM ABSCHLUSS DES KATHOLIKENTAGES PREDIGT VON JOHANNES PAUL II.

Donaupark - Wien, Sonntag, 11. September 1983 

http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/de/homilies/1983/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19830911_chiusura-katholikentag.html