The Evangelical Pope | We are All Brothers and Sisters

Guadalajara Cathedral

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.

               ¹⁶ Rejoice always,
               ¹⁷ pray continually,
               ¹⁸ Give thanks in all circumstances; this is God’s will for you …

               __ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (New International Version)

Guadalajara, 30 January 1979 | It is not enough for Christians to denounce injustices. They are asked to be authentic witnesses and promoters of justice. As Christians, you are called to be architects of justice, absolute freedom, and forgers of social charity. The modern technique creates a whole set of new problems and sometimes produces unemployment. But it also opens excellent possibilities that ask of the worker increasing qualifications, as well as the contribution of his human capacities and creative imagination.

For this reason, work must not be a mere necessity. It must be considered a genuine vocation, a call from God to build a new world in which justice and brotherhood dwell, a foretaste of the Kingdom of God in which there will certainly not be shortages or limitations.

Work must be the means so that the whole of creation will be subjected to the dignity of the human being and the son of God. Work offers the opportunity to commit oneself to the whole community without resentment, bitterness, or hatred, but with the universal love of Christ that excludes no one and embraces everyone.

Christ proclaimed to us the Gospel from which we know that God is love, the Father of all, and that we are all brothers and sisters.

The central mystery of our Christian life, the paschal mystery, makes us look to the New Heaven and the New Earth.

Excerpted from:

Apostolic Journey to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and the Bahamas, Meeting With Workers In Guadalajara, Address Of His Holiness John Paul II, Tuesday, 30 January 1979.

https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1979/january/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19790130_messico-guadalajara-operai.html