Joseph Cardinal Höffner CHRISTIAN SOCIAL ... - Ordo Socialis

human sociality.“ 3 In the prayer of Christ to the Father also, „that all my be one...as we are
one“(Jn 17-22), there shines forth a „certain likeness between the union of the divine Persons,
and... the union of God’s sons in truth and charity“ (Gaudium et spes, 24). Thomas Aquinas
referred to the fact that man’s likeness to the trinitarian God shines forth in a particular way in
language (as the representation of the Logos) and in love (as the representation of the Holy
Spirit). In irrational creation there is only a „trace“ (vestigium) of the Trinity; in man, however,
there is an image (imago): „In rational creatures, possessing intellect and will, there is
found the representation of the Trinity by way of image, since there is found in them the word
conceived, and the love proceeding“ 4 .
§ 3 The Community-Building Powers of Man
1. Three powers that instinctually push man to sociality - the sex instinct, the imitative instinct,
the strong desire for recognition, the fighting instinct, the play instinct, and so on - do
not suffice for the formation of lasting social bonds and institutions, even if, in association
with spiritual powers, they do have their importance. Nor do mere disputation and criticism
bind together in the long run. Rather, two spiritual powers are especially effective in community-building:
the readiness to imitate and to love. The readiness to imitate, as, for example, it
determines the relationship of children to parents and of pupils to teacher, does not flee behind
the responsibility of another, but is a personal decision. It presupposes a bond in terms of
one’s convictions and is frequently united with love. It is not a question here of that ‘love’
which egoistically abuses the other person and treats him or her like a consumer good, but of
love as the esteem that takes effect in the willingness to sacrifice for one’s neighbor and for
the community.
2. Through the spiritual bond among themselves, people are capable of practicing social virtues
(love of neighbor, fidelity, truthfulness, justice, obedience) and of building up cultural
domains that an individual could not create of himself or herself (art, science, economy, and
so on): „Here we see...entitative and moral values that lie absolutely beyond the reach of separate
individuals, which even God’s creative power could only confer on social beings and
make accessible to them.“ 5
3. The pre-eminent mediator of spiritual exchange is language through which we, in the society
united by the same mother tongue, take part in the „process of wording the world.“ 6 language
creates community, especially when people not only speak about something, but express
themselves in words (the „I do“ in matrimony, the „adsum“ of priestly ordination). Of
people bound together in love we say: they understand each other, they speak the same language.
Holy Scripture reports that the original community of men was destroyed through the
confusion of tongues at Babel (Gen. 11:1-9) and that the community of those redeemed by
Christ found new expression in the linguistic miracle of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11).
The astounding development of the modern means of communication has led to the fact that,
today especially, the importance of the ‘word’ and of the ‘image’ for the formation of public
opinion can hardly be overestimated. The influence of a few thousand opinionmakers in the
key positions of the press, radio, and television is in many respects greater than the power of
parliaments - but, unfortunately, it is often undermining and irresponsible. Joachim Besser
3
H. de Lubac, Catholicisme. Aspects sociaux du dogme, cited in G Thils, Theologie et Réalité sociale. (Paris:
Tournai 1952) 259.
4
Thomas Aquinas S. Th. I 45,7
5
O. v. Nell-Breuning, Wörterbuch der Politik, (Freiburg i.Br. 1947), I: 44.
6
J. Leo Weisgerber, Die Grenzen der Schrift (Cologne-Opladen 1955), 10.
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