Let Us Defend the Common Good

By Marta

LEAP OF FAITH
http://www.faithleap.org

    If we gather 20 people and set them in an island by themselves to establish a new society, the group will have to create rules to follow, for the common good.  As the group grows larger, laws will need to be enacted to regulate the behavior and guide the lives of the members for the common good.
    Every individual has rights within the community. The rights of one cannot disrupt the right of another. The laws are to be respected and obey so that peace can be preserved for the common good. It is taken for given that life will be respected and defended, especially of the defenseless: the children, the senior citizens, the widows and the unborn. Alive human beings are the greatest resource a society can have. No one has the right to take someone else's life except in self-defense.
    We as a citizen of this nation have the responsibility to defend the common good. We vote in the politicians and we have the power to change the laws by the way we vote.

I cannot tell you who to vote for, but vote for the best candidate among all.

My suggestion and personal opinion is:

1. Pray every day for the candidates.

2. Study what each candidate has to offer.

3. Fast once a month for the coming president.

4. Vote Pro-Life- The last I heard there are one million abortions in America each year.- The blood shed needs to stop. - The only way to do it, is to vote for politicians who would defend human life from conception to natural death.

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

Let us vote PRO-LIFE - Let us defend the unborn's right to life or we are partly responsible for their death by not doing the best we can to stop abortions in America.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church talks about the common good as follows:

What Is The Common Good?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church

II. THE COMMON GOOD

1905 In keeping with the social nature of man, the good of each individual is necessarily related to the common good, which in turn can be defined only in reference to the human person:

Do not live entirely isolated, having retreated into yourselves, as if you were already justified, but gather instead to seek the common good together.₂₅

1906 By common good is to be understood "the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily."₂₆ The common good concerns the life of all. It calls for prudence from each, and even more from those who exercise the office of authority. It consists of three essential elements:

1907 First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as "the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion."₂₇

1908 Second, the common good requires the social well-being and development of the group itself. Development is the epitome of all social duties. Certainly, it is the proper function of authority to arbitrate, in the name of the common good, between various particular interests; but it should make accessible to each what is needed to lead a truly human life: food, clothing, health, work, education and culture, suitable information, the right to establish a family, and so on.₂₈

1909 Finally, the common good requires peace, that is, the stability and security of a just order. It presupposes that authority should ensure by morally acceptable means the security of society and its members. It is the basis of the right to legitimate personal and collective defense.

1910 Each human community possesses a common good which permits it to be recognized as such; it is in the political community that its most complete realization is found. It is the role of the state to defend and promote the common good of civil society, its citizens, and intermediate bodies.

1911 Human interdependence is increasing and gradually spreading throughout the world. The unity of the human family, embracing people who enjoy equal natural dignity, implies a universal common good. This good calls for an organization of the community of nations able to "provide for the different needs of men; this will involve the sphere of social life to which belong questions of food, hygiene, education, . . . and certain situations arising here and there, as for example . . . alleviating the miseries of refugees dispersed throughout the world, and assisting migrants and their families."₂₉

1912 The common good is always oriented towards the progress of persons: "The order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons, and not the other way around."₃₀ This order is founded on truth, built up in justice, and animated by love.

Footnotes from CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
25 Ep. Barnabae, 4,10:PG 2,734.
26 GS 26 § 1; cf. GS 74 § 1.
27 GS 26 § 2.
28 Cf. GS 26 § 2.
29 GS 84 § 2.
30 GS 26 § 3.

Prayer focuses on the greatest power on earth- God almighty.
Prayer can change things.
Pray before acting and your actions will always be lead in the right direction.
Marta
LEAP OF FAITH