Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale308

to Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that contradict the right to

life of every human being from conception to natural death? Any tendency to

treat religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when their faith

permeates every aspect of their lives do Christians become truly open to the

transforming power of the Gospel.

For an affluent society, a further obstacle to an encounter with the living

God lies in the subtle influence of materialism, which can all too easily focus

the attention on the hundredfold, which God promises now in this time, at

the expense of the eternal life which he promises in the age to come.4 People

today need to be reminded of the ultimate purpose of their lives. They need

to recognize that implanted within them is a deep thirst for God. They need

to be given opportunities to drink from the wells of his infinite love. It is easy

to be entranced by the almost unlimited possibilities that science and tech-

nology place before us; it is easy to make the mistake of thinking we can

obtain by our own efforts the fulfillment of our deepest needs. This is an

illusion. Without God, who alone bestows upon us what we by ourselves

cannot attain,5 our lives are ultimately empty. People need to be constantly

reminded to cultivate a relationship with him who came that we might have

life in abundance.6 The goal of all our pastoral and catechetical work, the

object of our preaching, and the focus of our sacramental ministry should be

to help people establish and nurture that living relationship with ''Christ

Jesus, our hope''.7

In a society which values personal freedom and autonomy, it is easy to

lose sight of our dependence on others as well as the responsibilities that we

bear towards them. This emphasis on individualism has even affected the

Church,8 giving rise to a form of piety which sometimes emphasizes our

private relationship with God at the expense of our calling to be members

of a redeemed community. Yet from the beginning, God saw that ''it is not

good for man to be alone''.9 We were created as social beings who find fulfill-

ment only in love - for God and for our neighbor. If we are truly to gaze

upon him who is the source of our joy, we need to do so as members of the

4 Cf. Mk 10:30. 5 Cf. Spe Salvi, 31. 6 Cf. Jn 10:10. 7 1 Tim 1:1. 8 Cf. Spe Salvi, 13-15. 9 Gen 2:18.