Meditation given on the feast of the Sacred Heart, Catholic University, June 3, 1943

My dear students:

When treating this topic one experiences a certain apprehension, an instinctive distrust; one trembles, not for fear of criticism from one side or the other, because whatever one might say, criticism cannot be escaped. No, the fear arises from the fact that having the mission to teach, one may fail to have the courage to say all the truth, something very difficult to do at times. Or, on the other hand, to fail to know how to maintain a just balance, the mean where virtue is found. But despite these dangers, I have decided to accept this topic for three reasons:

1. First, because it seems to me to be very adequate for this retreat in preparation for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the feast of love. Moreover, the fact that the social obligation of the university student is nothing else but the concrete application of the teachings of Christ regarding the dignity of the human person and the new commandment, his characteristic commandment of love, to your life as a student today, and to your professional future tomorrow.

2. Secondly, because the Popes have ardently urged us as priests to present this topic clearly and without hesitation.

3. A third and final reason flows from the fact of your being university students: to be silent with regard to this before any audience would be serious but to do so before you would be very grave, even criminal since you are the builders of this new society, you will be the intellectual leaders of this nation. The professions that form the structure of national life will be no better than you will be; their future depends on you; in great part, you will work consistent with the perception you have regarding these problems and your social conduct will, in large part, be conditioned by your social formation.

And now without further preamble, I want to get to the heart of the topic. The first problem is without doubt that of the interior life, for from here and only from here must come the solution, the strength, the necessary dynamism to confront the great sacrifices, for the world cannot be returned to Christ by crusades that solely carry the cross emblazoned on their shields. The demands of our interior life far from escaping involvement, urge us rather to have a keen social conscience founded precisely on the same principles upon which we base that life. Were we to content ourselves simply with fidelity to practices, serenity of soul, a merely interior orderliness, rather than involve ourselves in the common good; or if we were to profess loudly our belief in a religion that places the virtues of justice and charity at the summit of its moral order yet did not continually question ourselves with regard to the demands these virtues make in the day to day rough and tumble of our own social lives, then there would be little possibility of reaching true integrity as Christians.

A Catholic more than anyone, must be a friend of order, but order is not immovability imposed from without but an interior balance that is realized by the fulfillment of justice and charity. An apparent tranquility attained through the pressure of insuperable forces is not enough; it is essential that each one take the place that belongs to him, in accord with human nature; that he participate in the work but also in the satisfaction as is proper among brothers, sons of the same Father. A Catholic rejects the immovability in disorder as well as the disorder in movement because both destroy the interior balance of justice and charity.

A person who desires to be faithful in the fullest sense of the word is a perpetual non-conformist who feeds his hunger and thirst for justice in the words of Christ and who searches for ways to satisfy these devouring passions in the teachings of the Church, which is nothing else but the prolongation of Christ living among us.

The Pontifical documentation concerning Social Action is immense. In the light of these teachings we can march forward with confidence. His Holiness Pius XI commented sadly that the Catholics of the entire world were generally well instructed in regard to their individual obligations but ignorant as regards their social obligations. Let us at least not remain deaf to the voice of our Pontiffs so clearly expressed with regard to the social issues.

With regard to the motives urging social action and prior to anything else, there is urgent necessity for the mobilization of all our assets in search of a social solution to a whole set of the gravest of human needs that are at stake. It has to do with nothing less than the survival of our brothers. Let us remind ourselves about infant mortality, about the vagrants without a roof to call home who wander through the parks, curl up in the doorways of homes in winter… these are our brothers! about the malnutrition that affects our whole race; about the alcoholism that ruins so many homes, materially and morally; about the social diseases; about the lack of education; about broken homes; about the need for a place to stay; about the cold! This is only a rapid survey of a world of problems whose magnitud disturbs and confuses us and whose importance is transcendental for innumerable brothers of ours.

The present social order does not correspond to the plan of Providence. The religious dimension of life in each one of the social sectors is made difficult at present because of the problem of excess or in most cases, the insufficiency or dearth of the necessary means for life. When He created us, God desired that we sanctify ourselves. This is the motive that explains the creation: God desired to have saints in the world; to have children who would manifest the splendors of His grace. Now then, what hope is there if sanctifying oneself in the present milieu if a profound social reform does not take place?

It might be convenient here to suggest the first practical conclusion for a Catholic university student. Each must come to know the general social problem, the social doctrines that the world debates but above all the social doctrine of the Church. One should get to know the Chilean reality and be especially concerned about studying one’s career in terms of the social problems proper to your profession. There should be specialized social study circles for each career in order to achieve the ideal of Pope Pius XII, the significant element of the new order: to elevate and promote the dignity of the proletariat. The study of our social doctrine should awaken in us, a deep social sense and a non-conformist attitude toward evil, what Jules Simon has admirably called a sense of outrage.