“Every authentic religious experience, in all cultural traditions, leads to an intuition of the Mystery that, not infrequently, is able to recognize some aspect of God’s face.”
“Against the background of universal religious experience, in which humanity shares in different ways, God’s progressive revelation of himself to the people of Israel stands out. This revelation responds to the human quest for the divine in an unexpected and surprising way, thanks to the historical manner –– striking and penetrating –– in which God’s love for man is made concrete.
22.
“The gratuitousness of this historically efficacious divine action is constantly accompanied by the commitment to the covenant, proposed by God and accepted by Israel.”
“The Ten Commandments, which constitute an extraordinary path of life and indicate the surest way for living in freedom from slavery to sin, contain a privileged expression of the natural law.”
“There comes from the Decalogue a commitment that concerns not only fidelity to the one true God, but also the social relations among the people of the Covenant.”
24.
“Among the many norms which tend to give concrete expression to the style of gratuitousness and sharing in justice which God inspires, the law of the sabbatical year . . . and that of the jubilee year . . . stand out as important guidelines –– unfortunately never fully put into effect historically –– for the social and economic life of the people of Israel.”
“This legislation is designed to ensure that the salvific event of the Exoduc and fidelity to the Covenant represents not only the founding principle of Israel’s social, political and economic life, but also the principle for dealing with questions concerning economic poverty and social injustices.”
25.
“The precepts of the sabbatical and jubilee years constitute a kind of social doctrine in miniature.”
“These principles become the focus of the Prophets’ preaching, which seeks to internalize them.”
THE PRINCIPLE OF CREATION AND GOD'S GRATUITOUS ACTION
26.
“The reflection of the Prophets and that found in the Wisdom Literature, in coming to the formulation of the principle that all things were created by God, touch on the first manifestation and the source of God’s plan for the whole of humanity.”
27.
“It is in the free action of God the Creator that we find the very meaning of creation, even if it has been distorted by the experience of sin.”
