Monday 16 December 2013

Reflection on the End of the Two Societies



Since God is the Author of nature and of grace, it follows that the temporal and spiritual spheres must run swiftly to His side, proclaiming His rights and our obedience to His moral law.

''Although the civil authority has not the same proximate end as the spiritual, nor proceeds on the same lines, nevertheless in the exercise of their separate powers they must occasionally meet. For their subjects are the same, and not infrequently they deal with the same objects, though in different ways. Whenever this occurs, since a state of conflict is absurd and manifestly repugnant to the most wise ordinance of God, there must necessarily exist some order or mode of procedure to remove the occasions of difference and contention, and to secure harmony in all things. This harmony has been not inaptly compared to that which exists between the body and the soul for the well-being of both one and the other, the separation of which brings irremediable harm to the body, since it extinguishes its very life.'' - Libertas, Pope Leo XIII.

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