CCC 523 St. John the Baptist is the Lord’s immediate precursor or forerunner, sent to prepare his way.1 “Prophet of the Most High”, John surpasses all the prophets, of whom he is the last.2 He inaugurates the Gospel, already from his mother’s womb welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being “the friend of the bridegroom”, whom he points out as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”.3 Going before Jesus “in the spirit and power of Elijah”, John bears witness to Christ in his preaching, by his Baptism of conversion, and through his martyrdom.4
CCC 952 “They had everything in common.”5 “Everything the true Christian has is to be regarded as a good possessed in common with everyone else. All Christians should be ready and eager to come to the help of the needy. .. and of their neighbors in want.”6 A Christian is a steward of the Lord’s goods.7
CCC 2382 The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble.8 He abrogates the accommodations that had slipped into the old Law.9
Between the baptized, “a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power or for any reason other than death.”10
CCC 2424 A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable. The disordered desire for money cannot but produce perverse effects. It is one of the causes of the many conflicts which disturb the social order.11
A system that “subordinates the basic rights of individuals and of groups to the collective organization of production” is contrary to human dignity.12 Every practice that reduces persons to nothing more than a means of profit enslaves man, leads to idolizing money, and contributes to the spread of atheism. “You cannot serve God and mammon.”13
1 Cf. Acts 13:24; Mt 3:3.
2 Lk 1:76; cf. 7:26; Mt 11:13.
3 Jn 1 29; cf. Acts 1:22; Lk 1:41; 16:16; Jn 3:29.
4 Lk 1:17; cf. Mk 6:17-29.
5 Acts 4:32.
6 Roman Catechism 1, 10, 27.
7 Cf. Lk 16:1, 3.
8 Cf. Mt 5:31-32; 19:3-9; Mk 10 9; Lk 16:18; 1 Cor 7:10-ll.
9 Cf. Mt 19:7-9.
10 CIC, can. 1141.
11 Cf. GS 63 # 3; LE 7; 20; CA 35.
12 GS 65 # 2.
13 Mt 6:24; Lk 16:13.