Catholic Social Teaching: The Common Good

Then the Lord asked Cain, Where is your brother Abel? He answered, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

-Genesis 4:9

Suppose God asked this question of us. What would our response be? Perhaps we try to dodge it-this doesn’t pertain to us; we didn’t kill anyone, as Cain did. Maybe we come at it literally, thinking of our blood relatives and how good we are to them. Or maybe we assess our daily routines, taking a careful look at the many faces we pass. Are these our brothers, our sisters? Am I responsible for them?

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

-Luke 10:29

We know how this story goes-a priest, a Levite and a Samaritan pass by a wounded man on the road, and only the latter stops to help him. They weren’t family; they weren’t friends; they weren’t even of the same community. But they shared a common humanity, so the Samaritan stopped to give of himself.

“Am I really my brother’s keeper? Yes, you are your brother’s keeper! To be human means to care for one another!”  This is what Pope Francis said in his Vigil for Peace homily on September 7, 2013.

So, how do we lift up the needs of those around us? Who do we stop for on the long and winding road of life? How do we build up a society where no one slips through the cracks? How do we promote and protect the common good of all?