CSDC 579

Christian hope lends great energy to commitment in the social field, because it generates confidence in the possibility of building a better world, even if there will never exist “a paradise of earth”¹²¹⁵ John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 53 (1961) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1961), 541.. Christians, particularly the laity, are urged to act in such a way that “the power of the Gospel might shine forth in their daily social and family life. They conduct themselves as children of the promise and thus strong in faith and hope they make the most of the present (cf. Eph 5:16; Col 4:5), and with patience await the glory that is to come (cf. Rom 8:25). Let them not, then, hide this hope in the depths of their hearts, but let them express it by a continual conversion and by wrestling ‘against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness' (Eph 6:12)”¹²¹⁶ Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 35: AAS 57AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 57 (1965) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1965), 40.. The religious motivation behind such a commitment may not be shared by all, but the moral convictions that arise from it represent a point of encounter between Christians and all people of good will.