Human beings are social by nature. We cannot survive without others and
can only grow and achieve our potential in relationship with others. We
are made in the likeness of a Trinitarian God – a community of persons
in perfect relationship.
God is community and makes community. It follows that our salvation is
bound up with that of each other.
Solidarity can also be understood as a firm and persevering determination
to commit oneself to the common good.
Pope John Paul II frequently stressed
the virtue of solidarity:
“Solidarity helps us to see the ‘other’ -
whether a person, people, or nation - not just as some kind of
instrument, with a work capacity and physical strength to be exploited
at low cost
and then discarded when no longer useful, but as our neighbour,
a helper (cf Gn 2:18-20), to be a sharer, on a par with ourselves, in
the banquet
of life to which all are equally invited by God.”
John Paul II, Sollicitudo
Rei Socialis, n 39
