All that has been said thus far enables us to understand in the light of God’s word the proper meaning of the “reparation” to the heart of Christ that the Lord expects us, with the help of his grace, to “offer”. The question has been much discussed, but Saint John Paul II has given us a clear response that can guide Christians today towards a spirit of reparation more closely attuned to the Gospels. The social significance of reparation to the heart of Christ
Saint John Paul explained that by entrusting ourselves together to the heart of Christ, “over the ruins accumulated by hatred and violence, the greatly desired civilization of love, the Kingdom of the heart of Christ, can be built”. This clearly requires that we “unite filial love for God and love of neighbour”, and indeed this is “the true reparation asked by the heart of the Saviour”. 192Letter to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Paray-le-Monial, 5 October 1986: L’Osservatore Romano, 6 October 1986, p. 7. In union with Christ, amid the ruins we have left in this world by our sins, we are called to build a new civilization of love. That is what it means to make reparation as the heart of Christ would have us do. Amid the devastation wrought by evil, the heart of Christ desires that we cooperate with him in restoring goodness and beauty to our world.
All sin harms the Church and society; as a result, “every sin can undoubtedly be considered as a social sin” and this is especially true for those sins that “by their very matter constitute a direct attack on one’s neighbour”. 193SAINT JOHN PAUL II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (2 December 1984), 16: AAS 77 (1985), 215. Saint John Paul II explained that the repetition of these sins against others often consolidates a “structure of sin” that has an effect on the development of peoples. 194Cf. Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (30 December 1987), 36: AAS 80 (1988), 561-562. Frequently, this is part of a dominant mind-set that considers normal or reasonable what is merely selfishness and indifference. This then gives rise to social alienation: “A society is alienated if its forms of social organization, production and consumption make it more difficult to offer the gift of self and to establish solidarity between people”. 195Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus (1 May 1991), 41: AAS 83 (1991), 844-845. It is not only a moral norm that leads us to expose and resist these alienated social structures and to support efforts within society to restore and consolidate the common good. Rather, it is our “conversion of heart” that “imposes the obligation” 196Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1888. to repair these structures. It is our response to the love of the heart of Jesus, which teaches us to love in turn.