Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/236

to him alone, and also that which belongs to him in common with the rest of men.

This responsibility which man shares in common with others is what is called solidarity; and it is one of the most beautiful and sublime revelations of Catholic dogma. Through solidarity man rises to a higher dignity and more elevated sphere, and becomes something more than an atom in space and a moment in time. Through this law he already lives before he is born, and through it he outlives himself, and his life is prolonged throughout the duration of time, and expanded throughout the limits of space. It is this dogma which affirms, and which has up to a certain point created humanity. This word, which in the societies of antiquity had no meaning, expresses in a Christian era the substantial unity of the human race, and the close relationship which all men bear toward each other.

From which we see that the dogma of solidarity not only confers nobility upon man, but also dignity upon human nature. This is not the case with regard to the communist theory of solidarity, of which we shall presently speak. According to this theory, the solidarity of humanity does not mean the vast association of men who are united because they have but one and the same nature, but it means that humanity is a living and organic unity which absorbs all men, who in place of constituting it are only its instruments.

According to the Catholic dogma, the individuals are exalted to the same dignity as the species. Catholicism holds an equal and sublime level, without inclining to any undue elevation or depression. It does not ennoble human nature in order to humiliate man, but it desires that both man and humanity may be raised to divine