The Father William Most Collection Almsgiving and Superfluous
Goods Vatican II (Church in the Modern World §69) added a
footnote, quoting a message of John XXIII (AAS 54. 82): "The
obligation of every man, the urgent obligation of the Christian
man is to reckon what is superfluous by the measure of the needs
of others... ." The Constitution itself in §69, to which the
note is attached, had said that God destined the goods of the
world for the benefit of all: "Wherefore man, in using those
goods, should consider those exterior goods that he possesses
not only as proper to himself also as common in the sense that
they can be beneficial not only to him, but also to others. For
the rest, the right of possessing that part of the goods that is
sufficient for himself and his family belongs to all. So the
Fathers and Doctors of the Church felt, in teaching that men are
obliged to aid the poor, and indeed, not only out of merely
superfluous goods." We recall John XXIII said one should "reckon
what is superfluous by th