The Final Word
Man stands before the abyss of being or non-being. And he cannot dominate this abyss by his own powers: he needs help from above. This is a divine-human matter. And if in our time the very existence of man is threatened, if man is being torn apart, this is just because he has depended only on himself and his own powers. Man is passing through what is perhaps the most dangerous period of his whole existence. But I do not think that man’s fate is quite hopeless. This hopelessness is only here, not in the beyond. For we believe that the world’s history will not go on endlessly, that the world and history will end. But this means that we do not believe in the possibility of a final solution in this world, on this earth, in this our time. … But this should not hinder man’s creative action, and his realization of justice here and now, for man’s creative acts will affect the end itself. The end is a Divine-human matter. And the final word, which belongs to God, will include a word of man, as well. (CE, 324)