What would happen if you played a game that had no rules in which everyone could make up his or her own rules?
Chapter 1
The Basis for Morality
Excerpt From: Rev. Peter V. Armenio. “Our Moral Life in Christ (College Edition).
Imagine an athlete who participates regularly in sporting events — a football player, for example. He and his teammates want to win every game, and their ultimate goal is to win a championship. To reach that goal requires that he and every other player on his team perform to the very best of their ability.
In order to perform at the highest level, each player must prepare himself well and do what is expected of him. He studies the team’s playbook in great detail, so that he knows every formation and what he is supposed to do on every single play. He goes out with his team and practices these plays many times until executing them becomes almost second nature. He works out regularly to build his strength and improve his endurance, so he will not tire as easily. He knows the rules of the game and strives to remain disciplined enough to avoid being penalized for breaking those rules. He and his teammates work at how to use time well, so that the clock does not run out at the end of the game while they are still behind in the score. He keeps his eyes always focused on the prize.
The life of a Christian is a lot like that — at least it ought to be. To live in this world the way Christ taught us takes preparation.
We need to study our “playbooks” — the Bible and the teachings of the Church — to learn what Jesus expects of us. If we want to become stronger, with the indispensable help of God’s grace, we must “work out” our faith regularly through prayer, the sacraments, growth in virtue, and service to others. To avoid being penalized, we need to learn the rules Christ asks us to live by, and we must discipline ourselves accordingly with self-control. With the indispensable help of God’s grace, we must use our time well and keep our eyes focused always on the ultimate prize — eternal life and happiness in Heaven.
Christ became man, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead so that we might enjoy eternal life with God. His sacrifice on our behalf saves us from the power of sin and death that is reflected in the perils that arise from using our God-given free will in making wrong moral choices and thereby acting sinfully. Rather than abandon us to our sinful tendencies, Christ invites us — every one of us — to share in his life, both in this world and the next.
To accept his invitation requires not only that we have faith, but also that we live according to that faith by using our free will to make good moral decisions. We must, in other words, live our moral life in Christ.
The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace . . .
Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly, and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do nothing.1 (CCC 2001)
FOR DISCUSSION
• What would happen if you played a game that had no rules in which everyone could make up his or her own rules?
• What does it mean to “share in the life of Christ”?
• Did Jesus indicate how his followers should live?
• Who is harmed if we do not always do our best and “follow the rules[…]”
INTRODUCTION
Morality refers to the standards by which we judge actions to be good or evil. Moral law refers to the standards of human behavior that were established by God and are taught by the Catholic Church.
In recent decades, there has been heated controversy over how to define certain standards of behavior for society as they relate to a number of disputed issues. Those who support a “woman’s right to abortion,” for example, have clashed frequently with those who believe the unborn child has a “right to life.” The strong tensions and lively discussions that result are indications that while most people agree in the existence of some kind of moral standards, there is broad disagreement as to what exactly those moral standards should be.
Those who form their consciences according to the teachings of Christ believe in an objective morality, one that is rooted in the fundamental dignity of the human person and the sacredness of human life. Those who have not received the same moral education and formation might hold to a subjective morality, one that can vary from situation to situation and from one personal opinion to another. This line of thinking is called moral relativism.
Besides exploring Catholic moral teaching and moral theology, this textbook aims to show not only how human reason leads us to affirm an objective moral law, but also how abiding by this law can help bring us true happiness and make us better human beings — helping us become, as St. Paul tells us, a new creation in Christ.2
This first chapter presents an overview of the basic principles of Christian morality and clarifies some common misconceptions. Understanding these principles is vitally important if we are to appreciate more completely the richness and depth of Catholic moral teaching.
WHAT THE MORAL LAW IS NOT
Moral law is not just about human sexuality. Mention the word “morality,” particularly in the context of Catholic moral teaching, and many people are likely to think first of issues pertaining to sexuality and marriage. More to the point, they are reminded of the “thou shalt nots” of human relationships, as though moral law represents a severe restriction on human freedom.
The fact of the matter is that although moral law does govern issues such as premarital sex, adultery, abortion, contraception, and homosexual behavior, in its totality it is far broader than that. Catholic moral teaching also has much to say about topics such as war, health care, economics, poverty, discrimination, calumny, and criminal justice.
The third section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official presentation of Catholic beliefs and teachings, explains the Church’s position on a wide variety of modern moral concerns. It is important to bear in mind that Divine Revelation of the moral law and the teachings of the Church reflect the natural law, which is innate to human nature and established by reason.
Natural law is the participation of man in the plan of God. It is the objective order established by God that determines the requirements for people to thrive and reach fulfillment, enabling man “to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie.3
Moral law is not just about rules, but about happiness. When morality is seen only as a series of cold and rigid “thou shalt nots,” it is easy to think of it in negative terms as a list of somewhat arbitrary restrictions on human freedom That view misses the point entirely. The moral law essentially puts the human person in a position to achieve happiness.
Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness: “When I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete.”4 (CCC 45)
Although the Catechism links all of its moral teachings to the Ten Commandments — including those very “thou shalt nots” — the commandments themselves are rooted in an even more fundamental principle, as the Gospels tells us.
When Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest, he replied: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”5 It is precisely in living these commandments that a person becomes fulfilled and truly happy, for the commandments ultimately lead us to God.
Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in “seeking and loving what is true and good.”6 (CCC 1711)
Love of God and neighbor, then, is the basic principle on which the moral law is based. Catholic moral teaching provides the answer to this critical question: How can we best reflect our love for God and other people in our thoughts, words, and deeds?
Moral law is not just about precepts. Christianity is more a message of salvation and holiness than a set of moral teachings. Nevertheless, to reach perfection or holiness, commandments and counsels are vital. In Jesus’ preaching, there are concrete prohibitions, such as adultery, avarice, rash judgments, divorce, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and scandal to the innocent.7
Jesus himself fulfills the precepts of the Law. He observes the Sabbath, he fasts, he obeys the purification laws, and he goes to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feasts.8
Jesus’ morality is not a morality of rules, but rather a morality that includes laws and precepts. These laws and precepts exist in order to guide people to a good life. Moral laws help us differentiate between good and evil; they show us the path that we need to follow if we want to please God, achieve true perfection, and obtain salvation.9
Morality does not mean being “moralistic.” Unfortunately, people who embrace Christian morality sometimes make poor ambassadors for the Christian Faith. They, too, sometimes tend to reduce the moral law to a mere set of rules, a checklist of behavior that they see as the primary indicator of a moral life in Christ. Mix that with a degree of triumphalism — an excess of pride that leads them to think themselves superior to others, sometimes called a “holier than thou” attitude — and they can quickly be seen not as witnesses to the Faith, but as cold and judgmental moralizers.
It is important to live according to Church teaching, but it is even more important that we do so with the love described in the Great Commandment.
It is as easy for us today to slip into a moralistic mentality as it was for the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. In fact, the Old Testament, which includes an extensive set of moral guidelines given by God to the Jewish people, often was reduced to a narrow, legalistic, and sometimes a hypocritical model of morality. This explains Jesus’ critical attitude toward many of the ideas preached by the religious leaders of his time. 10
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MORAL LAW
Moral law comprises the objective standards authored by God and taught by Church authority.
Moral law is a demand of our Faith. Although Christianity involves much more than the observance of moral law, to live according to the moral law is a requirement of the Christian life.
When the rich young man asked Jesus how he could attain eternal life, Jesus made it abundantly clear that adherence to the commandments was a vital first step.11 The Great Commandment of love does not at all weaken the force of the Ten Commandments; rather, it brings context to the commandments and describes the interior spirit with which we are to embrace the moral law. A full commitment to the moral law is essential if we are to live out our vocation to holiness and abide by Christ’s new commandment of love.
Moral law is guided by the cardinal virtues. At Baptism, in addition to sanctifying grace, we receive infused moral virtues derived from the four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, along with the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. These virtues assist the Christian in living the commandments as well as effectively pursuing a holy life in Christ. The exercise of these virtues help us achieve the proper disposition to draw closer to God and to know him and love him more fully:
• Prudence enables us to choose the right course of action inspired by the moral law.
• Justice enables us to render what is due to God and neighbor.
• Fortitude enables us to perform good actions amid obstacles and difficulties.
• Temperance enables us to control our passions in order to maintain a clear mind and a strong will.
The human virtues are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct in accordance with reason and faith. They can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. (CCC 1834)
The cardinal virtues enable us to live the Christian life, and counteract the effects of Original Sin and the resultant vices of ignorance, malice, infirmity, and sensuality (concupiscence). The infused virtues received at Baptism are certainly not fully developed virtues, but must be strengthened through human effort expressed in a repetition of virtuous actions.
The moral virtues grow through education, deliberate acts, and perseverance in struggle. Divine grace purifies and elevates them. (CCC 1839)
As always, holiness is an interplay between God’s grace and the struggle to practice virtue.
Moral law provides the way to true happiness. Because the moral law is rooted in love, living by its ideals prepares us for an ever-deepening relationship with God. It is a pathway toward a liberating happiness that results from drawing ever closer to Christ. The promise is that if we totally immerse ourselves in Christ’s life and teachings, we will find our lives most rewarding, peaceful, and spiritually gratifying.
From a Christian point of view, loving God and loving others allows a person to reach a joy that the world cannot offer. Therefore, by living by the commandments, a Christian not only grows in virtue, he or she is also empowered to give himself or herself more completely and more joyfully to the service of God and neighbor.
The moral life leads us to knowledge of the inner life of God and his plans for us. By living a moral life, which is the fruit of God’s assistance, an individual becomes more receptive to God’s grace. This increase of sanctifying grace and faith leads to a deeper knowledge of the mystery of God.
Faith is a supernatural gift from God. In order to believe, man needs the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 179)
Only with the light of Faith and God’s grace are we able to have greater knowledge and understanding of God’s inner life. At the same time, a well-grounded moral life is crucial.
The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life. God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (CCC 261)
Moral law is based on the Divine Wisdom of God. Just as the physical laws governing physics, chemistry, and biology were discovered rather than invented by man, the moral law is also not man’s own creation. The different laws governing the universe reflect the influence of an all-knowing Supreme Being; the same is true of the moral law.
Moral standards are inscribed on the heart of every human person by God himself. This universal natural law recognizes the dignity of every person and his or her right to freedom.
Derived from this dignity is an equality among all persons and, consequently, unalienable rights corresponding to the person’s exalted value.
The natural law, present in the heart of each man and established by reason, is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all men. It expresses the dignity of the person and determines the basis for his fundamental rights and duties. (CCC 1956)
At the same time, the human condition affected by Original Sin requires that natural law be revealed as well. It is through a deepening knowledge of the objective norms of morality that the conscience becomes well formed and, thereby, trustworthy. The natural moral law finds its ultimate source in God’s eternal wisdom. In the Book of Exodus, God explicitly revealed the law of the Ten Commandments to Moses, which is a privileged expression of the natural law. In Jesus’ teaching ministry, God’s law was fulfilled and brought to perfection to be taught by the Church and lived by all the faithful.
Abiding by moral law draws us closer to Christ. We have pointed out that the standards of Christian morality are objective rather than subjective because they are determined neither by general consensus nor by individual preference, but by God’s plan for us. The commandments given by God to the Jewish people were perfected and explained by Christ, who emphasized love of God and neighbor as the basis for all moral law. This perfected law taught by Christ serves as a pathway toward our ultimate happiness and growth in holiness.
St. John Paul II, in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor (“The Splendor of Truth”), reiterates how the Ten Commandments are a vital preliminary step for the full experience of a moral life in Christ.
MORAL LAW AND FREE WILL
At the time of creation as described in the Book of Genesis, God blessed Adam and Eve with complete self-control over their minds, wills, and passions. This complete self-mastery enjoyed by our first parents ended when they disrupted their harmony with God by violating his command.
This sin, because it was the first sin and the forerunner of all subsequent sins, is called Original Sin. Original Sin caused a deep wound in the soul of every human being. As a consequence, the human person suffers from a clouded mind, a weakened will, and disordered passions — in other words, a tendency to sin. Together with this severe debilitation to the soul, our first parents lost their original holiness and justice.
Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation is called “original sin.” (CCC 417)
Although God’s natural law is inscribed in our very soul, our sinful natures makes it difficult for us to make the right moral decisions on our own. Because of these inherited limitations, we need God’s help to distinguish good choices from evil choices.
Scripture teaches that Adam and Eve were made in God’s own image; and through the merits of Jesus Christ received in the Sacrament of Baptism, we are restored in his image. This belief is an important incentive for us to conduct ourselves according to the requirements of our God-given dignity. God reveals not only the fact that we are made in his image, but also the moral principles we must embrace and the evil actions we must avoid.
God the Father, in his infinite love for us, draws us into the light and life of Jesus through the moral law he has revealed. In this sense, fidelity to the commandments of God serves as a preparatory step for a deeper friendship with Christ.
MORAL LAW AND GRACE
Grace, the divine life of God in the soul, is a supernatural gift bestowed on us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our salvation. It is a gratuitous gift which we can never deserve or earn through our own action.12 This grace enables us to share the life of Jesus Christ and assists us in conforming our lives to his teachings. Grace is the indispensable help that God gives us, allowing us to respond to his call to holiness in our lives and to become his adopted sons and daughters.
Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life. (CCC 2021)
There are two kinds of grace:
Sanctifying grace is the grace that confers a new life on our souls — that is, a sharing in the life of God himself. It is a gift through which the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — dwells in the soul. We first receive this grace in the Sacrament of Baptism, and it is nourished by the Eucharist. If we lose it through mortal sin, sanctifying grace can be restored to us by the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Sanctifying grace unites us to God and makes us “pleasing to God”13, but in an incomplete way. In Heaven, we will be united to God completely and will see him face-to-face. That is why we call sanctifying grace “the seed of eternal life.
Actual grace is a temporary grace given by God. Through actual grace, God helps us to obtain, preserve, and grow in sanctifying grace by giving us the knowledge and strength to do what is good and right. When we pray for God’s grace to guide us in making a difficult decision or to give us strength to resist a temptation, it is actual grace that we receive.
Actual grace is necessary for all who have attained the use of reason. Without its help, we would not be able to remain faithful to the commandments because we would not have the strength to resist the power of temptation.
What is the ultimate source of this inner division of man?
His history of sin begins when he no longer acknowledges the Lord as his Creator and himself wishes to be the one who determines, with complete independence, what is good and what is evil. “You will be like God, knowing good and evil”14: this was the first temptation, and it is echoed in all the other temptations to which man is more easily inclined to yield as a result of the original Fall.
But temptations can be overcome, and sins can be avoided, because together with the commandments, the Lord gives us the possibility of keeping them: “His eyes are on those who fear him, and he knows every deed of man. He has not commanded anyone to be ungodly, and he has not given anyone permission to sin.”15 Keeping God’s law in particular situations can be difficult, extremely difficult, but it is never impossible. (Veritatis Splendor, 102)
We might ask: If sanctifying grace is present to those who are baptized, then why do so many baptized individuals lead such poor moral lives?
God, who is rich in mercy and love, takes the initiative in helping us to live the commandments and pursue a life of holiness. In other words, God makes the first move in assisting us to embrace his will. At the same time, our freedom is indispensable in responding to God’s promptings and inspirations.
The divine initiative in the work of grace precedes, prepares, and elicits the free response of man. Grace responds to the deepest yearnings of human freedom, calls freedom to cooperate with it, and perfects freedom. (CCC 2022)
Nevertheless, grace cannot operate in a vacuum. It is a gift that will assist a person who sincerely commits himself or herself to keeping the moral law and makes every effort to do so. As human beings we do not have the capacity of perfectly discerning good from evil; and even after Baptism, we still have the temptation to sin. However, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the grace which he gives us, assist us in living our Christian vocation faithfully and embracing the gospel message.
Those who lack that commitment and effort or who rationalize their own behavior as exempt from the moral law will not be aided by the grace they have received. In the case of the baptized person who truly tries to live the commandments, God’s grace will always be present.
Think of faith and grace as gifts, like those we might receive at Christmas or at our birthday celebration: If we receive a gift but decide not to unwrap it, we cannot put that gift to good use. We must respond to the gifts of faith and grace with our own free will.
MORAL LAW AND THE CHRISTIAN VOCATION
The moral law is not just for Catholics or just for Christians. It is not even meant solely for theists, those who at the very least believe in God. To commit and conform completely to the moral law is to pursue a life of holiness — and, as the Second Vatican Council taught based on the Gospels, every human person is called by God to a life of holiness, to a life that requires a degree of self-control in order to overcome our inherent tendency to sin.
The history of peoples scattered in every corner of the world, gives tangible evidence that man by nature is a religious being. Virtually every group of people and civilization from the dawn of human history practiced forms of religious worship, and acknowledged a being or beings greater than themselves. The fact that man is a religious being by nature, leads him to grasp, at least in part, the moral law.
Man is by nature and vocation a religious being. Coming from God, going toward God, man lives a fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God. (CCC 44)
Everyone is called to a life of holiness. Jesus calls every baptized individual to fully embrace his teachings. By virtue of the Sacrament of Baptism, every Christian has a vocation — a call from God — to become completely centered on Christ. All Christians are called to the holiness proclaimed by the Gospels and found throughout the New Testament.16
Because God gave us free will, it is entirely our own choice whether we accept or reject this call to holiness. Since our vocation is a call from God, it requires our response. If we fail to respond, our relationship with God will be incomplete, and, as a consequence, we will deprive ourselves of the complete joy and fulfillment that he wants to bestow on us.17
The only appropriate response to our call to holiness is to follow the example of the life of Jesus Christ — his dispositions, actions, and teachings. The moral law gives us the necessary tools and directions to guide us in following in Christ’s footsteps. That is the fundamental vocation of every person.
Living our vocation requires free will and self-control. The Gospel tells us of two aspects of freedom that are vital in following Christ’s teachings. First, an individual must want to follow Christ and live by his teachings.18 Second, he or she must have sufficient self-control and self-mastery to live the high standards of love and sacrifice exemplified by Christ. These standards are expressed in the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the Sermon on the Mount.
St. Augustine, one of the greatest figures in Catholic history, is a case in point. For many years, although he had an interior desire to live a life of holiness, he lacked the self-control and self-mastery to do so and instead led an unchaste life. Only after Augustine made the decision to pray intently for chastity did he find the strength, obtained through grace, to amend his life and live by the moral law — in other words, to live a moral life in Christ.
VOCATION AND DISCIPLESHIP
The call of Jesus is a call to discipleship with Jesus as the divine teacher.19 The relationship between teacher and disciple describes the relationship between Christ and those who believe in him. The word disciple (“follower”) indicates an individual who has adopted another person’s way of life and taken on his or her particular type of discipline.20
To be a disciple of Christ is to imitate Christ. A disciple must learn from his or her master or teacher. The Christian disciple strives to imitate Christ and apply his instructions to his or her own particular circumstances. Every gesture, action, and word in the life of Christ serves as an inexhaustible source of instruction for a full moral life.
“The whole of Christ’s life was a continual teaching: his silences, his miracles, his gestures, his prayer, his love for people, his special affection for the little and the poor, his acceptance of the total sacrifice on the Cross for the redemption of the world, and his Resurrection are the actualization of his word and the fulfillment of Revelation.”21 (CCC 561)
Christ’s life and teachings are meant to be expressed in our daily lives. But how do we actually go about imitating Jesus Christ and practicing his teachings?
Jesus’ life and Death exemplify the virtues to which he calls us. Christ’s suffering and Death reveal an example of Christian virtues in practice par excellence. The pain and anguish Christ endured in his Passion are a moving lesson in forgiveness, patience, humility, and his love for us. Jesus himself invites us to conform our lives to his. “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”22
As St. John Paul II points out in Veritatis Splendor:
Following Christ is not an outward imitation, since it touches man at the very depths of his being. Being a follower of Christ means becoming conformed to him who became a servant even to giving himself on the Cross.23 Christ dwells by faith in the heart of the believer24 and thus the disciple is conformed to the Lord. This is the effect of grace, of the active presence of the Holy Spirit in us. (Veritatis Splendor, 21)
As disciples, we can be incorporated into the life of Christ. If we freely choose to live the moral law and to seek holiness as disciples of Christ, we can gradually become incorporated into the life of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit, transforming our hearts and minds into those of Christ. In practical terms, that means that through this transformation we would increasingly love, think, and act according to Christ’s example and teachings. Sanctifying grace initiates this transformation; actual grace assists us in our commitment as disciples of Christ and identifies us with him.
A person who is identified with Christ and consequently lives his life in this manner sees the world in a whole new way. This growth in union with Jesus Christ enables the person to see the infinite wisdom and love with which God has created the world. The person filled with Christ sees the exalted dignity of every human being and thereby sees the need to love and serve everyone. Being united to Christ, by its very nature, involves the embrace of suffering as a way of sharing in Christ’s Cross. Thus, the work of grace, together with the will to live by God’s commandments, empowers the person to think with the mind of Christ and to love with the heart of Christ.25
St. Paul spells out the goal of the Christian life in his Letter to the Galatians. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” 26. These interior sentiments of St. Paul express the goal of every Christian.
He who believes in Christ has new life in the Holy Spirit. The moral life, increased and brought to maturity in grace, is to reach its fulfillment in the glory of heaven. (CCC 1715)
CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN ACTION
We have already begun to see how our moral choices are interconnected with virtually every aspect of our lives. In this section, we will examine how morality, free will, our actions, and our interior dispositions are all inextricably interrelated.
Our actions express our moral dispositions. Actions undertaken through our own free will express our values, our moral dispositions. A person who values virtue will strive to tell the truth, act justly, and treat others kindly. If our free will, assisted by grace, inclines us to live by the moral law as disciples of Christ, that interior disposition will be reflected in our actions.
In the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus speaks of the connection between our exterior acts and interior dispositions:
For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Lk 6: 43- 45)
The Beatitudes, which express the heart of Christian morality, also speak to the interior attitude of the person. If we first accept and pursue the ideals of mercy, purity of heart, and peace, we will act more fully as merciful, pure, and peaceful people.27
Our actions express our free will. Good actions result from good choices, which are exercises of our free will to choose good over evil. If we truly commit to living the commandments according to Christ’s message, our free will, assisted by grace, will increasingly conform to the will of God.
That is not to say that an individual who is committed to Christ cannot be tempted or even fall from grace by sinning. Tendency toward sin is a consequence of our wounded human nature, so we can never presume ourselves to be completely invulnerable to temptation and sin. What it does mean is that our commitment to living a moral life in Christ, assisted by our good will and God’s grace, will help us grow in strength and self-control so that we will be able to avoid transgressing the moral law.
Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man. (Mt 15: 17–20)
Just as concrete acts express our dispositions to pursue the moral law, our passions, appetites, thoughts, and words will begin little by little to reflect our free choice in striving to live a moral life in Christ.
Jesus brings God’s commandments to fulfillment, particularly the commandments of love of neighbor, by interiorizing their demands and by bringing out their fullest meaning. Love of neighbor springs from a loving heart, which precisely because it loves, is ready to live out the loftiest challenges. (Veritatis Splendor, 15)
Our decisions and actions must be informed by the moral law. In order to follow Christ, we must accept the moral law as expressed in the commandments and the teachings of Christ. Acceptance inevitably must lead to our choosing to conform our interior dispositions and free will to that moral law. In turn, our decisions, because we have committed to orient them to the moral law, must be expressed in moral actions.
Grace, as we have seen, plays a critical role, even an indispensable one, in our ability to live the moral law. We can call upon this grace, particularly in the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist, to strengthen our resolve and our discernment to choose what is right and to grow in virtue. Earlier in this chapter, we noted that grace cannot operate in a vacuum; put positively, we might say that “grace builds upon nature,” as the adage goes, meaning that our dispositions and will must be engaged in order to make use of the grace received from God and through the sacraments.28
EFFECTS OF THE MORAL LIFE IN CHRIST
Christian morality is a positive morality that prescribes what a person, motivated by the love of God, ought to do in order to imitate the life of Christ. As we have seen, the moral law cannot be reduced to a merely negative morality motivated solely by fear of punishment, one that involves exclusively a series of “thou shalt nots.” Also, St. John Paul II taught that, with regard to the Decalogue, the commandments are phrased in the negative to indicate a minimum threshold of behavior.29
It is true that the moral law includes many prohibitions such as those found in the Ten Commandments themselves. All that goes against the love of God and neighbor, of course, is forbidden. Nevertheless, Jesus’ moral teachings on the whole stress the good that we must do much more than the evil that we must avoid. Rather than stopping at a list of “do’s” and “don’ts,” the Lord reveals what type of persons we should be in order to live justly, be happy, and find fulfillment.
In pursuing the moral life, it is best to be motivated by love of God and neighbor rather than by fear of punishment. As St. John points out: “There is not fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love.”30
Christian morality serves and safeguards human dignity. When we act morally, we act in accordance with our own human dignity and the dignity of others as well. The Great Commandment to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind calls us to recognize that we must serve God, who made us in his own image and calls us to communion with him; the second part of the Great Commandment, that we must love our neighbor as ourselves, reminds us that we must treat other persons with great respect, for they, too, were made in God’s image and are likewise called to communion with him. The entire moral law is based on the love expressed in this Great Commandment, a love that respects the dignity of every person.
The choice to serve Jesus is the choice to respond to love with love. Jesus tells us the parable of two sons who were commanded by their father to do work.31 The answer to the question of “Who is the son who loved his father?” is the son who did his father’s bidding. A person demonstrates his love of the Father by doing as Jesus asks.
The twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel summarizes the judgment that Christ will impose on each person based on what he or she did or did not do on earth. Jesus’ condemnations are leveled against those who have been negligent or deficient in loving others and not solely on those who have done evil deeds. In Jesus’ parable, it is not just that the foolish virgins acted wrongly, but that they did not act wisely.32 In the parable of the talents, the men who received five and ten talents are rewarded because they increased them, while the one who received only one talent is condemned because he refused to make use of the talent that he was given.33 These parables place heavy emphasis on God’s pleasure with those who do good and his displeasure with those who fail to do good.
St. Matthew goes on to describe how, at the time of judgment, Jesus will demand each of us to account for the good we have done and the good we have failed to do. Did we feed the hungry? Did we give shelter to the homeless? Did we visit the sick?34 In the Last Judgment of Matthew’s scenario, those who did good for others are saved, and those who did evil or failed to do good are condemned.
Christian morality is at the service of freedom. The magnificent gift that God bestows on every human being that sets us apart from the rest of creation is our intellect and our will, grounded in the soul. Precisely through these spiritual faculties, we are endowed with the gift of freedom.
Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in “seeking and loving what is true and good.”35 (CCC 1711)
We can use our freedom to do what is morally good, which helps strengthen us against sin; or, we can abuse it by making immoral choices, which further diminish and cloud our discernment and our resolve to choose and act wisely. This diminished capacity for discernment represents a restriction on our freedom.
God wants us to freely choose his divine life. In this sense, he took a risk when he created the human person with a free will. Given the very nature of freedom, God allows us to make choices freely, regardless of whether those choices have good or bad effects on us and those affected by our decisions.
The basic message preached by Christ is a call to freedom: “For you were called to freedom, brethren.”36 When some early Christians misunderstood the freedom for which “Christ has set us free,” St. Paul warned them not to use their freedom as an “opportunity for the flesh,” but for the good.37 When we practice the message preached by Christ, we acquire the highest degree of freedom.
This freedom is what St. Paul was talking about in his Letter to the Galatians: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”38 And again, in his Letter to the Romans: “You who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”39
Christian morality is at the service of love. For the Christian, every aspect of morality begins and ends in love. The Christian moral message begins with God offering his love to us and culminates with the new commandment of love.40 Christ calls his followers to love as he has loved. To take on the heart of Christ should be the goal of every Christian.
The command to love is proclaimed not only by Jesus, who calls it “my commandment” and “new,” but also by the apostles in addressing the first Christians. St. Paul praises love in his “hymn of love” that concludes: “So faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”41
St. John, who relates the love of God with the love of neighbor, teaches:
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 Jn 4: 7–11)
Love for God authenticates our love for our neighbor, and our love for our neighbor is indispensable evidence of our genuine love for God.
PERSONAL FRUITS OF THE MORAL LIFE IN CHRIST
In the New Testament, Jesus teaches that Christians must live up to high standards of morality. Christian morality requires not just a decent or honorable existence, but a saintly life modeled on Christ. It is through following Christ and seeking to abide by these moral standards that we can respond to his call to holiness and find true happiness.
Keeping the moral law leads to holiness. As we have seen earlier in this chapter, every baptized person is called to a life of holiness, as taught by the Second Vatican Council document Lumen Gentium. This life of holiness, as we have also seen, is made possible through the power of grace especially when derived from the sacraments. Our pursuit of holiness assists our efforts to make morally good choices, and the converse is also true. Our commitment to keeping the moral law leads us to growth in holiness as well.
In particular, the life of holiness which is resplendent in so many members of the People of God, humble and often unseen, constitutes the simplest and most attractive way to perceive at once the beauty of truth, the liberating force of God’s love, and the value of unconditional fidelity to all the demands of the Lord’s law, even in the most difficult situations. (Veritatis Splendor, 107)
To emphasize the message of the Beatitudes, Jesus places his moral teaching side-by-side with the “Old Law” of the Old Testament, which, in God’s plan, was a preparation for the “New Law.” 42 In fact, he repeats these juxtapositions six times: “You have heard that . . . but I say to you . . .”43 In so doing, Jesus fulfills the commandments, enriches their moral content, and urges that they be put into practice with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Thus it is evident to everyone that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank and status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; by this holiness as such, a more human manner of living is promoted in this earthly society. . . . They must follow in his in his footsteps and conform themselves to his image seeking the will of the Father in all things. (Veritatis Splendor, 16)
“You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”44 Reflecting this call of Jesus, Vatican II declares that every baptized person is called to seek holiness.45
Keeping the moral law leads to happiness. It is basic Christian belief that God created us to know, love, and serve him in this world so that we can be eternally happy with him in the next life. A first step in knowing, loving, and serving God is our effort to keep the moral law as taught by Jesus Christ.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that Jesus teaches that there is an intimate link between happiness and good moral behavior. “The moral life, increased and brought to maturity in grace, is to reach its fulfillment in the glory of heaven.”46 Obedience and conformity to God’s will thus result in a foretaste here on earth of the perfect happiness that awaits us in Heaven.47
Keeping the moral law calls us to justice. The effort to lead a Christian moral life results in the achievement of a more just world and everlasting life. In understanding Christian morality, however, it is important to avoid two extremes.
One extreme is to limit the consideration of moral behavior exclusively to terms of social justice and what benefits the common good at the present moment. The other extreme is to limit the scope of morality to individual actions that only have a spiritual benefit to that individual, and which exclude the seeking of justice and well-being for other people in the present life.
Because Christians are citizens of both this world and the next, the moral law calls us to try to establish a more just and peaceful society on earth while at the same time ensuring our personal behavior is in accord with the moral law.
Vatican II summarizes this idea in the following statement:
This Council exhorts Christians, as citizens of both cities, to perform their duties faithfully and in the spirit of the Gospel. It is a mistake to think that, because we have here no lasting city, but seek the city which is to come, we are entitled to shirk our earthly responsibilities; this is to forget that by our faith we are bound all the more to fulfill these responsibilities according to the vocation of each one. (Gaudium et Spes, 43)
CONCLUSION
Terms such as “morality,” “the moral law,” and even “sin” often make people uncomfortable because they associate these terms with a spirit of judgmentalism and narrow-mindedness. The prevailing wind of many Western societies today is a secularizing trend that increasingly views matters of morals and truth as subjective in nature, so much so that if one dares to publicly state a Christian or Catholic position on a given issue affecting public policy, that person is accused of imposing his or her personal moral views — or the moral views of his or her particular church — on others. While there is often a call to respect diverse points of view, it sometimes becomes clear that this tolerance for opinions stops short of respecting anything that smacks of traditional Christian or Catholic morality.
Catholics, too, can sometimes become shy about expressing their faith, either out of ignorance or out of fear of not being accepted by others. Sometimes a Catholic will be sheepish and almost embarrassed about aspects of the moral law that do not fit the currents of popular opinion. Sometimes, sadly, a Catholic “will not accept certain teachings of the Church.
To understand the true source and purpose of the moral law, it is critical to appreciate how the Ten Commandments, the Gospels, and the teachings of the Church call us to a life that leads to our eternal salvation. If we believe that God loves us and desires our happiness, both on earth and in Heaven forever, then it follows that our discipleship in Christ, the moral law, and the life of holiness to which he calls us are indeed the paths of greatest love, the road he has set before us that leads us to Heaven.
We will explore the implications of that call further in the chapters ahead.
Excerpt From: Rev. Peter V. Armenio. “Our Moral Life in Christ (College Edition).”
WHAT IS MORAL THEOLOGY?
Moral theology, as we stated earlier, is the study of both the principles and actions revealed to us by Jesus Christ and taught by the Catholic Church that will lead us to a life of holiness and to eternal salvation. It is concerned with the good and the evil of human actions and of the individual person who performs these actions.
Moral theology is based on Divine Revelation. The foundation for moral theology, as is true with all branches of theology, is Divine Revelation, which is transmitted to us through Sacred Scripture and Divine Tradition and communicated to us by the Magisterium, the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. It acknowledges that the origin and purpose of all moral actions are found in God.
Moral theology accepts and examines Divine Revelation. It acknowledges that the origin and purpose of all moral actions are found in God. Moral theology is beyond human reason, but not contrary to human reason. Moral theology responds to the inquiries of human reason. When human reason is separated from the wisdom of God as found in the teachings of the Church, false conclusions are often reached that can have disastrous effects for the individual and society at large. Opinions that advocate abortion, same-sex partnerships, and embryonic stem-cell research using human embryos are examples of the inadequacy of human reason when separated from the moral truths of the Church. Moral theology also includes the study of both moral principles and actions that comprise the natural law, which is inscribed in the mind and heart of every individual and can be known by reason, with the help of grace.
Moral theology is compatible with natural sciences. The natural sciences have a role to play in corroborating theology. The moral teachings of the Church, for example, may use modern scientific findings in the area of psychology or medicine to support what Christ has ultimately revealed.
Moral theology recognizes and understands the dignity of the human person. The moral law taught by Christ, and interpreted and transmitted by the Catholic Church, derive from the Great Commandment of love, which itself comprises the call to respect the dignity of all human persons.
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To Reject God’s Wisdom Has Consequences
God’s wisdom is the source of love, truth, and life. It is also the source of Divine Revelation, from which the moral law is ultimately drawn.
The moral direction taken by a particular society is a reflection of their understanding of man and his destiny, as well as the dignity of human life.1 When a society rejects the moral law as taught by Jesus Christ, they “easily become totalitarian,”2 often creating an ideology diametrically opposed to the moral law, and promoting a culture of death, hatred, and falsehood.
The twentieth century saw the rise of many regimes diametrically opposed to the divinely revealed moral law. This collective rejection of both the Old Law of the Chosen People of Israel and the New Law given to us by Jesus Christ has caused unimaginable horrors and has destroyed millions of human lives.
The Holocaust orchestrated by the Nazis during World War II and the death of millions of people in the prison camps of the former communist Soviet Union are just two examples of the effects of godless ideologies. On the contrary, political systems, civil laws, and economic policies which are based on the revealed moral law as interpreted and taught by the Catholic Church will respect the inalienable rights of the human person and thus be beneficial to all members of society.
THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF MANKIND
Moral theology and the moral law serve to guide the moral choices we face and to evaluate the free-will decisions we make. How we exercise our free will in making moral choices will have a profound impact not only on our happiness on earth, but on our eternal destination. By extension, therefore, moral theology and the moral law are necessary for the good of our immortal souls.
Understanding a few truths about the human soul and its inherent dignity will help enlighten our study of moral theology.
Our immortal souls are what make us human. The existence of an immortal soul in each person is what distinguishes us from animals. Unlike the animals, we are made in God’s own image, and our soul is the spiritual mark that sets us apart. Our capacity to know and love God and neighbor finds its origin in our immortal soul.
Recognition of the soul is essential for human dignity. Many people today do not believe in the existence of the soul. They accept the false claim that if something cannot be directly experienced, measured, or observed by our senses, then it cannot be known with certainty. They dismiss human conscience as nothing more than the product of neurological processes or psychological influences.
This erroneous and artificial separation of our conscience from God’s wisdom leads to belief in a subjective morality rather than an objective one. The disregard for the human soul leads to a materialistic view of the human person and, consequently, to serious offenses against human dignity.
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Conflicting Models of Human Behavior
Each of us has a standard of behavior by which we live our lives. If we were to believe we were nothing more than highly evolved animals, then our moral standards would be no more than biological rules. We would live as animals, incapable of making willful moral choices, led instead by animal instinct.3 Certain other theories of human behavior also tend to mitigate human responsibility for actions undertaken by free will:
Human sociobiology theorizes in part that human behavior can be genetically predetermined. Those who support this system claim that the choices we make in life are effectively preprogrammed. Our actions have no moral component, they say, because we have no true freedom to choose our own actions. In such a model, no responsible moral demands can be made on people because their actions were not initiated by free will.
An example of applied sociobiology can be found in the scientific search for a gene that predisposes a person toward homosexual behavior. If such a gene were to be found in a homosexual man or woman, sociobiologists would claim that homosexuality is genetically predetermined. They would further claim that homosexual behavior in a person who has this gene would be morally neutral because his or her inclinations are natural rather than chosen as an act of the will.
The errors of sociobiology as applied to human behavior are fairly obvious. Suppose a man inherits a gene that makes him much more prone to rage and violence. Let us say the man becomes physically abusive toward his wife and children. Would his possession of that gene render his acts of violence against his family as morally neutral?
Secular humanism is a perspective of reason, ethics, and justice that exalts humanity but leaves God and absolute truth out of the picture. It is a materialistic view of man that dismisses the possibility of an immortal soul and an afterlife, thus denying the very truths that make us human.
For secular humanists, morality is based on what they would consider common sense and reason. Supernatural realities are discarded because they cannot be proven scientifically. Oddly, some secular-humanist scientists will marvel at the harmony of cellular activity or the intricacy of DNA and at the same time reject the conclusion that a divine intelligence is behind it all. Others, knowing that matter can neither create itself nor set itself in motion, will develop highly speculative theories regarding the origins of the universe, simply to avoid recognizing the involvement of a Creator.
Excessive spiritualism. In strong contrast to a materialistic notion of the person is an exaggerated spiritual emphasis that ignores the physical human body. This focus on the spirit without regard to the body makes moral theology irrelevant. This goes against the Christian view in which all moral actions are acts of both the body and the spirit.
The acceptable counterpoint to these theories is called Christian humanism, which emphasizes the inherent dignity of the human person and strongly acknowledges the marvelous gifts each person enjoys as a reflection of God’s own wisdom and goodness. The Incarnation of Jesus, who became like us in everything but sin, is a powerful affirmation of the dignity of the human person and of the human condition.
* * * *
Our desire to search for truth is evidence of the existence of the soul. The universal human desire for knowledge, truth, personal fulfillment, and a meaningful life points to man’s spiritual nature. The progress derived from the human mind in its search for truth and the love expressed by the human heart serve as ongoing testimony that each person has an immortal soul.
The human soul is created by God. The Church teaches that each human soul is created directly by God at the moment of conception. Together, the physical and spiritual components comprise a new human life.
What makes the human person unique is that through the soul, every man and woman is made in the image of God. Like God, although in a lesser manner, we have the capacity for knowledge, love, and immortality.
The human person comprises a body and a soul. We are both physical beings and spiritual beings. Although every human being is composed of a body and a soul, the human person is not merely a soul residing or imprisoned within the body, as some ancient philosophers taught. Nor is the person merely a sophisticated or high-tech machine. Rather, the entire body is enlivened by the soul, and the soul is created to take up the form of the body, giving it the capacity for spiritual operations such as knowledge, acts of faith and love, and supernatural life.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches about this union of the human body and the human soul:
God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.”5 Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is “in the image of God”; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual and material worlds; (III) he is created “male and female”; (IV) God established him in his friendship. (CCC 355)
The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that “then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”6 Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God. (CCC 362)
The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body:7 i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature. (CCC 365)
Death temporarily separates the soul from the body. At death, the soul, which is essential for human life on earth, is separated from the body. While the soul continues to exist, the mortal body is rendered lifeless and decomposes. At the end of time, according to Catholic teaching, the soul will be reunited with the body in its glorified state.
Moral theology involves both the physical and spiritual realities of the human person. Since the human person is both a physical and spiritual reality, morality is concerned with both the body and the spirit, for “in fact, body and soul are inseparable: in the person, and the willing agent, and in the deliberate act, they stand or fall together.”8
Our own experiences illustrate how the physical and spiritual are interrelated. People who stay in shape through exercise, for example, say it helps them relieve stress and lifts their spirits. Likewise, when we feel depressed, sad, or humiliated, it is often expressed through our physical bodies — a tight throat, abdominal pain, or general malaise.
While man is a religious being by his nature, the need for enlightenment, purification, and strength make the sacramental life necessary. The sacraments, which were instituted by Christ, also point to the unity of body and soul. In each sacrament, spiritual graces are received through a physical sign — the water of Baptism, for example, or Sacred Chrism.
Through Baptism, the soul is united to Christ. Upon receiving Baptism, the soul is purified of Original Sin, receives the Holy Spirit, and is incorporated into the life of Christ. Through this Sacrament, the soul shares in the divine life of God in a new and elevated way. By the grace of Baptism, the person, through the infusion of sanctifying grace, is raised to the status of a child of God. A permanent and indelible mark is imprinted on the soul whereby the person becomes a member of Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, and the baptized person, through the merits of Christ’s Death, burial, and Resurrection, becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus.
These graces received in the Sacrament of Baptism are strengthened and completed in the Sacrament of Confirmation, which more perfectly binds a person to Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, and the baptized person, through the merits of Christ’s Death, burial, and Resurrection, becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus.
These graces received in the Sacrament of Baptism are strengthened and completed in the Sacrament of Confirmation, which more perfectly binds a person to Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church.9 The soul is nourished further by the Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which further transforms a person in Christ.
Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, Christians are “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” and so participate in the life of the Risen Lord.11 (CCC 1694)
Through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, the laity have a share in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly mission of Jesus Christ. Precisely by their presence in the midst of the world, the laity respond to the call to holiness by bringing Christ into all areas of human society: families, friends, and associates, etc. In this manner, the command of Christ to “make disciples of all nations” is brought to fruition.
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Basic Truths for Moral Theology
The following basic truths regarding the human person serve as a backdrop for moral theology:
• Every person is created in the image and likeness of God;
• This reflection of the image of God comes from the presence of an immortal soul;
• Because every person is made in the image of God, he or she enjoys a dignity and value that transcends all of material creation;
• Human beings, due to Original Sin, have lost the possibility of enjoying the life of God in original holiness and justice and have a fallen nature and an inclination to sin;
• Jesus Christ’s Death and Resurrection has won for every person the grace of salvation and the forgiveness of sins, enabling us to enjoy the life of God and eternal life in Heaven.
Instructions: APA format, 2 paragraph minimum for each question, answer all 5 questions thoroughly, do not use any sources other than the ones listed below, cite sources used properly to prevent plagiarism, and paraphrase properly to prevent plagiarism.
Resources Needed Below (Must Review to Complete Assignment)
Watch
See AND Read attached document titled: BK1 Chapter 1 The Basis for Morality by Armenio
See AND Read attached document titled: BK1 Chapter 2- What is Moral Theology by Armenio
1. How do Christian Ethics differ from secular ethics
2. What is the purpose of moral theology?
3. What often happens to societies that reject the moral law revealed by God?
4. Why is a Christian held to a higher standard of conduct?
5. Define secular humanism. Can human reason on its own determine moral truths without error? Explain.
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