CFC [P.241 - 245]

840.     This mutual relationship of obedience and freedom is the teaching of Vatican II. On obedience, Catholics are reminded “in matters of faith and morals, the Bishops speak in the name of Christ, and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a ready and respectful allegiance of mind” (LG 25). Regarding freedom of conscience, the laity are instructed that

it is their task to cultivate a properly informed conscience and to impress the divine law on the affairs of the earthly city. . . . It is up to the laymen to shoulder their responsibilities under the guidance of Christian wisdom and with eager attention to the teaching authority of the Church (GS 43).

841.     Christian moral maturity, then, has always included the need for reasonable interpretation of law. Thus the traditional principle of epikeia states that a merely human law, whether civil or ecclessiastical, (except invalidating and procedural laws), does not bind if right reason indicates that the legislator did not wish it to bind in these particular circumstances. This happens, for example, when the difficulty in obeying the law here and now is disproportionate to the end which the law has in view.

842.     Christian moral living offers to the world perhaps our most effective missionary witness as Filipino Catholics. This means giving daily witness to the basic moral values which flow from our nature as human persons and from our God-given relationship with creation. Through such witness we not only respond to the call of holiness to all within the Church (cf. LG 39), but draw others to personal belief in God and Jesus Christ (cf. AA 6; CCC 2044-46).

 

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INTEGRATION

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843.     The place of moral norms in following Christ, explained at length in this chapter, rests ultimately on the doctrinal truths of God’s creation and loving call of grace to eternal life. Christian moral norms are grounded in the vision of fundamental values proposed by Christ in his Sermon on the Mount. Such are the values of human life, sexuality, integrity, self-respect and love (cf. Mt 5:21-48). Guided by these moral norms, so grounded in the Christian vision, the Christian’s conscience is enabled to discern and decide responsibly as a disciple of Christ.

844.     Prayer and an active sacramental life are the necessary means not only for clarifying the Christian vision, but especially for motivating responsible moral decisions and acts. In the last analysis moral living is question of the “heart,” rather than of complex reasoning and arguments. Following Christ in moral life means a heart “wedded to Christ” by his Holy Spirit, nourished in the Eucharist celebration, and experienced in personal prayer.

 

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

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845.   How can Christian moral life be viewed?

       Christian moral life can be viewed as our free response to God’s call involving three essential levels:

•   a basic moral vision;

•   expressed in moral norms and precepts; and

•   exercised in personal moral acts guided by conscience.

846.   What is the major problem in Christian moral living?

       Motivation is the major problem in Christian moral living — how we can inspire ourselves and others to act consistently according to the Christian moral norms.

847.   What is the basic Christian norm for moral living?

       The basic standard by which Christians judge all their thoughts, words and deeds is the person of Jesus Christ who reveals God as our Father, and who we truly are.

       Christ is the most significant “other” in forming:

•   our moral vision (values, attitudes, and affections),

•   our moral norms, and

•   the actual decision-making process of our conscience.

848.   What is a norm or law?

       A norm or law is a decree of reason, promulgated by competent authority, for the common good.

       Moral norms, based on a moral vision comprising basic moral values, express the objective standard for judging moral good and evil.

849.   What are moral norms supposed to do?

       Moral norms are indispensable for moral life. They

•   provide the objective criteria for our conscience to judge what is morally good or evil;

•   help our moral development, especially in the formation of our conscience;

•   offer the needed moral stability in our lives;

•   challenge us to stretch for an ideal beyond our limited experience, and correct our personal moral misconceptions in the process.

850.   What was God’s Law in the Old Testament?

       God’s Law in the Old Testament was His great gift to His chosen people, Israel, creating with them a Covenant which called for obedience to His Law as their response to His gratuitous love.

       The danger inherent in all laws is to so focus on the “letter of the law” and its external observance as to ignore the basic human values and interior dispositions which the law was made to preserve.

851.   How did Christ in the New Testament relate to the Law?

       Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law by:

•      inaugurating the New Law of the Kingdom which

•      perfected the Old Law by

•      subordinating all its precepts to love of God and of neighbor.

852.   What is Christ’s own Law of love?

       In his own life Christ taught and perfectly exemplified the Old Testaments’ two great Commandments of Love:

•   love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and

•   love your neighbor as yourself.

853.   What was new about Christ’s Commandments of love?

       In his “New” commandment of love Christ:

•   stressed the inner bond between love of God and love of neighbor;

•   exemplified “heart,” “soul,” and “strength” in his example and teaching, especially his response to the triple temptations experienced in the desert and on the Cross;

•   gave a radically new interpretation of “neighbor” as meaning everyone, especially those in need, and

•   summarized and subordinated the whole law and the prophets to these two Commandments alone.

854.   How is Christ’s law of love “liberating”?

       Christ’s law of love is liberating because it not only shows us what makes us authentically free, but through the Spirit of love offers us the power to fulfill it.

855.   What pictures for us Christ’s law of love?

       Christ’s Spirit of love liberates us

a) from mere external observance of the law,

b) for a life transformed by radically new values, sketched in the Beatitudes:

•   detachment from worldly possessions,

•   meekness and compassion,

•   thirsting for justice and merciful forgiveness,

•   purity of heart, and

•   single-mindedness in working for peace.

856.   What is meant by the “Natural Law”?

       Christian moral tradition has developed another type of law called the “natural law” that is

•   grounded in our very nature as human persons created by God,

•   supporting universal objective moral values and precepts, and

•   knowable by all persons using their critical reason, independent of their religious affiliation.

857.   Has not “natural law” at times led to certain abuses?

       To avoid the danger of a rationalistic, legalistic interpretation of the “natural law,” stress should be put on certain characteristics:

•   its basis in reality;

•   its experiential and historical dimensions;

•   its dealing with the consequences of our free acts, and

•   its being based on the human person’s nature.

858.   How is Christ related to the “natural law”?

       The “natural law” and God’s law are united in Christ since:

•   everything is created in Christ;

•   he is the final destiny built into the nature of every person, and

•   through the Incarnation, Christ has become the concrete model for every human person, in their daily thoughts and actions.

859.   What is the process of moral decision-making?

       The process of making moral decisions involves:

•   we ourselves as the moral agent or doer;

•   using evaluative knowledge, i.e. personal knowledge of the heart, including affections and imagination,

•   according to our basic moral character and the virtues we have freely developed.

860.   What are the stages in moral decision-making?

       Among the many proposed patterns for moral decision making, three stages are essential:

•   discerning (STOP: Search, Think, [consult] Others, Pray),

•   relevant obligating moral norms, and

•   conscience’s decision in applying the objective norm to the concrete act/situation.

861.   How does the Church help Catholics in moral decisions?

       The teaching office of the Church (Magisterium) offers Catholics moral guidance and leadership based on the Holy Spirit’s unfailing presence, and the Church’s long tradition and worldwide experience. It thus supports and strengthens the essentially relational and communitarian dimensions of our personal consciences in their effort to achieve moral goodness.

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