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Addressed by the Supreme Pontiff Pope John Paul II to All the
Bishops of the Catholic Church
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, Health and the Apostolic
Blessing!
THE SPLENDOUR OF TRUTH shines forth in all the works of the Creator
and, in a special way, in man, created in the image and likeness of God
(cf. Gen 1:26). Truth enlightens man's intelligence and shapes his
freedom, leading him to know and love the Lord. Hence the Psalmist prays:
"Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord" (Ps 4:6).
Introduction
Jesus Christ, the True Light
that Enlightens Everyone
Called to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ "the true light that
enlightens everyone" (Jn 1:9), people become "light in the Lord" and
"children of light" (Eph 5:8), and are made holy by "obedience to the
truth" (1 Pet 1:22).
This obedience is not always easy. As a result of that mysterious
original sin, committed at the prompting of Satan, the one who is "a liar
and the father of lies" (Jn 8:44), man is constantly tempted to turn his
gaze away from the living and true God in order to direct it towards idols
(cf. 1 Thes 1:9), exchanging "the truth about God for a lie" (Rom 1:25).
Man's capacity to know the truth is also darkened, and his will to submit
to it is weakened. Thus, giving himself over to relativism and scepticism
(cf. Jn 18:38), he goes off in search of an illusory freedom apart from
truth itself.
But no darkness of error or of sin can totally take away from man the
light of God the Creator. In the depths of his heart there always remains
a yearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it.
This is eloquently proved by man's tireless search for knowledge in all
fields. It is proved even more by his search for "the meaning of life."
The development of science and technology, this splendid testimony of the
human capacity for understanding and for perseverance, does not free
humanity from the obligation to ask the ultimate religious questions.
Rather, it spurs us on to face the most painful and decisive of struggles,
those of the heart and of the moral conscience.
2. No one can escape from the fundamental questions: "What must I do?
How do I distinguish good from evil?" The answer is only possible thanks
to the splendour of the truth which shines forth deep within the human
spirit, as the Psalmist bears witness: "There are many who say: 'O that we
might see some good! Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord"' (Ps
4:6).
The light of God's face shines in all its beauty on the countenance of
Jesus Christ, "the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15), the "reflection
of God's glory" (Heb 1:3), "full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:14). Christ is
"the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6). Consequently the
decisive answer to every one of man's questions, his religious and moral
questions in particular, is given by Jesus Christ, or rather is Jesus
Christ himself, as the Second Vatican Council recalls: "In fact, 'it is
only in the mystery of the Word incarnate that light is shed on the
mystery of man.' For Adam, the first man, was a figure of the future man,
namely, of Christ the Lord. It is Christ, the last Adam, who fully
discloses man to himself and unfolds his noble calling by revealing the
mystery of the Father and the Father's love".[1]
Jesus Christ, the "light of the nations", shines upon the face of his
Church, which he sends forth to the whole world to proclaim the Gospel to
every creature (cf. Mk 16:15).[2] Hence the Church, as the People of God
among the nations,[3] while attentive to the new challenges of history and
to mankind's efforts to discover the meaning of life, offers to everyone
the answer which comes from the truth about Jesus Christ and his Gospel.
The Church remains deeply conscious of her "duty in every age of examining
the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the Gospel,
so that she can offer in a manner appropriate to each generation replies
to the continual human questionings on the meaning of this life and the
life to come and on how they are related".[4]
3. The Church's Pastors, in communion with the Successor of Peter, are
close to the faithful in this effort; they guide and accompany them by
their authoritative teaching, finding ever new ways of speaking with love
and mercy not only to believers but to all people of good will. The Second
Vatican Council remains an extraordinary witness of this attitude on the
part of the Church which, as an "expert in humanity",[5] places herself at
the service of every individual and of the whole world.[6]
The Church knows that the issue of morality is one which deeply touches
every person; it involves all people, even those who do not know Christ
and his Gospel or God himself. She knows that it is precisely "on the path
of the moral life that the way of salvation is open to all." The Second
Vatican Council clearly recalled this when it stated that "those who
without any fault do not know anything about Christ or his Church, yet who
search for God with a sincere heart and under the influence of grace, try
to put into effect the will of God as known to them through the dictate of
conscience . . . can obtain eternal salvation". The Council added: "Nor
does divine Providence deny the helps that are necessary for salvation to
those who, through no fault of their own have not yet attained to the
express recognition of God, yet who strive, not without divine grace, to
lead an upright life. For whatever goodness and truth is found in them is
considered by the Church as a preparation for the Gospel and bestowed by
him who enlightens everyone that they may in the end have life".[7]
The Purpose of the Present Encyclical
4. At all times, but particularly in the last two centuries, the Popes,
whether individually or together with the College of Bishops, have
developed and proposed a moral teaching regarding the "many different
spheres of human life." In Christ's name and with his authority they have
exhorted, passed judgment and explained. In their efforts on behalf of
humanity, in fidelity to their mission, they have confirmed, supported and
consoled. With the guarantee of assistance from the Spirit of truth they
have contributed to a better understanding of moral demands in the areas
of human sexuality, the family, and social, economic and political life.
In the tradition of the Church and in the history of humanity, their
teaching represents a constant deepening of knowledge with regard to
morality.[8]
Today, however, it seems "necessary to reflect on the whole of the
Church's moral teaching," with the precise goal of recalling certain
fundamental truths of Catholic doctrine which, in the present
circumstances, risk being distorted or denied. In fact, a new situation
has come about "within the Christian community itself," which has
experienced the spread of numerous doubts and objections of a human and
psychological, social and cultural, religious and even properly
theological nature, with regard to the Church's moral teachings. It is no
longer a matter of limited and occasional dissent, but of an overall and
systematic calling into question of traditional moral doctrine, on the
basis of certain anthropological and ethical presuppositions. At the root
of these presuppositions is the more or less obvious influence of currents
of thought which end by detaching human freedom from its essential and
constitutive relationship to truth. Thus the traditional doctrine
regarding the natural law, and the universality and the permanent validity
of its precepts, is rejected; certain of the Church's moral teachings are
found simply unacceptable; and the Magisterium itself is considered
capable of intervening in matters of morality only in order to "exhort
consciences" and to "propose values", in the light of which each
individual will independently make his or her decisions and life choices.
In particular, note should be taken of the "lack of harmony between the
traditional response of the Church and certain theological positions,"
encountered even in Seminaries and in Faculties of Theology, "with regard
to questions of the greatest importance" for the Church and for the life
of faith of Christians, as well as for the life of society itself. In
particular, the question is asked: do the commandments of God, which are
written on the human heart and are part of the Covenant, really have the
capacity to clarify the daily decisions of individuals and entire
societies? Is it possible to obey God and thus love God and neighbour,
without respecting these commandments in all circumstances? Also, an
opinion is frequently heard which questions the intrinsic and unbreakable
bond between faith and morality, as if membership in the Church and her
internal unity were to be decided on the basis of faith alone, while in
the sphere of morality a pluralism of opinions and of kinds of behaviour
could be tolerated, these being left to the judgment of the individual
subjective conscience or to the diversity of social and cultural contexts.
5. Given these circumstances, which still exist, I came to the
decision--as I announced in my Apostolic Letter "Spiritus Domini" issued
on 1 August 1987 on the second centenary of the death of Saint Alphonsus
Maria de' Liguori--to write an Encyclical with the aim of treating "more
fully and more deeply the issues regarding the very foundations of moral
theology",[9] foundations which are being undermined by certain present
day tendencies.
I address myself to you, Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate, who
share with me the responsibility of safeguarding "sound teaching" (2 Tim
4:3), with the intention of "clearly setting forth certain aspects of
doctrine which are of crucial importance in facing what is certainly a
genuine crisis," since the difficulties which it engenders have most
serious implications for the moral life of the faithful and for communion
in the Church, as well as for a just and fraternal social life.
If this Encyclical, so long awaited, is being published only now, one
of the reasons is that it seemed fitting for it to be preceded by the
"Catechism of the Catholic Church," which contains a complete and
systematic exposition of Christian moral teaching. The Catechism presents
the moral life of believers in its fundamental elements and in its many
aspects as the life of the "children of God": "Recognizing in the faith
their new dignity, Christians are called to lead henceforth a life 'worthy
of the Gospel of Christ' (Phil 1:27). Through the sacraments and prayer
they receive the grace of Christ and the gifts of his Spirit which make
them capable of such a life".[10] Consequently, while referring back to
the Catechism "as a sure and authentic reference text for teaching
Catholic doctrine",[11] the Encyclical will limit itself to dealing with
"certain fundamental questions regarding the Church's moral teaching,"
taking the form of a necessary discernment about issues being debated by
ethicists and moral theologians. The specific purpose of the present
Encyclical is this: to set forth, with regard to the problems being
discussed, the principles of a moral teaching based upon Sacred Scripture
and the living Apostolic Tradition,[12] and at the same time to shed light
on the presuppositions and consequences of the dissent which that teaching
has met.
Chapter One
"Teacher, What Good Must I Do . . . ?"
(Matthew 19:16)
Christ and the Answer to the Question about
Morality
"Someone came to him . . . " (Mt 19:16)
6. "The dialogue of Jesus with the rich young man," related in the
nineteenth chapter of Saint Matthew's Gospel, can serve as a useful guide
"for listening once more" in a lively and direct way to his moral
teaching: "Then someone came to him and said, 'Teacher, what good must I
do to have eternal life?' And he said to him, 'Why do you ask me about
what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into
life, keep the commandments.' He said to him, 'Which ones?' And Jesus
said, 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not
steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and mother;
also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' The young man said to
him, 'I have kept all these; what do I still lack?' Jesus said to him, 'If
you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give the money to
the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me'" (Mt
19:16-21).[13]
7. "Then someone came to him. . .". In the young man, whom Matthew's
Gospel does not name, we can recognize every person who, consciously or
not, "approaches Christ the Redeemer of man and questions him about
morality." For the young man, the "question" is not so much about rules to
be followed, but "about the full meaning of life." This is in fact the
aspiration at the heart of every human decision and action, the quiet
searching and interior prompting which sets freedom in motion. This
question is ultimately an appeal to the absolute Good which attracts us
and beckons us; it is the echo of a call from God who is the origin and
goal of man's life. Precisely in this perspective the Second Vatican
Council called for a renewal of moral theology, so that its teaching would
display the lofty vocation which the faithful have received in Christ,[14]
the only response fully capable of satisfying the desire of the human
heart.
"In order to make this 'encounter' with Christ possible, God willed his
Church." Indeed, the Church "wishes to serve this single end: that each
person may be able to find Christ, in order that Christ may walk with each
person the path of life."[15]
"Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?" (Mt 19:16)
8. The question which the rich young man puts to Jesus of Nazareth is
one which rises from the depths of his heart. It is "an essential and
unavoidable question for the life of every man," for it is about the moral
good which must be done, and about eternal life. The young man senses that
there is a connection between moral good and the fulfilment of his own
destiny. He is a devout Israelite, raised as it were in the shadow of the
Law of the Lord. If he asks Jesus this question, we can presume that it is
not because he is ignorant of the answer contained in the Law. It is more
likely that the attractiveness of the person of Jesus had prompted within
him new questions about moral good. He feels the need to draw near to the
One who had begun his preaching with this new and decisive proclamation:
"The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and
believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1:15).
"People today need to turn to Christ once again in order to receive
from him the answer to their questions about what is good and what is
evil." Christ is the Teacher, the Risen One who has life in himself and
who is always present in his Church and in the world. It is he who opens
up to the faithful the book of the Scriptures and, by fully revealing the
Father's will, teaches the truth about moral action. At the source and
summit of the economy of salvation, as the Alpha and the Omega of human
history (cf. Rev 1:8; 21:6; 22:13), Christ sheds light on man's condition
and his integral vocation. Consequently, "the man who wishes to understand
himself thoroughly--and not just in accordance with immediate, partial,
often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his
being--must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and
sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to
speak, enter him with all his own self; he must 'appropriate' and
assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in
order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he
then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deeper wonder at
himself".[16]
If we therefore wish to go to the heart of the Gospel's moral teaching
and grasp its profound and unchanging content, we must carefully inquire
into the meaning of the question asked by the rich young man in the Gospel
and, even more, the meaning of Jesus' reply, allowing ourselves to be
guided by him. Jesus, as a patient and sensitive teacher, answers the
young man by taking him, as it were, by the hand, and leading him step by
step to the full truth.
"There is only one who is good" (Mt 19:17)
9. Jesus says: "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one
who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments" (Mt
19:17). In the versions of the Evangelists Mark and Luke the question is
phrased in this way: "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God
alone" (Mk 10:18; cf. Lk 18:19).
Before answering the question, Jesus wishes the young man to have a
clear idea of why he asked his question. The "Good Teacher" points out to
him-- and to all of us--that the answer to the question, "What good must I
do to have eternal life?" can only be found by turning one's mind and
heart to the "One" who is good: "No one is good but God alone" (Mk 10:18;
cf. Lk 18:19). "Only God can answer the question about what is good,
because he is the Good itself."
"To ask about the good," in fact, "ultimately means to turn towards
God," the fullness of goodness. Jesus shows that the young man's question
is really a "religious question, and that the goodness that attracts and
at the same time obliges man has its source in God, and indeed is God
himself. God alone is worthy of being loved "with all one's heart, and
with all one's soul, and with all one's mind" (Mt 22:37). He is the source
of man's happiness. Jesus brings the question about morally good action
back to its religious foundations, to the acknowledgment of God, who alone
is goodness, fullness of life, the final end of human activity, and
perfect happiness.
10. The Church, instructed by the Teacher's words, believes that man,
made in the image of the Creator, redeemed by the Blood of Christ and made
holy by the presence of the Holy Spirit, has as the "ultimate purpose" of
his life to "live 'for the praise of God's glory'" (cf. Eph 1:12),
striving to make each of his actions reflect the splendour of that glory.
"Know, then, O beautiful soul, that you are "the image of God"," writes
Saint Ambrose. "Know that you are "the glory of God" (1 Cor 11:7). Hear
how you are his glory. The Prophet says: "Your knowledge has become too
wonderful for me" (cf. Ps. 138:6, Vulg.). That is to say, in my work your
majesty has become more wonderful; in the counsels of men your wisdom is
exalted. When I consider myself, such as I am known to you in my secret
thoughts and deepest emotions, the mysteries of your knowledge are
disclosed to me. Know then, O man, your greatness, and be vigilant".[17]
"What man is and what he must do becomes clear as soon as God reveals
himself." The Decalogue is based on these words: "I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Ex
20:2-3). In the "ten words" of the Covenant with Israel, and in the whole
Law, God makes himself known and acknowledged as the One who "alone is
good"; the One who despite man's sin remains the "model" for moral action,
in accordance with his command, "You shall be holy; for I the Lord your
God am holy" (Lev 19:2); as the One who, faithful to his love for man,
gives him his Law (cf. Ex 19:9-24 and 20:18-21) in order to restore man's
original and peaceful harmony with the Creator and with all creation, and,
what is more, to draw him into his divine love: "I will walk among you,
and will be your God, and you shall be my people" (Lev 26:12).
"The moral life presents itself as the response" due to the many
gratuitous initiatives taken by God out of love for man. It is a response
of love, according to the statement made in Deuteronomy about the
fundamental commandment: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord;
and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you
this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to
your children" (Dt 6:4-7). Thus the moral life, caught up in the
gratuitousness of God's love, is called to reflect his glory: "For the one
who loves God it is enough to be pleasing to the One whom he loves: for no
greater reward should be sought than that love itself; charity in fact is
of God in such a way that God himself is charity".[18]
11. The statement that "There is only one who is good" thus brings us
back to the "first tablet" of the commandments, which calls us to
acknowledge God as the one Lord of all and to worship him alone for his
infinite holiness (cf. Ex 20:2-11). "The good is belonging to God, obeying
him," walking humbly with him in doing justice and in loving kindness (cf.
Mic 6:8). "Acknowledging the Lord as God is the very core, the heart of
the Law, from which the particular precepts flow and towards which they
are ordered. In the morality of the commandments the fact that the people
of Israel belongs to the Lord is made evident, because God alone is the
One who is good. Such is the witness of Sacred Scripture, imbued in every
one of its pages with a lively perception of God's absolute holiness:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts" (Is 6:3).
But if God alone is the Good, no human effort, not even the most
rigorous observance of the commandments, succeeds in "fulfilling" the Law,
that is, acknowledging the Lord as God and rendering him the worship due
to him alone (cf. Mt 4:10). "This 'fulfilment' can come only from a gift
of God:" the offer of a share in the divine Goodness revealed and
communicated in Jesus, the one whom the rich young man addresses with the
words "Good Teacher" (Mk 10:17; Lk 18:18). What the young man now perhaps
only dimly perceives will in the end be fully revealed by Jesus himself in
the invitation: "Come, follow me" (Mt 19:21).
"If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments" (Mt
19:17)
12. Only God can answer the question about the good, because he is the
Good. But God has already given an answer to this question: he did so "by
creating man and ordering him" with wisdom and love to his final end,
through the law which is inscribed in his heart (cf. Rom 2:15), the
"natural law". The latter "is nothing other than the light of
understanding infused in us by God, whereby we understand what must be
done and what must be avoided. God gave this light and this law to man at
creation".[19] He also did so "in the history of Israel," particularly in
the "ten words", the "commandments of Sinai," whereby he brought into
existence the people of the Covenant (cf. Ex 24) and called them to be his
"own possession among all peoples", "a holy nation" (Ex 19:5-6), which
would radiate his holiness to all peoples (cf. Wis 18:4; Ez 20:41). The
gift of the Decalogue was a promise and sign of the "New Covenant," in
which the law would be written in a new and definitive way upon the human
heart (cf. Jer 31:31-34), replacing the law of sin which had disfigured
that heart (cf. Jer 17:1). In those days, "a new heart" would be given,
for in it would dwell "a new spirit", the Spirit of God (cf. Ez
36:24-28).[20]
Consequently, after making the important clarification: "There is only
one who is good", Jesus tells the young man: "If you wish to enter into
life, keep the commandments" (Mt 19:17). In this way, a dose connection is
made "between eternal life and obedience to God's commandments:" God's
commandments show man the path of life and they lead to it. From the very
lips of Jesus, the new Moses, man is once again given the commandments of
the Decalogue. Jesus himself definitively confirms them and proposes them
to us as the way and condition of salvation. "The commandments are linked
to a promise." In the Old Covenant the object of the promise was the
possession of a land where the people would be able to live in freedom and
in accordance with righteousness (cf. Dt 6:20-25). In the New Covenant the
object of the promise is the "Kingdom of Heaven", as Jesus declares at the
beginning of the "Sermon on the Mount"--a sermon which contains the
fullest and most complete formulation of the New Law (cf. Mt 5-7), clearly
linked to the Decalogue entrusted by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. This
same reality of the Kingdom is referred to in the expression "eternal
life", which is a participation in the very life of God. It is attained in
its perfection only after death, but in faith it is even now a light of
truth, a source of meaning for life, an inchoate share in the full
following of Christ. Indeed, Jesus says to his disciples after speaking to
the rich young man: "Every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive
a hundredfold and inherit eternal life" (Mt 19:29).
13. Jesus' answer is not enough for the young man, who continues by
asking the Teacher about the commandments which must be kept: "He said to
him, 'Which ones?"' (Mt 19:18). He asks what he must do in life in order
to show that he acknowledges God's holiness. After directing the young
man's gaze towards God, Jesus reminds him of the commandments of the
Decalogue regarding one's neighbour: "Jesus said: 'You shall not murder;
You shall not commit adultery; You shall not bear false witness; Honour
your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself "
(Mt 19:18- 19).
From the context of the conversation, and especially from a comparison
of Matthew's text with the parallel passages in Mark and Luke, it is clear
that Jesus does not intend to list each and every one of the commandments
required in order to "enter into life", but rather wishes to draw the
young man's attention to the "'centrality' of the Decalogue" with regard
to every other precept, inasmuch as it is the interpretation of what the
words "I am the Lord your God" mean for man. Nevertheless we cannot fail
to notice which commandments of the Law the Lord recalls to the young man.
They are some of the commandments belonging to the so-called "second
tablet" of the Decalogue, the summary (cf. Rom 13:8-10) and foundation of
which is "the commandment of love of neighbour:" "You shall love your
neighbour as yourself" (Mt 19:19; cf. Mk 12:31). In this commandment we
find a precise expression of "the singular dignity of the human person,"
"the only creature that God has wanted for its own sake".[21] The
different commandments of the Decalogue are really only so many
reflections of the one commandment about the good of the person, at the
level of the many different goods which characterize his identity as a
spiritual and bodily being in relationship with God, with his neighbour
and with the material world. As we read in the "Catechism of the Catholic
Church," "the Ten Commandments are part of God's Revelation. At the same
time, they teach us man's true humanity. They shed light on the essential
duties, and so indirectly on the fundamental rights, inherent in the
nature of the human person".[22]
The commandments of which Jesus reminds the young man are meant to
safeguard "the good" of the person, the image of God, by protecting his
"goods." "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall
not steal; You shall not bear false witness" are moral rules formulated in
terms of prohibitions. These negative precepts express with particular
force the ever urgent need to protect human life, the communion of persons
in marriage, private property, truthfulness and people's good name.
The commandments thus represent the basic condition for love of
neighbour; at the same time they are the proof of that love. They are the
"first necessary step on the journey towards freedom," its starting-point.
"The beginning of freedom", Saint Augustine writes, "is to be free from
crimes . . . such as murder, adultery, fornication, theft, fraud,
sacrilege and so forth. When once one is without these crimes (and every
Christian should be without them), one begins to lift up one's head
towards freedom. But this is only the beginning of freedom, not perfect
freedom . . . ".[23]
14. This certainly does not mean that Christ wishes to put the love of
neighbour higher than, or even to set it apart from, the love of God. This
is evident from his conversation with the teacher of the Law, who asked
him a question very much like the one asked by the young man. Jesus refers
him to "the two commandments of love of God and love of neighbour" (cf. Lk
10:25-27), and reminds him that only by observing them will he have
eternal life: "Do this, and you will live" (Lk 10:28). Nonetheless it is
significant that it is precisely the second of these commandments which
arouses the curiosity of the teacher of the Law, who asks him: "And who is
my neighbour?" (Lk 10:29). The Teacher replies with the parable of the
Good Samaritan, which is critical for fully understanding the commandment
of love of neighbour (cf. Lk 10:30-37).
These two commandments, on which "depend all the Law and the Prophets"
(Mt 22:40), are profoundly connected and mutually related. Their
inseparable unity is attested to by Christ in his words and by his very
life: his mission culminates in the Cross of our Redemption (cf. Jn
3:14-15), the sign of his indivisible love for the Father and for humanity
(cf. Jn 13:1).
Both the Old and the New Testaments explicitly affirm that "without
love of neighbour," made concrete in keeping the commandments, "genuine
love for God is not possible." Saint John makes the point with
extraordinary forcefulness: "If anyone says, 'I love God', and hates his
brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has
seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen" (1 Jn 4:20). The Evangelist
echoes the moral preaching of Christ, expressed in a wonderful and
unambiguous way in the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:30-37) and
in his words about the final judgment (cf. Mt 25:31-46).
15. In the "Sermon on the Mount", the "magna charta" of Gospel
morality,[24] Jesus says: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the
Law and the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them"
(Mt 5:17). Christ is the key to the Scriptures: "You search the Scriptures
. . . ; and it is they that bear witness to me" (Jn 5:39). Christ is the
centre of the economy of salvation, the recapitulation of the Old and New
Testaments, of the promises of the Law and of their fulfilment in the
Gospel; he is the living and eternal link between the Old and the New
Covenants. Commenting on Paul's statement that "Christ is the end of the
law" (Rom 10:4), Saint Ambrose writes: "end not in the sense of a
deficiency, but in the sense of the fullness of the Law: a fullness which
is achieved in Christ ("plenitudo legis in Christo est"), since he came
not to abolish the Law but to bring it to fulfilment. In the same way that
there is an Old Testament, but all truth is in the New Testament, so it is
for the Law: what was given through Moses is a figure of the true law.
Therefore, the Mosaic Law is an image of the truth".[25]
"Jesus brings God's commandments to fulfilment," particularly the
commandment of love of neighbour, "by interiorizing their demands and by
bringing out their fullest meaning." Love of neighbour springs from "a
loving heart" which, precisely because it loves, is ready to live out "the
loftiest challenges." Jesus shows that the commandments must not be
understood as a minimum limit not to be gone beyond, but rather as a path
involving a moral and spiritual journey towards perfection, at the heart
of which is love (cf. Col 3:14). Thus the commandment "You shall not
murder" becomes a call to an attentive love which protects and promotes
the life of one's neighbour. The precept prohibiting adultery becomes an
invitation to a pure way of looking at others, capable of respecting the
spousal meaning of the body: "You have heard that it was said to the men
of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to
judgment'. But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother
shall be liable to judgment . . . You have heard that it was said, 'You
shall not commit adultery'. But I say to you that every one who looks at a
woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt
5:21-22,27-28). "Jesus himself is the living 'fulfilment' of the Law"
inasmuch as he fulfils its authentic meaning by the total gift of himself:
"he himself becomes a living and personal Law," who invites people to
follow him; through the Spirit, he gives the grace to share his own life
and love and provides the strength to bear witness to that love in
personal choices and actions (cf. Jn 13:34- 35).
"If you wish to be perfect" (Mt 19:21)
16. The answer he receives about the commandments does not satisfy the
young man, who asks Jesus a further question. "I have kept all these;
'what do I still lack?'" (Mt 19:20). It is not easy to say with a clear
conscience "I have kept all these", if one has any understanding of the
real meaning of the demands contained in God's Law. And yet, even though
he is able to make this reply, even though he has followed the moral ideal
seriously and generously from childhood, the rich young man knows that he
is still far from the goal: before the person of Jesus he realizes that he
is still lacking something. It is his awareness of this insufficiency that
Jesus addresses in his final answer. Conscious of "the young man's
yearning for something greater, which would transcend a legalistic
interpretation of the commandments," the Good Teacher invites him to enter
upon the path of perfection: "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your
possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; then come, follow me" (Mt 19:21).
Like the earlier part of Jesus' answer, this part too must be read and
interpreted in the context of the whole moral message of the Gospel, and
in particular in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes
(cf. Mt 5:3-12), the first of which is precisely the Beatitude of the
poor, the "poor in spirit" as Saint Matthew makes clear (Mt 5:3), the
humble. In this sense it can be said that the Beatitudes are also relevant
to the answer given by Jesus to the young man's question: "What good must
I do to have eternal life?". Indeed, each of the Beatitudes promises, from
a particular viewpoint, that very "good" which opens man up to eternal
life, and indeed is eternal life.
"The Beatitudes" are not specifically concerned with certain particular
rules of behaviour. Rather, they speak of basic attitudes and dispositions
in life and therefore they "do not coincide exactly with the
commandments." On the other hand, "there is no separation or opposition"
between the Beatitudes and the commandments: both refer to the good, to
eternal life. The Sermon on the Mount begins with the proclamation of the
Beatitudes, but also refers to the commandments (cf. Mt 5:20-48). At the
same time, the Sermon on the Mount demonstrates the openness of the
commandments and their orientation towards the horizon of the perfection
proper to the Beatitudes. These latter are above all "promises," from
which there also indirectly flow "normative indications" for the moral
life. In their originality and profundity they are a sort of
"self-portrait of Christ," and for this very reason are "invitations to
discipleship and to communion of life with Christ."[26]
17. We do not know how clearly the young man in the Gospel understood
the profound and challenging import of Jesus' first reply: "If you wish to
enter into life, keep the commandments". But it is certain that the young
man's commitment to respect all the moral demands of the commandments
represents the absolutely essential ground in which the desire for
perfection can take root and mature, the desire, that is, for the meaning
of the commandments to be completely fulfilled in following Christ. Jesus'
conversation with the young man helps us to grasp "the conditions for the
moral growth of man, who has been called to perfection:" the young man,
having observed all the commandments, shows that he is incapable of taking
the next step by himself alone. To do so requires mature human freedom
("If you wish to be perfect") and God's gift of grace ("Come, follow me").
"Perfection demands that maturity in self-giving to which human freedom
is called." Jesus points out to the young man that the commandments are
the first and indispensable condition for having eternal life; on the
other hand, for the young man to give up all he possesses and to follow
the Lord is presented as an invitation: "If you wish . . . ". These words
of Jesus reveal the particular dynamic of freedom's growth towards
maturity, and at the same time "they bear witness to the fundamental
relationship between freedom and divine law." Human freedom and God's law
are not in opposition; on the contrary, they appeal one to the other. The
follower of Christ knows that his vocation is to freedom. "You were called
to freedom, brethren" (Gal 5:13), proclaims the Apostle Paul with joy and
pride. But he immediately adds: "only do not use your freedom as an
opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another"
(ibid.). The firmness with which the Apostle opposes those who believe
that they are justified by the Law has nothing to do with man's
"liberation" from precepts. On the contrary, the latter are at the service
of the practice of love: "For he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the
Law. The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not
murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet,' and any other
commandment, are summed up in this sentence, "You shall love your
neighbour as yourself " (Rom 13:8-9). Saint Augustine, after speaking of
the observance of the commandments as being a kind of incipient, imperfect
freedom, goes on to say: "Why, someone will ask, is it not yet perfect?
Because 'I see in my members another law at war with the law of my reason'
. . . In part freedom, in part slavery: not yet complete freedom, not yet
pure, not yet whole, because we are not yet in eternity. In part we retain
our weakness and in part we have attained freedom. All our sins were
destroyed in Baptism, but does it follow that no weakness remained after
iniquity was destroyed? Had none remained, we would live without sin in
this life. But who would dare to say this except someone who is proud,
someone unworthy of the mercy of our deliverer? . . . Therefore, since
some weakness has remained in us, I dare to say that to the extent to
which we serve God we are free, while to the extent that we follow the law
of sin, we are still slaves".[27]
18. Those who live "by the flesh" experience God's law as a burden, and
indeed as a denial or at least a restriction of their own freedom. On the
other hand, those who are impelled by love and "walk by the Spirit" (Gal
5:16), and who desire to serve others, find in God's Law the fundamental
and necessary way in which to practise love as something freely chosen and
freely lived out. Indeed, they feel an interior urge--a genuine
"necessity" and no longer a form of coercion--not to stop at the minimum
demands of the Law, but to live them in their "fullness". This is a still
uncertain and fragile journey as long as we are on earth, but it is one
made possible by grace, which enables us to possess the full freedom of
the children of God (cf. Rom 8:21) and thus to live our moral life in a
way worthy of our sublime vocation as "sons in the Son".
This vocation to perfect love is not restricted to a small group of
individuals. "The invitation," "go, sell your possessions and give the
money to the poor", and the promise "you will have treasure in heaven",
"are meant for everyone," because they bring out the full meaning of the
commandment of love for neighbour, just as the invitation which follows,
"Come, follow me", is the new, specific form of the commandment of love of
God. Both the commandments and Jesus' invitation to the rich young man
stand at the service of a single and indivisible charity, which
spontaneously tends towards that perfection whose measure is God alone:
"You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt
5:48). In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus makes even clearer the meaning of this
perfection: "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36).
"Come, follow me" (Mt 19:21)
19. The way and at the same time the content of this perfection consist
in the following of Jesus, "sequela Christi," once one has given up one's
own wealth and very self. This is precisely the conclusion of Jesus'
conversation with the young man: "Come, follow me" (Mt 19:21). It is an
invitation the marvellous grandeur of which will be fully perceived by the
disciples after Christ's Resurrection, when the Holy Spirit leads them to
all truth (cf. Jn 16:13).
It is Jesus himself who takes the initiative and calls people to follow
him. His call is addressed first to those to whom he entrusts a particular
mission, beginning with the Twelve; but it is also clear that every
believer is called to be a follower of Christ (cf. Acts 6:1). "Following
Christ is thus the essential and primordial foundation of Christian
morality:" just as the people of Israel followed God who led them through
the desert towards the Promised Land (cf. Ex 13:21), so every disciple
must follow Jesus, towards whom he is drawn by the Father himself (cf. Jn
6:44).
This is not a matter only of disposing oneself to hear a teaching and
obediently accepting a commandment. More radically, it involves "holding
fast to the very person of Jesus," partaking of his life and his destiny,
sharing in his free and loving obedience to the will of the Father. By
responding in faith and following the one who is Incarnate Wisdom, the
disciple of Jesus truly becomes "a disciple of God" (cf. Jn 6:45). Jesus
is indeed the light of the world, the light of life (cf. Jn 8:12). He is
the shepherd who leads his sheep and feeds them (cf. Jn 10:11-16); he is
the way, and the truth, and the life (cf. Jn 14:6). It is Jesus who leads
to the Father, so much so that to see him, the Son, is to see the Father
(cf. Jn 14:6-10). And thus to imitate the Son, "the image of the invisible
God" (Col 1:15), means to imitate the Father.
20. "Jesus asks us to follow him and to imitate him along the path of
love, a love which gives itself completely to the brethren out of love for
God:" "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you" (Jn 15:12). The word "as" requires imitation of Jesus and of his
love, of which the washing of feet is a sign: "If I then, your Lord and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you"
(Jn 13:14- 15). Jesus' way of acting and his words, his deeds and his
precepts constitute the moral rule of Christian life. Indeed, his actions,
and in particular his Passion and Death on the Cross, are the living
revelation of his love for the Father and for others. This is exactly the
love that Jesus wishes to be imitated by all who follow him. It is "the
'new' commandment:" "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this
all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another" (Jn 13:34-35). The word "as" also indicates the "degree" of
Jesus' love, and of the love with which his disciples are called to love
one another. After saying: "This is my commandment, that you love one
another as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12), Jesus continues with words which
indicate the sacrificial gift of his life on the Cross, as the witness to
a love "to the end" (Jn 13:1): "Greater love has no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13).
As he calls the young man to follow him along the way of perfection,
Jesus asks him to be perfect in the command of love, in "his" commandment:
to become part of the unfolding of his complete giving, to imitate and
rekindle the very love of the "Good" Teacher, the one who loved "to the
end". This is what Jesus asks of everyone who wishes to follow him: "If
any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me" (Mt 16:24).
21. "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 (cf. Phil 2:5-8). Christ dwells by faith in the heart of the
believer (cf. Eph 3:17), 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.
Having become one with Christ, the Christian "becomes a member of his
Body, which is the Church" (cf. 1 Cor 12:13,27). By the work of the
Spirit, Baptism radically configures the faithful to Christ in the Paschal
Mystery of death and resurrection; it "clothes him" in Christ (cf. Gal
3:27): "Let us rejoice and give thanks", exclaims Saint Augustine speaking
to the baptized, "for we have become not only Christians, but Christ ( . .
. ). Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ!".[28] Having died to sin,
those who are baptized receive new life (cf. Rom 6:3-11): alive for God in
Christ Jesus, they are called to walk by the Spirit and to manifest the
Spirit's fruits in their lives (cf. Gal 5:16-25). Sharing in the
"Eucharist," the sacrament of the New Covenant (cf. 1 Cor 11:23-29), is
the culmination of our assimilation to Christ, the source of "eternal
life" (cf. Jn 6:51-58), the source and power of that complete gift of
self, which Jesus--according to the testimony handed on by Paul--commands
us to commemorate in liturgy and in life: "As often as you eat this bread
and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Cor
11:26).
"With God all things are possible" (Mt 19:26)
22. The conclusion of Jesus' conversation with the rich young man is
very poignant: "When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for
he had many possessions" (Mt 19:22). Not only the rich man but the
disciples themselves are taken aback by Jesus' call to discipleship, the
demands of which transcend human aspirations and abilities: "When the
disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, 'Then who can
be saved?"' (Mt 19:25). "But the Master refers them to God's power:" "With
men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Mt 19:26).
In the same chapter of Matthew's Gospel (19:3-10), Jesus, interpreting
the Mosaic Law on marriage, rejects the right to divorce, appealing to a
"beginning" more fundamental and more authoritative than the Law of Moses:
God's original plan for mankind, a plan which man after sin has no longer
been able to live up to: "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to
divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so" (Mt 19:8).
Jesus' appeal to the "beginning" dismays the disciples, who remark: "If
such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry" (Mt
19:10). And Jesus, referring specifically to the charism of celibacy "for
the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt 19:12), but stating a general rule, indicates
the new and surprising possibility opened up to man by God's grace. "He
said to them: 'Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom
it is given"' (Mt 19:11).
To imitate and live out the love of Christ is not possible for man by
his own strength alone. He becomes "capable of this love only by virtue of
a gift received." As the Lord Jesus receives the love of his Father, so he
in turn freely communicates that love to his disciples: "As the Father has
loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love" (Jn 15:9). "Christ's gift
is his Spirit," whose first "fruit" (cf. Gal 5:22) is charity: "God's love
has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been
given to us" (Rom 5:5). Saint Augustine asks: "Does love bring about the
keeping of the commandments, or does the keeping of the commandments bring
about love?" And he answers: "But who can doubt that love comes first? For
the one who does not love has no reason for keeping the commandments".[29]
23. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from
the law of sin and death" (Rom 8:2). With these words the Apostle Paul
invites us to consider in the perspective of the history of salvation,
which reaches its fulfilment in Christ, "the relationship between the
(Old) Law and grace (the New Law)." He recognizes the pedagogic function
of the Law, which, by enabling sinful man to take stock of his own
powerlessness and by stripping him of the presumption of his
self-sufficiency, leads him to ask for and to receive "life in the
Spirit". Only in this new life is it possible to carry out God's
commandments. Indeed, it is through faith in Christ that we have been made
righteous (cf. Rom 3:28): the "righteousness" which the Law demands, but
is unable to give, is found by every believer to be revealed and granted
by the Lord Jesus. Once again it is Saint Augustine who admirably sums up
this Pauline dialectic of law and grace: "The law was given that grace
might be sought; and grace was given, that the law might be
fulfilled".[30]
Love and life according to the Gospel cannot be thought of first and
foremost as a kind of precept, because what they demand is beyond man's
abilities. They are possible only as the result of a gift of God who
heals, restores and transforms the human heart by his grace: "For the law
was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (Jn
1:17). The promise of eternal life is thus linked to the gift of grace,
and the gift of the Spirit which we have received is even now the
"guarantee of our inheritance" (Eph 1:14).
24. And so we find revealed the authentic and original aspect of the
commandment of love and of the perfection to which it is ordered: we are
speaking of a "possibility opened up to man exclusively by grace," by the
gift of God, by his love. On the other hand, precisely the awareness of
having received the gift, of possessing in Jesus Christ the love of God,
generates and sustains "the free response" of a full love for God and the
brethren, as the Apostle John insistently reminds us in his first Letter:
"Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God and knows God. He
who does not love does not know God; for God is love . . . Beloved, if God
so loved us, we ought also to love one another.. . We love, because he
first loved us" (1 Jn 4:7-8,11,19).
This inseparable connection between the Lord's grace and human freedom,
between gift and task, has been expressed in simple yet profound words by
Saint Augustine in his prayer: "Da quod iubes et iube quod vis" (grant
what you command and command what you will).[31]
"The gift does not lessen but reinforces the moral demands of love:"
"This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son
Jesus Christ and love one another just as he has commanded us" (1 Jn
3:32). One can "abide" in love only by keeping the commandments, as Jesus
states: "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I
have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love" (Jn 15:10).
Going to the heart of the moral message of Jesus and the preaching of
the Apostles, and summing up in a remarkable way the great tradition of
the Fathers of the East and West, and of Saint Augustine in
particular,[32] Saint Thomas was able to write that "the New Law is the
grace of the Holy Spirit given through faith in Christ."[33] The external
precepts also mentioned in the Gospel dispose one for this grace or
produce its effects in one's life. Indeed, the New Law is not content to
say what must be done, but also gives the power to "do what is true" (cf.
Jn 3:21). Saint John Chrysostom likewise observed that the New Law was
promulgated at the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven on the day of
Pentecost, and that the Apostles "did not come down from the mountain
carrying, like Moses, tablets of stone in their hands; but they came down
carrying the Holy Spirit in their hearts . . . having become by his grace
a living law, a living book".[34]
"Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20)
25. Jesus' conversation with the rich young man continues, in a sense,
"in every period of history, including our own." The question: "Teacher,
what good must I do to have eternal life?" arises in the heart of every
individual, and it is Christ alone who is capable of giving the full and
definitive answer. The Teacher who expounds God's commandments, who
invites others to follow him and gives the grace for a new life, is always
present and at work in our midst, as he himself promised: "Lo, I am with
you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20). "Christ's relevance for
people of all times is shown forth in his body, which is the Church." For
this reason the Lord promised his disciples the Holy Spirit, who would
"bring to their remembrance" and teach them to understand his commandments
(cf. Jn 14:26), and who would be the principle and constant source of a
new life in the world (cf. Jn 3:5-8; Rom 8:1-13).
The moral prescriptions which God imparted in the Old Covenant, and
which attained their perfection in the New and Eternal Covenant in the
very person of the Son of God made man, must be "faithfully kept and
continually put into practice" in the various different cultures
throughout the course of history. The task of interpreting these
prescriptions was entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles and to their
successors, with the special assistance of the Spirit of truth: "He who
hears you hears me" (Lk 10:16). By the light and the strength of this
Spirit the Apostles carried out their mission of preaching the Gospel and
of pointing out the "way" of the Lord (cf. Acts 18:25), teaching above all
how to follow and imitate Christ: "For to me to live is Christ" (Phil
1:21).
26. In the "moral catechesis of the Apostles," besides exhortations and
directions connected to specific historical and cultural situations, we
find an ethical teaching with precise rules of behaviour. This is seen in
their Letters, which contain the interpretation, made under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, of the Lord's precepts as they are to be lived in
different cultural circumstances (cf. Rom 12-15; 1 Cor 11-14; Gal 5-6; Eph
4-6; Col 3-4; 1 Pt and Jas). From the Church's beginnings, the Apostles,
by virtue of their pastoral responsibility to preach the Gospel, "were
vigilant over the right conduct of Christians,"[35] just as they were
vigilant for the purity of the faith and the handing down of the divine
gifts in the sacraments.[36] The first Christians, coming both from the
Jewish people and from the Gentiles, differed from the pagans not only in
their faith and their liturgy but also in the witness of their moral
conduct, which was inspired by the New Law.[37] The Church is in fact a
communion both of faith and of life; her rule of life is "faith working
through love" (Gal 5:6).
No damage must be done to the "harmony between faith and life: the
unity of the Church" is damaged not only by Christians who reject or
distort the truths of faith but also by those who disregard the moral
obligations to which they are called by the Gospel (cf. 1 Cor 5:9-13). The
Apostles decisively rejected any separation between the commitment of the
heart and the actions which express or prove it (cf. 1 Jn 2:3-6). And ever
since Apostolic times the Church's Pastors have unambiguously condemned
the behaviour of those who fostered division by their teaching or by their
actions.[38]
27. Within the unity of the Church, promoting and preserving the faith
and the moral life is the task entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles (cf. Mt
28:19-20), a task which continues in the ministry of their successors.
This is apparent from the "living Tradition," whereby--as the Second
Vatican Council teaches--"the Church, in her teaching, life and worship,
perpetuates and hands on to every generation all that she is and all that
she believes. This Tradition which comes from the Apostles, progresses in
the Church under the assistance of the Holy Spirit".[39] In the Holy
Spirit, the Church receives and hands down the Scripture as the witness to
the "great things" which God has done in history (cf. Lk 1:49); she
professes by the lips of her Fathers and Doctors the truth of the Word
made flesh, puts his precepts and love into practice in the lives of her
Saints and in the sacrifice of her Martyrs, and celebrates her hope in him
in the Liturgy. By this same Tradition Christians receive "the living
voice of the Gospel",[40] as the faithful expression of God's wisdom and
will.
Within Tradition, "the authentic interpretation" of the Lord's law
develops, with the help of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who is at the
origin of the Revelation of Jesus' commandments and teachings guarantees
that they will be reverently preserved, faithfully expounded and correctly
applied in different times and places. This constant "putting into
practice" of the commandments is the sign and fruit of a deeper insight
into Revelation and of an understanding in the light of faith of new
historical and cultural situations. Nevertheless, it can only confirm the
permanent validity of revelation and follow in the line of the
interpretation given to it by the great Tradition of the Church's teaching
and life, as witnessed by the teaching of the Fathers, the lives of the
Saints, the Church's Liturgy and the teaching of the Magisterium.
In particular, as the Council affirms, "the task of authentically
interpreting the word of God, whether in its written form or in that of
Tradition, has been entrusted only to those charged with the Church's
living Magisterium, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus
Christ".[41] The Church, in her life and teaching, is thus revealed as
"the pillar and bulwark of the truth" (1 Tm 3:15), including the truth
regarding moral action. Indeed, "the Church has the right always and
everywhere to proclaim moral principles, even in respect of the social
order, and to make judgments about any human matter in so far as this is
required by fundamental human rights or the salvation of souls."[42]
Precisely on the questions frequently debated in moral theology today
and with regard to which new tendencies and theories have developed, the
Magisterium, in fidelity to Jesus Christ and in continuity with the
Church's tradition, senses more urgently the duty to offer its own
discernment and teaching, in order to help man in his journey towards
truth and freedom.
Chapter Two
"Do Not Be Conformed to This World"
(Romans 12:2)
The Church and the Discernment of Certain Tendencies in
Present-Day Moral Theology
"Teaching what befits sound doctrine" (cf. Tit 2:1)
28. Our meditation on the dialogue between Jesus and the rich young man
has enabled us to bring together the essential elements of revelation in
the Old and New Testament with regard to moral action. These are: the
"subordination of man and his activity to God," the One who "alone is
good"; the "relationship between the moral good" of human acts "and
eternal life;" Christian discipleship," which opens up before man the
perspective of perfect love; and finally the "gift of the Holy Spirit,"
source and means of the moral life of the "new creation" (cf. 2 Cor 5:17).
In her reflection on morality, "the Church" has always kept in mind the
words of Jesus to the rich young man. Indeed, Sacred Scripture remains the
living and fruitful source of the Church's moral doctrine; as the Second
Vatican Council recalled, the Gospel is "the source of all saving truth
and moral teaching".[43] The Church has faithfully preserved what the word
of God teaches, not only about truths which must be believed but also
about moral action, action pleasing to God (cf. 1 Th 4:1)); she has
achieved a "doctrinal development" analogous to that which has taken place
in the realm of the truths of faith. Assisted by the Holy Spirit who leads
her into all the truth (cf. Jn 16:13), the Church has not ceased, nor can
she ever cease, to contemplate the "mystery of the Word Incarnate", in
whom "light is shed on the mystery of man".[44]
29. The Church's moral reflection, always conducted in the light of
Christ, the "Good Teacher", has also developed in the specific form of the
theological science called "moral theology", a science which accepts and
examines Divine Revelation while at the same time responding to the
demands of human reason. Moral theology is a reflection concerned with
"morality", with the good and the evil of human acts and of the person who
performs them; in this sense it is accessible to all people. But it is
also "theology", inasmuch as it acknowledges that the origin and end of
moral action are found in the One who "alone is good" and who, by giving
himself to man in Christ, offers him the happiness of divine life.
The Second Vatican Council invited scholars to take "special care for
the renewal of moral theology", in such a way that "its scientific
presentation, increasingly based on the teaching of Scripture, will cast
light on the exalted vocation of the faithful in Christ and on their
obligation to bear fruit in charity for the life of the world".[45] The
Council also encouraged theologians, "while respecting the methods and
requirements of theological science, to look for "a more appropriate way
of communicating" doctrine to the people of their time; since there is a
difference between the deposit or the truths of faith and the manner in
which they are expressed, keeping the same meaning and the same
judgment".[46] This led to a further invitation, one extended to all the
faithful, but addressed to theologians in particular: "The faithful should
live in the closest contact with others of their time, and should work for
a perfect understanding of their modes of thought and feelings as
expressed in their culture".[47]
The work of many theologians who found support in the Council's
encouragement has already borne fruit in interesting and helpful
reflections about the truths of faith to be believed and applied in life,
reflections offered in a form better suited to the sensitivities and
questions of our contemporaries. The Church, and particularly the Bishops,
to whom Jesus Christ primarily entrusted the ministry of teaching, are
deeply appreciative of this work, and encourage theologians to continue
their efforts, inspired by that profound and authentic "fear of the Lord,
which is the beginning of wisdom" (cf. Prov 1:7).
At the same time, however, within the context of the theological
debates which followed the Council, there have developed "certain
interpretations of Christian morality which are not consistent with 'sound
teaching'" (2 Tm 4:3). Certainly the Church's Magisterium does not intend
to impose upon the faithful any particular theological system, still less
a philosophical one. Nevertheless, in order to "reverently preserve and
faithfully expound" the word of God,[48] the Magisterium has the duty to
state that some trends of theological thinking and certain philosophical
affirmations are incompatible with revealed truth.[49]
30. In addressing this Encyclical to you, my Brother Bishops, it is my
intention to state "the principles necessary for discerning what is
contrary to 'sound doctrine'," drawing attention to those elements of the
Church's moral teaching which today appear particularly exposed to error,
ambiguity or neglect. Yet these are the very elements on which there
depends "the answer to the obscure riddles of the human condition which
today also, as in the past, profoundly disturb the human heart. What is
man? What is the meaning and purpose of our life? What is good and what is
sin? What origin and purpose do sufferings have? What is the way to
attaining true happiness? What are death, judgment and retribution after
death? Lastly, what is that final, unutterable mystery which embraces our
lives and from which we take our origin and towards which we tend?"[50]
These and other questions, such as: what is freedom and what is its
relationship to the truth contained in God's law? what is the role of
conscience in man's moral development? how do we determine, in accordance
with the truth about the good, the specific rights and duties of the human
person?--can all be summed up in the fundamental question which the young
man in the Gospel put to Jesus: "Teacher, what good must I do to have
eternal life?" Because the Church has been sent by Jesus to preach the
Gospel and to "make disciples of all nations . . . , teaching them to
observe all" that he has commanded (cf. Mt 28:19-20), "she today once more
puts forward the Master's reply," a reply that possesses a light and a
power capable of answering even the most controversial and complex
questions. This light and power also impel the Church constantly to carry
out not only her dogmatic but also her moral reflection within an
interdisciplinary context, which is especially necessary in facing new
issues.[51]
It is in the same light and power that the "Church's Magisterium
continues to carry out its task of discernment," accepting and living out
the admonition addressed by the Apostle Paul to Timothy: "I charge you in
the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the
dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in
season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in
patience and in teaching. For the time will come when people will not
endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for
themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from
listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be
steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your
ministry" (2 Tim 4:1-5; cf. Tit 1:10,13-14).
"You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (Jn
8:32)
31. The human issues most frequently debated and differently resolved
in contemporary moral reflection are all closely related, albeit in
various ways, to a crucial issue: "human freedom."
Certainly people today have a particularly strong sense of freedom. As
the Council's Declaration on Religious Freedom "Dignitatis Humanae" had
already observed, "the dignity of the human person is a concern of which
people of our time are becoming increasingly more aware".[52] Hence the
insistent demand that people be permitted to "enjoy the use of their own
responsible judgment and freedom, and decide on their actions on grounds
of duty and conscience, without external pressure or coercion".[53] In
particular, the right to religious freedom and to respect for conscience
on its journey towards the truth is increasingly perceived as the
foundation of the cumulative rights of the person.[54]
This heightened sense of the dignity of the human person and of his or
her uniqueness, and of the respect due to the journey of conscience,
certainly represents one of the positive achievements of modern culture.
This perception, authentic as it is, has been expressed in a number of
more or less adequate ways, some of which however diverge from the truth
about man as a creature and the image of God, and thus need to be
corrected and purified in the light of faith.[55]
32. Certain currents of modern thought have gone so far as to "exalt
freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute, which would then be
the source of values". This is the direction taken by doctrines which have
lost the sense of the transcendent which are explicitly atheist. The
individual conscience is accorded the status of a supreme tribunal of
moral judgment which hands down categorical and infallible decisions about
good and evil. To the affirmation that one has a duty to follow one's
conscience is unduly added the affirmation that one's moral judgment is
true merely by the fact that it has its origin in the conscience. But in
this way the inescapable claims of truth disappear, yielding their place
to a criterion of sincerity, authenticity and "being at peace with
oneself", so much so that some have come to adopt a radically
subjectivistic conception of moral judgment.
As is immediately evident, "the crisis of truth" is not unconnected
with this development. Once the idea of a universal truth about the good,
knowable by human reason, is lost, inevitably the notion of conscience
also changes. Conscience is no longer considered in its primordial reality
as an act of a person's intelligence, the function of which is to apply
the universal knowledge of the good in a specific situation and thus to
express a judgment about the right conduct to be chosen here and now.
Instead, there is a tendency to grant to the individual conscience the
prerogative of independently determining the criteria of good and evil and
then acting accordingly. Such an outlook is quite congenial to an
individualist ethic, wherein each individual is faced with his own truth,
different from the truth of others. Taken to its extreme consequences,
this individualism leads to a denial of the very idea of human nature.
These different notions are at the origin of currents of thought which
posit a radical opposition between moral law and conscience, and between
nature and freedom.
33. "Side by side" with its exaltation of freedom, yet oddly in
contrast with it, "modern culture radically questions the very existence
of this freedom." A number of disciplines, grouped under the name of the
"behavioural sciences", have rightly drawn attention to the many kinds of
psychological and social conditioning which influence the exercise of
human freedom. Knowledge of these conditionings and the study they have
received represent important achievements which have found application in
various areas, for example in pedagogy or the administration of justice.
But some people, going beyond the conclusions which can be legitimately
drawn from these observations, have come to question or even deny the very
reality of human freedom.
Mention should also be made here of theories which misuse scientific
research about the human person. Arguing from the great variety of
customs, behaviour patterns and institutions present in humanity, these
theories end up, if not with an outright denial of universal human values,
at least with a relativistic conception of morality.
34. "Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?". "The question
of morality," to which Christ provides the answer, "cannot prescind from
the issue of freedom. Indeed, it considers that issue central," for there
can be no morality without freedom: "It is only in freedom that man can
turn to what is good".[56] "But what sort of freedom?" The Council,
considering our contemporaries who "highly regard" freedom and
"assiduously pursue" it, but who "often cultivate it in wrong ways as a
licence to do anything they please, even evil", speaks of "'genuine'
freedom:" "Genuine freedom is an outstanding manifestation of the divine
image in man. For God willed to leave man 'in the power of his own
counsel' (cf. Sir 15:14), so that he would seek his Creator of his own
accord and would freely arrive at full and blessed perfection by cleaving
to God".[57] Although each individual has a right to be respected in his
own journey in search of the truth, there exists a prior moral obligation,
and a grave one at that, to seek the truth and to adhere to it once it is
known.[58] As Cardinal John Henry Newman, that outstanding defender of the
rights of conscience, forcefully put it: "Conscience has rights because it
has duties".[59]
Certain tendencies in contemporary moral theology, under the influence
of the currents of subjectivism and individualism just mentioned, involve
novel interpretations of the relationship of freedom to the moral law,
human nature and conscience, and propose novel criteria for the moral
evaluation of acts. Despite their variety, these tendencies are at one in
lessening or even denying "the dependence of freedom on truth."
If we wish to undertake a critical discernment of these tendencies--a
discernment capable of acknowledging what is legitimate, useful and of
value in them, while at the same time pointing out their ambiguities,
dangers and errors--we must examine them in the light of the fundamental
dependence of freedom upon truth, a dependence which has found its
clearest and most authoritative expression in the words of Christ: "You
will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32).
I. Freedom and Law
"Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat"
(Gen 2:17)
35. In the Book of Genesis we read: "The Lord God commanded the man,
saying, 'You may eat freely of every tree of the garden; but of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that
you eat of it you shall die"' (Gen 2: 16-17).
With this imagery, Revelation teaches that "the power to decide what is
good and what is evil does not belong to man, but to God alone." The man
is certainly free, inasmuch as he can understand and accept God's
commands. And he possesses an extremely far-reaching freedom, since he can
eat "of every tree of the garden". But his freedom is not unlimited: it
must halt before the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil", for it is
called to accept the moral law given by God. In fact, human freedom finds
its authentic and complete fulfilment precisely in the acceptance of that
law. God, who alone is good, knows perfectly what is good for man, and by
virtue of his very love proposes this good to man in the commandments.
God's law does not reduce, much less do away with human freedom;
rather, it protects and promotes that freedom. In contrast, however, some
present-day cultural tendencies have given rise to several currents of
thought in ethics which centre upon "an alleged conflict between freedom
and law." These doctrines would grant to individuals or social groups the
right "to determine what is good or evil." Human freedom would thus be
able to "create values" and would enjoy a primacy over truth, to the point
that truth itself would be considered a creation of freedom. Freedom would
thus lay claim to a "moral autonomy" which would actually amount to an
"absolute sovereignty."
36. The modern concern for the claims of autonomy has not failed to
exercise an "influence" also "in the sphere of Catholic moral theology."
While the latter has certainly never attempted to set human freedom
against the divine law or to question the existence of an ultimate
religious foundation for moral norms, it has, nonetheless, been led to
undertake a profound rethinking about the role of reason and of faith in
identifying moral norms with reference to specific "innerworldly" kinds of
behaviour involving oneself, others and the material world.
It must be acknowledged that underlying this work of rethinking there
are "certain positive concerns" which to a great extent belong to the best
tradition of Catholic thought. In response to the encouragement of the
Second Vatican Council,[60] there has been a desire to foster dialogue
with modern culture, emphasizing the rational--and thus universally
understandable and communicable character of moral norms belonging to the
sphere of the natural moral law.[61] There has also been an attempt to
reaffirm the interior character of the ethical requirements deriving from
that law, requirements which create an obligation for the will only
because such an obligation was previously acknowledged by human reason
and, concretely, by personal conscience.
Some people, however, disregarding the dependence of human reason on
Divine Wisdom and the need, given the present state of fallen nature, for
Divine Revelation as an effective means for knowing moral truths, even
those of the natural order,[62] have actually posited a "complete
sovereignty of reason" in the domain of moral norms regarding the right
ordering of life in this world. Such norms would constitute the boundaries
for a merely "human" morality; they would be the expression of a law which
man in an autonomous manner lays down for himself and which has its source
exclusively in human reason. In no way could God be considered the Author
of this law, except in the sense that human reason exercises its autonomy
in setting down laws by virtue of a primordial and total mandate given to
man by God. These trends of thought have led to a denial, in opposition to
Sacred Scripture (cf. Mt 15:3-6) and the Church's constant teaching, of
the fact that the natural moral law has God as its author, and that man,
by the use of reason, participates in the eternal law, which it is not for
him to establish.
37. In their desire, however, to keep the moral life in a Christian
context, certain moral theologians have introduced a sharp distinction,
contrary to Catholic doctrine.[63] between an "ethical order." which would
be human in origin and of value for "this world" alone, and an "order of
salvation" for which only certain intentions and interior attitudes
regarding God and neighbor would be significant. This has then led to an
actual denial that there exists, in Divine Revelation, a specific and
determined moral content, universally valid and permanent. The word of God
would be limited to proposing an exhortation, a generic paraenesis, which
the autonomous reason alone would then have the task of completing with
normative directives which are truly "objective", that is, adapted to the
concrete historical situation. Naturally, an autonomy conceived in this
way also involves the denial of a specific doctrinal competence on the
part of the Church and her Magisterium with regard to particular moral
norms which deal with the so-called "human good". Such norms would not be
part of the proper content of Revelation, and would not in themselves be
relevant for salvation.
No one can fail to see that such an interpretation of the autonomy of
human reason involves positions incompatible with Catholic teaching.
In such a context it is absolutely necessary to clarify, in the light
of the word of God and the living Tradition of the Church, the fundamental
notions of human freedom and of the moral law, as well as their profound
and intimate relationship. Only thus will it be possible to respond to the
rightful claims of human reason in a way which accepts the valid elements
present in certain currents of contemporary moral theology without
compromising the Church's heritage of moral teaching with ideas derived
from an erroneous concept of autonomy.
"God left man in the power of his own counsel" (Sir 15:14)
38. Taking up the words of Sirach, the Second Vatican Council explains
the meaning of that "genuine freedom" which is "an outstanding
manifestation of the divine image" in man: "God willed to leave man in the
power of his own counsel, so that he would seek his Creator of his own
accord and would freely arrive at full and blessed perfection by cleaving
to God".[64] These words indicate the wonderful depth of the "sharing in
God's dominion" to which man has been called: they indicate that man's
dominion extends in a certain sense over man himself. This has been a
constantly recurring theme in theological reflection on human freedom,
which is described as a form of kingship. For example, Saint Gregory of
Nyssa writes: "The soul shows its royal and exalted character . . . in
that it is free and self-governed, swayed autonomously by its own will. Of
whom else can this be said, save a king? . . . Thus human nature, created
to rule other creatures, was by its likeness to the King of the universe
made as it were a living image, partaking with the Archetype both in
dignity and in name".[65]
"The exercise of dominion over the world" represents a great and
responsible task for man, one which involves his freedom in obedience to
the Creator's command: "Fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen 1:28). In view
of this, a rightful autonomy is due to every man, as well as to the human
community, a fact to which the Council's Constitution "Gaudium et Spes"
calls special attention. This is the autonomy of earthly realities, which
means that "created things have their own laws and values which are to be
gradually discovered, utilized and ordered by man".[66]
39. Not only the world, however, but also "man himself" has been
"entrusted to his own care and responsibility." God left man "in the power
of his own counsel" (Sir 15:14), that he might seek his Creator and freely
attain perfection. Attaining such perfection means "personally building up
that perfection in himself." Indeed, just as man in exercising his
dominion over the world shapes it in accordance with his own intelligence
and will, so too in performing morally good acts, man strengthens,
develops and consolidates within himself his likeness to God.
Even so, the Council warns against a false concept of the autonomy of
earthly realities, one which would maintain that "created things are not
dependent on God and that man can use them without reference to their
Creator".[67] With regard to man himself, such a concept of autonomy
produces particularly baneful effects, and eventually leads to atheism:
"Without its Creator the creature simply disappears . . . If God is
ignored the creature itself is impoverished".[68]
40. The teaching of the Council emphasizes, on the one hand, "the role
of human reason" in discovering and applying the moral law: the moral life
calls for that creativity and originality typical of the person, the
source and cause of his own deliberate acts. On the other hand, reason
draws its own truth and authority from the eternal law, which is none
other than divine wisdom itself.[69] At the heart of the moral life we
thus find the principle of a "rightful autonomy"[70] of man, the personal
subject of his actions. "The moral law has its origin in God and always
finds its source in him:" at the same time, by virtue of natural reason,
which derives from divine wisdom, it is "a properly human law." Indeed, as
we have seen, the natural law "is nothing other than the light of
understanding infused in us by God, whereby we understand what must be
done and what must be avoided. God gave this light and this law to man at
creation".[71] The rightful autonomy of the practical reason means that
man possesses in himself his own law, received from the Creator.
Nevertheless, "the autonomy of reason cannot mean" that reason itself
"creates values and moral norms."[72] Were this autonomy to imply a denial
of the participation of the practical reason in the wisdom of the divine
Creator and Lawgiver, or were it to suggest a freedom which creates moral
norms, on the basis of historical contingencies or the diversity of
societies and cultures, this sort of alleged autonomy would contradict the
Church's teaching on the truth about man.[73] It would be the death of
true freedom: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall
not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen 2:17).
41. Man's "genuine moral autonomy" in no way means the rejection but
rather the acceptance of the moral law, of God's command: "The Lord God
gave this command to the man. . . " (Gen 2:16). "Human freedom and God's
law meet and are called to intersect," in the sense of man's free
obedience to God and of God's completely gratuitous benevolence towards
man. Hence obedience to God is not, as some would believe, a "heteronomy,"
as if the moral life were subject to the will of something all-powerful,
absolute, extraneous to man and intolerant of his freedom. If in fact a
heteronomy of morality were to mean a denial of man's self-determination
or the imposition of norms unrelated to his good, this would be in
contradiction to the Revelation of the Covenant and of the redemptive
Incarnation. Such a heteronomy would be nothing but a form of alienation,
contrary to divine wisdom and to the dignity of the human person.
Others speak, and rightly so, of "theonomy," or "participated
theonomy," since man's free obedience to God's law effectively implies
that human reason and human will participate in God's wisdom and
providence. By forbidding man to "eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil", God makes it clear that man does not originally possess such
"knowledge" as something properly his own, but only participates in it by
the light of natural reason and of Divine Revelation, which manifest to
him the requirements and the promptings of eternal wisdom. Law must
therefore be considered an expression of divine wisdom: by submitting to
the law, freedom submits to the truth of creation. Consequently one must
acknowledge in the freedom of the human person the image and the nearness
of God, who is present in all (cf. Eph 4:6). But one must likewise
acknowledge the majesty of the God of the universe and revere the holiness
of the law of God, who is infinitely transcendent: "Deus semper
maior."[74]
Blessed is the man who takes delight in the law of the Lord (cf. Ps
1:1-2)
42. Patterned on God's freedom, man's freedom is not negated by his
obedience to the divine law; indeed, only through this obedience does it
abide in the truth and conform to human dignity. This is clearly stated by
the Council: "Human dignity requires man to act through conscious and free
choice, as motivated and prompted personally from within, and not through
blind internal impulse or merely external pressure. Man achieves such
dignity when he frees himself from all subservience to his feelings, and
in a free choice of the good, pursues his own end by effectively and
assiduously marshalling the appropriate means".[75]
In his journey towards God, the One who "alone is good", man must
freely do good and avoid evil. But in order to accomplish this he must "be
able to distinguish good from evil." And this takes place above all
"thanks to the light of natural reason," the reflection in man of the
splendour of God's countenance. Thus Saint Thomas, commenting on a verse
of Psalm 4, writes: "After saying: Offer right sacrifices (Ps 4:5), as if
some had then asked him what right works were, the Psalmist adds: "There
are many who say: Who will make us see good?" And in reply to the question
he says: "The light of your face, Lord, is signed upon us," thereby
implying that the light of natural reason whereby we discern good from
evil, which is the function of the natural law, is nothing else but an
imprint on us of the divine light".[76] It also becomes clear why this law
is called the natural law: it receives this name not because it refers to
the nature of irrational beings but because the reason which promulgates
it is proper to human nature.[77]
43. The Second Vatican Council points out that the "supreme rule of
life is the divine law itself, the eternal, objective and universal law by
which God out of his wisdom and love arranges, directs and governs the
whole world and the paths of the human community. God has enabled man to
share in this divine law, and hence man is able under the gentle guidance
of God's providence increasingly to recognize the unchanging truth".[78]
The Council refers back to the classic teaching on "God's eternal law."
Saint Augustine defines this as "the reason or the will of God, who
commands us to respect the natural order and forbids us to disturb
it".[79] Saint Thomas identifies it with "the type of the divine wisdom as
moving all things to their due end".[80] And God's wisdom is providence, a
love which cares. God himself loves and cares, in the most literal and
basic sense, for all creation (cf. Wis 7:22; 8:11). But God provides for
man differently from the way in which he provides for beings which are not
persons. He cares for man not "from without", through the laws of physical
nature, but "from within", through reason, which, by its natural knowledge
of God's eternal law, is consequently able to show man the right direction
to take in his free actions.[81] In this way God calls man to participate
in his own providence, since he desires to guide the world--not only the
world of nature but also the world of human persons--through man himself,
through man's reasonable and responsible care. The "natural law" enters
here as the human expression of God's eternal law. Saint Thomas writes:
"Among all others, the rational creature is subject to divine providence
in the most excellent way, insofar as it partakes of a share of
providence, being provident both for itself and for others. Thus it has a
share of the Eternal Reason, whereby it has a natural inclination to its
proper act and end. This participation of the eternal law in the rational
creature is called natural law".[82]
44. The Church has often made reference to the Thomistic doctrine of
natural law, including it in her own teaching on morality. Thus my
Venerable Predecessor Leo XIII emphasized "the essential subordination of
reason and human law to the Wisdom of God and to his law." After stating
that "the 'natural law' is written and engraved in the heart of each and
every man, since it is none other than human reason itself which commands
us to do good and counsels us not to sin", Leo XIII appealed to the
"higher reason" of the divine Lawgiver: "But this prescription of human
reason could not have the force of law unless it were the voice and the
interpreter of some higher reason to which our spirit and our freedom must
be subject". Indeed, the force of law consists in its authority to impose
duties, to confer rights and to sanction certain behaviour: "Now all of
this, clearly, could not exist in man if, as his own supreme legislator,
he gave himself the rule of his own actions". And he concluded: "It
follows that the natural law is "itself the eternal law," implanted in
beings endowed with reason, and inclining them "towards their right action
and end," it is none other than the eternal reason of the Creator and
Ruler of the universe".[83]
Man is able to recognize good and evil thanks to that discernment of
good from evil which he himself carries out by his "reason, in particular
by his reason enlightened by Divine Revelation and by faith," through the
law which God gave to the Chosen People, beginning with the commandments
on Sinai. Israel was called to accept and to live out God's law" as "a
particular gift and sign of its election and of the divine Covenant," and
also as a pledge of God's blessing. Thus Moses could address the children
of Israel and ask them: "What great nation is that that has a god so near
to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what
great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all
this law which I set before you this day?" (Dt 4:7-8). In the Psalms we
encounter the sentiments of praise, gratitude and veneration which the
Chosen People is called to show towards God's law, together with an
exhortation to know it, ponder it and translate it into life. "Blessed is
the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way
of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the
law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night" (Ps 1:1-2).
"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the
Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the
eyes" (Ps 18/19:8-9).
45. The Church gratefully accepts and lovingly preserves the entire
deposit of Revelation, treating it with religious respect and fulfilling
her mission of authentically interpreting God's law in the light of the
Gospel. In addition, the Church receives the gift of the New Law, which is
the "fulfilment" of God's law in Jesus Christ and in his Spirit. This is
an "interior" law (cf. Jer 3 1:3 1-33), "written not with ink but with the
Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human
hearts" (2 Cor 3:3); a law of perfection and of freedom (cf. 2 Cor 3:17);
"the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:2). Saint Thomas
writes that this law "can be called law in two ways. First, the law of the
spirit is the Holy Spirit . . . who, dwelling in the soul, not only
teaches what it is necessary to do by enlightening the intellect on the
things to be done, but also inclines the affections to act with
uprightness . . . Second, the law of the spirit can be called the proper
effect of the Holy Spirit, and thus faith working through love (cf. Gal
5:6), which teaches inwardly about the things to be done . . . and
inclines the affections to act".[84]
Even if moral-theological reflection usually distinguishes between the
positive or revealed law of God and the natural law, and, within the
economy of salvation, between the "old" and the "new" law, it must not be
forgotten that these and other useful distinctions always refer to that
law whose author is the one and the same God and which is always meant for
man. The different ways in which God, acting in history, cares for the
world and for mankind are not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, they
support each other and intersect. They have their origin and goal in the
eternal, wise and loving counsel whereby God predestines men and women "to
be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29). God's plan poses no
threat to man's genuine freedom; on the contrary, the acceptance of God's
plan is the only way to affirm that freedom.
"What the law requires is written on their hearts" (Rom 2:15)
46. The alleged conflict between freedom and law is forcefully brought
up once again today with regard to the natural law, and particularly with
regard to nature. "Debates about nature and freedom" have always marked
the history of moral reflection; they grew especially heated at the time
of the Renaissance and the Reformation, as can be seen from the teaching
of the Council of Trent.[85] Our own age is marked, though in a different
sense, by a similar tension. The penchant for empirical observation, the
procedures of scientific objectification, technological progress and
certain forms of liberalism have led to these two terms being set in
opposition, as if a dialectic, if not an absolute conflict, between
freedom and nature were characteristic of the structure of human history.
At other periods, it seemed that "nature" subjected man totally to its own
dynamics and even its own unbreakable laws. Today too, the situation of
the world of the senses within space and time, physio-chemical constants,
bodily processes, psychological impulses and forms of social conditioning
seem to many people the only really decisive factors of human reality. In
this context even moral facts, despite their specificity, are frequently
treated as if they were statistically verifiable data, patterns of
behaviour which can be subject to observation or explained exclusively in
categories of psychosocial processes. As a result, "some ethicists,"
professionally engaged in the study of human realities and behaviour, can
be tempted to take as the standard for their discipline and even for its
operative norms the results of a statistical study of concrete human
behaviour patterns and the opinions about morality encountered in the
majority of people.
"Other moralists," however, in their concern to stress the importance
of values, remain sensitive to the dignity of freedom, but they frequently
conceive of freedom as somehow in opposition to or in conflict with
material and biological nature, over which it must progressively assert
itself. Here various approaches are at one in overlooking the created
dimension of nature and in misunderstanding its integrity. "For some,"
"nature" becomes reduced to raw material for human activity and for its
power: thus nature needs to be profoundly transformed, and indeed overcome
by freedom, inasmuch as it represents a limitation and denial of freedom.
"For others," it is in the untrammelled advancement of man's power, or of
his freedom, that economic, cultural, social and even moral values are
established: nature would thus come to mean everything found in man and
the world apart from freedom. In such an understanding, nature would
include in the first place the human body, its make-up and its processes:
against this physical datum would be opposed whatever is "constructed", in
other words "culture", seen as the product and result of freedom. Human
nature, understood in this way, could be reduced to and treated as a
readily available biological or social material. This ultimately means
making freedom self-defining and a phenomenon creative of itself and its
values. Indeed, when all is said and done man would not even have a
nature; he would be his own personal life-project. Man would be nothing
more than his own freedom!
47. In this context, "objections of physicalism and naturalism" have
been levelled against the traditional conception of "the natural law,"
which is accused of presenting as moral laws what are in themselves mere
biological laws. Consequently, in too superficial a way, a permanent and
unchanging character would be attributed to certain kinds of human
behaviour, and, on the basis of this, an attempt would be made to
formulate universally valid moral norms. According to certain theologians,
this kind of "biologistic or naturalistic argumentation" would even be
present in certain documents of the Church's Magisterium, particularly
those dealing with the area of sexual and conjugal ethics. It was, they
maintain, on the basis of a naturalistic understanding of the sexual act
that contraception, direct sterilization, autoeroticism, pre-marital
sexual relations, homosexual relations and artificial insemination were
condemned as morally unacceptable. In the opinion of these same
theologians, a morally negative evaluation of such acts fails to take into
adequate consideration both man's character as a rational and free being
and the cultural conditioning of all moral norms. In their view, man, as a
rational being, not only can but actually "must freely determine the
meaning" of his behaviour. This process of "determining the meaning" would
obviously have to take into account the many limitations of the human
being, as existing in a body and in history. Furthermore, it would have to
take into consideration the behavioural models and the meanings which the
latter acquire in any given culture. Above all, it would have to respect
the fundamental commandment of love of God and neighbour. Still, they
continue, God made man as a rationally free being; he left him "in the
power of his own counsel" and he expects him to shape his life in a
personal and rational way. Love of neighbour would mean above all and even
exclusively respect for his freedom to make his own decisions. The
workings of typically human behaviour, as well as the so-called "natural
inclinations", would establish at the most so they say--a general
orientation towards correct behaviour, but they cannot determine the moral
assessment of individual human acts, so complex from the viewpoint of
situations.
48. Faced with this theory, one has to consider carefully the correct
relationship existing between freedom and human nature, and in particular
"the place of the human body in questions of natural law." A freedom which
claims to be absolute ends up treating the human body as a raw datum,
devoid of any meaning and moral values until freedom has shaped it in
accordance with its design. Consequently, human nature and the body appear
as "presuppositions or preambles," materially "necessary" for freedom to
make its choice, yet extrinsic to the person, the subject and the human
act. Their functions would not be able to constitute reference points for
moral decisions, because the finalities of these inclinations would be
merely "physical" goods, called by some "pre-moral". To refer to them, in
order to find in them rational indications with regard to the order of
morality, would be to expose oneself to the accusation of physicalism or
biologism. In this way of thinking, the tension between freedom and a
nature conceived of in a reductive way is resolved by a division within
man himself.
This moral theory does not correspond to the truth about man and his
freedom. It contradicts the "Church's teachings on the unity of the human
person," whose rational soul is "per se et essentialiter" the form of his
body.[86] The spiritual and immortal soul is the principle of unity of the
human being, whereby it exists as a whole--"corpore et anima unus"[87]--
as a person. These definitions not only point out that the body, which has
been promised the resurrection, will also share in glory. They also remind
us that reason and free will are linked with all the bodily and sense
faculties. "The person, including the body, is completely entrusted to
himself, and it is in the unity of body and soul that the person is the
subject of his own moral acts." The person, by the light of reason and the
support of virtue, discovers in the body the anticipatory signs, the
expression and the promise of the gift of self, in conformity with the
wise plan of the Creator. It is in the light of the dignity of the human
person- -a dignity which must be affirmed for its own sake--that reason
grasps the specific moral value of certain goods towards which the person
is naturally inclined. And since the human person cannot be reduced to a
freedom which is self-designing, but entails a particular spiritual and
bodily structure, the primordial moral requirement of loving and
respecting the person as an end and never as a mere means also implies, by
its very nature, respect for certain fundamental goods, without which one
would fall into relativism and arbitrariness.
49. "A doctrine which dissociates the moral act from the bodily
dimensions of its exercise is contrary to the teaching of Scripture and
Tradition." Such a doctrine revives, in new forms, certain ancient errors
which have always been opposed by the Church, inasmuch as they reduce the
human person to a "spiritual" and purely formal freedom. This reduction
misunderstands the moral meaning of the body and of kinds of behaviour
involving it (cf. 1 Cor 6:19). Saint Paul declares that "the immoral,
idolaters, adulterers, sexual perverts, thieves, the greedy, drunkards,
revilers, robbers" are excluded from the Kingdom of God (cf. 1 Cor 6:9).
This condemnation-- repeated by the Council of Trent"[88]--lists as
"mortal sins" or "immoral practices" certain specific kinds of behaviour
the willful acceptance of which prevents believers from sharing in the
inheritance promised to them. In fact, "body and soul are inseparable:" in
the person, in the willing agent and in the deliberate act, "they stand or
fall together."
50. At this point the true meaning of the natural law can be
understood: it refers to man's proper and primordial nature, the "nature
of the human person",[89] which is "the person himself in the unity of
soul and body," in the unity of his spiritual and biological inclinations
and of all the other specific characteristics necessary for the pursuit of
his end. "The natural moral law expresses and lays down the purposes,
rights and duties which are based upon the bodily and spiritual nature of
the human person. Therefore this law cannot be thought of as simply a set
of norms on the biological level; rather it must be defined as the
rational order whereby man is called by the Creator to direct and regulate
his life and actions |
