Principles of Moral Theology
“The Lord Jesus, the divine Teacher and Model of all perfection, preached holiness of life to each and every one of His disciples of every condition. He Himself stands as the author and consummator of this holiness of life: "Be you therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mt. 5:48). Indeed He sent the Holy Spirit upon all men that He might move them inwardly to love God with their whole heart and their whole soul, with all their mind and all their strength(Mk 12:30) and that they might love each other as Christ loves them.(Jn 13;34;5:12).” [DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH - LUMEN GENTIUM- SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY HOLINESS, POPE PAUL VI ON NOVEMBER 21, 1964, 40]
The common shared vocation for all Christian believers is holiness. The heroes and heroines of our faith are celebrated for their faithfulness to Christ and his Church. We call them saints. Occasionally, we will hear someone say, “She was a saint,” but we’re more likely to hear, “He was no saint,” or to say with a shrug, “I’m not a saint.” Our concept of saints is that they are extraordinary people who, for the most part, lived long ago and possessed special divine favors that the majority of us neither have nor comprehend. We admire and venerate them, but their alabaster perfection is beyond us.
Becoming a saint is frightening because it seems to demand the impossible. Why would God demand from us what is not attainable? Or maybe do we not understand what makes a person—a sinner like any of us—a saint? Nevertheless, we are all saints in the making and need examples and knowledge of those entrusted with passing on the understanding of our faith.
The reality is that it is clearly attainable, as evidenced by the untold number of faithful men and women who, Scripture tells us, comprise the “great cloud of witnesses” who surround and intercede for us from their heavenly realm (Heb 12:1). These holy witnesses include not simply those who are officially canonized here on earth, but all God’s faithful who have gone on to their eternal reward. Most of these did not die as martyrs, perform miracles, or lead extraordinarily pious lives. Most led relatively hidden, ordinary, sometimes troubled existences—much like our own.
Our moral life in Christ should focus on the intellectual, moral, and formational development in living a life joined to the Mystery of our Lord. This foundation affords the Christian with the only true alternative to a world which often rejects the spiritual and substitutes its own brand of convenience for that which is “right” and “true.” Our foundation of course is, and should be, Christ and the Church. Christianity is a life based on love and directed toward the achievement of sainthood. The acknowledgement and worship of a Triune God aides us in discovering the correct moral approach.
The word morality refers to the standards by which we judge our actions to be good or evil; the moral law is the phrase used to describe the objective standards authored by God and taught by the Church. The most basic principle of the Christian moral life is the awareness that every person bears the dignity of being made in the image of God. He has given us an immortal soul and through the gifts of intelligence and reason enables us to understand the order of things established in his creation. God has also given us a free will to seek and love what is true, good, and beautiful. Sadly, because of the Fall, we also suffer the impact of Original Sin, which darkens our minds, weakens our wills, and inclines us to sin. Baptism delivers us from Original Sin but not from its effects—especially the inclination to sin, concupiscence. Within us, then, is both the powerful surge toward the good because we are made in the image of God, and the darker impulses toward evil because of the effects of Original Sin.
But we should always remember that Christ's dying and rising offers us new life in the Spirit, whose saving grace delivers us from sin and heals sin's damage within us. Thus we speak of the value, dignity, and goal of human life, even with its imperfections and struggles. Human life, as a profound unity of physical and spiritual dimensions, is sacred. It is distinct from all other forms of life, since it alone is imprinted with the very image of its Creator.
CCC 372: What is the moral conscience?
Moral conscience, present in the heart of the person, is a judgment of reason which at the appropriate moment enjoins him to do good and to avoid evil. Thanks to moral conscience, the human person perceives the moral quality of an act to be done or which has already been done, permitting him to assume responsibility for the act. When attentive to moral conscience, the prudent person can hear the voice of God who speaks to him or her.
—Deacon Gerry Flamm
“Dear children! Today, I am calling you to prayer. May prayer be life to you. Only in this way will your heart be filled with peace and joy. God will be near you, and you will feel Him in your heart as a friend. You will speak with Him as with someone whom you know and, little children, you will have a need to witness, because Jesus will be in your heart and you, united in Him. I am with you and love all of you with my motherly love. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
