“The first commandment
is this: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, with your entire mind, and with your strength. The second is this: You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mk. 12:29-31)
CONTEXT
But,
these values seem to be ignored. We sometimes thought it’s just for the
children. When we get old, it’s not a big deal anymore. Just take the example
of a traffic rule, we seem to forget those rules when no traffic policeman is
around. Obeying laws seem quite secondary in the hierarchy of Filipino
cultural values.
On
the other hand, there is this desire to do good and proper deeds; we are just hindered
by our sinful wishes which do not help us grow as mature persons living a
Christian moral life. We know what to do; we are being trained to do so. Here
is where our motivation becomes an agent or a problem. As said in the Gospel of
Matthew, “ Ang dili masakiton nga punoan
dili mamunga’g daut nga bunga, sama nga ang masakiton nga punoan dili mamunga’g
maayo nga bunga.” Our sick decisions never give us a good result, but if we
choose to decide what is moral, we can be assured of the good fruit from it.
EXPOSITION
Christ
is our moral norm. We, Christian should always remember that we are not just
living moral life by laws but because of Christ, who died for us on the cross
because of His love for us. It is our duty to respond to His call to that kind
of life according to the Fathers will in order for us to partake to the
salvation offered by Christ to us.
Because our salvation is not for all but for many, it depends if we
really want to be a part of that salvation. And this is the Christian law of
life-giving love. For if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
(Mt. 10:32f)
SUMMARY
I. MORAL NORM
We
need some general idea of law that can give us some insight into its meaning
when applied to God’s law. And this is what the moral norms are all about. It
is defined as an “ordinance of reason promulgated by competent authority for
the sake of the common good”. Based on a moral vision comprising basic moral
values, moral norms express the objective standard for judging moral good and
evil. They are supposed to provide the objective criteria for our conscience to
judge what is morally good or evil; help our moral development, especially in
the formation of our conscience; offer the needed moral stability in our lives;
and challenge us to stretch for an ideal beyond our limited experience, and
correct our personal moral misconceptions in the process.
St. Paul
recognizes that the law is good, provided one uses it in the way law is
supposed to be used. But many Filipinos tend to confuse morality with legality.
If something is legal, permissible by law, they think it is morally good. But
it’s not. Law is only morally good only if its nature, intention and
circumstances are positively good for the person.
II. LAW IN THE SCRIPTURE
The
laws that God gave to Moses in their exile from the Egyptians must be observed
by His people, as He command it, and whoever denies it will be denied. It
covered not only moral but also the social integration to other people. The law
flowed to the chosen people of God as an expression of love for them to live in
harmony with God. Obedience is all that God asks from us and sin slowly
diminishes our relationship with Him.
Law
is a “great gift” to live in joy and love. But the law of the Lord reaches an
abuse of legalism and mistake the precept of the value. The laws and ordinances
were all for the people. However, obedience is misinterpreted because others
believed that it can save them without the grace of God. Due to these abuses,
the prophets prophesied the making of a new covenant. Christ came not to
abolish the law but to fulfill them. Our morality takes its new meaning through
the Holy Spirit. It is the law of love. Every baptized Christian should express
love to others. And, Jesus Christ perfected the Sabbath laws especially that
you are not breaking the law when you help others or praise God. the greatest
commandments are said and applied by Jesus Christ. “The best way for me to
express my love for God is to love every being He created.”
Jesus
Christ calls us to express in concrete ways our faith to God with our whole
heart, mind and strength. Jesus was also tempted in His life, but all of it he
offered to God and said, “Thy will be done”. He made the law so simple. Love,
love, and love. Let us love one another because GOD is LOVE. This law of Christ
which He gave to His disciples, sums up all the laws of our God, the Father, He
has given to Israel.
III. LAW IN THE CHURCH
Our
Christian moral tradition developed another type of law called “Natural Law”.
It is defined as the totality of the rights and duties which follow directly
from the nature of human. It must be seen in its three basic convictions: (1.)
that the truth is, God created everything; (2.) natural law of morality is
knowable by all persons; (3.) and there are objective moral values and teaching
that can be universalized. Natural law, then, must also be viewed in terms of
certain fundamental aspects.
Many
understand that the Natural law is completely separated from God’s law. But in
reality, they are intimately connected, for in obeying the natural law, we
obeyed the divine law itself.
Jesus
Christ is a model for both our human nature and all our free acts.
Existentially and operationally, He is both our final destiny built into our
human nature, words and deeds by which we journey toward this destiny. Fidelity
to the human in history is fidelity to Christ’s presence. In the end, the new
law of the “Law of the Gospel” is the perfection here on earth of the divine
law, natural and revealed.
IV. PROCESS OF MORAL DECISION-MAKING
There
are elements that can be seen within a person on how a being studies what goes
on in the actual process of making moral judgments and decisions. To help a
person to know how to do something regarding in his thinking and willingness,
he needs to have the agent in deciding. This agent should be examined in its
three aspects. 1. As an evaluative knowledge, it must not only refer to your
mind but also through the usage of your personal values that is built better
from your moral norm. 2. As an imagination, you think about everything that
comes into your mind. It seems that there is someone speaking to you which
influences your mind that lets you picture out images that illustrates what he
has said. And lastly, 3. As an affectivity, in which you can express your
emotion through your actions. Virtues and characters, then, can be seen from
your doing and emphasizing of that person regarding of what habit he is acting.
The
process of coming to a moral judgment follows steps on how you will enter being
a moral person. This includes the discerning which might use the
pedagogical formula (search, think, consult, and pray). It also includes the step of demand which our
consciences use to formulate their dictates on what we must do. Thirdly, it
includes the judgment or decision stage. Yet, our conscience, and the
magisterium contains some questions and doubts from our inside personal norms.
REFLECTION
We are being challenged to live a Christian moral life. And as Filipinos it is not new to us the means of doing so because of our cultures and traditions introduced by the conquering nations before. Living also a moral life is loving life. We are motivated to love one another and above all God, because that’s what life is. We must respect others as taught by the elders when we’re still young. Let us not forget those values we have learned before. It becomes, then, our building blocks to live a Christian community exercising authentic freedom in doing what is right and proper.
Even
the simplest acts we do could be a great change in our lives and others’ lives.
Respecting the laws of our country, of our municipality, of our barangay, and
obeying the rules and regulations of our school could be a way of transforming our
community into a better one. This is what Christ wants us to do for it is an
act of loving, the law of Christian life-giving love. But many Filipinos tend
to confuse morality with legality. If something is legal, permissible by law,
they think it must be morally good. Yet, it is does not necessarily follow. Some may be legal but not moral, and we must not confuse ourselves be fooled by people who deceive us.
The
teachings also of the Church and the Scriptures can help us to understand this.
Conformity to these can lead us towards a moral life. It can help to decide
morally if we should choose the moral desires or our sinful wishes. We are
challenged to use this motivation properly. Just like stealing, practically, is
a wrong means of earning money or getting what we want and need. It is then a
dare for us if we can really live a moral life. Such a life will undoubtedly
bring trials because of our sinful selves and the world; but it is the life of
faith, hope and LOVE as Disciples of Christ.
-Juan Mercado
