The Christian Law of Life-Giving Love

“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

We, Filipinos, have many traditional values which are taught to us by, first, our parents, then, our teachers in school, and the elder people we meet every day who kept on reminding the basic Filipino values. It is, then, related to the Christian teachings by the catechists in our school and parishes telling us who Christ is, how He was born, and even scaring us that Jesus will get mad when we do bad things. We never know that it is already the first step towards living a Christian moral life entailed with the challenge of living all the Christian values we have learned that will form us as we grow.

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