These Live in the Human Heart

In Veritatis Splendor, Pope John Paul II, quoting St. Paul, discusses how the Gentiles, even though they do not have explicit Divine Revelation or the Law as did the Israelites, often manage to follow the Ten Commandments nonetheless, because they have the benefit of the natural moral law. “When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they … show that what the law requires is written on their hearts …”(1)
Footnote:
1. Romans 2:14-15;cited in Veritatis Splendor, #57

The Most Fundamental Law

You will be My people, and I will be your God.

These are the words of the Covenant, the words of the Covenant of God with his people, the people who came from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel); they are found in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible.
To keep the Covenant means to keep (or obey or observe) the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. But what are the Commandments? The Ten Commandments are the natural moral law expressed explicitly. The natural moral law is written in the heart of each and every man. The ancients (that is, the ancient Greeks and Romans) knew of the natural law. The Romans Cicero and Sophocles wrote about it. Even though they did not know it’s Author, the ancients of the Roman Republic sought to practice the natural moral law. Indeed, in God’s Providence, the Roman Republic defeated the Carthaginians, who were avid practitioners of everything that goes against the natural law, namely ritual child-sacrifice.
Now, the Hebrews were probably the most concrete-thinking people in history. They were not philosophically minded like the ancient Greeks and Romans. Therefore, through Moses, God revealed to them the natural law in the most explicit and concrete way possible: on the Stone Tablets of the Law. They were to teach these Commandments to their children and their children’s children—down through the generations, in other words.
Even so, the Hebrews still managed to break the natural law and the Commandments and the Covenant. Specifically, they did this by joining in the abominable practices of the nations: Baal worship and it’s accompanying demonic ritual of child-sacrifice. The Prophet Hosea bemoans this practice explicitly:

Thus says the Lord, “When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me, sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols.”

Okay, Hosea’s text doesn’t mention that it was child sacrifice; however, the text of the Prophet Jeremiah does. Jeremiah specifically tells us that, when Jericho was being rebuilt, a Hebrew official named Hiel sacrificed his two sons to Baal and buried them underneath the foundations of the city. There are more examples of this, and they will be mentioned in future blog entries of “These Live for All Time.”
So I am always astounded when some people object: “The God of the Old Testament was ‘mean’; he was not a God of Love, because of the battles he commanded and because sometimes had to put pagan civilizations under the ban." Yet God did these things precisely because He is the God of Love. He does not want His People to adopt the ways of demon-worship, which involve sacrificing precious human beings—usually mere children—to Satan. This is why God told His people not to inter-marry and mix with the pagans. He knew that such inter-marriages would only bring down his people to the satanic level of the pagans, which would only multiply the amount of false worship and murder of innocent human beings. God loves life. The Sixth Commandment forbids murder and so does the natural law, the first principle of which is expressed as: “Do good and avoid evil.” And there are immediately knowable secondary precepts that spring from this first principle, such as Love your offspring. Do not murder. Do not lie; do tell the truth.
Today, in much of the world—even in the once God-fearing U.S.A.—the natural law is broken. The United States of America no longer has laws forbidding abortion, the culture encourages the contraceptive mentality, and the Courts are trying to eradicate marriage (a permanent society between one man and one woman for the procreation and education of children) from the face of the earth. Furthermore, we export our abortion-providing technology and our contraceptives to poor developing Third World nations. What makes us think we have the right to tell them to have less children!?
We have become a lawless society that cannot even keep the most basic and fundamental and necessary of all laws: the natural moral law. Furthermore, our massive government bureaucracies seek to spread our lawlessness to the ends of the world. We should not be surprised that “the land of the free and the home of the brave” is falling apart at the seams!

It's very near to you!

This command that I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. … No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out (Dt. 3:11, 14).

These words of the prophet Moses ring true today as they did for the ancient Israelites. You and I know the Ten Commandments. We know when we have done good and when we have done evil. We don’t need an explanation to know that it is wrong (or evil) to lie, cheat, steal, fornicate, murder, and blaspheme. As soon as one knows the meaning of each of these words, he knows that it is wrong; that it is evil and a very bad sin. Even young children know almost instinctively that it is wrong to disobey or disrespect Mom and Dad and that it is wrong to strike another human being. The natural law is written in the human heart.

Why "Natural" Law?

Why is the law of morality that God has written into our hearts called "the natural law"?

Actually, a mind much greater than mine has already answered this question. In the Summa Theologiae, Saint Thomas Aquinas says: "This law is called natural because ..." and then he gives the answer. However, for our blogging purposes, let me try to put it in my own words. I have no book in front of me as I write:

The natural law is known by human reason, which is the very thing [reason] that makes our nature what it is. That's why it's called "the natural law." It is known through our nature, which is called "rational animal."

Prudence and the Virtues

“Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it.”(1) Like a charioteer, prudence directs the other moral virtues. It provides the means and measure. So, let us begin with fortitude. “The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause.”(2) Prudence tells one to avoid the extremes of temerity (excessive fear) and rashness (excessive boldness). Prudence also tells a person when a cause is just and important enough to decide to conquer fear, face persecutions, and even to sacrifice one’s life. For example, in the life of St. Thomas More, prudence told St. Thomas that remaining Chancellor of the Realm [of England] was not sufficient cause to risk his life, so he resigned. Prudence did tell him that—when there was no other way to defend the cause—defense of the infallibility/primacy of the Pope and of the sanctity of marriage(3) were just causes worthy of the sacrifice of his life.

“Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the ‘virtue of religion.’”(4) Justice is located in the will. Prudence sets the mean for justice. For instance, prudence says that attendance at Holy Mass on Sundays and daily prayers suffice for the fulfillment of the virtue of religion. Prudence also says that for one who is married to spend all day in Church praying his or her favorite novenas is wrong; it is neither prudent nor just, because the wife has to make time to care for her children, and the husband has his part to do also as head of the family. Children need their Mom and Dad to be with them and for them. Parents are not monks. Justice demands that they fulfill their vocation as parents.

“Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. … The temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good …”(5) Prudence directs temperance by setting the mean and measure, by saying how much is appropriate. For example, prudence tells a person when to stop drinking [alcoholic beverages] and when it is not appropriate to drink at all. Prudence informs temperance so that a person’s emotions can be integrated under the guidance of right reason. For instance, it is healthy to have an emotion of beauty when seeing or hearing a person of the complementary gender. Prudence helps keep this emotion under the control of right reason as it help’s one to avoid two extremes: 1) impure thoughts, desires, or actions, and 2) a puritanical attitude: “Sexuality is evil. Human emotions are evil.” In fact, it is no sin to have these unsolicited emotions; however, it is a failure in temperance and in prudence—and it is a sin—to deliberately seek out and/or cultivate impure thoughts and desires. One would do well to recall the personalistic norm of Vatican II, which is found in the document Gaudium et Spes: “No person may be an object of use, but only a subject of love.” Finally, as St. Thomas Aquinas taught, the holy man, the man of integrity, is able to laugh when it is appropriate and be serious when that’s appropriate. St. Thomas even says that it is objectively sinful to lack a sense of humor.

Grace and virtue are indispensable in living the Christian life. Furthermore, charity is the greatest of all the virtues.(6) In fact, charity is the form of all the virtues, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:

The practice of all the virtues is animated an inspired by charity, which … is the form of the virtues; it articulates and orders them among themselves; it is the source and the goal of their Christian practice. Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love.(7)

In that case, it seems reasonable to say that supernatural charity upholds and purifies all the natural moral virtues, raising them to the level of the infused moral virtues. Thus, it is above all by the supernatural virtue of charity that one is able to achieve the perfection of the sons of God.

The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son … (8)

Footnotes:
1. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1806.
2. Ibid. #1808.
3. Divorce is against the natural law.
4. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1807.
5. Ibid. #1809.
6. Cf. I Corinthians 13:13
7. Catechism of the Catholic Church #1827.
8. Ibid. #1828.

These Live in the Human Heart

In Veritatis Splendor, Pope John Paul II, quoting St. Paul, discusses how the Gentiles, even though they do not have explicit Divine Revelation or the Law as did the Israelites, often manage to follow the Ten Commandments nonetheless, because they have the benefit of the natural moral law. “When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they … show that what the law requires is written on their hearts …”(1)
Footnote:
1. Romans 2:14-15;cited in Veritatis Splendor, #57.

Grace Perfects Nature

God’s graces are wonderful and effective; they are like a farmer sowing seed in the soil, while the natural moral virtues are like the soil, and the supernatural virtues are like plants. If the soil is moist and rich, then many beautiful plants will grow. If the soil is poor and dry, then thirsty little plants will grow. If the soil is abysmal, then probably nothing will grow. Therefore, children should work on—and parents should help their children work on—the development of the natural moral virtues. If the soil of the person’s character is rich in natural moral virtues, then the seed will grow into a beautiful tall plant of supernatural virtue. Supernatural graces and supernatural virtues are what we need to attain our supernatural goal, which is a loving union with the most adorable Trinity in Heaven.
It is true that God can give extra-special graces and can even circumvent nature—He is the Author of nature. At very needful and special times throughout history, God has done this is a very special way. This special action of God is what we call a miracle. Yet God—it seems—much prefers to work with human nature rather than around it. Indeed, God has ordained that grace build upon nature and not circumvent (go around) it. Indeed, that is the ordinary way, which—in our computer age—we might call “the default mode.”
Given the weakness of fallen human nature and consequent difficulty in the development of the natural moral virtues, one could understandably feel compelled to ask, “Why, then, doesn’t God just do a miracle and make it easy for us to be good?” Here is one answer:

God prefers to act by providence rather than miracles because He loves the natures of all the things He created and wants to perfect them rather than bypass them. He is like a wise, unselfish king Who exalts and empowers His servants rather than distrusting them and micro-managing His kingdom.(1)

After all, how many people do you know that would actually enjoy being a robot? Human beings tend to revolt at the idea of always having no choice but to act a certain way because someone has programmed them to do so. Actually, free choice of the will is part of human nature as created by God. It is much more beautiful and noble to choose to love and honor your Father than to be forced or programmed to do so.

Footnote
1. Peter J. Kreeft, The Philosophy of Tolkien, page 54.

The Charioteer of the Virtues

Yesterday, we stated that the Romans were prudent; however, they were also courageous, temperate, and just. They must have been temperate, because all good soldiers and statesmen always are. They must have been just since they fought for the ius (a natural moral right based on the fact of having existence from the Creator) of infants to live and grow to maturity. Thus they had all the moral virtues. That’s how it works. If a person has prudence, then he has the rest of the virtues as well. Prudence is primarily in the practical intellect where it helps one to choose the right means to an end, for instance, the right means to the end of practicing the other moral virtues. Ultimately, it helps one to choose the means to the final end for which he has been created: union with God in eternal life. Prudence guides and directs the other virtues “by setting rule and measure.”(1) Rightly does the Catechism of the Catholic Church call prudence “auriga virtutem (the charioteer of the virtues).”(2)
Each individual man can also be prudent. There is no such thing as a born saint. Holiness requires human effort in addition to the grace of God. Developing the natural moral virtues is work! As with Cicero and the other men of the Roman Republic, the natural moral virtues are the fruit of a man’s upbringing, education, and repeated good acts. It does take learning and effort to attain the natural moral virtues; however, once a man has acquired them, then he does good acts with ease, with hardly any deliberation or effort. These virtues are truly “natural.”
Footnotes:
1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1806.
2. Ibid.

Divine Providence and the Roman Republic's Practice of Natural Virtue

Happily, the series on virtue and Divine Providence continues. This series is taken from a paper I once wrote. Why do I put the coming selections on this natural law blog? I think it's because I love the writings of G.K. Chesterton and Pope John Paul II. Their writings are part of this series, which you will soon see as we continue ...
In Catholic thought, there is a well-known axiom: “Grace builds upon nature.” This is no trite saying or pious platitude. Indeed, the reality denoted by this axiom is crucial to the life of grace and virtue in man. It is very interesting to observe that we see this truth not only in the lives of individual men, but also in the lives of nations—in the history of mankind. For, on account of their natural moral virtues, the Roman Republic opposed, fought, and eventually defeated the child-sacrificing empire of Carthage in the Punic Wars. In God’s Providence (God’s Loving Plan for mankind), this prudent action paved the way for the most grace-filled event in history: the Incarnation of the Son of God with the consequent Redemption of mankind from the evil tyranny of slavery to the Evil One. For the Roman world was much better disposed for the spread of the Gospel than a Carthaginian world-empire would have been.
These Romans had the natural moral virtue of prudence; they were prudent. For prudence is about choosing the right means to a good end, and ultimately about man choosing the means that will get him to the end for which he was made. Certainly, the God of love did not plan for human beings, His children, to form a worldwide civilization of child sacrifice. The Roman Republic chose the means to bring mankind one step closer to the Civilization of Love and the Culture of Life, whether they knew it in those terms or not. As for the preparation for the Incarnation, God certainly knew what He was doing. Ancient Rome and ancient Israel both had their respective roles in God’s plan.

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The Definition of Virtue

Today, we begin a series of blog postings about natural virtue, the cardinal virtues (prudence in particular), and Divine Providence. One special feature of this series will be how prudence has a key role in shaping the exercise of human freedom.

What is the meaning of the word “virtue”? This word comes from the Latin virtus, which means “strength” or “power.” Based on this etymology, it seems that a virtue is a kind of strength or power or capacity or ability.
Now that we have seen the root of the word, we want to know what the Church says about virtue. St. Thomas Aquinas, possibly the Church’s greatest theologian, says that virtue “is a habitus by which a person acts well” (Summa Theologiae, Prima Secundae, Question 18, Article 3). Now habitus is a Latin word which in English is rendered “habit”. Thus a virtue is a habit that helps a person to act well or do something good. Furthermore, “habit” or habitus denotes an ability, tendency, capacity, or power to do a certain thing or behave a certain way with ease, that is, without having to think about it very much. When a habit helps us to do the good with ease, then it is a virtue. Thus virtue is a habit that helps one to do the good with ease. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#1803) says it this way: “A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good.”

The Two-layered Documents

Every Church document has two layers: 1) a layer in which a natural law argument is advanced. This is addressed to everyone in the whole world, and 2) a layer in which the natural law argument is drawn up and expressed as Catholic theology.

The above is paraphrased from a rerun of an interview of Dr. Ralph McInerny by Raymond Arroyo. The rerun aired posthumously on Friday, February 5, 2010, on EWTN's news program The World Over.
The Church's approach is very reasonable; it mirrors the historical reality of life. For instance, the ancient Romans discovered the natural law and its principles (That's the first layer.) while the ancient Israelites had the natural law expressed explicitly in their theology, that is, in the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. (That's the second layer.)

The natural law lives: for all people of all times!

Rest in Peace

“These Live For All Time” salutes Doctor Ralph McInerny, who died yesterday (Friday, January 29, A.D. 2010). He is the author of The Father Brown Mysteries and of The Defamation of Pius XII, a book that defends Pope Pius XII, the Catholic Church, and the natural law. Dr. McInerny’s book praises the Pope and the Catholic Church as the perennial defender of the natural law against the Nazis and their “hidden successors” who in other nations continued the anti-natural law agenda of the Nazis during the time period from right after the War until the present day.
We pray for the happy repose of the soul of Dr. McInerny. May he rest in peace in the loving arms of God, his Almighty Father.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

The Natural Law Lives in US

A recent Knights of Columbus poll finds that 56% of all Americans and 58% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 years consider abortion to be morally wrong. (This was reported on EWTN's The World Over on January 22, 2010.)
The election of Scott Brown to fill the vacant Senate seat of Edward M. Kennedy has—at least for now—put up a roadblock to the passage of the current Health Care Bill, which would further fund abortions and take away the legitimate conscience rights of health care workers who are following the natural law in refusing to participate in abortions. Thanks also to Bart Stupak and his group of Democrats who oppose any abortion funding in the Bill, and of course to the Republicans who have been opposing the Bill all along.

"The Righteous Gentile"

We are pleased to publish these words of high praise by a leading Jewish newspaper upon the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958:

… There probably was not a single ruler of our generation who did more to help the Jews in their hour of greatest tragedy, during the Nazi occupation of Europe, than the late Pope.
–The Jewish Post, November 6, 1958

Pius XII: Silent? Coward? Evil Collaborator? Nay!

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!"

This quotation from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew applies--of course--to the Messiah, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But the saints, who followed Christ heroically, are "smaller lights" that give off the light of Christ to their contemporaries.

Look what the New York Times had to say in the Year of our Lord 1941, on Christmas Day, during the initial stages of War World II:

"The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas. He is about the only ruler left on the continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all."

Editorial, The New York Times, December 25, 1941

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Venerable Facts

On December 19, in the Year of Our Lord 2010, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI declared Pope Pius XII venerable. This means that now the process of canonization can move forward. Pius could canonically and officially become a saint. The doors are wide open!
Between 1939 and 1945, twelve thousand Jews were allowed into the Dominican Republic, safe from the Nazis thanks to the silent and heroic efforts of Pope Pius XII.
Until recently, every major Jewish leader “adored” Pius XII. In Israel, Golda Meir even planted a forest in honor of Pope Pius XII.
The Jewish philosopher Maimonedes said this: “The highest form of charity is anonymous charity.” That is what Pius XII is “guilty” of. He secretly, silently, and anonymously saved the lives of 186,000 Jews. That’s 186,000 of the people who were the first to receive the Revelation of the one true God.
The Ambassador from the United States of America wanted to know what Pius XII thought of Hitler and the Nazis. Pius told him that Hitler was an “untrustworthy scoundrel” who was “fundamentally wicked.” Now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I ask you: “Do these sound like the words of ‘Hitler’s Pope’, of someone who collaborated with der Furer of Nazi Germany?” No! They do not. In fact, they are the words of a good and holy man, a “righteous Gentile” who is totally committed to Truth and Goodness.
Note: These facts are--in large part--from an interview of Gary Krupp by Raymond Arroyo in The World Over Live on EWTN, which aired on Friday, January 9, 2010. Krupp is Jewish and is the founder of the Pave the Way Foundation.

The Custodian of the Natural Law

Pius XII was a good and holy man. He was a heroic defender and protector of Jews during World War II. The evidence for this truth is massive, the testimonies are many, the facts are unchangeable. All efforts to show the opposite have been conclusively refuted. The question is not whether Pope Pius XII acted heroically during World War II and was instrumental in saving hundreds of thousands of Jews from Nazi extermination. The question is not whether libels and slanders against this good and holy man can be refuted. [They certainly can!] The overwhelming question that has to be addressed it this: Why is this good man being defamed? Who are those who devote themselves to besmirching the reputation of Pius XII? What are they really after? What is their fundamental objective?
The Didache taught that there are two paths, one of light, the other of darkness. John Paul II has spoken of a Culture of Death and a Culture of Life. During World War II, Pius XII courageously walked the path of light. He stood up against the Culture of Death and Defended the Culture of Life. The Nazis he condemned are no more. Their totalitarian twin, the Communists, have withered away as the state was supposed to. But the Culture of Death is still among us, stronger than before. Those who opposed Hitler now occupy countries which have espoused under other names his genetic atrocities. The moral relativism and nihilism of the West, which have permitted the Culture of Death to flourish among us, recognizes its main enemy. That enemy is the Catholic Church. For such foes, Pius XII is merely a target of opportunity. Their aim is the natural law which, as Pius emphasized from the beginning of the war, was violated by the Nazi racist policies. The Culture of Death is an equally systematic assault on the natural law of which the Catholic Church is the chief custodian. Hence the libel and defamation of the Church.

-Ralph McInerny, The Defamation of Pius XII (South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine's Press, 2001) xi-xii. Emphasis (bold)added.

Dear Friends,
Dr. McInerny speaks truly! We want to look at the big picture. Pope Pius XII has been defamed because--as Supreme Pontiff and Teacher of the one true Church--he defended the natural law, "of which the Catholic Church is the chief custodian". So this is a burning issue that continues even--or rather especially--into our own day, Anno Domini 2010. Just look at what's happening in the "Health Care debate" in the highest levels of government of the United States of America! Some people are working very hard to have abortion funding written into this proposed law of the land. They also are resistant to any efforts to have conscience clauses inserted into the bill, clauses that would protect medical personnel who still have a well-formed conscience, that is, who still want to follow the natural law.
And there has been a continuum of Church defense of the natural law. After Pope Pius XII, Pope Paul VI defended the natural law; indeed, his argument in Humanae Vitae was a strong natural law argument. John Paul II, Paul VI's nearly immediate successor, defended nearly every aspect of the natural law: the family, the right to life, etc. And Benedict XVI continues to defend the natural law.
Empires come and go, but the Catholic Church, the custodian of the natural law, will endure until the end of time, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it! (Mt. 16:18)