These Live for All Time

These Live in the Human Heart

2011-06-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

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

These Live for All Time

2011-06-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

In one of Sophocles' greatest works, Creon and his brother, who is King, are involved in mortal combat for the rule of the kingdom. Creon defeats and kills the King, his brother, in the battle, leaving his dead body in the fields for the birds to consume and devour. Now, the King’s sister, Antigone, is a decent maiden who has the natural moral law written in her heart. Therefore, she attempts to remove the King’s body from the field and give him a decent burial. In response, Creon, the usurper king, makes a law that it is a capital crime to bury the King. This is—of course—an unjust law since it violates the natural moral law. Indeed, Saint Thomas Aquinas taught: Mala lex, nulla lex, which translated is rendered: “A bad law is no law.” In other words, no human authority can make a law that contradicts the natural moral law. If such a law is made, it has no binding force whatsoever, and ought to be resisted. This, it seems, is what Sophocles was trying to say when he wrote Antigone. In Sophocles’ marvelous work, Antigone, a courageous and noble maiden, tells Creon that his laws, even if he were a legitimate king, can override neither the eternal law nor the natural law. For "these live, not for today and yesterday but for all time." There is a message here for the elite and politically powerful of our day who legislate in favor of abortion, same-sex unions, and other atrocities that go against the natural law. And naturally there is a message for the humble person who tries to follow the natural law, which is written in his heart. It is the message of Saint Paul to the Corinthians: Do not lose heart, “For God has chosen what the world considers weak and foolish to shame the ‘wise’ and the powerful, that no flesh may glory in God’s sight.” Be of good heart; fight the good fight. Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the natural, eternal, and divine law, is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is the ultimate Victor. To Him be glory and power and dominion for all ages, world without end. Amen.

These Live in the Human Heart

2010-09-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

The Most Fundamental Law

2010-08-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-06-21T15:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

“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

2010-05-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-06T17:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Note: to see pictures, click on the link: theselive.blogspot.com

The Definition of Virtue

2010-02-15T15:51:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-30T07:49:00.000-08:00

“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

2010-01-22T19:54:00.000-08:00

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"

2010-01-20T16:08:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-01-18T15:38:00.000-08:00

"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

Click on the link to view the blog! theselive.blogspot.com

Venerable Facts

2010-01-12T16:06:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

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)

That Ubiquitous Law

2009-12-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I, the Lord your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go. If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would flow like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea.

While the ancient Greeks and Romans were using right reason to discover the existence of God and the natural law, the ancient Israelites were learning the natural law through Divine Revelation. Through Moses, God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, which is the natural law expressed explicitly. God is good: He provides for all His children.

P.S. The English word "ubiquitous" comes from the Latin word, "ubique" [oo-bee-kway], which means everywhere. When in the Mass, you hear the Latin phrase, "semper et ubique," it means, "always and everywhere." Then there are the Marines, who have the motto, "Semper fidelis," which means, "always faithful."

G. K. C. on Divine Providence

2009-08-19T12:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Blogger,

As promised, here is the quote from Chesterton:

After that, all men knew in their hearts that she [the Roman Republic] had been representative of mankind, even when she was rejected of men. And there fell on her the shadow from a shining and yet invisible light and the burden of things to be. It is not for us to guess in what manner or moment the mercy of God might in any case have rescued the world; but it is certain that the struggle which established Christendom would have been very different if there had been an empire of Carthage instead of an empire of Rome. We have to thank the patience of the Punic Wars if, in after ages, divine things descended at least upon human things and not inhuman. Europe evolved into its own vices with its own impotence, as will be suggested on another page; but the worst into which it evolved was not like what it had escaped. Can any man in his senses compare the great wooden doll, whom the children expected to eat a little bit of the dinner, with the great idol who would have been expected to eat the children? That is the measure of how far the world went astray, compared with how far it might have gone astray.

-Gilbert Keith Chesteron, The Everlasting Man (Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1953) 154.

God bless,

Little Brother

"Only One Is Good"

2009-08-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Little Brother:
Can pagans ever be good? Should we love them too even though they don't acknowledge the one true God or the Church that our Lord founded? -a blogger

Dear Blogger:
God wants us to love everyone--that includes pagans. The meaning of "love" is to desire the salvation of your neighbor and to pray for this intention. Furthermore, there are "good pagans" and "bad pagans"; we need pray for both. Looking at history, we find examples of both: The pagans of the ancient Roman Republic (not to be confused with the Roman Empire) used what wits they had to come to the conclusion that a Supreme Being exists, and that there is a natural law that any human being can discover using his reason, that is, his God-given intellect. This natural law is based on the Eternal Law, which is based on the nature of God himself and how God made the universe to work. If we lived our lives according to the way the God of Love made the universe and according to our nature as human beings, this human nature being part of God's universe--of his Eternal Law or Eternal Plan, then the world would be the way God created it to be. Of course, it will be even better than we can ever imagine, thanks to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, King and Lord of All History.
Now, let's get back to the distinction we were making, and please excuse "the digression." The Roman Republic provides us with an example of "good pagans". Often, they are called, "the noble pagans of antiquity". An example of a bad pagan society would be ancient Carthage. Rome fought against Carthage in the Punic Wars. ("Wars"--plural in number-- because there were three of them and they took place over a long period of time.) The Carthaginians worshipped Moloch, a demonic god who required child sacrifice. So, one religion is as good as another, right? Wrong! This "religion" clearly was not good. As already implied, it was demonic. The Carthaginians were literally throwing babies (most likely their own) into the fires of Moloch. That's how they "fed" him. Interestingly, the Carthaginians were the descendants of Phoenicians who moved to Northern Africa and founded the New City, more commonly know as "Carthage." Guess which famous woman in history was a Phoenician queen. You're right! It's the infamous Jezebel. In an intermarriage that made an alliance between Phoenicia and the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Queen Jezebel married King Abab. Jezebel pressured the weak King Ahab into setting up Baals for the Israelites to worship. You know what this meant. The northern kingdom of God's Chosen People were worshipping idols and committing child-sacrifice along with the pagans. How horrible! How utterly unthinkable. Jeremiah was right when he said, "The Temple! The Temple! ..." Dont' think you are doing fine and God is pleased with you and your Temple if you worship false gods and do child sacrifice! Because of that, your glorious Temple doesn't amount to "a hill of beans" to put it in "the vernacular".
Thus, Ahab and Jezebel began the first outright religious persecution of God's Chosen People since they came into existence. These are the same monarchs who were the contemporaries of that great and fiery prophet, Elijah (or Elias). And the great Elijah, fighting for the religious rights of God's people and fighting literally for the dear children, overcame the priests of Baal! God is pro-life! Indeed, when Hiel offered his two sons to the Baals by burying them in the foundations of Jericho, Jeremiah tells us that this is something that God never dreamed of. When a person reads this, with an inner voice of the soul, he can just hear God weeping!
In his classic book, The Everlasting Man, Gilbert Keith Chesterton shows the world the difference between "the noble pagans" and "the bad pagans". (Perhaps we could also call them the pagans of antiquity versus the pagans of iniquity.) Chesterton asks how anyone can possibly compare the little pagan wooden dolls whom the children would invite to eat some of their dinner with the pagan god, Moloch, who would have had the children for dinner; yes, Moloch would have eaten the children! The Romans, with natural reason and natural law, did their level best to be the people they were created to be and achieve their final end, union with God, whether they could say this in so many words or not. The Carthaginians simply didn't develop natural virtue and decided to be bad. Probably, the worship of Moloch was more "convenient" for them.
Blogger, I'm here at the library and don't have my copy of The Everlasting Man right here on my person, so please excuse me. In my next e-letter, I will send you the entire quote of Chesterton on this matter. So for now, as said a noble Roman general returning from the Punic Wars: Carthago delenda est!
-Little Brother

Reason and Revelation

2009-07-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

Here is an excellent and easy-to-understand explanation of the natural law by Anne Carroll, author of Christ the King: Lord of History.

… But in philosophy, Rome did mark one important accomplishment: the development of an understanding of the natural law.
The natural law means that there are certain moral principles which men logically determine by studying life, human nature and reality. Some of these principles are the evil of murder, of theft, of perjury. The Hebrews, of course, prohibited these things because of the Ten Commandments, which they had received as a direct revelation from God. But the Roman philosophers reasoned with their minds to many of the same conclusions and then taught these conclusions to the people. They were the first people, therefore, to develop on their own a code of natural law morality. They used this as a basis for their law code, which was one of the fairest and most just systems in the world because it was based on principles believed to be unchanging, rather than on what any individual judge thought about the case. This means that the poor as well as the rich could expect justice under Roman law.

Our God is awesome! He gives each of us an intellect and a heart with which to discover the truth about ourselves (our nature as human beings), the world, and how we should want to live in order to be truly happy. At the same time, he tells us explicitly how to do this as He gives us the Ten Commandments. These Commandments are actually the natural law written on the stone tablets of Moses and which God writes on the heart of each human person. Wow! One would think this more than enough to assure that we “get the message.” However, God’s love is always greater than we could possibly imagine. He goes even further by sending His Love “in the flesh”, the Son of God Incarnate, to redeem us from the Evil One and to show us in person how to live in order to be truly happy—forever!

The Law Written on Your Heart

2009-06-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

"This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people." (Jeremiah 31:33) Happy Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus!

The Natural Law is in Our Hearts

2009-06-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

Don't give up; good things still happen! God really does "cast down the mighty from their thrones and lift up the lowly."

"Seventy years ago it was against the law to dispense birth control devices or medicines. Planned Parenthood set up shop in the Chase Clinic here in Waterbury to dispense contraceptives. The Priests of the City of Waterbury had a meeting and drafted a letter to be read at all the Masses in the City the next day. As it happened, the District Attorney for the City of Waterbury attended the 10:00 Mass in Saint Margaret’s Church. The next day he met with his staff and by the end of the week, the Birth Control Clinic in Waterbury and 11 others around the State were closed." -From the Rector's column of the bulletin of The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday, June 7, A.D. 2009

It was only seventy years ago and society was still morally good enough -- at least in one part of the world -- to follow Jesus, and the civil laws were still based on the natural law. Caesar and the Pope working together; miracles can happen!

Father Thomas Euteneuer will be present at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury during the weekend of June 19-21, to help commemorate this event. Furthermore, June 19 is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, and June 20 the Solemnity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Sacred Scripture lives for all time!

2009-02-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

The natural law is written not only on the heart of man, but also in the Sacred Scriptures. The natural law can be known by any human person; however, in it's secondary precepts it is known "only by a few and with a great admixture of error" (St. Thomas Aquinas). But why is this so? The Catechism of the Catholic Church answers this question bluntly and directly: "Because of sin the natural law is not always perceived nor is it recognized by everyone with equal clarity and immediacy." For this reason, says St. Augustine, God, "wrote on the tablets of the law what men did not read in their hearts." How awesome our Father is! He always provides for his weak and struggling children. We fail to read what God put into our very nature as human beings, so God writes "a book" -- indeed a veritable library! -- for us. What God told the Hebrews many years ago is valid for the post-modern man of today; indeed it's valid for all time.

I answered, concealed in the storm cloud,
at the waters of Meriba I tested you.
Listen, my people, to my warning,
O Israel, if only you would heed!

Let there be no foreign god among you,
no worship of an alien god.
I am the Lord you God,
who brought you from the land of Egypt.
Open you mouth wide and I will fill it.

But my people did not heed my voice
and Israel would not obey,
so I left them in their stubbornness of heart
to follow their own designs.

O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.

The Lord's enemies would cringe at their feet
and their subjection would last forever.
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat
and fill them with honey from the rock.

Let there be no foreign god among you, no worship of an alien god. Again and again in history, after a period of repentance and reform, Israel would lapse into foreign worship; they would adopt the ways and modes of worship of the nations. Yet many of the nations worshiped gods who demanded child-sacrifice. Thus Israel herself at times practiced the abominations of child sacrifice and adultery. These are well-documented historical facts, which we will demonstrate in a future posting on this blog. Whenever the First Commandment is broken in public on a large scale, the Sixth and Fifth Commandments follow. It's not my opinion--it's history.

Today, led by the United States of America, there is acceptance of abortion by the majority of the cultures and by the legal systems. There is also a popular acceptance of contraception, whether is it admitted to or not. This is child sacrifice. Preborn babies, children at the very beginning of life, are sacrificed the the gods of money, convenience, and political correctness. The sanctity of the marriage bed, which used to be open to transmission of human life as per the natural law and the Sixth Commandment, is sacrificed to the god of overpopulation propaganda and the god of popular opinion. We are no different from the ancient Israelites and the nations of pagan antiquity that surrounded them.

O that my people would heed me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.

The Lord's enemies would cringe at their feet
and their subjection would last forever.
But Israel I would feed with finest wheat
and fill them with honey from the rock.

Will we be rewarded for respecting life and protecting our brothers, especially the most vulnerable? On the other hand, will we be overrun by our enemies, both temporal and eternal? Only you and I can answer this question. We do this by the way we live our lives.

Written in the Heart of Man

2009-02-15T17:10:00.000-08:00

Sophocles' character Antigone speaks of "the unwritten laws of heaven" that no man can change or override. She is referring to the eternal law. Eternal law is God's plan for all creation "to run" with each being living according to it's nature. The natural law is simply eternal law in the heart of the human person. Since he has reason, a human being can know what is good and what is bad (evil). That's why it's called "natural law", because it's based on reason, which is the basis of human nature. No other visible creature on earth is able to reason. Thus, man's reason telling him to choose what is good and avoid what is evil has come to be called "the natural law." Indeed, this is the first principle of the natural law: Do good and avoid evil. "This first principle of natural law: 'Do good and avoid evil.' is known to anyone who has the use of reason at all." (Austin Fagothey, Right and Reason Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1959, p.179). "My dear Sam," every hobbit--I mean--every human being has at least some use of reason. That is what makes him human. From these principles, other basic principles immediately follow. They are so simple that everyone has them.

There are other common or general principles based on the first principle, following from it with immediate inference, or with mediate inference so simple and easy that no normal mature person can fail to make it. (Ibid., p. 179)

Austin Fagothey's book Right and Reason gives these examples:

"Preserve your own being."
"Care for your offspring."
"Adore God."
"Do not murder."
"Treat others with fairness."
"Be faithful to your friends." (page 179)

No human person wants to die or get sick. We naturally abhor such painful experiences. And who doesn't like a cute little baby! And when the baby is your own you definitely want him or her to continue to live; parents are willing to give their very lives for their children. Everyone feels a need to worship and if one doesn't find the true God, he makes up his own god or accepts the god of his peers--whichever one happens to be popular at the time. It's obvious that religion cannot be eradicated from the human race. Everyone wants to be treated fairly, and everyone--especially children--has a sense of fair play. Finally, no man can exist totally alone; everyone needs a friend. This is so deep in man. It is in all our great literature, our tales, our stories--from Day One.

Enkidu, whom I loved dearly,
who went with me through all hardships,
He has gone to the lot of mankind,
Day and night I have wept over him.
For burial I did not want to give him up, thinking:
"My friend will rise after all at my lamentations!"
From: Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet X (Old Babylonian version), lines 2-11, in Heidel, Gilgamesh Epic, p. 69.

Antigone

2009-02-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

Why not? It was not Zeus who gave the order.
And Justice living with the dead below
has never given men a law like this.
Nor did I think your pronouncements were
so powerful that mere man could override
the unwritten and unfailing laws of heaven.
These live, not for today and yesterday
but for all time.*
What is found in man's heart will inevitably come out in his literature, in his tales, in his "oral tradition". Now, we must give some important background for the above passage, just in case there exists someone reading this blog who has not yet had the pleasure of reading (or watching) "Antigone."
Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, goes to bury her brother, who has died in mortal combat. The new ruler, Creon, makes a law that forbids Antigone from burying her poor brother, because he was Creon's rival claimant to the throne. Antigone does her family duty and buries her brother anyway, knowing full well that Creon will exact the death penalty against her. So, what does she think of Creon's decree? Sophocles gives Antigone's answer in the profound passage quoted above.
So why this passage to open a blog on natural law? Because, in a way that touches the human heart, it conveys profound truths about the natural law: Natural law is based on eternal law (God's design for the universe, especially for the human person), it is unchangeable and universal (for human persons of every place and every time), and it cannot be overridden by any positive law, whether civil or ecclesiastical.
With laws that fail to protect completely the human life in the womb and proposed laws that would obliterate all legal protection against abortion (F.O.C.A.) and the legalization of "gay marriage" in some states, the primacy of the natural law over human positive law would seem to be a very pertinent topic for our day and age. But that's the topic for a future posting by this author--or perhaps one of you bloggers out there would like to "write in" about that.
*(Sophocles, Oedipus the King and Antigone, Peter Arnot, trans., New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1960, p.76)