The Free Peoples of Africa

As has already been reported in the news, the West (that is, the current Administration of the U.S. and the U.N.) is trying to foist contraception upon developing nations, using various euphemisms as a selling point. Well, the Catholic Bishops of Africa aren't buying. They are standing up for the freedom of the Africans. Yes, I say, "freedom," because true freedom is the ability to do what is right. The Africans are decent people who want to observe the law that is written in their hearts, that is, the natural moral law. This law is written on the heart of every human person. Every human being knows what is right and just, but, says St. Thomas Aquinas, some persons and even whole societies may lose this "knowledge" on account of repeated violations of the moral law. In theological terms, a man's conscience becomes numb. How blessed are the Africans and their bishops because their consciences are pure! "Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord and enter His holy place? [It is] the man with clean hands and pure heart." -from the Psalms

The Pope of Moral Theology

What’s so great about Pope Saint John Paul II? Beside the fact that he is extremely consistent with the teachings of the Popes who came before him—which truly ought to be the modus operandi of every Pope—and beside many other pertinent facts of his papacy, there is the fact that he has almost single-handedly renewed the face of moral theology. Somehow, moral theology—it seems—had become an adjunct, an accessory, merely one of those “required courses” at Catholic colleges and seminaries. But now, every Catholic student and seminarian who knows the mind and heart and legacy of Pope John Paul II will want to study and implement moral theology, that is, the moral teaching of Christ and the Catholic Church, into his life and the life of each one whom he serves by offering the Gospel of Jesus the Christ. He will not need a requirement to motivate him in the matter. He will be like St Paul, who is morally compelled to preach the Holy Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The point of the Holy Father’s renewal of moral theology is well-made by Monsignor William B. Smith:

Conventional Catholic moral teaching was for some time seen as almost indistinguishable from canonical discipline. In many seminaries, both subjects were taught by the same teacher. During his pontificate, John Paul has overseen the promulgation of a new Code of Canon Law for the Western Church—Codex Iuris Canonici (1983). … It is thus all the more remarkable that amid the canonical achievement, John Paul II did not leave moral theology as an adjunct of canon law but renewed it by returning to the “sacred sources” of sacred theology, especially Sacred Scripture. [William B. Smith, "John Paul II's Seminal Contributions to Moral Theology" in Geoffrey Gneuhs, editor, The Legacy of Pope John Paul II: His Contribution to Catholic Thought(New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2000) 40-41]

Pope John Paul II says so himself in Veritatis Splendor, his “moral masterpiece on fundamental moral theology”(Ibid., 40). The saintly Pope writes:

The specific purpose of the present encyclical is this: to set forth, with regard to the problems being discussed, the principles of a moral teaching based on Sacred Scripture and the living Apostolic Tradition, and at the same time to shed light on the presuppositions and consequences of the dissent which that teaching has met (Veritatis Splendor, no. 5).

Indeed, the Holy Spirit is renewing the face of the earth.

The Ineffable Mercy of God

Western Civilization is toppling because she has abandoned her roots: “public and private moral virtue and respect for the natural [moral] law” and a belief—at time implicit and at other times explicit—in the one and only God. Governments would do well to look to ancient Rome for guidance:

Meanwhile Rome had developed a remarkably well constructed system of checks and balances to prevent the domination of their government either by the patrician class … or by the kind of popular assembly whose inconstancy had doomed Athens. As we shall have more than ample opportunity to see in the course of this history, even the best political structure is of very little value without public and private moral virtue and respect for the natural law; but all this the people of the Roman republic had, in an impressively high degree (Warren H. Carroll, The Founding of Christendom, 216, Emphasis mine.).

God watches over his worldwide family and allowed the Romans a chance to develop their potential and set the stage as it were for the Incarnation of the Son of God in the fullness of time.

These early Roman moral qualities and the system of government of the early Roman republic, complementing each other, laid the foundation for their eventual dominion over the Western civilized world, though not until Rome had been tested and annealed in the crucible of the Punic Wars with sinister Carthage could this potential be realized (Ibid.216).

In his monumental work, The Everlasting Man, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, points to the magnificence of Divine Providence in the struggle that left its mark on the rest of history:

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, things divine descended at least upon human things and not inhuman. … -- G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, 154-155, Emphasis mine.

The Natural Law: Always and Everywhere

Viva Christo Rey!

Have you ever noticed how every town in the world has a main street which is called just that: “Main Street”? This seems to be an unwritten law in every community.

Brothers and sisters, there is a law not written on paper but written in the heart of each and every human person. This law we call “the natural moral law” or simply “the natural law.”

Now, because a person is human, he just knows that certain things are right and just:
• worshipping God
• honoring your parents
• helping your brothers and sisters
• helping your neighbor who is in need
• telling the truth
• respecting the property of other people
• being happy with the good things that God has given you and not wanting somebody else’s things

Do you notice how these commands that I have just named are very similar to the Ten Commandments?
• I am the Lord, your God, you shall not have strange gods before Me.
• Keep holy the Lord’s Day.
• Honor your father and your mother
• You shall not kill.
• You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
• You shall not steal.
• You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

This is because the Ten Commandments are a direct way of saying the natural law, which God has put into your heart and into the heart of every human person.

Finally, no one on earth—not even the government—has authority to make anyone act against the Ten Commandments. No one has any right to make a person act against the natural law. Furthermore, the Ten Commandments have been revealed to everybody and are valid in every place and for all time. Everyone has to obey them. Everybody should want to obey them. They come straight from the Heart of God, a Heart so lovingly solicitous for the true well-being, the salvation, of each one of us!

Socialism is incompatible with Church teaching and virtuous living

It is not the role of the Federal government to provide for—name it. It is the role of the Federal government to create an atmosphere where people can do what we are called to do as individuals (not collectively as a government), which is to be our brother’s keeper, which is in fact to provide for those who are needy in our society. That’s the bottom line. What we’ve seen in our society is this collectivist idea that we need to just go out and collect taxes from everybody, and by paying your tribute to Washington, you’ve now done your duty to provide for your fellow man as you are required to under biblical teaching, under Church teaching; that’s just simply false. And we need to get back—and I say this as part of our organization called patriot voices, and I say this to conservatives—if you want government smaller, people have to get bigger. And that’s the message. They want government bigger; people will get smaller. That’s not the Catholic vision; that’s not the biblical vision of Jesus Christ.

-Rick Santorum, The World Over, August 16, 2012

Truth Leads to Freedom

If you want real freedom, then accept the Truth.

Pope Benedict XVI, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, has said much about the importance of understanding the relationship between faith and reason. Benedict’s understanding and teaching on this relationship is evident in the address he gave to the U.S. bishops during the recent [March 2012] Ad Limina visit.

With her long tradition of respect for the right relationship between faith and reason, the Church has a critical role to play in countering cultural currents which, on the basis of an extreme individualism, seek to promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth. Our tradition does not speak from blind faith, but from a rational perspective which links our commitment to building an authentically just, humane and prosperous society to our ultimate assurance that the cosmos is possessed of an inner logic accessible to human reasoning.

Here it seems that His Holiness is presenting morality not from a top-down model, which could require “blind faith”, but rather from a within model: the makings of right living are within us and within the universe, like a language of righteous living imprinted on our very being, and we can use our ratio (rational powers) to decode this language. This language is accessible to us, because it is part of our makeup. Furthermore, it is accessible to all people of good will, not only to “religious” people or only to Catholics; although the Church has an indispensible role in teaching some of the more complicated matters in moral theology and ethics. Yet the basics are available to all. Unless one has killed his conscience by repeated and vicious sins, he knows in his heart that murder, stealing, lying, and cheating are morally wrong.

Wisdom to the Simple

Every man can be wise. You don't need a college degree to be wise; some farmers are actually wiser than some professors. God gave us the natural law, which we can know because we are creatures with ratio or reason. The natural law is nonetheless revealed to us by God in the Ten Commandments. The natural law, says St. Thomas Aquinas, is "nothing more than the rational creature's participation in the Eternal Law." Follow this law, which God has given to man, and you will be wise.

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. -Psalm 19

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

These Live for All Time

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

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.

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

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!