The Moral Law

"How will anyone be able to satisfy these with bread, here in a desert?" St Mark 8:4.

You might expect a minister or priest or social worker to say it, but not a hard-bitten military man. Nevertheless, we want to quote for you several statements by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, army chief of staff, and head of the military machine that broke the power of Germany in World War Two. He was speaking at a luncheon in Washington sponsored by the Gen­eral Commission on Army and Navy Chaplains, an advisory group on chap­lain policy. Among other pointed remarks, he made the following: "Except for moral regeneration throughout the world, there is no hope for us, and we are going to disappear one day in the dust of an atomic explosion."

"A good chaplain," he later added, "is worth more than his weight in gold. What we need today is a dynamic, constructive force to lead the world. The chaplain today has a more important job than ever."

In a word, the leader of our armed forces declared and warned that it is either moral rebirth or atom dust. Many another leader has said practically the same thing. All thinking men are of this opinion. What do we mean by moral rebirth? What do we mean by moral regeneration? How can that save the world?

Moral rebirth means knowing and keeping the moral law. And when General Eisenhower warned us that keeping the moral law is the only hope, he was speaking indirectly to all the world, but especially to us Americans. We must take the lead.

1. We must be clear about moral acts:

A. Some acts cannot be morally good or bad, like digesting food, sneez­ing, snoring, because they are not free acts.

B. Some acts are good in themselves, like prayer, helping a cripple across the street.

C. Some are bad in themselves, like stealing, lying, murder, abortion. We would emphasize that an act which is bad in itself, is never permitted for a good purpose. So-called mercy-killing - euthanasia - is an example. You are not allowed to murder a man merely to relieve him of his sufferings.

D. Some acts can be either good or bad. Walking, for illustration, is good on the way to visit the sick. It is bad when you walk to rob a store.

2. To be morally good or bad we must have responsibility:

A. We are accountable for every voluntary act we perform, whether it is doing something, like breaking a window, or not doing something commanded, as neglecting to make one's Easter duty.

B. We are also responsible for the consequences of our acts. If a man lost his job because you told a lie about him, you are responsible.

C. Whatever lessens our freedom, lessens our responsibility:

i. When passion takes away entirely the use of reason (a rare thing), you are not responsible. Ordinarily it merely lessens guilt.

ii. Grave fear lessens accountability, unless it is so serious one does not know what he is doing.

iii. Force, if resisted as much as possible, makes the act blameless.

iv. Blameworthy ignorance does not excuse. If, through your own fault, you do not know what is right and wrong, you are to blame.

3. With these introductions we now want to ask:

"What is the moral law?" In general, a law is an external and obligatory rule made by one who has the right to govern. A moral law is one which binds in conscience. All law comes directly or indirectly from God, because all authority is from God. There are several kinds of law.

4. The divine law is that established by God. It includes:

A. Natural law, which God has engraved on the heart of man. Every man knows, for instance, that honoring God is right, and that murder, on the other hand, is wrong. We need no written law to tell us that stealing, lying, birth control, abortion and murder, are wrong.

B. God's revealed law which is contained in the Ten Commandments, that emphasize and make clear the law in our hearts, the natural law.

5. Human law, made by God's representatives on earth:

A. Church law, for example, prescribes fast and abstinence, Mass on cer­tain days, special marriage regulations.

B. Civil law decides rules, for example, regarding the use of the mails, the highways, fire hazards.

C. Mere custom or way of doing things is not law, like tipping your hat on passing a Catholic Church.

6. Every law obliges in conscience all those who are subject to it:

A. God's law, both the natural and the revealed, binds all men under pain of sin. To disobey such a law is to disobey God Himself.

B. Church law binds all baptized Catholics, unless restricted to a certain group. The obligation of saying the Office does not apply to all Catholics.

C. Most civil laws are in some way taken from or related to the natural and also the express law of God, and hence, cannot be violated with­out sin. Other civil laws are only penal, like hunting and fishing laws. They may be violated without sin, if we are willing to pay the penalty if convicted.

Really, we don't need any general or statesman to tell us that God has made laws, which He insists must be obeyed. To get that idea of a Divine Law into our thinking and into our living is to be reborn. That is the rebirth which General Eisenhower declared was so necessary - to save the world.

This world is like a desert, like the place where Jesus worked the miracle of feeding four thousand and more. Like the Apostles, we wonder how the world will be fed with moral food and strength.

By keeping the moral law, the law of God planted in our hearts, and carved into the stones on Sinai, by keeping these laws, the world and you will be saved - for time and for eternity. Amen.
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Adapted from Prayers, Precepts and Virtues
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1949)