“The one who treated him with mercy.”
What is law? “Law is a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common good.”[i] All law “hinges upon the desire for God and submission to Him who is the source of all that is good.”[ii]
What is the highest form of law? Eternal Law is the highest form because “All law finds its first and ultimate truth in the eternal law.”[iii]
What is Eternal Law? Eternal Law is the plan, order, and purpose of God. It is “The plan of divine wisdom, insofar as it directs all the actions and events of the universe. It is, therefore, the unchangeable effective decree of God binding the whole of creation to the fulfillment of its purpose, and to the use of such means for attaining this purpose as are adapted to each nature.”[iv] Eternal Law is the over arching umbrella of all other laws.
What are the other laws? The other laws are Divine Law, Natural Law, and Human Law. This lesson will define Divine and Human Law, but will focus more on Natural Law.
What is Divine Law? Divine Law is closely related to Eternal Law. Divine Law is, “The eternal law of God, or the divine reason as governing the whole universe. God conceived as the Ruler of the Universe.”[v] The Divine Law is the “revealed” law through divine revelation and shown in the Scriptures, particularly in the New Testament. The eternal law, the plan of divine wisdom, cannot be completely known by man. What can be know by man is the divine law, which is the portion of the eternal law which God reveals to man. To “reveal” means to unveil. The divine law of God is unveiled to mankind through divine revelation which the Church teachings began with Adam and Eve and ends with the death of Saint John the Apostle, the last apostle. There is no “new” revelation or teachings; all that is taught is simply a reminder of what has already been revealed.
What is Natural Law? Pope Leo XII writes, “The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin…But this command of human reason would not have the force of law if it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher reason to which our spirit and our freedom must be submitted.”[vi] Following up with this point, “It is therefore called natural law because everyone is subject to it from birth (natio), because it contains only those duties which are derivable from human nature itself, and because, absolutely speaking, its essentials can be grasped by the unaided light of human reason.”[vii]
We can see Natural Law expressed in the Scriptures. Saint Paul wrote, “All who sin outside the law will also perish without reference to it, and all who sin under the law will be judged in accordance with it. For it is not those who hear the law who are just in the sight of God; rather, those who observe the law will be justified. For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ Jesus.”[viii] Saint Paul shows that even those who may not have heard the Gospel will still be judged by the Natural Law that is in them and through the Divine Law, Jesus Christ.
Is Natural Law ambiguous? No, it is quite clear. The first reading and the Gospel reading deal with the law of God. This law is placed in our hearts from the beginning. God reveals it more clearly in order to draw us closer to Him. This is how grace builds on nature. The law is “not an abstract law, imposed solely from without, but inscribed in the heart of man from the first moment of creation; hence it was a law in harmony with his nature, responding to his essential needs, and suited to leading him toward full realization of himself according to God’s purpose for him.”[ix]
All of Natural Law directs us to the love of God. St. John Vianney said, “Yes, our only occupation here on earth is that of loving God – that is, to start doing what we will be doing for all eternity. Why must we love God? Well, because our happiness consists in love of God; it can consist in nothing else. So, if we do not love God, we will always be unhappy; and if we wish to enjoy any consolation and relief in our pains, we will attain it only by recourse to love of God. If you want to be convinced of this, go and find the happiest man according to the world; if he does not love God, you will find that in fact he is really an unhappy man. And, on the contrary, if you discover the man most unhappy in the eyes of the world, you will see that because he loves God he is happy in every way. Oh my God, open the eyes of our souls, and we will seek our happiness where we truly can find it.”[x]
What is Human Law? Human law is, “Legislation imposed by human authority, implementing the natural law.”[xi] Human laws may also implement divine law as well as natural law. An example of a human law in the past, which implemented the third commandment, “keep holy the Sabbath” is the blue laws. “Blue laws often prohibit an activity only during certain hours and there are usually exceptions to the prohibition of commerce, like grocery and drug stores.”[xii] In many towns in American stores were closed, by law on Sundays out of respect for the third commandment.
Why do we need human laws? We need Human Law because while all of us have Natural Law ingrained in our souls, we can reject that law due to our free will. When someone rejects Natural Law or become a danger to society, they must be brought to justice.
Why is it easy for man to reject natural law if the natural law is written in our hearts and even the divine law revealed to us? Saint Paul answers this question in His letter to the Romans. “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.”[xiii] Due to original sin and the fall of man, man’s mind was darkened, and man has concupiscence, the tendency to sin. It is the grace of God that helps us to know clearly the natural and divine law and act in obedience to these laws.
What if human laws contradict to natural, divine, and/or eternal law? Many countries throughout the world enact human laws that are contrary to the natural, divine, and or eternal law. When a human law contradicts the natural, divine, and or eternal law we have a right and are obligated to disobey the civil / human law.
Martin Luther King Jr. quotes two saints regarding law in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, “One may well ask: ‘How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?’ The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’ Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”[xiv]
ACTIVITY – Human Laws- Are they just?
Make a list of any human law past or present in any country that contradicts the natural, divine, and or eternal law. Martin Luther King Jr. is protesting or disobeying human laws (segregation), which goes against the natural law that all humans are created equal. Some people want to associate the human laws of segregation as being the same as the human laws which regulate or outlaw abortion and human laws which outlaw so called “same-sex marriage”. Why are the human laws which outlaw so called “same-sex marriage” and “abortion” different than human laws which called for segregation? Marriage is defined by divine revelation (Genesis) as between one man and one woman. This is a reveled law of God, and thus human laws outlawing so called “same-sex marriage” are actually supporting the divine law. Abortion is the killing of an innocent child, which is murder and forbidden by the divine law (5th Commandment), and thus human laws outlawing abortion are in line with the divine law. Both the sanctity of life and marriage and family are also supported in natural law.
What does Jesus tell us concerning the Law? In the first reading, Moses spoke of the commandments that were written in the book of the law.[xv] These laws were revealed to the people of Israel by God and contained many truths that were Natural Law.[xvi] Yet, as good as this law was, it was still imperfect. Jesus came to establish the New Law, which is perfect in Him. “The New Law or the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed. It is the work of Christ and is expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount.”[xvii] “The Law…fulfills and surpasses the Old Law and brings it to perfection, through the Beatitudes of the Kingdom of heaven; its commandments, by reforming the heart, the root of human acts. The New Law is a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom.”[xviii] Jesus encompasses all of the laws and through the parable of the Good Samaritan, shows how the law should be lived. He shows that a Samaritan, who had little to no status in the Old Law, has status according to the Eternal Law (Natural and Divine) thus we are called to go to the aid of the Samaritan.
[i] CCC 1951
[ii] cf. CCC 1955
[iii] CCC 1951
[iv] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 193
[v] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 164
[vi] Leo XIII, Libertas praestantissiumum, 597.
[vii] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 370
[viii] Romans 2:12-16
[ix] Fr. Gabriel, Divine Intimacy Vol. III, pg. 119
[x] St. John Mary Vianney, Selected sermons, Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
[xi] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 259
[xii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law
[xiii] Romans 1:19-23
[xiv] Martin Luther King, Jr.; “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”; April 16, 1953
[xv] cf. Deut. 30:10
[xvi] cf. CCC 1961
[xvii] CCC 1965
[xviii] CCC 1984-1985