Great things happen when done in the name of Jesus

Article 133 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series
Paragraphs 1749 -1756
    

What does it mean to live a moral life? Most of us would immediately answer by invoking the name of Jesus and stating that following in the footsteps of Christ is to live a moral life.
This includes, among other things, that we must make sacrifices if we want to be followers of Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke, we read: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23). That doesn’t mean we have to do something so big that it makes it onto the evening news. Neither do we have to fast all of the time or pray most of the day into the night.
Christ knows that we lead mostly ordinary lives, working at ordinary jobs, doing housework, raising a family, studying or cooking, or waiting to pick up a child from school. He also knows that from time to time we are called on to make some extra effort to help someone, especially in our own family. Jesus knows that our lives are often difficult, but He also knows that love makes it easier. Notice in Sacred Scripture how Jesus says He will repay each of us according to our conduct: “For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct” (Mt 16:27). Later, St. Paul reaffirms this when he writes to the Romans: God “will repay everyone according to his works” (Rom 2:6).
Such is the case when we do what is right and just for God and neighbor. We perform human acts in a way that produces positive results rather than negative ones. When we do things in the name of Jesus, our Savior, great things can happen. In fact, the Sacred Scriptures teach that Jesus’ name can work wonders for us. St. Luke teaches in the Acts of the Apostles, “There is no other name under heaven given to humanity by which we can be saved” (Acts 4:12). According to the fourth evangelist, the name of Jesus is the source of all strength: “If you ask the Father anything in my name, He will give it to you” (Jn 16:23).
What would you and I like to ask of God, our loving Father? We certainly need greater faith in our world; we need greater zeal and many other special blessings and virtues, including the virtue of courage. Many things frighten us today. Freedom from fear has not yet come to our world. The apostles, the martyrs, and all the heroes of Christian history, received their bravery through the powerful name of Jesus. So will you and I, if we call upon that same, sweet name, because Jesus is our moral compass, the Truth who sets us free (Jn 8:32). As Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
In short, Christ is Truth personified. As such, Christ the Truth sets us free, and following in the (true) freedom of Christ is to live a moral life. No wonder the opening paragraph in this section of the Catechism (ccc 1749) affirms that true freedom makes us moral subjects. The next paragraph states: “The morality of human acts depends on: the object chosen; the end in view or the intention; and the circumstances of the action” (ccc 1750).
Although this sounds like a lot of philosophical jargon, the next paragraph explains that “the object chosen is a good toward which the will deliberately directs itself. It is the matter of a human act. The object chosen morally specifies the act of the will, insofar as reason recognizes and judges it to be or not to be in conformity with the true good” (ccc 1751).
In other words, “a good intention [for example, that of helping one’s neighbor] does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or just. The end does not justify the means. Thus, the condemnation of an innocent person cannot be justified as a legitimate means of saving the nation. On the other hand, an added bad intention [such as vainglory] makes an act evil that, in and of itself, can be good [such as almsgiving]” (ccc 1753).
The Catechism explains further that “the circumstances, including the consequences, are secondary elements of a moral act. They contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral goodness or evil of human acts [for example, the amount of a theft]. They can also diminish or increase the agent’s responsibility [such as acting out of a fear of death]. Circumstances of themselves cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves; they can make neither good nor right an action that is in itself evil” (ccc 1754).
“A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the circumstances together. An evil end corrupts the action, even if the object is good in itself [such as praying and fasting “in order to be seen by others”)” (ccc 1755).
“It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances [environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.] which supply their context. There are acts which, in and of themselves, independently of circumstances and intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of their object; such as blasphemy and perjury, murder and adultery. One may not do evil so that good may result from it” (ccc 1756).
So often we make the mistake of assuming that “the end justifies the means” or whatever we do, as long as we know it will produce something valuable or good, is acceptable. This section of the Catechism tells us that it is not acceptable to do evil in order to arrive at a morally good conclusion. Good intentions are never enough however valuable they may seem, whatever anyone may say.
Father Hillier serves as director of the diocesan Office of the Pontifical Missions, the Office for Persons with Disabilities, and Censor Librorum