Moral law ‘finds its fullness and its unity in Christ’

Article 143 - Catechism of the Catholic Church Series

Paragraphs 1949-1974

We are all familiar with the motto on our coins, “In God We Trust,” and we witness this same faith in God incorporated into presidential speeches. Such public profession of our faith in God goes back to the earliest days of American history. The early pilgrims, for example, who were saved from starvation that first terrible winter of 1620-1621, set aside a day of thanksgiving to God for their survival. This spirit of religious faith was evident everywhere in the early colonies. When we became an independent nation, this same dependence on God was included in our Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States. To this day, our nation recognizes God and his rights over us. Americans realize that we have to give to God what belongs to him. We understand that religion is a debt which we must, in strict justice, pay to our loving Creator.

Sentiments of dependence on God are consistent with the theme introduced in this section of the Catechism: “Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, we stand in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to us in Christ through the law that guides us and the grace that sustains us” (ccc 1949). How is this possible? The Catechism tells us that this is possible through moral law, which is “the work of divine Wisdom...defined as fatherly instruction, God’s pedagogy...the rules of conduct that lead to the promised beatitude” (ccc 1950).

Inspired by St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (10:4), the Catechism teaches that moral law “finds its fullness and its unity in Christ” (ccc 1953). It continues: “Jesus Christ is in person the way of perfection. He is the end of the law, for only he teaches and bestows the justice of God” (ccc 1953). In other words, consider who Jesus is — perfection personified. When we follow the path that leads to Jesus, we end up living, or at least loving, perfection. Put differently, our personal encounter with Jesus enables us to live the most authentic life possible because Christ is the perfect One Whom we follow and thus imitate. Through such an encounter we experience the end of the law; we become the recipients of God’s justice. “For Christ is the end of the law, that everyone who has faith may be justified” (Rom 10:4).

Expounding on divine and natural law, the Catechism explains how they “show us the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain our end” (ccc 1955). Natural law “hinges upon the desire for God and submission to him, who is the source and judge of all that is good, as well as upon the sense that the other [person] is our equal” (ccc 1955). The principle aspects of natural law are found in the Ten Commandments. St. Thomas Aquinas reminds us that natural law “is nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God; through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid.” What is not always mentioned when discussing “natural law” is the implicit truth that our loving God, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, as “the Lord and Giver of Life,” is the One who keeps nature in balance. As the Catechism states, “natural law provides revealed law and grace with a foundation prepared by God and in accordance with the work of the Spirit” (ccc 1960). As we reflect on the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, we realize that He is the One who moves always in one direction…the direction of life!

Next, the Old Law in the Old Testament, which is also referred to as the Law of Moses or the Ten Commandments (the Decalogue), is discussed. The Catechism states that “the Old Law is the first stage of revealed Law. Its moral prescriptions are summed up in the Ten Commandments” (ccc 1962). As well, the Old Law is “a preparation for the Gospel...a pedagogy and a prophecy of things to come” (ccc 1964).

The “things to come” or the New Law, which is also the Law of the Gospel, is described using various images in the last several paragraphs in this section of the Catechism. Among them are:

“The New Law or the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed” (ccc 1965).

“The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit given to the faithful through faith in Christ. It works through charity” (ccc 1966).

“The Law of the Gospel fulfills, refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its perfection” (ccc 1967).

“The Law of the Gospel...is summed up in the Golden Rule, ‘Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do so to them; this is the law and the prophets’” (ccc 1970).

“The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the ‘new commandment’ of Jesus, to love one another as he has loved us” (ccc 1970).

“The New Law is called a law of love because it makes us act out of the love infused by the Holy Spirit” (ccc 1974).

To summarize this section, consider early Christian art depicted in the Baptistery of San Giovanni Church in Naples. The mosaics show the substitution of the “new law” for the old Law. In fact, the gift given by Christ to Peter, who is seen as the new Moses, is the scroll of the New Covenant, rather than the “handing over of keys.” The meaning of this image is often explained by the inscription Dominus legem dat (The Lord gives the Law). And, in St. Constance Church in Rome, the mosaics represent this gift of the law: in the right-hand, God is giving the law to Moses; in the left-hand, Christ is giving the law to Peter in the form of a scroll bearing the same inscription Dominus legem dat...The Lord Gives the Law!

Father Hillier is Director, Diocesan Office of the Pontifical Missions, the Office for Persons with Disabilities and Censor Luborum