333 THE NATURAL LAW

YOUCAT Lesson 333

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

333  Is there a natural law that everyone can know?

If people are to do good and avoid evil, certainty about what is good or evil must be inscribed within them.  In fact there is such a moral law that is, so to speak, “natural” to men and can be known in principle by every person by reason.  [1949-1960, 1975, 1978-1979]

The Angelus  painting by Jean-Francois Millet between 1857-1859. …..333

The natural moral law is valid for everyone.  It tells men what fundamental rights and duties they have and thus forms the real foundation for life together in the family, in society, and in the State.  Because our natural knowledge is often troubled by sin and human weakness, a person needs God’s help and his revelation in order to stay on the right path.

“In all cultures there are examples of ethical convergence, some isolated, some interrelated, as an expression of the one human nature, willed by the Creator; the tradition of ethical wisdom knows this as the natural law” (Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical .Caritas in veritate).

[1949-1960, 1975, 1978-1979]

SECTION ONE
MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

CHAPTER THREE
GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE 

1949 Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him: 

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.( Philippeans 2:12-13.)¹ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

1950 The moral law is the work of divine Wisdom. Its biblical meaning can be defined as fatherly instruction, God's pedagogy. It prescribes for man the ways, the rules of conduct that lead to the promised beatitude; it proscribes the ways of evil which turn him away from God and his love. It is at once firm in its precepts and, in its promises, worthy of love. --CCC

1951 Law is a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common good. The moral law presupposes the rational order, established among creatures for their good and to serve their final end, by the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator. All law finds its first and ultimate truth in the eternal law. Law is declared and established by reason as a participation in the providence of the living God, Creator and Redeemer of all. "Such an ordinance of reason is what one calls law."( Leo XIII, Libertas præstantissimum: Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1887/88),597; compare St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-II,90,1.)²

Alone among all animate beings, man can boast of having been counted worthy to receive a law from God: as an animal endowed with reason, capable of understanding and discernment, he is to govern his conduct by using his freedom and reason, in obedience to the One who has entrusted everything to him.(Compare Tertullian, Adv. Marc, 2,4:Patrologia Latina 2,288-289.)³ –CCC

1952 There are different expressions of the moral law, all of them interrelated: eternal law - the source, in God, of all law; natural law; revealed law, comprising the Old Law and the New Law, or Law of the Gospel; finally, civil and ecclesiastical laws. –CCC

1953 The moral law finds its fullness and its unity in Christ. 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: "For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified. (Romans 10:4.)⁴ –CCC

I. THE NATURAL MORAL LAW

1954 Man participates in the wisdom and goodness of the Creator who gives him mastery over his acts and the ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the good. The natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie: 

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.( Leo XIII, Libertas praestantissimum, 597.)⁵ –CCC

1955 The "divine and natural" law( 8Gaudium et Spes 89 § 1.)⁶ shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his end. The natural law states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life. It 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 is one's equal. Its principal precepts are expressed in the Decalogue. This law is called "natural," not in reference to the nature of irrational beings, but because reason which decrees it properly belongs to human nature: 

Where then are these rules written, if not in the book of that light we call the truth? In it is written every just law; from it the law passes into the heart of the man who does justice, not that it migrates into it, but that it places its imprint on it, like a seal on a ring that passes onto wax, without leaving the ring.( St. Augustine, De Trin. 14,15,21:Patrologia Latina 42,1052.)⁷ The 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. God has given this light or law at the creation.( St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. præc. I.)⁸ –CCC

1956 The natural law, present in the heart of each man and established by reason, is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all men. It expresses the dignity of the person and determines the basis for his fundamental rights and duties: 

For there is a true law: right reason. It is in conformity with nature, is diffused among all men, and is immutable and eternal; its orders summon to duty; its prohibitions turn away from offense . . . . To replace it with a contrary law is a sacrilege; failure to apply even one of its provisions is forbidden; no one can abrogate it entirely.( Cicero, Rep. III,22,33.)⁹ –CCC

1957 Application of the natural law varies greatly; it can demand reflection that takes account of various conditions of life according to places, times, and circumstances. Nevertheless, in the diversity of cultures, the natural law remains as a rule that binds men among themselves and imposes on them, beyond the inevitable differences, common principles. –CCC

1958 The natural law is immutable and permanent throughout the variations of history;( Compare )Gaudium et Spes 10.)¹⁰ it subsists under the flux of ideas and customs and supports their progress. The rules that express it remain substantially valid. Even when it is rejected in its very principles, it cannot be destroyed or removed from the heart of man. It always rises again in the life of individuals and societies: 

Theft is surely punished by your law, O Lord, and by the law that is written in the human heart, the law that iniquity itself does not efface.( St. Augustine, Conf. 2,4,9:Patrologia Latina 32,678.)¹¹ –CCC

1959 The natural law, the Creator's very good work, provides the solid foundation on which man can build the structure of moral rules to guide his choices. It also provides the indispensable moral foundation for building the human community. Finally, it provides the necessary basis for the civil law with which it is connected, whether by a reflection that draws conclusions from its principles, or by additions of a positive and juridical nature. –CCC

1960 The precepts of natural law are not perceived by everyone clearly and immediately. In the present situation sinful man needs grace and revelation so moral and religious truths may be known "by everyone with facility, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error."( Pius XII, Humani generis: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 3876; compare Dei Filius 2: DS 3005.)¹² The natural law provides revealed law and grace with a foundation prepared by God and in accordance with the work of the Spirit. –CCC

IN BRIEF

1975 According to Scripture the Law is a fatherly instruction by God which prescribes for man the ways that lead to the promised beatitude, and proscribes the ways of evil. –CCC

1978 The natural law is a participation in God's wisdom and goodness by man formed in the image of his Creator. It expresses the dignity of the human person and forms the basis of his fundamental rights and duties. –CCC

1979 The natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history. The rules that express it remain substantially valid. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of moral rules and civil law --CCC