Sunday, August 20, 2017

Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 333 – Part IV.



YOUCAT Question n. 333 – Part IV. Is there a natural law that everyone can know?


(Youcat answer - repeated) 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.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1955 a) The "divine and natural" law (GS 89 § 1) 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: PL 42,1052).1955 a

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) 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.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1955 b)  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. praec. I).

(This question: Is there a natural law that everyone can know? is continued)

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