Timothy Caras

Chapter VI: Law

I. Introduction

a. A norm is a standard measurement. It is an instrument of which the quality or

quantity of a thing is determined.

b. The norms of morality are the standards that indicate the rightfulness or

wrongfulness, the goodness or evilness, the value of disvalue of a thing.

II. Context

a. The major problem with moral living is motivation. We find ourselves oddly

incapable of doing what we should

b. Filipino culture affords many traditional values that are deeply consonant with the

Christian vision.

i. “Pagsasarili” is the self-reliance that is the first step toward moral

responsibility.

ii. “Pakikisama” is the getting along with others or the willingness to share

with others.

iii. “Pagkakaisa” is the unity of the community that supports all loving

service.

iv. “Pakikipagkapwa-tao” is the human solidarity with all or “being a friend

of all.”

c. On the other hand, the Filipinos natural personalism tends to consider impersonal

laws only in terms of personal relations.

III. Freedom and Law

Timothy Caras

a. Revelation teaches that the power to decide what is good and what is evil belongs

to God alone.

b. Man possesses an extremely far-reaching freedom, since he can eat “of every tree

of the garden.”

c. However, freedom is not unlimited since he must halt before the “tree of the

knowledge of good and evil.”

IV. Elements

a. Law is a rule of action or a principle of conduct, which directs things towards a

definite goal.

b. Law is the guiding principle of man’s reason and only then can it directs human

actions toward their proper goal.

c. For St. Thomas Aquinas, law is an ordinance of reason, promulgated by one who

has charge of the community for the common good.

i. Law is always reasonable.

ii. Law must be made by one who has charge of the community.

iii. Law must be for the common good. Law is not oppressive or detrimental

to the constituents.

iv. Law must be made known or promulgated.

V. Kinds

a. Eternal Law

i. God directs all creatures unto the end of the universe.

ii. Eternal law is the mind and the will of God commanding the natural order

of the universe to be observed, forbidding it to be disturbed.

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iii. God exists and is the creator of the universe.

b. Natural Law

i. God impresses His mind and will upon creatures through principles

intrinsic or natural to them.

ii. The natural law is component of the eternal law as it applies to man.

iii. Every creature follows a law connatural to it.

iv. It is also called moral law or natural moral law.

v. “Do good and avoid evil.”

vi. All men would know this law.

c. Positive Law

i. It is the rule of action freely established by a competent authority in some

external, palpable sign.

ii. The positive law clarifies the natural law by means of the formulation of

clear and unequivocal directives of morality such as the Ten

Commandments and any law of a duly constituted authority.

d. New Law

i. The law of the Gospel fulfills the commandments of the law.

ii. The Gospels reveal their entire divinity and human truth.

iii. It proceeds to reform the hear, the root of human acts, where man chooses

between the pure and the impure, where faith, hope and charity are

formed, and with them the other virtues.

iv. The Gospels bring the law to its fullness through imitation of the

perfection of the heavenly Father in emulation of the divine generosity.

Timothy Caras

v. The new law practices the acts of religion, directing them to the “Father

who sees in secret.”

vi. The law of the Gospel requires u to make the decisive choice between “the

two ways” and to put into practice the words of the Lord

vii. “Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; this is the

law and the prophets.”

viii. The entire law summed up as to love one another as He has loved us.

ix. It also teaches us to deal with cases of conscience in the light of our

relationship to Christ and to the church.