Our human laws and Christian morality

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THAT gospel episode where some Pharisees complained against Christ’s disciples who were plucking ears of corn on a Sabbath to appease their hunger (cfr. Mt 12,1-8) again brings out the issue of our human laws and how they have to be made, understood and applied.

While they are indispensable in our life here on earth, we should also realize that they do not have the last word since they will always have certain limitations. And because of that, they need to be constantly purified so they can be aligned more and more, despite our mistakes and faults, to our ultimate dignity as God’s image and likeness, God’s children, meant to share in God’s life and nature.

In other words, our human laws should pursue the goal of achieving the proper Christian morality where all our human acts should reflect as well as reinforce who we really are. Our laws and idea of morality should help us to become more and more like Christ who is the pattern of our humanity. He is the fulfillment of any law we have in life.

That is why we should really know him so we would know how to handle our laws. More than knowing him, we should love him since that would make us one in spirit with him. Let’s remember that we are meant to be like Christ, “alter Christus,” another Christ, as some theologians have told us, if not “ipse Christus,” Christ himself. Only then can we have the proper understanding and attitude toward our laws.

We need to realize that it is Christ who ultimately gives the real meaning and purpose of our laws. We have to disabuse ourselves from the thought that our laws can be based only on our common sense, or on our own estimation of what is good and evil according to the values of practicality, convenience, etc., or on our traditions and culture, etc.

That’s why any human law should always be a dynamic one, always in the process of refining, polishing and enriching itself. It should never be considered as static, or irreformable, unenrichable.

A lot of discernment is needed here. Prudence requires it. And the common good, which the law should always serve, can often present competing interests that need to be resolved as fairly as possible.

That’s simply because charity, truth, justice and mercy, which our laws should embody, have aspects that can be mysterious and that will always demand new requirements from us.

Let’s hope that the proper structures are made available to address this ongoing need with respect to continually polishing our laws. The task is definitely daunting. But rather than be daunted, it should challenge us to do it whatever it costs. We actually have the means. God, for his part, will always give us the grace for it. We just have to have the necessary attitude, will, and skills to do it.

We have to understand that for this task to be properly undertaken, those involved should be vitally in contact with God, the source of all good things, of all truth, charity, and justice. Being the creator, he is the foundation of reality and the supreme lawmaker and lawgiver.

In the end, for us to make our laws reinforce our proper human and Christian morality, all the processes involved in their making and application should be done with Christ and for Christ. Outside of that context, we can only fall into some forms of legalism that misses the real intent our laws should have.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com