Christian Morality: Principles, Virtues, and Living a Life in Faith
Christian Morality: Principles and Practice
Christianity: Revelation and Morality
Christian morality is rooted in the belief that Christianity is primarily the revelation of the mystery of God, who has shown Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The revelation of God precedes any moral message, as morality is secondary to the primary truth, which is God, in whom we believe.
Christian morality originates in God’s revelation. The moral agenda finds its origin in God’s revelation; it is not merely conceived but revealed by God Himself. We see this ethical program in the Commandments and then in the Beatitudes.
Features of Christian Morality
- The ethical content for Christian behavior derives from God, with divine authority (natural and revealed law).
- Christian conduct is proposed by Jesus to His disciples with the help of grace.
Christian Morality as Following Jesus
Christian morality requires several personal commitments:
- Call: It begins with the call of God; now, Jesus calls through those who speak on His behalf.
- Answer: Faith in Jesus is not given without an affirmative answer and self-monitoring of man.
- Discipleship: The call of Jesus is oriented towards following Him.
- Following: The aim is to become a disciple and learn from Him.
- Imitation: It is a moral path, assuming the same attitudes and dispositions that Christ assumed.
The New Life in Christ
Moral life is imitating Jesus to identify with Him. The Christian is to imitate the way of thinking, believing, and feeling of Jesus. This new life:
- Is born through baptism.
- Increases with prayer and the sacraments.
- Takes place through acts of faith, hope, and charity.
- Dies and resurrects with love for God forever in glory.
Characteristics of Christian Morality
- It affects the innermost being of man and the root of his actions. Through baptism, the Christian becomes a child of God by grace. With the help of grace, we can live as Christians.
- It begins and ends with love: love of another is a sign of love for God.
- It requires justice and holiness.
- It brings peace to the world and condemns all forms of violence. Jesus Christ did everything well and rejected violence: “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
- It is for present society and looks to eternal life. That is why the Christian works on earth, reaping in this life and for the life to come.
- It rewards good and rejects evil. Man’s good behavior is rewarded, and evil is punished.
Moral Precepts
Derivatives of Natural Law
Human beings, through reason, can know the moral laws that God has impressed upon human nature, hence the name “natural law.” Natural law is inscribed in the hearts of humans. God revealed to Moses the most important moral precepts of natural law: the Ten Commandments. The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings to perfection the law given to Moses through His teachings and His life. The law of Christ commands us to love everyone, including our enemies, and to forgive offenses.
The Church
The Church teaches us how to apply the precepts of the moral law to Catholics. Through the teachings of the Pope and bishops, the Church spreads the Christian moral teaching contained in Scripture and Tradition. It applies these teachings to various circumstances throughout history. Examples include attending Mass, confession, and communion.
Conscience and Moral Law
Conscience is a judgment of reason that impels man to do good and avoid evil. Through it, a person perceives the moral quality of an act to be performed and takes responsibility for it. Conscience does not create moral norms, but these are known through the moral law that man has imprinted on his heart, and which Christians know through the Gospel and the Church. There should be no opposition between conscience and moral law, as conscience is formed and educated in the law. This dependence of conscience on the moral law enhances its dignity. The formation of conscience is a fundamental task for every Christian. All have a duty to provide the resources to do this: go to the sacrament of Penance, study the faith, practice meditation, and examine one’s conscience. It is wrong to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or their circumstances. Some acts are always wrong by reason of their object (e.g., blasphemy, perjury).
Virtue
Virtue means strength. It is a firm and habitual disposition to do good. The good man is he who strives to know the moral law and put it into practice; thus, he reaches steady habits called virtues. Within these, the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance) play a fundamental role. Through God’s grace, the Christian is infused with the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) so that he may be sanctified and do right. These virtues are called infused because they have their origin, motive, and purpose in God. The Christian grows in the life of grace through the sacraments, among which the Eucharist stands out.
Sin is any thought, desire, word, act, or omission contrary to the law of God. Mortal sin is a grave offense against God’s law: grace is lost, and if there is no repentance, one chooses the eternal condemnation of a godless life. Sin is not definitive. God always awaits the conversion of the sinner, to forgive, like the father of the prodigal son. Reconciliation with God is achieved through the sacrament of Penance or sacramental confession.
Grace is a supernatural gift infused by God into the soul, which makes us children of God and heirs of heaven. If there were no natural law before enacting human laws, murder or theft would be just, and political regimes would not be unfair, and no one could protest against them. Legal positivism leads to absurdity.
Freedom, Morality, Conscience, and Virtues
Freedom is the power to act or not act and to perform deliberate actions on one’s own. Freedom attains its perfection when directed toward God, the supreme Good. Freedom characterizes properly human acts. It makes the human being responsible for acts of which he is the voluntary author. It is man’s own deliberate act. Accountability or responsibility for an action can be diminished or nullified by ignorance, violence, fear, and other psychological or social factors.
The morality of human acts depends on the object, the purpose, and the circumstances. The purpose, intent, and circumstances are “sources” or elements of the morality of human acts. The term “passions” refers to affections and feelings. Through his emotions, man intuits the good and the imminent evil. Examples of passions are love and hate, desire and fear, joy, sadness, and anger.
Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of man, in which he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in the depths of it. Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a particular act.
Cardinal Virtues
- Prudence disposes practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it.
- Justice is the constant and firm will to give to God and neighbor their due.
- Fortitude ensures steadfastness in difficulties and perseverance in doing good.
- Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides restraint in the use of created goods.
Theological Virtues
- By faith, we believe in God and believe all that He has revealed to us and that Holy Church proposes as an object of faith.
- By hope, we desire and await from God, with firm confidence, eternal life and the graces to merit it.
- By charity, we love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.
Law
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. Natural law is a participation in the wisdom and goodness of God by man, fashioned in the image of his Creator. Natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history. The Law of Moses contains many truths naturally accessible to reason. God has revealed them because men did not read them in their hearts. The Holy Spirit gives us the righteousness of God. Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming His adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life.
The Moral Life
The moral life is a spiritual worship. Christian activity is nourished by the liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments. The commandments of the Church concern the moral and Christian life, linked to the liturgy, and nourished by it.