Natural Law
from the Catholic Encyclopedia
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Human Being/Person
(A Unity (1) of Body and Soul)
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Natural Order |
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Body/Inferior Will/
Psychosomatic Powers
Passions/Emotions/
Sensory Appetite/
Memory/Imagination
(Subordinate-Partner)
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Soul/Intellect/
Superior Will/
Reason/Mind/
Infused Knowledge/
Heart/Conscience
(Dominant Partner)
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Romans 2:15 - the demands of the Law are written on their Heart, while their Conscience bears
witness
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According to Saint Thomas, the Natural Law is "nothing else than the Rational Creature's
participation in the Eternal Law" (Prima Secundae Partis 94).
The Eternal Law is God's Wisdom, inasmuch as it is the Directive
Norm of all Movement and Action. When God Willed to give
Existence to Creatures, He Willed to Ordain and Direct them to an End. In the case of Inanimate
Things, this Divine Direction is provided for in the Nature which
God has given to each; in them Determinism reigns. Like all the rest of creation, Man is destined by
God to an End, and receives from Him a Direction towards this End.
This Ordination is of a character in harmony with his Free Intelligent Nature. In virtue of his
Intelligence and Free Will, Man is Master of his Conduct. Unlike
the things of the mere Material World he can vary his Action, Act, or Abstain from Action, as he pleases. Yet he is not a
Lawless Being in an Ordered Universe. In the very Constitution of his Nature, he too has a Law laid
down for him, reflecting that Ordination and Direction of All Things, which is the Eternal Law. The
Rule, then, which God has Prescribed for our Conduct, is found in our Nature itself. Those
Actions which conform with its Tendencies, lead to our Destined End, and are thereby constituted Right
and Morally Good; those at Variance with our Nature are Wrong
and Immoral.
The Norm, however, of Conduct is not some particular element or aspect of our Nature. The Standard is our whole Human Nature with its
manifold relationships, considered as a Creature destined to a Special End. Actions are Wrong if,
though sub-serving the Satisfaction of some particular Need or Tendency, they are at the same time Incompatible with that
Rational Harmonious Subordination of the Lower to the Higher, which
Reason should maintain among our Conflicting Tendencies and Desires. For example, to nourish our
Bodies is Right; but to indulge our Appetite
for food to the Detriment of our Corporal or Spiritual Life is
Wrong. Self-preservation is Right, but to refuse to
Expose our life when the Well-Being of Society requires it, is Wrong. It is
Wrong to drink to Intoxication, for, besides being
Injurious to health, such indulgence deprives one of the use of Reason, which is intended
by God to be the Guide and Dictator of Conduct. Theft is
Wrong, because it Subverts the basis of Social Life; and Man's Nature requires for its proper
development that he live in a State of Society. There is, then, a Double Reason for calling this
Law of Conduct 'Natural': First, because it is set up concretely in our very Nature itself,
and Second, because it is manifested to us by the purely Natural Medium of
Reason. In both respects it is distinguished from the Divine Positive
Law, which contains Precepts not arising from the Nature of things as God has
constituted them by the Creative Act, but from the Arbitrary Will of God. This
Law we learn not through the Unaided Operation of Reason,
but through the Light of Supernatural Revelation.
Hierarchy of Laws
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Law
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Known by
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Divine Positive Law/
Eternal Law/Revealed Law
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Light of Supernatural Revelation/
Word of God - Jesus Christ
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Divine Natural Law
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Man's Operation of Reason
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| Human Positive Law
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Human Laws of Society
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Definition of Revealed Law
(from the Modern Catholic Dictionary)
Supernatural Laws/
Divine Graces
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Human Soul
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Soul/Intelligence/
Superior Will/Reason
Mind/Intellect
Infused Knowledge/
Understanding
Heart/Conscience
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Within the Essence of the Soul resides the Supernatural Laws/Divine Graces
consisting of Sanctifying Grace/Infused Virtues and Gifts of the Holy Spirit. Mortal
Sin destroys these Divine Graces.
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Also called Divine Positive Law, it is the Sum Total of all the Prescriptions that
God has Communicated to the Human Race by way of Supernatural
Revelation. It is, therefore, Revealed Law as distinct from the Knowledge of
God's Will, attainable by Human Reason alone.
Humankind needs a Revealed Law in addition to the Divine Natural
Law because the Secondary Precepts of the Natural Law can be obscured by Evil Passion,
Bad Custom, and the Allurement of Sinful Example. Another and
Higher Reason why God Revealed His Will Supernaturally, is that He
has elevated Human Nature to a Higher-than-Natural Destiny. This Heavenly Destiny cannot be
attained without the Observance of correspondingly Supernatural Laws, which are in the Character of
Divine Graces with which Human Beings must Co-operate in order to reach the
Beatific Vision.
Three (3) Periods may be distinguished in the History of God's
Revealed Will:
from the Dawn of Creation to the time of Moses;
the Mosiac Period, which spans the whole history of Ancient Israel;
and in New Testament time from the coming of
Christ to the end of the Apostolic Age.
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Final Judgment Triptych (Central) - by Hans MEMLING -
from Muzeum Narodowe, Gdansk . . . .
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by Dr. Theresa Farnan
Faculty, Mount Saint Mary's Seminary
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God writes His Name on the Soul of every man at Conception. Reason and Conscience are the God within us in the Natural Order. The Fathers
of the Early Church were wont to speak of the Wisdom of Plato and Aristotle as the 'unconscious' Christ within us. Men are like so many
Books issuing from the Divine Press, and if nothing else be written on them, at least the Name of the Author is indissolubly engraved on
the Title Page. God is like the 'Watermark on Paper', which may be written over without ever being obscured.
