April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
LENTEN REFLECTION
Do the right thing: morality and behavior
Unfortunately, historical over-emphasis on conformity and observing the external rulebook has created a sense of living the Christian life through negative criteria: "Don't do this; don't do that!" If we understand morality simply as rule-keeping, then we will never become free and faithful followers of Christ, as Paul exhorts us in the letter to the Galatians: "When Christ freed us, He meant us to remain free" (Gal 5:1).
Rules, laws and principles are necessary guidelines for Christian living, and they may be taught at an early age and a certain point in psychological development, because they do give a sense of direction to young Christians. But as we mature, it is more important for us to understand the reason behind the rule.
Moral rules should be reasonable: They should assist us in becoming what God has given us the freedom to be and what He calls us to be. These rules and guidelines should be understandable within the framework of the relationship that exists between God and us.
The starting point of Catholic moral theology comes from the challenge of Jesus: "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Jesus offered Himself and not a set of laws as the measure of moral behavior. The measure lies in how we show the reality of our love for God by the way we love one another.
Moral theology seeks to provide guidelines for those of us who dare to follow Jesus. Morality and moral behavior have less to do with laws and rules and more to do with appropriate responses in a love relationship - the love relationship that Christ has fashioned with us, which we are expected to have with others.
Rules and laws, including the Ten Commandments, are human attempts to put into words some guidelines for loving responses. The judgment in a moral rule or commandment is ultimately about what does or does not count as a loving, appropriate response in a love relationship.
As Christians, the "call" that we received in baptism is a call to formalize, to make explicit and to deepen the love relationship between ourselves and God through the human community into which we are sacramentally initiated.
We are called upon to love God, our neighbor and our self. This is very general; it needs to be concrete and specific. Moral theology seeks to make more specific what kind of responses reflect love and what kind of responses do not. Moral rules are human attempts to specify how we are to be and act in order to fulfill our part of the covenant.
The role of the Church, then, is to help us in the task of making appropriate responses to God by clarifying not only who God is, but also who we are in relationship to God.
How does this impact me as a Christian adult? The key to understanding moral behavior lies in the appreciation of relationship and response, especially as they present themselves in the covenant tradition of Judaism and Christianity. Our common understanding of morality solely in terms of rule-keeping and law-keeping is not worthy of so great a tradition.
Instead, we must approach morality as discipleship, as walking on the road to Emmaus, picking up our cross and following in the footsteps of the master. In this way, we will never ask the question, "What would Jesus do?" Rather, we will be able to reflect on what Jesus actually did, and appropriate those values in our daily lives.
(Dr. Avvento, coordinator of the "Amazing God" initiative for the Albany Diocese, is a lecturer who holds a doctorate in moral theology and the author of two books on faith and sexuality.) [[In-content Ad]]
250 X 250 AD
250 X 250 AD
Events
250 X 250 AD
Comments:
You must login to comment.