Memorial of Saint John Vianney, priest
(Jeremiah
31:-34; Matthew 16:13-23)
Vatican II
called for a reconsideration of moral theology.
Very much a compendium of questions and answers before, the Council
fathers wanted a reflection on morals “nourished more on the teaching of the
Bible.” The result, for a while at
least, was surrender to the relativism that is characteristic of contemporary
times. New versions of sexual ethics permitted
what the zeitgeist or spirit of the times allowed. Pope St. John Paul II wrote an encyclical Veritatis
Splendor to stop what he considered a betrayal of the Catholic moral
tradition. He described natural law as written on the human heart just like
Jeremiah speaks of the law in today’s first reading.
Because natural
law has existed since the emergence of humanity, it is often said to be written
on the human heart. Human beings know
instinctively that murder and robbery are wrong and that kindness and
compassion are good. Finer points of the
law may be determined through careful observation of experience and sound
reasoning. The Ten Commandments are said
to summarize natural law. Jesus
confirmed natural law and gave a few precepts that superseded it so that humans
might live as children of God. Because
he is “the Son of the living God,’” as Peter declares in today’s gospel, these
precepts as well as the natural law are followed by his disciples.
Jesus’
moral teachings are still being challenged.
Some moralists as well as laypersons have difficulty recognizing oral
contraception and masturbation as intrinsically evil. We might sympathize with their situations,
but we must stand with Jesus and the moral tradition of his Church.
