Today’s reflection begins with an activity. Without using a ruler, straight edge, or other help, draw these objects: a rectangle 4 cm x 6 cm; a 4 cm square; a circle with a 4 cm radius. Cut each object out. Now use a ruler, compass, or other accurate measuring device and draw the same rectangle, square, and circle. Cut these objects out. Compare the shapes. How well did what you drew freehand match what you drew with a standard measure?
For most of us, the match is close, but not exact. We know about how much 2 cm or 4 cm is, but we are not perfect to the measure. Our edges of squares and rectangles are mostly straight. Their corners are close to 90 degrees. But we can tell the difference between our freehand shapes and those made with ruler or protractor. Our circle looks like a circle, but it is not perfectly round.
The psalm response today carries the theme of the readings: “Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.”
How does God guide us in the way of His commands?
In order for God to guide us in the way of his commands, we must know what God’s commands are. We must have an internal or external ruler or compass. One of the hallmarks of our Catholic faith is that we believe in objective standards for measuring God’s commands. This objective standard is Scripture and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church. We have within our faith moral straight edges, protractors, and compasses.
We don’t have to guess or decide for ourselves about major theological or moral issues. I remember that was one of the draws of the Catholic Church for me, way back in 1969 when I converted.
I was in college. I took a Christian Ethics class because my campus job was to work for the professor, and he was nice. (God will use almost anything to draw us to Himself!) We were given Catholic theologians to read as the “bad guys” who did not believe in what was called “situation ethics.” That is the moral perspective that each moral dilemma should be decided subjectively, depending on circumstances. While moral principles can be used in situation ethics, those principles are chosen subjectively. Right or wrong is determined by the individual.
I liked the “bad guy” Catholic theologians. It made sense to me that there could be rules or principles in moral choice that would hold up across circumstances—just as in math a square is always a four-sided shape in which all sides are equal length and all angles are 90 degrees. As I read more on my way to full communion in the Catholic faith, I realized the Catholic Church’s position on moral issues traces its way back through the centuries to Christ. Along the way, many saints and theologians across centuries have contributed to the Church’s objective morality position on virtually every issue. I thought then–and think now–why should I try to figure out moral principles when people far more knowledgeable and holy than I am have spent lifetimes praying and studying about them.
These moral principles are described in Part III of the Catholic Catechism.
Within our Catholic faith, we are expected to form our conscience by learning these moral principles. In the catechism they are described around the 10 Commandments. The objective standards described in the catechism begin with Scripture and include teaching from the Magisterium through the ages. As Catholics, we are also to form our conscience around the Beatitudes and virtue.
Once a conscience is formed, we are expected to use discernment to apply objective moral teaching to the specifics of a situation. This is not situation ethics, but rather ethical principles applied to a situation.
Last week I heard our Lexington bishop, John Stowe, OFM Conv, speak on Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia. This Apostolic Exhortation on Love in the Family holds in tandem Catholic moral teaching related to the family and various complex contemporary family situations—annulment, divorce, and remarriage; decisions around openness to new life; displacement of refugee families; overwhelming poverty and cultural change in developing countries; complexities of caring for the elderly.
Our Catholic ethics in these situations are often not the ethics of the humanist and secular world around us. They are not the ethics portrayed on TV or youtube. We cannot know what to do by observing our neighbors or remembering our parents.
Bishop John noted that often our conscience is not sufficiently formed nor do we have training in discernment to think or pray through family dilemmas. We can also misinterpret Amoris Laetitia because we seek simple, one-size fits all, black and white solutions to complex situations. As adult Catholics, we are expected to know what our faith teaches and know how to use discernment processes to know how to apply God’s mercy in light of his justice to particular situations. We are expected to use the protractors and compasses the church gives us. Not easy on multiple levels.
As I reflect on this, I realize how much more education and practice I need in both discernment processes.
Pope Francis says it all well himself, “Jesus expects us to stop looking for those personal or communal niches which shelter us from the maelstrom of human misfortune and instead to enter into the reality of other people’s lives and to know the power of tenderness. Whenever we do so, our lives become wonderfully complicated.” (paragraph 308)
Today’s gospel has Jesus saying, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
If we hear the word of God and act on it, we are guided in the way of God’s commands. We are being part of God’s family. It is a goal I want.
Even through the ages God helps us out. He is clear all through the Old Testament that he expects us to know his commands and put them into practice.
Today’s first reading comes from Proverbs. Proverbs are interesting—perhaps a bit too pithy to be the basis of moral judgement—but they get us to think. Some of the ones today include,
“All the ways of a man may be right in his own eyes, tut it is the Lord who proves hearts.”
“To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”
“Whoever makes a fortune with a lying tongue is chasing a bubble over deadly snares.”
So how can I come closer to acting on the word of God today, to be in Jesus’ family while also in MY family? How can I live out Pope Francis’ request that I “live in the wonderful power of tenderness?” How can I discern how to apply Catholic objective moral principles to my real world family and work life?
I can apply what I know–and begin to think how I can learn more.
In the meantime, this Prayer to the Holy Family from Amoris Laetitia is a good way to ask God’s help as I try:
Prayer to the Holy Family (paragraph 325)
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
In you we contemplate
The splendor of true love;
To you we turn with trust.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
Grant that our families too
May be places of communion and prayer,
Authentic schools of the Gospel,
And small domestic churches.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
May families never again experience
Violence, rejection and division;
May all who have been hurt or scandalized
Find ready comfort and healing.
Holy Family of Nazareth,
Make us once more mindful
Of the sacredness and inviolability of the family,
And its beauty in God’s plan.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
Graciously hear our prayer.
Amen.
