1. The Object of Moral Theology
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength.”1
Human persons, as well as all human goods, are created by God, and thus, they cannot be the reason and purpose of themselves.
Moral theology studies “the final end of man created in the image of God: beatitude, and the ways of reaching it—through right conduct freely chosen, with the help of God’s law and grace”2
1. The Subjective Last End
St. Thomas Aquinas studies the final end of man and concludes that every conscious act of man is done for a purpose.3 The purpose of the action is called its end, and can be defined as that for which the action is done, or that at which the agent aims by applying the means.
The end or purpose of a human action is either absolute in itself or subordinated to another. In the latter case, the end becomes a means for a second end (for example, working in order to earn money). That second end can in turn be subordinated to a third one, and so on. However, there is always an end that never becomes a means, but is sought in itself. It is precisely because of that end that all the others are sought. Without it, the others would not be sought, just as a traveler would not take one step ahead if he had not resolved to go somewhere.4
This absolute end is called the last end. We should note that this expression does not imply any chronological order; it is not what comes at the last moment, or what befalls man at the end of his life. It is rather the ultimate end of every human action—what, in the last analysis, man seeks in his actions.
Obviously, there is no need to be conscious of this chain of ends in order to act. But it always exists, even if the agent, when asked, is not able to give a complete account of the ultimate reason of his action. If we were to insist—as children do—asking “why” after every answer, we would eventually come to the last end, and the agent would acknowledge, albeit somewhat confusedly, it to be (subjectively) seeking happiness.
Happiness (or the traditionally equivalent terms of bliss and beatitude) is precisely the name we give to the subjective last end.5 It can be defined as the never-ending possession of what absolutely satiates the desires of man. It is thus obvious why happiness is ultimately sought. Knowing, however, what specifically fulfills a person and absolutely satiates all his desires is not as easy. We will now examine this question.
2. The Objective Last End
In order to discover the objective last end, we should now change our viewpoint. Instead of focusing on one’s behavior, we will direct our attention to God’s plans for creation.
God is an intelligent being and always acts for a purpose. Imperfect agents project some of their perfections in their external actions, but always receive some benefit from these actions as well. God, however, cannot receive anything, because he has everything and can lose nothing. Therefore, he can act only with the intention of sharing his perfections, showing his goodness. Thus, God’s purpose in the act of creation can only be to communicate his perfections to his creatures, and because of his omnipotence, this end is fully achieved.6
The First Vatican Council summarizes all this: “In order to manifest his perfection through the benefits that he bestows on creatures—not to intensify his happiness nor to acquire any perfection—this one and only true God … created both orders of creatures [spiritual and corporeal].”7
On the other hand, every creature tends toward its perfection (what perfectly and absolutely perfects him or her),8 which consists in possessing its own likeness to the divine perfection in the fullest possible way. In other words, the end of each creature coincides with God’s end in creating it: to manifest the divine perfections. This is the true meaning of the expression “to give glory to God.”
It follows that the end of the act of creation is not something extraneous and added to that act, but is inseparably united to it. Without a purpose, God would not have created. This finality, moreover, is not alien to the being of the creatures. God’s purpose is an essential component of the being of the creatures and, therefore, of their activity. We can conclude that the end of man—and every creature—is the glory of God, and that the ultimate objective end of his actions is the manifestation of God’s perfection.
As regards the creature’s way of acting, we must also note that even irrational creatures seek an end in their actions. “Every agent acts for an end; otherwise one thing would not follow more than another from the action of the agent.”9 Irrational creatures seek this end by means of a natural inclination. In animals, this inclination is caused by the sensible apprehension of the object sought.
In rational creatures, however, this inclination is caused by the deliberation of the intellect—which knows the end as good—and the free decision of the will.10 Thus, man seeks his last end in his actions by knowing that last end (God) and wanting it.
Summarizing the thought of St. Thomas, we can say that man has been created to know, love, and serve God (objective last end), and thus save his soul. In other words, man is destined to be eternally happy in heaven and also happy—though in a limited way—on earth (subjective last end).
We must observe that man’s subjective last end (happiness) coincides with his objective last end; only the possession of God can give happiness.
3. The Meaning of Natural and Supernatural
We must now consider the meaning of the terms natural and supernatural. Though not strictly belonging to this treatise, these concepts will help us keep in the right perspective the ideas to be introduced in the succeeding chapters.
God is absolutely simple, but we know him through creatures, and thus we speak of his several perfections. These must be found in him in an eminent degree, since he is the cause of the perfections that are found in creatures. The term perfection comes from the Latin per-ficere, “to finish thoroughly or completely.” In this sense, the term can be applied to creatures, which can be more or less completely made, or finished. Its application to God, however, is not as accurate, since he has not been made and is not subject to evolution.
The term natural, as opposed todifferentiated (or distinct) from the term supernatural, refers to all the perfections found in God and also—in a participated way—in the nature of creatures. In other words, natural is what is possessed by the “Being-by-himself” (ipsum esse subsistens), the only necessary being, and in which contingent beings can participate. The latter are beings by another, not having in themselves the ultimate reason of their being.
On the other hand, what is found in God but cannot be part of the nature of creatures is called supernatural. We know, however, that humans and angels receive a participation in the supernatural.
Humans and angels are beings endowed with intellectual knowledge, that is, they are capable of a form of knowledge that is not intrinsically bound to matter. This implies a radical openness to knowledge, to love, and to being, which enables God to elevate them above their natural active capabilities, to a participation of the supernatural as defined above. This capacity to be elevated is called obediential potency, or capacity to obey. It is analogous to the capacity of a block of stone to become a sculpture through the artist’s work.
God has actually elevated angels and men to the supernatural level. He has done it through the infusion of a habit—an accidental, permanent, and supernatural modification—called sanctifying grace. It is a grace because it is gratuitous, and it is sanctifying because it makes us divine.
Sanctifying grace gives us a participation in what is deepest in God, in the intimate reason of his Godhead: the Holy Trinity. In a very particular sense, it makes us children of God, partakers of the divine nature (consortes divinae naturae), and temples of the Holy Spirit. Grace enables us to perform supernatural deeds by means of supernatural faculties called infused virtues, and we are able to know all this—albeit imperfectly—through a supernatural light called faith.
It follows from the above that these supernatural realities remain in a higher sphere, which creatures can neither reach nor know through their natural means.
Just as in God there is no opposition between the natural and the supernatural,11 there is no opposition in the creature’s participation in both kinds of perfections. There is only a difference in the way they belong to the creature. Natural perfections are participated as something proper to and consistent with the contingent being. This is the case of the physical and chemical properties, the place, or the “natural” forms of a stone. The participation in supernatural perfections is much more precarious and fluid, but also richer in content, like the stone’s participation in the form of the sculpture.12 The supernatural does not destroy or transform the natural. It does perfect the natural within its own order, adding something congruent with it, but not strictly due.
4. The Supernatural Last End
God may be thought of as a sort of family, a community of three divine persons. His aim in creating us is to enlarge his natural family by bringing into being new persons who are able to choose freely to share in the life of the Trinity. This is eternal happiness or beatitude. Freedom is our great dignity. God does not compel us to become members of his household. He invites us and enables us to answer his invitation, but he leaves the decision to us.13 God has elevated us to a super-natural level so that we will be able to make this decision; beatitude makes us “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4; cf. Jn 17:3) and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life. God has proposed to man a supernatural last end, giving a supernatural finality to his life. At the same time, he has given man the means to attain it.
This supernatural last end includes and transcends the natural last end. It consists in knowing the Blessed Trinity, that is, God not just as Supreme Being, Lord, and Creator, but in the very intimacy of his divinity.
This elevation cannot be achieved by natural powers alone; it is supernatural. Nothing in human nature requires or demands it. As we said before, God performs this elevation by the communication of habitual sanctifying grace. This is a permanent (hence the term habitual) and free gift (hence grace) that, by a mysterious participation in the intimate being of God, enables man to resemble him who is the Holy One par excellence (hence sanctifying).
This elevation preserves and assumes nature, and the supernatural last end encompasses and assumes the natural one. Summarizing:
Man has as the ultimate purpose of his life to live “for the praise of God’s glory” (cf. Eph 1:12), striving to make each of his actions reflect the splendor of that glory.… The moral life presents itself as the response due to the many gratuitous initiatives taken by God out of love for man. It is a response of love.14
5. Moral Theology
Moral theology is the theological study of human behavior or customs (mores in Latin). More precisely, moral theology is that part of theology that judges and directs human acts toward the supernatural end under the guidance of revelation. It therefore studies man’s way to God in the light of what God himself has revealed about man.
We know that theology is the science of faith, that is, the study of revelation by reason illumined by faith. We also know that faith is man’s assent to what God has revealed. Since this revelation is supernatural, the assent is also supernatural, in such a way that a special divine help is needed in order to give it.
There is a radical unity between dogmatic and moral theology; the division of theology in these two branches is done for didactic purposes only. The sources of moral theology are the same as the rest of theology: Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium, in a harmonious unity.
6. Natural and Supernatural Morals
Moral philosophy is the science that studies how man should behave in order to reach his natural end, which derives from human nature. It is also called natural ethics or simply ethics. Moral philosophy uses natural reason alone. Thus, man can know what is ethical with his natural intellect, without any special help.
Moral theology, on the other hand, studies the proper behavior of man after being elevated to the supernatural order. Man cannot acquire knowledge of this science through his intellect alone, but he can acquire it in a supernatural way, when he knows revelation through his intellect aided by faith.
Morality is not just a qualification of deeds, but a dimension of the person who performs these deeds. Man determines himself by his actions: By committing injustice, he becomes unjust; by lying, he becomes a liar.
7. Division of Moral Theology
The study of morals can be divided into three parts:
i) The first—which is the one studied here—covers the first principles: fundamental questions of morals, which apply to every aspect of human behavior.
ii) The second part—to be studied in a separate treatise—could be called special morals. It covers the different fields of human behavior, the moral norms that govern them, and the virtues that facilitate their fulfillment.
iii) The third part studies the obligations concerning the reception and administration of the sacraments. It is included in the treatise on the sacraments.
In the two first parts—and also in the third in what regards marriage—we will continuously refer to the substratum of natural morality, which forms the basis of supernatural morality.
8. Outline of Fundamental Moral Theology
The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides a summary of moral theology at the beginning of its Part Three, “Life in Christ,” which we shall follow in this treatise.
· The dignity of the human person is based on his creation in the image and likeness of God—the primary aspect of human dignity.
· The dignity of man is accomplished in his vocation to eternal happiness (also called beatitude).
· The human person should freely reach this accomplishment—the second aspect of human dignity.
· Through his deliberate acts, the human person conforms himself or not to the good that is promised by God.
· This good is attested by the moral conscience.
· Human beings build themselves and grow from within; they turn all their material and spiritual life into raw material for their growth.
· They grow in virtue with the help of grace, avoid sin, and, if they have committed it, go—like the prodigal son—to seek mercy from our Father in heaven. Thus, they enter into the perfection of charity.15
· Finally, we shall study divine and human laws.
Footnotes:
1. CCC, 1.
2. Ibid., 16.
3. Cf. ST, I-II, q. 1, a. 1.
4. Cf. Ibid., I-II, q. 1, a. 4.
5. Cf. Ibid., I-II, q. 3, a. 1.
6. Cf. Ibid., I, q. 44, a. 4.
7. DS 3002.
8. Cf. ST, I-II, q. 1, a. 5.
9. Cf. Ibid., I, q. 44, a. 4.
10. Cf. Ibid., I-II, q. 1, a. 2.
11. In order to avoid confusions, we must clarify that, in God, everything is natural, since everything corresponds to his divine nature. This terminological distinction is introduced in relation to creatures and their participation in divine perfections.
12. Cf. ST, I-II, q. 94, a. 6, ad 2.
13. Cf. G. Grisez and R. Shaw, Fulfillment in Christ (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991), p. 222.
14. John Paul II, Enc. Veritatis Splendor, 10.
15. Cf. CCC, 1700–1729.
Human persons, as well as all human goods, are created by God, and thus, they cannot be the reason and purpose of themselves.
Moral theology studies “the final end of man created in the image of God: beatitude, and the ways of reaching it—through right conduct freely chosen, with the help of God’s law and grace”2
1. The Subjective Last End
St. Thomas Aquinas studies the final end of man and concludes that every conscious act of man is done for a purpose.3 The purpose of the action is called its end, and can be defined as that for which the action is done, or that at which the agent aims by applying the means.
The end or purpose of a human action is either absolute in itself or subordinated to another. In the latter case, the end becomes a means for a second end (for example, working in order to earn money). That second end can in turn be subordinated to a third one, and so on. However, there is always an end that never becomes a means, but is sought in itself. It is precisely because of that end that all the others are sought. Without it, the others would not be sought, just as a traveler would not take one step ahead if he had not resolved to go somewhere.4
This absolute end is called the last end. We should note that this expression does not imply any chronological order; it is not what comes at the last moment, or what befalls man at the end of his life. It is rather the ultimate end of every human action—what, in the last analysis, man seeks in his actions.
Obviously, there is no need to be conscious of this chain of ends in order to act. But it always exists, even if the agent, when asked, is not able to give a complete account of the ultimate reason of his action. If we were to insist—as children do—asking “why” after every answer, we would eventually come to the last end, and the agent would acknowledge, albeit somewhat confusedly, it to be (subjectively) seeking happiness.
Happiness (or the traditionally equivalent terms of bliss and beatitude) is precisely the name we give to the subjective last end.5 It can be defined as the never-ending possession of what absolutely satiates the desires of man. It is thus obvious why happiness is ultimately sought. Knowing, however, what specifically fulfills a person and absolutely satiates all his desires is not as easy. We will now examine this question.
2. The Objective Last End
In order to discover the objective last end, we should now change our viewpoint. Instead of focusing on one’s behavior, we will direct our attention to God’s plans for creation.
God is an intelligent being and always acts for a purpose. Imperfect agents project some of their perfections in their external actions, but always receive some benefit from these actions as well. God, however, cannot receive anything, because he has everything and can lose nothing. Therefore, he can act only with the intention of sharing his perfections, showing his goodness. Thus, God’s purpose in the act of creation can only be to communicate his perfections to his creatures, and because of his omnipotence, this end is fully achieved.6
The First Vatican Council summarizes all this: “In order to manifest his perfection through the benefits that he bestows on creatures—not to intensify his happiness nor to acquire any perfection—this one and only true God … created both orders of creatures [spiritual and corporeal].”7
On the other hand, every creature tends toward its perfection (what perfectly and absolutely perfects him or her),8 which consists in possessing its own likeness to the divine perfection in the fullest possible way. In other words, the end of each creature coincides with God’s end in creating it: to manifest the divine perfections. This is the true meaning of the expression “to give glory to God.”
It follows that the end of the act of creation is not something extraneous and added to that act, but is inseparably united to it. Without a purpose, God would not have created. This finality, moreover, is not alien to the being of the creatures. God’s purpose is an essential component of the being of the creatures and, therefore, of their activity. We can conclude that the end of man—and every creature—is the glory of God, and that the ultimate objective end of his actions is the manifestation of God’s perfection.
As regards the creature’s way of acting, we must also note that even irrational creatures seek an end in their actions. “Every agent acts for an end; otherwise one thing would not follow more than another from the action of the agent.”9 Irrational creatures seek this end by means of a natural inclination. In animals, this inclination is caused by the sensible apprehension of the object sought.
In rational creatures, however, this inclination is caused by the deliberation of the intellect—which knows the end as good—and the free decision of the will.10 Thus, man seeks his last end in his actions by knowing that last end (God) and wanting it.
Summarizing the thought of St. Thomas, we can say that man has been created to know, love, and serve God (objective last end), and thus save his soul. In other words, man is destined to be eternally happy in heaven and also happy—though in a limited way—on earth (subjective last end).
We must observe that man’s subjective last end (happiness) coincides with his objective last end; only the possession of God can give happiness.
3. The Meaning of Natural and Supernatural
We must now consider the meaning of the terms natural and supernatural. Though not strictly belonging to this treatise, these concepts will help us keep in the right perspective the ideas to be introduced in the succeeding chapters.
God is absolutely simple, but we know him through creatures, and thus we speak of his several perfections. These must be found in him in an eminent degree, since he is the cause of the perfections that are found in creatures. The term perfection comes from the Latin per-ficere, “to finish thoroughly or completely.” In this sense, the term can be applied to creatures, which can be more or less completely made, or finished. Its application to God, however, is not as accurate, since he has not been made and is not subject to evolution.
The term natural, as opposed todifferentiated (or distinct) from the term supernatural, refers to all the perfections found in God and also—in a participated way—in the nature of creatures. In other words, natural is what is possessed by the “Being-by-himself” (ipsum esse subsistens), the only necessary being, and in which contingent beings can participate. The latter are beings by another, not having in themselves the ultimate reason of their being.
On the other hand, what is found in God but cannot be part of the nature of creatures is called supernatural. We know, however, that humans and angels receive a participation in the supernatural.
Humans and angels are beings endowed with intellectual knowledge, that is, they are capable of a form of knowledge that is not intrinsically bound to matter. This implies a radical openness to knowledge, to love, and to being, which enables God to elevate them above their natural active capabilities, to a participation of the supernatural as defined above. This capacity to be elevated is called obediential potency, or capacity to obey. It is analogous to the capacity of a block of stone to become a sculpture through the artist’s work.
God has actually elevated angels and men to the supernatural level. He has done it through the infusion of a habit—an accidental, permanent, and supernatural modification—called sanctifying grace. It is a grace because it is gratuitous, and it is sanctifying because it makes us divine.
Sanctifying grace gives us a participation in what is deepest in God, in the intimate reason of his Godhead: the Holy Trinity. In a very particular sense, it makes us children of God, partakers of the divine nature (consortes divinae naturae), and temples of the Holy Spirit. Grace enables us to perform supernatural deeds by means of supernatural faculties called infused virtues, and we are able to know all this—albeit imperfectly—through a supernatural light called faith.
It follows from the above that these supernatural realities remain in a higher sphere, which creatures can neither reach nor know through their natural means.
Just as in God there is no opposition between the natural and the supernatural,11 there is no opposition in the creature’s participation in both kinds of perfections. There is only a difference in the way they belong to the creature. Natural perfections are participated as something proper to and consistent with the contingent being. This is the case of the physical and chemical properties, the place, or the “natural” forms of a stone. The participation in supernatural perfections is much more precarious and fluid, but also richer in content, like the stone’s participation in the form of the sculpture.12 The supernatural does not destroy or transform the natural. It does perfect the natural within its own order, adding something congruent with it, but not strictly due.
4. The Supernatural Last End
God may be thought of as a sort of family, a community of three divine persons. His aim in creating us is to enlarge his natural family by bringing into being new persons who are able to choose freely to share in the life of the Trinity. This is eternal happiness or beatitude. Freedom is our great dignity. God does not compel us to become members of his household. He invites us and enables us to answer his invitation, but he leaves the decision to us.13 God has elevated us to a super-natural level so that we will be able to make this decision; beatitude makes us “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4; cf. Jn 17:3) and of eternal life. With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life. God has proposed to man a supernatural last end, giving a supernatural finality to his life. At the same time, he has given man the means to attain it.
This supernatural last end includes and transcends the natural last end. It consists in knowing the Blessed Trinity, that is, God not just as Supreme Being, Lord, and Creator, but in the very intimacy of his divinity.
This elevation cannot be achieved by natural powers alone; it is supernatural. Nothing in human nature requires or demands it. As we said before, God performs this elevation by the communication of habitual sanctifying grace. This is a permanent (hence the term habitual) and free gift (hence grace) that, by a mysterious participation in the intimate being of God, enables man to resemble him who is the Holy One par excellence (hence sanctifying).
This elevation preserves and assumes nature, and the supernatural last end encompasses and assumes the natural one. Summarizing:
Man has as the ultimate purpose of his life to live “for the praise of God’s glory” (cf. Eph 1:12), striving to make each of his actions reflect the splendor of that glory.… The moral life presents itself as the response due to the many gratuitous initiatives taken by God out of love for man. It is a response of love.14
5. Moral Theology
Moral theology is the theological study of human behavior or customs (mores in Latin). More precisely, moral theology is that part of theology that judges and directs human acts toward the supernatural end under the guidance of revelation. It therefore studies man’s way to God in the light of what God himself has revealed about man.
We know that theology is the science of faith, that is, the study of revelation by reason illumined by faith. We also know that faith is man’s assent to what God has revealed. Since this revelation is supernatural, the assent is also supernatural, in such a way that a special divine help is needed in order to give it.
There is a radical unity between dogmatic and moral theology; the division of theology in these two branches is done for didactic purposes only. The sources of moral theology are the same as the rest of theology: Sacred Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium, in a harmonious unity.
6. Natural and Supernatural Morals
Moral philosophy is the science that studies how man should behave in order to reach his natural end, which derives from human nature. It is also called natural ethics or simply ethics. Moral philosophy uses natural reason alone. Thus, man can know what is ethical with his natural intellect, without any special help.
Moral theology, on the other hand, studies the proper behavior of man after being elevated to the supernatural order. Man cannot acquire knowledge of this science through his intellect alone, but he can acquire it in a supernatural way, when he knows revelation through his intellect aided by faith.
Morality is not just a qualification of deeds, but a dimension of the person who performs these deeds. Man determines himself by his actions: By committing injustice, he becomes unjust; by lying, he becomes a liar.
7. Division of Moral Theology
The study of morals can be divided into three parts:
i) The first—which is the one studied here—covers the first principles: fundamental questions of morals, which apply to every aspect of human behavior.
ii) The second part—to be studied in a separate treatise—could be called special morals. It covers the different fields of human behavior, the moral norms that govern them, and the virtues that facilitate their fulfillment.
iii) The third part studies the obligations concerning the reception and administration of the sacraments. It is included in the treatise on the sacraments.
In the two first parts—and also in the third in what regards marriage—we will continuously refer to the substratum of natural morality, which forms the basis of supernatural morality.
8. Outline of Fundamental Moral Theology
The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides a summary of moral theology at the beginning of its Part Three, “Life in Christ,” which we shall follow in this treatise.
· The dignity of the human person is based on his creation in the image and likeness of God—the primary aspect of human dignity.
· The dignity of man is accomplished in his vocation to eternal happiness (also called beatitude).
· The human person should freely reach this accomplishment—the second aspect of human dignity.
· Through his deliberate acts, the human person conforms himself or not to the good that is promised by God.
· This good is attested by the moral conscience.
· Human beings build themselves and grow from within; they turn all their material and spiritual life into raw material for their growth.
· They grow in virtue with the help of grace, avoid sin, and, if they have committed it, go—like the prodigal son—to seek mercy from our Father in heaven. Thus, they enter into the perfection of charity.15
· Finally, we shall study divine and human laws.
Footnotes:
1. CCC, 1.
2. Ibid., 16.
3. Cf. ST, I-II, q. 1, a. 1.
4. Cf. Ibid., I-II, q. 1, a. 4.
5. Cf. Ibid., I-II, q. 3, a. 1.
6. Cf. Ibid., I, q. 44, a. 4.
7. DS 3002.
8. Cf. ST, I-II, q. 1, a. 5.
9. Cf. Ibid., I, q. 44, a. 4.
10. Cf. Ibid., I-II, q. 1, a. 2.
11. In order to avoid confusions, we must clarify that, in God, everything is natural, since everything corresponds to his divine nature. This terminological distinction is introduced in relation to creatures and their participation in divine perfections.
12. Cf. ST, I-II, q. 94, a. 6, ad 2.
13. Cf. G. Grisez and R. Shaw, Fulfillment in Christ (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991), p. 222.
14. John Paul II, Enc. Veritatis Splendor, 10.
15. Cf. CCC, 1700–1729.