For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

— Galatians 5:1

Either before you arrive or as you wait for class to begin, find this short passage from Sacred Scripture in your Bible or through an online search. Reading it will prepare you for this week’s material.

—Exodus 20:1–20

O God, who founded all the commands of your sacred Law upon love of you and of our neighbor, grant that, by keeping your precepts, we may merit to attain eternal life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

As you watch the video lesson, refer to these key highlights. Feel free to use the space provided to take notes.

• Laws give shape to the pursuit of the good.

• Law is an ordination (an ordering, ordinance, or determination) of reason for the common good made and promulgated (or made known) by one who has care of the community.

• The eternal law accounts for how all created things proceed from God and return to him.

• Natural law is man’s participation in the eternal law working at the level of his inclinations to secure what is true and good.

• Human law extends and applies the natural law in a particular time and place.

• Divine law is divided between the Old Law, which governed the life of the people of Israel, and the New Law, which is the very grace of the Holy Spirit given by Jesus Christ.

• The Ten Commandments concern man’s relation to God and to neighbor; failure to observe the Ten Commandments often leads to mortal sin.

Wisdom of the Saints

Love is the eternal law whereby the universe was created and is ruled. Since all things are ordered in measure and number and weight, and nothing is left outside the realm of law, that universal law cannot itself be without a law, which is itself. So love though it did not create itself, does surely govern itself by its own decree.

— St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Take a moment to go through these questions with the group. For larger classes, divide them up into partners. Answers are provided to assist you in leading discussion.

1. Which of the laws described is all-encompassing? In what sense does it include all other laws?

   The eternal law is the foundation of all law and is all-encompassing. The eternal law is just the notion of divine wisdom according as it is directive of all things. In other words, the eternal law accountsfor how all created things proceed from God and return to him. It encompasses every movement from creation to the end of the age. God is intimately involved in orchestrating the flowering of all created things according to their natures.

The natural law is just man’s rational share in the eternal law. Divine law represents God’s interventions to apply his eternal law at a particular time and place. Human law describes man’s attempts to extend the eternal law to the level of concrete details.

1. What does it mean to say that we are governed by the natural law? Where is this law inscribed? How does one gain access to it?

The natural law is just man’s participation in the eternal law in his bodily and spiritual life. It enables man to discern between good and evil in his moral reasoning (see CCC 1954).

Furthermore, the natural law works at the level of man’s inclinations (to existence, bodily sustenance, family life, worship of God, pursuit of truth, etc.) by making known the way to “practice the good and attain his end” (CCC 1955).

The natural law is first and foremost written in man’s nature and especially in his power of reason; its most important precepts are also inscribed in the Ten Commandments. Thus, it is universally available to human thought and experience, but God also makes it known through revelation so that man can have greater certainty regarding it and so adhere to it more closely and carefully: “Sinful man needs grace and revelation so moral and religious truths may be known ‘by everyone with facility, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error’” (CCC 1960).

1. How do we understand the difference between mortal and venial sins?

The Ten Commandments express “man’s fundamental duties towards God and towards his neighbor” (CCC 2072). They represent grave obligations.

Serious offenses against one of the Ten Commandments are considered mortal sins. Mortal means “deadly for oneself.” Mortal sin… “destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law” (CCC 1855). Mortal sin can be said to kill the life of grace within.

By contrast, venial sin does not represent a grave violation. Rather, venial sin leaves the life of grace intact, “even though it offends and wounds it” (CCC 1855).

1. What is the Old Law, and in what sense is it helpful or saving? What is the New Law, and in what sense is it helpful or saving?

The Old Law refers to the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament. The Old Law was “holy, spiritual, and good, yet still imperfect” (CCC 1963). It prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ but did not actually justify; that is to say, it did not give grace or save man from sin. Rather, it disposes for conversion by making known what is right and wrong.

Just as the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament, the New (Evangelical) Law, or Law of the Gospel, perfects or fulfills the Old Law. It is the very grace of the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts (see CCC 1964). The New Law is given by Christ during his life and perhaps best summarized by the Sermon on the Mount, though it is associated with Christ’s whole teaching and saving ministry (see CCC 1965). Since the New Law is grace, it justifies; it makes men good and saves them from sin.

Catechism Connection

The moral law . . . prescribes for man the ways, the rules of conduct that lead to the promised beatitude; it proscribes the ways of evil which turn him away from God and his love. It is at once firm in its precepts and, in its promises, worthy of love.

— CCC 1950

Discuss these questions with the group, pair them with a partner, or ask them to meditate on their own.

1. What is your attitude toward civil law? Does that, perhaps, color your bearing toward Church law, specifically the Church’s moral teachings?

2. Can you point to a time when you had a profound experience of right and wrong, when you sensed the natural law in the marrow of your bones?

3. We said that the New Law of grace actually justifies, which is to say that it actually makes you good. Have you, perhaps, ceased to hope for improvement in your life? What can you reasonably expect in the way of conversion as you come under the sway of this New Law?

After concluding your group discussion, return to watch the second video where converts to the Catholic faith discuss their conversion and how they live today as Catholics.

Rome to Home

Only God can answer the question about the good, because he is the Good. But God has already given an answer to this question: he did so by creating man and ordering him with wisdom and love to his final end, through the law which is inscribed in his heart.

— Pope St. John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, no. 12

Law: An ordination (an ordering, ordinance, or determination) of reason for the common good made and promulgated (or made known) by one who has care of the community.

Natural Law: The moral law inscribed in the heart and known by human reason. It is at work in man’s tendency to know the true and love the good, enabling him to “discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie” (CCC 1954). It’s most fundamental precept is: “Do good and avoid evil.”

Mortal Sin: A grave offense against the law of God that kills the divine life (charity/ love) in the soul of the sinner, thus driving out sanctifying grace. It constitutes a turn away from God, loving something created more than doing what God asks of us. For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be present: it must involve something serious (grave matter), you must have full knowledge that the act is wrong, and you must give free consent of your will.

Venial Sin: An act that fails to observe the necessary rule or order in lesser matters but that does not destroy the divine life of charity in the soul. Venial sins can be pardoned even without sacramental confession, but it is strongly recommended to confess them on a regular basis.

New (Evangelical) Law: The New Covenant established by God in Jesus Christ to succeed and perfect the Old Covenant. It is the perfection of the divine law. It is, most properly, the very grace of the Holy Spirit poured into the heart of man.

God’s Word

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

— Jeremiah 31:31–33

O Lord, Holy Father, almighty and eternal God, deign to direct and sanctify today our hearts and bodies in your law and in the works of your commandments; that, by your help, here and in eternity, we may always merit to be saved. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

This serves as a review of the material that your students can read after each class, but it may be helpful for you to read as well. Consider reading it before each class to better prepare you for group discussion.

The Laws that Make Men Free

In some freedom-loving cultures, law gets a bad rap. Many see it as invasive or arbitrary, and precious few see it as saving.

When it comes to Church laws, the reaction is even more pronounced. As a result of her stance on human life, sexuality, and marriage especially,…the Church receives criticism from all sides. Her laws are attacked as repressive and outdated. But this misses the mark.

We naturally seek and love what we see as good, but after the fall, we find this difficult, both because we are sometimes ignorant of what is truly good (for us, for others, or for our community) and because we find it hard to do what we know we should. So, in order to reach what is truly good, what will truly make us happy, we need all the help we can get. To grow in virtue, we need training and instruction so that we will avoid harmful acts and be guided to helpful ones. This is precisely what law does. By providing both sound instruction and just punishment, it discourages vice and promotes virtue.

Thus, law is not a hindrance or a hardship; rather it is a help to happiness. It is meant to enlighten man and to make him good, which is why it is so important that a society frame just and virtuous laws.

All law is founded on the eternal law. Picture an artist. Before he begins painting, he has an idea of what he will create. Picture now a head of state. Before he begins governing, he has a notion of how he will secure the common good. Now, we believe that God is the Creator of all things through his Wisdom and he has a notion of how he will bring all of creation to perfection. This creating and governing Wisdom is just what we mean by eternal law. It is the plan in the mind of God that is the root of all of the order that we see in the cosmos. As St. Thomas Aquinas summarizes, “The eternal law is nothing other than the notion of divine wisdom according as it is directive of all things and movements.”

All of creation shares in the eternal law as God directs different creatures to their proper acts and ends. Man shares in the eternal law through the natural law, which directs him to the perfection of his nature through the inclination of his bodily and spiritual life. We see this concretely in the fact that man has an inclination to stay alive (to eat when hungry, to get well when sick, to move away from danger), to procreate and educate children, and to pursue the highest goods, such the knowledge of God and the concord of society. On a most fundamental level, the natural law says: “Do good and avoid evil.”

We speak also of human and divine laws. Human laws bring the natural law to bear in concrete circumstances. Legislators begin with the understanding of what is true in all times and places and apply that knowledge to their particular time, place, and populace. Thus, they extend the natural law to meet their peculiar needs. This embraces everything from traffic laws to income taxes.

But the goal of human life extends beyond the scope of human law, and so the divine law is needed. Divine law includes both the Mosaic Law and the New Law of the Gospel. In the Mosaic Law, the Lord gave a variety of precepts to ensure that his people maintained right relation with him in its life and worship. In the Old Law, he made the natural law better known (e.g., the Ten Commandments) and added other laws peculiar to the Israelite people. But the Old Law was only a step to the fullness found in Christ, as it lacked the capacity to justify. It was good but imperfect.

And so, in the fullness of time, God sent his Son to make a New Covenant. This New Law is the very grace of the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts; in an extended sense, it also describes the Evangelical Law of the New Testament. The New Law goes beyond the Old Law in its scope. It also interiorizes the mandates of the Old Law, bringing about the conversion of the whole person.
The Ten Commandments—which are both accessible to human reason and revealed in the Old Testament—are of fundamental importance for living an upright life. They describe what one must and must not do in order to maintain right relationships. They are typically divided into two groups: the first three govern our relationship with God, and the last seven govern our relationship with our neighbor.

The reason why we should not break the Ten Commandments (and why doing so is typically a sin) is not simply because God forbids it. Rather, God has given us these commandments as a part of his divine revelation to teach us what is really good and evil. In fact, what is good and evil are features of the real order that God has created, both in the cosmos of nature (for example, we can know that killing the innocent is wrong simply by using our natural reason, even before we think about the Fifth Commandment—this is why we say it is a part of the natural law) and in view of the supernatural calling of human beings to share in God’s own life.

God has, nonetheless, given us free will, which includes the possibility of acting against the order of reality, of breaking his commandments, and of rejecting his goodness and love. When we do so, we sin. Sin is thus “an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man” (CCC 1849). It is also “an offense against God” because when we sin, we set ourselves against God’s love for us and turn our hearts away from him (CCC 1850).

Scripture distinguishes between sins which kill the life of grace within us (mortal sins) and those which only impair it (venial sins) (see 1 Jn 5:15–16). With a mortal sin, one kills the life of charity in the soul (loving God above all things and your neighbor as yourself) by preferring something else even more. When we willingly break God’s commandments in a serious (grave) matter, by definition we are preferring our own will to what God teaches us.

For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be met: the act must concern serious or grave matter, must be committed with knowledge, and the person must deliberately consent to it (see CCC 1857). “Grave matter” is what is covered by the Ten Commandments. “Full knowledge” means that…even if I don’t realize it’s a mortal sin, I at least know it’s wrong. “Deliberate consent” means that it is a personal choice of my will and not the result of an involuntary action (see CCC 1858–59). If I know what I’m doing and could have chosen to do otherwise, it is probably a voluntary act. For example, if I would not have done it if someone else had been watching me, it probably was a voluntary act. Mortal sin can only be healed ordinarily by the sacrament of confession.

Lighter sins are called venial. They do not destroy the divine life of charity in the soul, as does mortal sin, but they do wound it (see CCC 1855). Venial sin involves a disordered desire for created goods in a less serious matter. It is like an illness of the soul, not its death. Venial sins dispose to mortal sin and impede growth. They too must be addressed and kept in check. If the life of grace were likened to a car trip, mortal sins are the kind of choices that lead to a wreck. Venial sins are the kind of choices which lead to unnecessary delays. Thus, to achieve perfection, one needs to root out both.

Examples of mortal sins include adultery, looking at pornography (and other grave sins against the sixth commandment), missing Sunday Mass without a serious reason, and receiving Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin. Examples of venial sins include boasting, saying an angry word to a friend or stranger, entertaining a prideful or jealous thought, or using crass speech.

These sins are not wrong simply because they are against the law. God forbids them in his law because they are disordered: they point us away from God and prevent us from sharing in his life. When we see this, we can begin to understand how law, in all of its variety, is truly saving. By encouraging virtue and directing us to the common good, the law disciplines man and encourages him toward his end.

Lewis, C. S. The Abolition of Man. New York: HarperOne, 2015.

Rice, Charles E. 50 Questions on the Natural Law. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999.