As old as humanity itself, this law was not compiled by a ruler of antiquity, nor was it traced on clay or carved in stone, but it was established by the Lord of the Universe and engraved in the heart of man.
All creation is governed by laws. From the smallest microscopic organism to the most immense galaxy – to limit ourselves exclusively to the material universe – creatures are subject to immutable principles, and this order is what makes their existence possible.
What we observe in the fields of physics, biology or chemistry, applies above all to man. However disagreeable it may sound to certain mentalities, there is no escape: any group of individuals that wishes to endure needs to establish rules, otherwise it will sink into chaos and ruin.
A law imposes itself as something necessary and good. However, who was the first governor to have the good sense to put one into writing? Let us travel to the distant past in search of it.
A “tour” through history
In ancient Mesopotamia, around 1750 BC, we find the Code of Hammurabi, written by the king of the same name, already in force. Chiselled on a large 2.25 metre-high stele made of volcanic rock, it brought together the civil and penal laws of the time.1 Going back a little further in history, we come across other codes, such as that of Lipit-Ishtar and Bilalama.2
If we travel back to an even earlier date, we will find two fragments of a small Sumerian clay tablet, ten by twenty centimetres, which, according to recent studies, reproduces a code of laws promulgated by the Sumerian king Ur-Nammu, around the year 2050 BC!3 More than four thousand years old, it currently constitutes humanity’s oldest legal text.
However, after this journey through history, our research has not come to an end. There is yet another written law that precedes all those mentioned. As old as human beings themselves, it was not compiled by a ruler of antiquity, nor was it drawn up on clay or carved in stone, but established by the Lord of the Universe and engraved in human hearts (cf. Rom 2:14-15). This is the natural law.
A reflection of the eternal law engraved in the heart of man
God created the universe – and each being in particular – according to an order and for a purpose: to give Him glory. Divine Providence governs all creatures and leads them to the fulfilment of this plan, using for this purpose, among other means, a law. God being who He is, there is only one norm on which He could base His work: His own wisdom, which, in so far as it orders creation, constitutes the eternal law.4 In this sense, it is rightly said that God is not only an infinitely just Judge, but the Law itself.
Nevertheless, in order to help man in a more excellent way to reach his true destiny, the Divine Author wrote in the heart of every human being the natural law5, which is a reflection and participation of eternal law, and is also called moral law.
It guides man in his mission to glorify God, the only achievement capable of bringing him true happiness in this life and in the next. The law is not, therefore, a burden which the Creator has tyrannically imposed on man, but rather a handrail which leads him to the good and aims at his happiness.6 Therefore, Pope Leo XIII explains, natural law is nothing other than “our reason, commanding us to do right and forbidding sin.”7
The fundamental principle
Here, then, is the “first and general principle”8 of natural law, from which all the others derive: to do good and to avoid evil.
The law engraved on our souls is like a beacon that enlightens us and shows us “what is good and what is evil in the moral order.”9 In other words, it is the voice of our conscience.
Regarding this principle, Pope Benedict XVI10 stresses that it is a truth whose evidence imposes itself on everyone. From it, man naturally deduces other principles of a more concrete nature which are to govern his actions.
On this point, perhaps someone might object: this is a very beautiful theory, but difficult to apply. The fact that we must seek the good and avoid evil seems obvious, but how can we know what these “concrete principles” are, which in today’s world seem so debatable? What is good and what is evil?
We shall reply in steps. First, St. Thomas11 enumerates some examples of the “particular precepts” which are in accord with man’s nature, namely:
a) The obligation to preserve life, one’s own and that of others, and to avoid whatever destroys it.
b) The precept of justice, which commands us to give to each person his due.
c) The duty to seek the truth.
d) The right to live in society and respect for others.
e) Human freedom – understood as the possibility of consciously choosing the good, and not as inordinate libertinism.
f) The inclination of man and woman to form a family and raise children.
Each one of these principles could be incorporated within one of the Commandments of the Decalogue, because God, rather than carving them on tablets of stone at Sinai, engraved them in the conscience of men of all times and cultures.12
A perennial and universal law?
Yes, natural law has always been present among human beings, for it is inherent to our condition. And since our condition does not change, the first principles of this law and its immediate conclusions cannot be substantially altered, in such a way that something that was once morally evil can now become good.13
The Encyclical Veritatis Splendor makes it clear that these precepts always remain valid in substance, but accepts that, like the deposit of faith, they can be better formulated and explained in the course of time, under the guidance of the Magisterium of the Holy Church. ”14 The natural law admits additions, not amputations!
But now a question occurs to our hypothetical objector: if these precepts are written in the nature of every man, and are therefore universal and perennial,”15 how is it that so many deny them today?
A distinction must be made. In the first place, the moral law is the same for all, but it is not equally known by all.
The great moralist St. Alphonsus Mary Liguori,16 always following the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, teaches that no one can claim total ignorance of the primary principles of the natural law and its immediate conclusions, which he identifies with the Ten Commandments.
There are, nevertheless, other remote consequences that are not so easy to deduce and that may be unknown by some, such as, for example, the moral implication of the white lie – namely, that which is told to acquire some benefit or avoid a punishment, but which does not bring harm to anyone – or of killing an agonizing person with a view to shortening his or her sufferings.17 For these more remote conclusions to be known, a certain instruction is necessary.
The darkening of natural law due to sin
Moreover, man can obscure and distort the voice of conscience. In the Letter to the Romans, the Apostle St. Paul sharply rebukes those who, because of sin, have obscured the natural law within them: “Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honour Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened” (Rom 1:20-21).
By corrupted habits and disordered passions, man distorts his natural inclination to do good.18 He gradually becomes blinded and loses the ability to distinguish good from evil19 and, as a consequence, errs easily, choosing an evil that appears good to him. Thus, exchanging “the truth about God for a lie” (Rom 1:25), he gives himself over to every sort of disorder and shameful passion (cf. Rom 1:26-32). Such seems to be the general state of society in our day.
The call to rekindle the natural law in hearts
Nevertheless, this situation is not irremediable. The great St. Augustine affirms: the law is “written in men’s hearts, which iniquity itself cannot blot out.”20 Although the natural law may become darkened in their interior, it will never be entirely wiped out.21
And, contrary to the corruption of conscience described above, the founder of the Redemptorists adds that, according to St. Thomas,22 just as vice and disordered passions obscure the natural law, the practice of virtue, the increase of faith and the effects of grace enhance the knowledge of the good and the natural inclination to it. It is therefore possible to rekindle this light in hearts where it has been dimmed.
Now, as we have said, the practice of the natural law is the door to acquire happiness on this earth. The fact that contemporary man evades the Commandments brings him bitterness as a result because it leads him to act against his own nature.
It is therefore an immense act of mercy to revive in the human being the voice of conscience, stifled by sin, and no pastoral pretext can dispense preachers from this objective! Those who claim otherwise do not want the good of the sheep, but their condemnation.
On several occasions, Pope Benedict XVI has called for a rediscovery of the truth of natural law, which contemporary society has become incapable of grasping. During his pontificate, he called for such truths not only to be recalled to individuals, but also that they be reinforced and promoted at the various levels of society.23 Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira rightly affirmed that “the Counter-Revolution has, as one of its most salient missions, that of re-establishing or reviving the distinction between good and evil, the notion of sin in theory, and of original and actual sin.”24
Moreover, in times when some people abuse power by wanting to change these “norms that precede any human law,”25 “natural law constitutes the true guarantee offered to each one to live in freedom and in the respect for his dignity as a person, and to feel protected from any ideological manipulation and from all abuse perpetrated based on the law of the strongest.”26
In the climate of relativism, moral subjectivism and religious indifferentism that marks contemporary society, natural law stands as a solid bulwark, upon which as “on a firm basis, morality, justice, religion, and the very bonds of human society rest.” 27
Let us join in the appeal to rekindle this light in hearts, certain that if humanity is to emerge from the state of error and sin in which it finds itself, it stands in need of the special assistance of grace and of a sincere conversion to the most ancient of written laws, the natural law. ◊
Notes
1 Cf. SAINT AMANT, EP, Alejandro Javier de. “To Bring About the Rule of Righteousness in the Land…” In: Heralds of the Gospel. Nobleton. Vol. 6, No.57 (July, 2012); p.33.
2 Cf. KRAMER, Samuel Noah. La Historia empieza en Sumer. Madrid: Alianza, 2017, p.86-87.
3 Cf. Idem, p.85-87.
4 Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Summa Theologiæ . I-II, q.93, a.1.
5 Cf. Idem, q.91, a.2.
6 Cf. FERNÁNDEZ, Aurelio. Teología Moral. Moral Fundamental. 4.ed. Burgos: Aldecoa, 2006, v.I, p.682.
7 LEO XIII. Libertas præstantissimum, n.6.
8 BENEDICT XVI. Address to the Participants in the International Congress on Natural Moral Law, 12/2/2007.
9 FERNÁNDEZ, op. cit., p.677.
10 BENEDICT XVI, op. cit.
11 Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, op. cit., q.94, a.2. See also: BENEDICT XVI, op. cit.; FERNÁNDEZ, op. cit., p.678.
12 Cf. BENEDICT XVI. Address at the end of the concert on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10/12/2008.
13 Cf. FERNÁNDEZ, op. cit., p.681.
14 Cf. ST. JOHN PAUL II. Veritatis splendor, n.53.
15 “[The natural law] is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all mankind” (Idem, n.51).
16 In recent times, attempts have been made to present a false figure of St. Alphonsus, as one who opposes every law and relies exclusively on the subjectivism of conscience. However, the study of the moral theology of the Holy Doctor and of the historical circumstances that motivated his publications refutes such an interpretation. St. Alphonsus was a true shepherd and for this reason he sought the salvation of men. He incessantly recalled the moral norms that must be observed and the love for God’s will, which must be heeded, as his sermons and spiritual writings testify (cf. FERNANDEZ, op. cit., p.371).
17 Cf. ST. ALPHONSUS MARY LIGUORI. Teologia Moral. L.I, tract.4, c.2, a.2.
18 Cf. FERNÁNDEZ, op. cit., p.681.
19 Cf. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL. Gaudium et spes, n.16.
20 ST. AUGUSTINE. Confessionum. L.II, c.4, n.9. In: Obras. 7.ed. Madrid: BAC, 1979, v.II, p.118.
21As to those general principles, the natural law, in the abstract, can nowise be blotted out from men’s hearts” (ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, op. cit., q.94, a.6).
22 Cf. Idem, q.93, a.6.
23 Cf. BENEDICT XVI. Address to participants at the plenary session of the International Theological Commission, 5/12/2008.
24 CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Revolução e Contra-Revolução. 5.ed. São Paulo: Retornarei, 2002, p.132.
25 BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Participants in the International Congress on Natural Moral Law, op. cit.
26 BENEDICT XVI, Address to participants at the plenary session of the International Theological Commission, op. cit.
27 LEO XIII, op. cit., n.13.
