The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 256: The Natural Moral Law (2025)

Episode Date: September 13, 2025

Together, we begin the section on moral law, starting with natural moral law. Fr. Mike begins by emphasizing that we need both the law that guides us and God’s grace that sustains us in order to live out our call to beatitude. He also unpacks how natural moral law is written in the soul of each and every man to help him discern between good and evil. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1949-1960. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Catechism in a year podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in scripture, and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in a year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is a 256. We were reading paragraphs 1949 to 1960. As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the foundations of faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own catechism in a year reading plan by visiting

ascensionpress.com slash CIY. And you can click followers, subscribing your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications so you don't miss a day. Don't miss an episode. And we are just launching into the next section, chapter three, in fact, God's salvation. We're talking about law and grace. And so today we're going to be talking about the moral law and how there are various kinds of laws. They're all connected. But we're going to begin with the natural moral law. So the natural moral law is what the church is classically called natural law. It's not called natural law because it's like the law of nature. Sometimes people will confuse that and say, well, the law of nature is kind of like we live in a dog eat dog world, that kind of thing when it comes to the law of nature.

This is the natural law, which is the moral law, the obligation to do some things and to avoid other things that every person finds in the human heart, right? Every person finds in themselves to some degree there are laws written, not in some book somewhere, but written on the human heart. Romans chapter one talks about this, but also the church has for 2,000 years, has talked about the natural moral law that every person inside of them. Again, not that we all see this clearly, not that we all necessarily even agree on every point of this natural moral law, but there are certain things that virtually always and everywhere, that in every civilization, culture throughout history, human beings have said, okay, this is the thing we're obliged to do and these are the things we're obliged to avoid doing. And so we're going to talk about that. Also, of course, not of course, but maybe you don't know this. Today we're starting with the moral law tomorrow with quite a few paragraphs. You know, we're going from 1940 to 1960, but tomorrow we're going to talk about the old law and then we move on to the new law or the law of the gospel. And so it's just this first little article, article one, on what is what is the moral law? So we're talking about that today.

And so in order to ask the Lord, in order to talk about this and actually let it change our hearts and change our minds, we'll approach our God. We approach our God who is the source of all truth, the God who is source of all beauty and the source of all goodness, who's given us in the depths of our hearts, the moral law, who's also given through Scripture, the moral law, who's also given in Jesus Christ, the moral law. So that's the God we're approaching right now. And so we say, we pray, Father in heaven, you are the source of all goodness. You are the source of all goodness. You are the source. of all grace. You are the source of all truth. We ask that you please, unveil your truth in our lives, unveil your truth in our hearts so that we can know you more clearly and follow you more closely. Lord God, whatever your law is, reveal it to us, especially break through our sinful tendencies, the way in which sin clouds our judgment and clouds our intellect. We ask that you please break through those things. We can know what it is you will us to do with clarity and then to do it with great courage. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. It's day 256. We're reading paragraphs 1949 to 1960. Chapter 3, God's salvation, law, and grace. Called to beatitude, but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to Him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him. As St. Paul's letter to the Philippians states, work out your own salvation with fear and

trembling. For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Article 1. The moral law. The moral law is the work of divine wisdom. Its biblical meaning can be defined as fatherly instruction, God's pedagogy. It describes for man the ways, the rules of conduct that lead to the promised beatitude. It prescribes the ways of evil. It prescribes the ways of evil which turn him away from God in his love. It is at once firm in its precepts and in its promises worthy of love. Law is a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the common good. The moral law presupposes the rational order established among creatures for their good and to serve their final end by the power, wisdom, and goodness of the creator. All law

finds its first and ultimate truth in the eternal law. Law is declared and established by reason as a participation in the providence of the living God, creator and redeemer of all. Such an ordinance of reason is what one calls law. Tertullian wrote, Alone, among all animate beings, man can boast of having been counted worthy to receive a law from God. As an animal endowed with reason, capable of understanding and discernment, he is to govern his conduct by using his freedom and reason, in obedience to the one who has entrusted everything to him.

There are different expressions of the moral law, all of them interrelated. Eternal law, the source in God of all law, natural law, revealed law, comprising the old law and the new law, or law of the gospel. Finally, civil and ecclesiastical laws. The moral law finds its fullness and its unity in Christ. Jesus Christ is in person the way of perfection. He is the end of the law, for only he teaches and bestows the justice of God. St. Paul wrote to the Romans,

For Christ is the end of the law, that everyone who has faith may be justified. The natural moral law. Man participates in the wisdom and goodness of the Creator who gives him mastery over his acts and the ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the good. The natural law expresses the original moral sense, which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie. Pope Leo the 13th wrote The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man

Because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin But this command of human reason would not have the force of law If it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher reason To which our spirit and our freedom must be submitted The divine and natural law shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his end The natural law states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life. It hinges upon the desire for God and submission to him, who is the source and judge of all that is good, as well as upon the sense that the other is one's equal. Its principal precepts are expressed in the decalogue.

This law is called natural, not in reference to the nature of irrational beings, but because reason which decrees it properly belongs to human nature. St. Augustine wrote, Where then are these rules written, if not in the book of that light we call the truth? In it is written every just law. From it, the law passes into the heart of the man who does justice, not that it migrates into it, but that it places its imprint on it,

like a seal on the ring that passes on to wax without leaving the ring. St. Thomas Aquinas stated, The natural law is nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God. through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this light or law at the creation. The natural law, present in the heart of each man and established by reason, is universal in its precepts, and its authority extends to all men. It expresses the dignity of the person and determines the basis for his fundamental rights

and duties. Cicero stated, For there is a true law, right reason. It is in conformity with nature. is diffused among all men, and is immutable and eternal. Its orders summoned to duty, its prohibitions, turn away from offense. To replace it with a contrary law is a sacrilege. Failure to apply even one of its provisions is forbidden.

No one can abrogate it entirely. Application of the natural law varies greatly. It can demand reflection that takes account of various conditions of life according to places, times, and circumstances. Nevertheless, in the diversity of cultures, the natural law remains as a rule that binds men among themselves and imposes on them beyond the inevitable differences, common principles. The natural law is immutable and permanent throughout the variations of history. It subsists under the flux of ideas and customs and supports their progress.

The rules that express it remain substantially valid. Even when it is rejected in its very principles, it cannot be destroyed or removed from the heart of man. It always rises again in the life of individuals and societies. St. Augustine stated, Theft is surely punished by your law, O Lord, and by the law that is written in the human heart, the law that iniquity itself does not efface. The natural law, the creator's very good work, provides the solid foundation on which man can build the structure of moral rules to guide his choices. It also provides the indispensable moral foundation for building the human community. Finally, It provides the necessary basis for the civil law with which it is connected, whether by a reflection

that draws conclusions from its principles or by additions of a positive and juridical nature. The precepts of natural law are not perceived by everyone clearly and immediately. In the present situation, 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. The natural law provides revealed law and grace with a fact that. foundation prepared by God and in accordance with the work of the spirit. Okay. So then we have it, Day 256, paragraphs 1949 to 1960, kind of a long reading today, but also

kind of profound as well. Maybe not just kind of profound, maybe quite profound. Where have we been? Remember, we talked for a good chunk of time about human dignity. We talked about the goodness, about virtue. We talked about these things that were made for. And also, again, remember, we talked about the fact that. Our moral sense in so many ways, yes, is revealed to us by God, but a moral sense in so many

ways has human nature and the dignity of human nature as our basis for moral decisions in so many ways. Obviously, there's also divine nature that becomes a basis for moral decisions, but human dignity has that foundation. Because remember, we have freedom. Because we have freedom, we have responsibility for our own actions. And then we just talked about for about a week or a little over a week, how we are responsible also for the common good, right? We're responsible for the people around us. Now, what is the good? That's the big question. So paragraph 1949, as we launch into salvation talking about like pursuing the good life, 1949 says, called to beatitude, right? We're called to live forever with God in heaven, but wounded by sin. That's us. Man stands in need of

salvation from God. So absolutely, in this whole section on salvation, this chapter three on salvation. We need that from God because we're made for God, but we're wounded by sin. So we stand in need of salvation from God. Divine help comes to him from in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him. So we need both. We have both law and grace. And so keep that in mind when it comes to talking about salvation. If anyone's going to say that you don't need the law or that you don't need grace, that would be false. Remember the Catholic both and. We need both law and grace, the law that guides us and the grace that sustains us, the grace that gives us the power actually to do what we can do on our own. That's why St. Paul writing to the Philippians chapter two,

he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So we have to do something. Work out your own salvation, fear and trembling. Why? For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So we're working because why? Because God's at work. God's working so that we can even choose and act for his good pleasure. So all of this is just to begin chapter three and to highlight for us that we're made for God but wounded by sin therefore we need God's help we need God's not just little assistance we need all the assistance we need salvation that comes from him and so we have to cooperate with that so keeping that in mind the law that guides us and the grace that sustains us here's article one on the moral law now keep in mind all of morality

is connected paragraph 1952 highlights this different expressions of the moral laws all of them interrelated. So there's the eternal law, the source in God of all law. So God himself is, this is a really interesting thing that Catholic philosophers and Catholic theologians have unpacked for us, that God reveals himself as being good, right? Not just that God does good, but God is the source of all good. So that's a big difference. You can ask the question, is something good because God decrees it? Or does God decrees it because it's good? And in one way, it's simply will the power, right? That's good only because God says it. So God says that life is good, but he could easily say that the death is good, right? Something is good because God decrease it. That's

irrational because God could easily say, well, how about murder? Murder's good. If it simply is good because God decrease it, then there's a problem there. Again, go against reason. At the same time, wait, is it, does God declare something good because it is good? That would imply that there's a law above God, that here's the Lord God who says that faithfulness is good because faithfulness is good. So you know what I'm saying? That he decrees it to be good simply because it already is. In that case, here is God who is beneath a law, there's a law that's above him. So how do you figure that out? Is something good because God decrees it or does God decree it because it's good? those Catholic theologians, those Catholic philosophers, have figured this out, and it's so powerful.

It's that God is good, that God is truth, that God is reason, that God is love. So this isn't like a will-to-power kind of situation where God simply decrees something to be good, therefore it's good, but he could arbitrarily say it's not good? No, love, life, goodness, beauty, truth, that is part of the character of God. and so when he decrees it, again, it's not a law above him, and it's not merely the law, merely because he's said so, but it's because God is the source of all good, so he commands goodness. God is the source of all life, so he commands life. God is the source of all love, all these things that God is reasonable, right? God is reason itself. Therefore, he makes this world

in accordance with reason, not because reason is a law above God, but because God is reasonable, God, His reason. Therefore, everything he commands is connected, right? So that's the first thing. There's this, all of these laws, moral laws are interrelated. First, the eternal law, the source in God of all law. And then what we've been talking about for a little bit here, natural law, then revealed law through the old covenant and the new covenant, right? The Old Testament and the New Testament. The law of the gospel, you know, in the New Testament. And finally, we have, you know, civil laws. We have church laws, ecclesiastical laws. And so all of them are meant to be. connected. They're meant to be coherent and consistent. And so, again, the law that comes from God, the eternal law, is consistent with the natural law that we find in our hearts. And that's consistent with the old covenant laws. And those are consistent with the new covenant law, law of the gospel. And then hopefully our civil laws and hopefully our ecclesiastical laws are consistent with all of those. So they're all meant to be interconnected and inform one another. So what's an example of this? Well, one example is equality of people. We've talked about that

yesterday the day before, that human beings are equal. Where do we get this? Well, this comes from the very law of God in the old covenant. We hear, you know, this is not something necessarily that is immediately obvious, right? We recognize oftentimes the differences that we have with each other and not necessarily the equality and dignity. And yet, if you read Genesis chapter one and chapter two, what do you get? You get this truth that's revealed to us that God made man in his own image and likeness, male and female, he created them. And so that sense of, okay, wait a second, if every human being, male and female, are created in God's image and likeness, therefore our church laws, our civil laws, the way in which we live, how we interact with each other, that should reflect that truth. So they're all meant to be connected. Now, when there's civil laws or our church laws don't reflect that truth, then there's an inconsistency. And that would be a lack of justice, aka that would be evil, right? That would be unjust and therefore evil. Now, we had this quote here in paragraph, 1951 by a guy named Tertullian. And Tertullian was one of the early church fathers.

He's not a saint. There's a reason behind that, but we're not going to get into that right now, but just his name is Tertullian. And he says this, and it's so powerful because, again, it goes back to the fact that here we are as rational beings. He says this, alone among all animate beings, man can boast of having been counted worthy to receive a law from God. As an animal endowed with reason, again, right, we are capable of understanding and discernment. He is to govern his conduct by using his freedom and reason in obedience to the one who has entrusted everything to him. And so we have this obligation because God made us free, because God gave us an intellect, because we have reason and freedom. We have this obligation. And the obligation

is to obey the law that we find in our hearts, to obey the law that is revealed through scripture and tradition, and to obey civil and ecclesiastical laws. So the first of those that we discover is begins in paragraph 1954, the natural moral law. As I said, tomorrow we'll talk about the old law. The day after that, we'll talk about the law of the gospel. But first, we have this, the natural moral law. And what is this? The natural moral law expresses the original moral sense that enables us to discern by reason, the good and evil, truth, and the lie. So we all have this inside of us. This law written in the human heart. In fact, that's what Pope Leo the 13th said. He said, the natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man because it is human reasoning

ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin. Now, keep that in mind. That's the very basis of natural law. It's deep in our hearts that we have this sense of there is an obligation I have to do good. And there's an obligation I have to avoid evil. Now, this is really fascinating. In the book, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, which I actually began as a radio broadcasts on the British broadcasting system, C.S. Lewis talks about moral law as proof of God's existence. And he points to this. He says, we don't simply fight. We argue. And he makes this argument based off of the reality that we don't merely fight. We do fight, but we don't just fight. We also argue. And argument is, okay, you've done something wrong. And not just something wrong in the sense

that it's something I don't like, but you've done something that we all agree is wrong. Or you didn't do the thing that we all agree is right. And so every one of us, when we're talking with each other, when it comes to some of these arguments, typically we appeal to a greater law that all of us find in our hearts. And it can be something as simple as this. He even uses the example of, he says, this doesn't even have to be something that hurts me or something that I don't like. He says, we can still argue or be upset with someone, even if they simply try to step on our toe. Even if they don't succeed at it, they don't hurt us at all. But the fact that they tried to step on our toes, tried to step on our foot, right, that we can say, that's wrong.

You shouldn't have done that. And again, it's such a small, right? Isn't that just like the craziest, very, very minor and very tiny example? And yet it's a very true example because, again, it reveals, wait a second. I would point to that. I would say, wait, you shouldn't do that, but I didn't do anything wrong. Well, you didn't, there was no result. Like, my toe is not hurt. My foot is not damaged. But the very fact that you wanted to, the fact that you attempted to step on my foot,

there's something wrong about that. And this is, it goes back, again, such a small, like really kind of a pedestrian example, but a very true example that reveals that there's something in the human heart that says, this is good and must be done, and this is evil, it must be avoided. So going on, paragraph 1955, it says, the divine and natural law shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his end. The natural law states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life. And this is so key. It's so important. I mean, we obviously disagree on some of those points. But here is, this is so unique. In the middle of paragraph 95, kind of buried here,

it says this. It says its principal precepts are expressed in the decalogue, right? The decalogue or the Ten Commandments. So the principal things that we all know to be true are expressed in the decalogue. So when people say, wait a second, you know, you have these commandments in the Old Testament and New Testament, but in other ancient documents, they also have things that are very, very similar. And they'll point to those things as an argument against Christianity. And I think, wait, wait, wouldn't you want Christianity or Judeo-Christianity, the Jewish tradition and Christian tradition? Wouldn't you want some harmony between Judaism, Christianity, and many other people throughout the world? I think that that actually points to the fact that there is a commonality

in the human heart. There is a commonality in this moral law. It goes on to say, it's go, yep, it's expressed in the decalogue, expressed in the Ten Commandments. This law is called natural, not in reference to the nature of irrational beings, but because reason which decrees it properly belongs to human nature. As I mentioned before, this is not the law of nature, like the rule of the jungle or something like this. This is like, oh, you find this in nature, therefore that's why it's right. That's why it's good. No, you find a, we find a lot of things in nature that as human beings who would say, oh, that's not good. That's not right. For example, there are a number of creatures in the wild who the mothers eat their young. Just because that's found in nature,

just because that might be the law of nature, does not make it part of the natural law? So that makes sense? So natural law is not the same thing as the law of nature. The natural law is rooted in reason and in freedom. And as St. Thomas Aquinas says here at the end of paragraph 1955, it's nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God. Through it, we know what we must do and what we must avoid. And God has given this to us from the very, very beginning. Now, at the same time, while this extends to everybody, this is everyone it needs to must follow the natural law.

At the same time, there's application of that law can vary greatly, right? Over times and civilizations, over situations and circumstances, the application of that natural law can be all over the place. Nevertheless, it still binds us together. We still find a common thread in the human heart. that says you must do good and must avoid evil. It is immutable and it's permanent at the same time. Paragraph 1960, the last thing here. At the same time, the precepts of natural law are not perceived by everyone clearly and immediately. Why? Because remember, if we said the very beginning

of this, we're made for God, we're made for heaven, we're made good, but we're broken. So remember one of the consequences of original sin, the darkening of the intellect. So, Yes, I can grasp truth. But at the same time, I only many times see truth dimly. I don't fully understand it. I don't fully grasp this. So the precepts of natural law are not perceived by everyone clearly and immediately. In fact, I mean, think about some of the great philosophers, some of the great, you know, Greek philosophers back in the day who were, you know, pre-Christian, we're not Jewish, but like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, some of those people, they were grasping at something that they found to be true. And, but all of them,

them. Also, we're looking around at the Greeks around them and we're highly critical of the fact that, well, not all the people that I'm living among, not all of them are pursuing goodness the way I want to be pursuing goodness. They're not all pursuing truth in the way that I feel called and move to pursue truth. And so we recognize there are some people among us who perceive more clearly and more immediately the natural law than others. And some of us are a little bit slower in when it comes to perceiving the natural law clearly or immediately. In the present situation, it says here, in the present situation, 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. That's what we're going to talk about tomorrow. We're going to talk about how in this world where there is natural moral law that's in the human heart, God speaks even more clearly, that he confirms what we find in our human heart and then he builds on it when it comes to the old law and then fully builds on it when it comes to the new law or the law of the gospel. Well, you guys, I think I've said the word law about 375,000 times today. So we're going to take a break now. I let you know. You guys, you know this. I am praying for you every single day. Please pray for me. My name is Father

Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.