I woke up this morning to this brilliant oeuvre from Pope Benedict XVI that explains what I wanted to say about rules and morality in my last post, Speaking truth, but in a much more eloquent and erudite fashion.
It comes from a two-minute daily meditation by St Luke Productions, linked through Laudate*, my favourite application of all time and in it the Pope Emeritus says:
Moral obligation is our dignity
Moral obligation is not man's prison from which he must liberate himself in order finally to be able to do what he wants. It is moral obligation that constitutes his dignity and he does not become more free if he discards it. On the contrary, he takes a step backward to the level of a machine, of a mere thing. If there is no longer any obligation to which he can and must respond in freedom, then there is no longer any realm of freedom at all.
The recognition of morality is the real substance of human dignity. Morality is not man's prison but rather the divine element in him for nature is not as is asserted by a totalitarian scientism, some assemblage built up by chance and its rules of play, but is rather a creation - a creation in which the Creator Spiritus expresses Himself.
Creation itself teaches us how we can be human in the right way: the Christian faith which helps us to recognize creation as creation that does not paralyze reason. It gives practical reason the life sphere in which it can unfold.
The morality that the Church teaches is not some special burden for Christians. It is the defense of man against the attempt to abolish him. If morality, as we have seen, is not the enslavement of man but his liberation, then the Christian faith is the advanced post of human freedom.
Meditate and enjoy.
* Laudate is an app that every Catholic should access for it has everything needed for a rich prayer life and spiritual growth. It has, in various languages:
Daily Mass Readings, Order of Mass, Liturgy of Hours, New American Bible, Rosary and Latin Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy (on Rosary screen), Stations of the Cross, Saint of the Day, Catechism of Catholic Church, Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), Daily Examination of Conscience, various prayers and prayers in Latin with English translation. Podcast for Rosary and Stations. Daily Meditations. Podcasts of Daily Readings and meditations.
It comes from a two-minute daily meditation by St Luke Productions, linked through Laudate*, my favourite application of all time and in it the Pope Emeritus says:
Moral obligation is our dignity
Moral obligation is not man's prison from which he must liberate himself in order finally to be able to do what he wants. It is moral obligation that constitutes his dignity and he does not become more free if he discards it. On the contrary, he takes a step backward to the level of a machine, of a mere thing. If there is no longer any obligation to which he can and must respond in freedom, then there is no longer any realm of freedom at all.
The recognition of morality is the real substance of human dignity. Morality is not man's prison but rather the divine element in him for nature is not as is asserted by a totalitarian scientism, some assemblage built up by chance and its rules of play, but is rather a creation - a creation in which the Creator Spiritus expresses Himself.
Creation itself teaches us how we can be human in the right way: the Christian faith which helps us to recognize creation as creation that does not paralyze reason. It gives practical reason the life sphere in which it can unfold.
The morality that the Church teaches is not some special burden for Christians. It is the defense of man against the attempt to abolish him. If morality, as we have seen, is not the enslavement of man but his liberation, then the Christian faith is the advanced post of human freedom.
Meditate and enjoy.
* Laudate is an app that every Catholic should access for it has everything needed for a rich prayer life and spiritual growth. It has, in various languages:
Daily Mass Readings, Order of Mass, Liturgy of Hours, New American Bible, Rosary and Latin Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy (on Rosary screen), Stations of the Cross, Saint of the Day, Catechism of Catholic Church, Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), Daily Examination of Conscience, various prayers and prayers in Latin with English translation. Podcast for Rosary and Stations. Daily Meditations. Podcasts of Daily Readings and meditations.
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