To know
“The immediate cause of the law It is the judgment of the legislatorbut the remote and ultimate is divinity. And the authoritysubject to the law, educates the citizen so that he may be virtuous and obtain the happinesswhich is also the ultimate goal of the law” (Plato). For a law to be valid, it does not depend only on the legislatorsbut from a higher authority, a Natural law whose legislator is Godto which they must submit.
Before his trip through Asia and Oceania, the Pope Francis He reflected on the coherence of life in fulfilling the lawnot like the Pharisees who accuse Jesus that his disciples did not keep the laws of washing several times before eating and yet they will give him an unjust death. Jesus points out what contaminates us: sin, because from the heart of man “evil intentions come, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, deceit, dishonesty, envy, pride…” (Mc 7, 21-22). The inner attitude must accompany the external fulfillment of a law, otherwise, one falls into ritualism.
To think
In Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone, the young Polynices dies in a rebellion against the tyrant Creon, who forbids his burial so that his body may be devoured by animals, on pain of death for anyone who disobeys. However, Polynices’ sister Antigone buries him, but is discovered and brought before Creon.
The natural duty of burying a brother and the arbitrary decree of the tyrant are in conflict: Creon reproaches her for disobeying his law. But Antigone replies that her law cannot be “above the unwritten, immutable laws of the gods, whose validity is not from yesterday, but from always…”
Living
What makes a person good is the purity of his heart, and therefore we must be careful to be consistent. We cannot go to Mass and then criticize or be lacking in charity. It would be a double life and we would not allow the Lord to purify us. Let us ask ourselves if we are consistent in our feelings, words and actions, and with God’s help, let us always be the same.
More from the same author:
- The Holy Spirit and the Church (6). What scent do we give off?
- The Holy Spirit and the Church (5). Achieving the Impossible
- Holy Spirit and the Church (4). A symphony of prayer
#live #coherently #validity #law
