Homily

In today's reading from St. Paul's letter to the Romans, he writes: "When Gentiles, who do not have the law, keep it as by instinct, these men although without the law, serve as a law for themselves. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts. Their conscience bears witness together with the law, and their thoughts will accuse or defend them" on judgment day. St. Paul recognizes and teaches the truth about what we today call natural law.

There are two kinds of law that govern all of creation or perhaps it's better to say there are two levels of law. The big, grand, all-encompassing law is the eternal law, the rule of God which directs everything created towards some kind of end, some purpose, some goal. Human beings are also created for an end, a reason, a purpose, and the old catechism teaches that we were created to know, love and serve God, and to be happy with Him in this life and the next.

Even if you have never seen a hammer before in your life, if somebody gave you one it probably wouldn't take you very long to figure out how to use it because its purpose is found in the way it is constructed. Very few people ever use a hammer to comb their hair because it's not built to do that. People are built for a specific end, a specific purpose as well, and we can discover a great deal about what that is through the use of reason, and this knowledge about mankind's nature does not have to depend on God's revelation. Reason and intelligence can be used to figure it out. The result of this knowledge is what we call natural law, and specifically as it applies to human beings, it could be called "how people are built to live."

Natural law shows us how we should conduct ourselves, not just in certain areas of life, but our lives as a whole, so that we can reach our desired, or good end. Our lives are full of many conflicting desires, relationships, obligations, possibilities and interactions. If we live according to natural law, we will choose to do what is truly good for us as a person and avoid what will harm us as persons in the end. So food is good and necessary and eating when we are hungry is a healthy thing for us to do. But if we eat too much, more than we need, in order to satisfy our desire for the pleasure of food, we are not living well according to natural law because we are eating just for pleasure and not for the good of my body or my life. Natural law shows us how to order our actions and our living through the use of reason so that we can live the best possible lives that we can. I may never feel like studying. But if I give in to that and spend my time on video games, Facebook and skateboarding, I will not graduate. If I do not graduate, then there are consequences for my life and welfare. Natural law shows me that in order to live well, I must sometimes deny myself what I would like to do in less important areas of my life, so that I can achieve better things for myself as a person, and indeed become a better person. Lying may seem to work as a quick fix when I am in trouble, but in the long run, it threatens to damage my relationships with other people and destroys their trust in me. How can that be good for me? Natural law shows me what is truly good for me and what is harmful, a law, as St. Paul said which is written in the hearts of both Jew and Gentile.

Natural law is universal; it applies to all human beings everywhere because they are human beings. There may be a tribe in Africa somewhere that teaches that lying is a great art form that should be encouraged in everyone, but reason will still show how lying is having a negative impact on that tribe. Just because a person does something, or a whole bunch of people do something does not make it natural. Actions and behaviors are only natural if they are according to the good of our human nature. We even have a word for things that are not natural: unnatural. Natural law cannot change according to the times or according to the place, because human nature does not change. We cannot claim that basic human nature varies from time to time or place to place. Attitudes and rules may change but human nature does not. It is no more good or helpful for me to lie today than it would have been for a Mayan farmer a thousand years ago.

So here's the problem today: more and more people are, more and more, rejecting the idea that there is some kind of natural law that applies to all people. More and more do not believe in a basic, common understanding of what makes up a good life, and that the actions which will help or hurt a person can be known through the use of reason. More and more people deny that there even is such a thing as a human nature that applies to every person, and therefore it's impossible to say that these actions or these behaviors are always good or bad for a person. They say it depends on the person, it depends on the situation, there's no way we can say that this or that is always good or bad for any man or woman because there is no basis or standard we can use to judge them by.

As I see it, today more and more people are replacing the guidance of natural law for another standard which is founded on the basis of individual desire and emotion. If I really, really want it, why should I not have it? If I think it's good for me, who are you to tell me it is not good?

Instead of a reasoned, rational, thought-out approach to living according to what is good, and avoiding what is bad, it seems to me that more and more people are embracing, more and more, a childish attitude to life. "I want it, I want it, I want it." "It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair." "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you if you won't give me what I want." Or there's the old, "You don't love me, you don't care." Reasoning? Thinking? Rational approach to life? Who needs that? Just give me what I want, and allow me to do what I want, and I won't call you a hater. I could give a dozen examples of this kind of irrational way of living, but here's just one: how many women in our country today do you think are very concerned about eating all-natural, organic, no pesticide, no additives style of food, and yet every day take a pill that is loaded with artificial hormones and chemicals that can cause a number of side effects, and yet they do not see the obvious contradictions? And how many men are glad the women are taking the pill so that they don't have to? True love!

We have the benefit not only of natural law, but also the revealed law given to us in Christ Jesus, which tells us much more than we can even learn from natural law. And it's true that we often fail to live up to it as well. We do not always live up to our own best interests, to our own human natures even though we are graced by God.

But friends let us be clear for ourselves, that even apart from the divinely revealed law of God, there is still a universal, unchanging guide written in the hearts of all people, whether Jew or Christian or pagan, which can be followed through the use of reason and intelligence—a guide that is present not to control men, but to free us to live the fullest and best life possible. To deny this law is deadly—but live according to its truth will fill up our lives.