Modernity is characterized by a rupture between morals and life. The reason is simple: modern morality is a morality of obligation that is not based upon reality. It is a simple practical result - and although it is of Protestant origin, it has now spread to the four corners of the world.
Dear friends and benefactors,
Modernity is characterized by a rupture between morals and life. The reason is simple: modern morality is a morality of obligation that is not based upon reality. It is a simple practical result - and although it is of Protestant origin, it has now spread to the four corners of the world.
This kind of morality imposes obligations without ever giving the reason why. It does not demand an act of intelligence, it does not require a judgment and it does not take account at all of the acts of virtue. Nonetheless, it rigorously commands. Its severity is great, as it must maintain an articficial framework, which is not that of real life, which is not human and does not respect the harmonious order of reality.
The morality of obligation does not respect the virtues, which it holds to be unimportant. It does not leave any consideration to our intentions, which however hold such a great place in our lives. For this kind of morality, the only important thing is the external order. Our interior acts are not taken into account. The result is the building up of a facade, a mask. I attend the Sunday High Mass with my girlfriend's family, playing the perfect future son-in-law, whereas my heart is still filled with and longing for the pleasures I have enjoyed Saturday night in dens of iniquity. But appearances are saved!
This opens the way to an ever shifting sincerity, which in turn leads to a true spiritual schizophrenia.
Catholic morality, on the contrary, is based upon the virtues and, taking into account our interior acts, also considers the rectitude of our intention - or lack thereof. It helps us to keep in order and teaches us that our goal is not the attainment of an external but deceptive perfection, but the growth in interior perfection which is nothing else than a constant act of charity.
For an act to be morally good it is thus not enough that the act be in itself good or morally indifferent. It is also necessary that our intention correspond to the objective goodness of the act... If your eye is lightsome, your whole body will be so, but if it is not, what will happen?
The morality of obligation, which seems so severe, is much less demanding than the morality of virtue. But only the latter enables us to live in a human way, to develop a sense of reality, living in the nobility of our condition of man and Christian, thus opening for us the way to divine friendship. It is not a question of blindly following a law that is itself blind, but of loving and proving it to the detriment of self.
In Christo Sacerdote et Maria,
Fr. Yves le Roux