Monday, January 28, 2013
421. Where does one find the New Law? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 421 repetition) The New Law is
found in the entire life and preaching of Christ and in the moral catechesis of
the apostles. The Sermon on the Mount is its principal expression.
“In brief”
(CCC 1986) Besides its precepts the New Law includes the
evangelical counsels. "The Church's holiness is fostered in a special way
by the manifold counsels which the Lord proposes to his disciples in the
Gospel" (LG 42 § 2).
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 1973) Besides its precepts, the New Law also includes
the evangelical counsels. The
traditional distinction between God's commandments and the evangelical counsels
is drawn in relation to charity, the perfection of Christian life. The precepts
are intended to remove whatever is incompatible with charity. The aim of the
counsels is to remove whatever might hinder the development of charity, even if
it is not contrary to it (Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 184, 3).
Reflection
(CCC 1974) The evangelical counsels manifest the living
fullness of charity, which is never satisfied with not giving more. They attest
its vitality and call forth our spiritual readiness. The perfection of the New
Law consists essentially in the precepts of love of God and neighbor. The
counsels point out the more direct ways, the readier means, and are to be
practiced in keeping with the vocation of each: [God] does not want each person
to keep all the counsels, but only those appropriate to the diversity of
persons, times, opportunities, and strengths, as charity requires; for it is
charity, as queen of all virtues, all commandments, all counsels, and, in
short, of all laws and all Christian actions that gives to all of them their
rank, order, time, and value (St. Francis de Sales, Love of God 8, 6). [END]
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