Sermon : A civilized people is held together by its common

The liturgy of the fifteenth Sunday reminds us one of the most fundamental truth about man: The human heart and mind are made to naturally perceive the order in nature and to recognize the law of nature and then use reason in order to deduce the binding rules of moral behavior in the law of nature. We find this in our Sunday readings: Deut. 30:10-14; Ps. 69; Col. 1:15-20; Lk. 10:25-37. In addition to stating the above law, we are reminded of God’s invitation to abide by that law which is naturally perceived by the human mind and heart. According to the readings above, the respect and obedience of this law leads to human happiness and self fulfillment. And its disrespect, as the history of mankind has shown, makes man a prey to vicious and corrupt habits and to different unnatural vices. The contemporary Christian understanding puts a lot of trust in man who is considered as body and mind, whereby the two are inextricably linked and in cooperation capable of discerning the difference between what is good and what is evil by the help of a conscience. And out of his nature man has the inclination to pursuing the truth as one of his capacities. Hence man must know that: “Good is to be sought, evil avoided.” Once man has that conviction, he or she is equipped with an inner force to enable him or her acquire in a natural way different virtues as prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, faith, hope and charity. Because of the intrinsic natural law in man, all people worthy of the appellation can practice the above virtues with the slightest spark of good will. Man cannot claim to be innocent because he or she went wrong due to following other people’s decisions unless he or she has a problem with his or her mental faculty. Unfortunately man continues to go against his own nature willingly. We see this in the Gospel as Jesus answers the scholar who out of mere rhetoric wanted to know when and to whom one should be charitable. Christ exemplifies at the request of the scholar what the new commandment of charity requires in the proverb of a Good Samaritan. Jesus knew that of all people, the scholar did not doubt that as he wants good done to him, so does everybody else. That is why through the example of the Good Samaritan we are all given to know that charity is to be applied universally to all persons independently of ulterior considerations. The same example shows a community like ours that charity’s practice is not bound by historical and cultural barriers. Like modern Christian understanding, contemporary jurisprudence too esteems natural law. According to this branch of knowledge, the just laws are immanent in nature; that is, they can be “discovered” or “found” but not “created” by such things as a bill of rights. All just laws emerge by the natural process of resolving or preventing conflicts. That is why the meaning of a just law is such that its content cannot be determined except by reference to moral principles originating from the natural law as set by nature itself and with validity everywhere. As different views express it, natural law is as important as common sense. But even common sense is said not to be all that common. So is it with common law which helps us to distinguish between the good from the bad. The problem comes when man wants to apply double standard on the good and the bad and pretend that what is good for the goose is not so for the gander. The objective good cannot be good in some situations and bad in other situations. Or good to one and not good to all.The question of double standards in man’s behavior is his main cause of going against the law of nature as well as a stumbling block for his freedom. In fact human freedom is always a freedom shared with others as they share the same view on what is good for the group and for the individuals. This explains why the harmony of freedom can be found only in what is common to all. And this natural and human concern is the characteristic of a true and just human community. In fact a civilized people is held together by its common understanding of what is virtuous and vicious, or what is noble and base. Such a community would naturally avoid using double standards but rather treat all equally, knowing that in most cases what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Ends