AND WHEN THE LAST LAW IS DOWN…

Tuesday, 22 June, we marked the martyrdom of St Thomas More. Robert Bolt’s wonderful play A Man For All Seasons narrates the struggle of conscience More engaged in, while confronted by the challenges of England’s King Henry VIII. [Historical note: More was actually beheaded on 5 July, his original feast-day, but the new calendar combined him with Bishop John Fisher, who was executed on this date—both in 1535.] [Personal note: RENT THE MOVIE!]

Moving forward about 400 years, we come to the Jesuit moral theologian Louis Monden and his landmark book Sin, Liberty and Law. In it, he argued that there are three bases for the process of moral decision-making that people can engage in. He called them the “Instinctive,” the “Moral,” and the “Christian-religious.” They describe how, on each level, folks approach the concepts of Law, Conscience, Sin, Guilt, and Contrition.

I won’t elaborate on all this (unless you’d like a repeat of what I used to teach in Senior HS Theology at Montgomery Catholic High!), but the principal notion (driving the bus, so to speak) for the Instinctive level is punishment, fear of it, and attempted avoidance of it. On the Moral level the question is one of doing or not doing what will make you like the life’s model you have chosen for yourself. And the Christian-religious level is based on how we behave toward another with whom we have a love relationship.

More, in the course of the play, tries to hide “in the thickets of the law.” Referring to the man who would ultimately betray him, More tells his son-in-law, “Go he should, if he were the devil himself, until he broke the law. …Yes, I give the devil benefit of the law for my own safety’s sake.” When he is (because of his refusal to swear that Henry is “Supreme Head of the Church in England) told his refusals must be treasonous, he replies, “Not must be; may be.” “It’s a fair assumption,” is the retort. And More’s answer is “The law requires a fact.” So: is he simply trying to save his own skin, to avoid punishment for his violation of the King’s law?

No. When he forces an argument on his friend, the Duke of Norfolk, he tells him, “Friendship goes as deep in me as you, Norfolk; but only God is love clear through; and that’s my self.” And toward the end, in the Tower awaiting what would be a kangaroo-court condemnation based on perjury, his beloved daughter Margaret begs him, “But in reason! Haven’t you done all that God could reasonably want?” More answers, “Well, finally—finally it isn’t a matter of reason; finally, it’s a matter of love.”

More was not afraid of or trying to avoid punishment; in the last analysis, he was afraid of offending the God whom he loved.

What is my situation in life? Am I rooted simply in the words of the “Fatima Prayer”—O my Jesus, forgive me my sins; save me from the fires of hell? Or am I deeply enough in love with God in Jesus Christ that I fear nothing more than offending Him “…who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20)? Is God “clear through” really my self? If not, what is? -Fr. David