Moral Theology Part 129

2583. Obligation of First Precept.--The first precept of the Church obliges under pain of grave sin, because it determines a necessary act of religion (2148), and experience shows that where the Sabbath is neglected the social, spiritual and physical interests of man are seriously harmed (see Denzinger, n. 1202). There is always hope for Catholics who attend Ma.s.s, whereas those who miss Ma.s.s soon become Catholics only in name. But since neglect of worship may be only slightly disrespectful, and since the end of the precept may be substantially obtained without complete fulfillment, a transgression may be only venial by reason of lightness of matter.

(a) Preceptive Part.--Grave matter is a part of the Ma.s.s that is notable on account of dignity (i.e., the essential and integral parts of the Ma.s.s, for example, the Consecration and Communion), or on account of its duration (i.e., a third of the whole Ma.s.s, e.g., from the beginning to the Offertory inclusively, from the beginning to the Gospel and from the Communion to the end, from the Preface to the Consecration, from the Consecration to the Agnus Dei, etc.). Hence, he who is culpably absent or asleep during a notable part of the Ma.s.s sins gravely, but he who is absent or asleep during an inconsiderable part of the Ma.s.s (e.g., one who arrives just at the Offertory or who leaves after the Communion) sins venially, unless he is so disposed that he does not care how much he misses.

(b) Prohibitive Part.--Grave matter is labor that is notable on account of its quality (e.g., forensic proceedings even for a brief s.p.a.ce on Sunday would be a serious distraction and scandal), or its quant.i.ty (e.g., two and a half hours given to very exhausting manual work, such as digging a ditch, three hours given to less arduous labor, such as sowing). He who commands ten laborers to work an hour each on Sunday coperates in ten venial sins (see 219), but he may be guilty of mortal sin on account of scandal.

2584. Excuses from Observance of First Precept.--These reasons may be reduced to two cla.s.ses, namely, external reasons (i.e., a dispensation or a lawful custom) and internal reasons (i.e., one's own inability or necessity).

(a) External Reasons.--Dispensations may be given under certain conditions by local Ordinaries, by parish-priests, and by superiors of exempt clerical inst.i.tutes (Canon 1245). Custom in certain places excuses from Ma.s.s for a month women who have just given birth to a child or who have lost their husband by death, and also--from the Ma.s.s in which their banns are to be proclaimed--those women who are about to marry. Custom further permits necessary labors, such as cooking, ordinary housecleaning, barbering, the work of railroad and garage men, etc.

(b) Internal Reasons.--Impossibility or serious inconvenience excuses from hearing Ma.s.s (e.g., those who have to walk an hour's journey to church or ride a two hours' journey, regarding which, in terms of distance travelled, it has been suggested that the figures should be more than three miles each way if one must walk, more than thirty miles if a car is available and the roads are good; those who will suffer great detriment to health, honor, fortune, etc., if they go; those who are kept away by duties of charity or employment or office that cannot be omitted). Necessity or duty to others permits one to work on Sunday at least to some extent (e.g., those who must labor on a Sunday in order to live, or to keep out of serious trouble, or to perform services or works of charity that cannot easily be done at another time). To avoid self-deception the faithful should consult their pastor or other prudent person if there is doubt about the sufficiency of the excuse.

2585. Though the Church does not impose excessive Sabbatarianism, neither does she admit laxity in the important matter of the Lord's Day.

(a) Hence, not every reason excuses from the church precept. Thus, those are guilty who unnecessarily place themselves in the impossibility of observing the law (e.g., by moving to a place where there is no church, by taking a position that requires work all Sunday morning, by starting on a vacation or auto trip to a churchless region), or whose excuses are frivolous (e.g., those who stay away from Ma.s.s because they dislike the priest, or who work on Sunday merely to keep busy).

(b) Reasons that excuse from part of the ecclesiastical precept do not excuse from all of it. Thus, those who are unable to hear Ma.s.s are not thereby justified in doing servile work, those who can hear the essential part of Ma.s.s (Consecration and Communion), but not the other parts, should hear the essential part; those who can hear Ma.s.s only on one Sunday a year are not excused on that Sunday.

(c) Reasons that excuse from the ecclesiastical precept do not excuse from the divine precept (see 2575) of worshipping G.o.d. Hence, those who are really obliged to work every Sunday should sanctify the Lord's Day by whatever private prayer or devotion they can subst.i.tute. Some authors very rightly believe that those who can never go to Ma.s.s on Sunday are held by divine law to hear Ma.s.s on weekdays three or four times a year at least, when this is possible (see 2148, 2180).

2586. The Second Precept of the Church.--This precept commands that on all Fridays of the year and certain other specified days (unless they fall on a holyday outside of Lent) every baptized person who has completed the age of seven and has attained the use of reason shall abstain from eating flesh meat and from drinking the broth or soup made from flesh meat (Canons 1250-1254).

(a) Under the name flesh are included all land and warm-blooded animals (i.e., mammals and birds). The law does not include aquatic animals (i.e., fishes, clams, oysters and other sh.e.l.lfish, lobsters, shrimps, crabs and other crustaceans), nor cold-blooded animals (i.e., reptiles, snails and amphibians, such as frogs, tortoises). Some authors include under aquatic animals otters, beavers, seals, walruses, loons, and coots, though generally the birds are regarded as flesh. In doubt whether a food is fish or flesh, it may be judged to be fish, for in doubts laws are to be interpreted benignly.

(b) Under the name meat are included all the parts of an animal (i.e., its flesh, blood, marrow, brains, lard, meat extracts, mince-pie, pepsin) but not its fruit (e.g., eggs, milk, and things made from milk, such as b.u.t.ter, cheese).

(c) Under the name broth is included any liquid made from the juice of meat, such as beef tea, chicken broth, mutton soup, gravy, etc. But the law does not forbid condiments made from animal fats (e.g., margarin).

2587. Obligation of the Second Precept of the Church.--(a) Origin of the Obligation.--In substance this precept is of the natural law, but in details (time, manner, etc.) it is of ecclesiastical law (2468 b) and has come down from customs that began in the first ages of Christianity. The church regulation on abstinence is most wise and moderate: the foods forbidden are those whose deprivation is a mortification to most persons, and at the same time a great benefit to spiritual and bodily health; the times appointed are few but appropriate (viz., days of sorrow, special prayer, penance, preparation, such as Fridays, Ember Days, Lent, vigils), and they are so distributed as to sanctify by mortification each week and each season of the year. True, no food is evil in itself (Matt., xv. 11; I Cor., viii, 8; I Tim., iv. 3; Col., ii. 16), but just as the physician can forbid certain foods to his patient for the sake of temporal good, so for the sake of spiritual good G.o.d forbade to Adam the fruit of one tree and to the Jews the flesh of certain animals; and the Church from the days of the Apostles (Acts, xv. 29) has exercised the same right.

(b) Gravity of the Obligation.--The abstinence required by the Second Precept is a grave duty, because the Church makes it the necessary act of the necessary virtue of abstemiousness and a serious duty of obedience. But not every transgression is a serious injury to the spirit of this law, and hence some sins against it are venial. Grave matter is such a quant.i.ty of forbidden food as gives considerable nourishment, and hence for practical purposes the rule may be given that flesh meat which weighs two ounces (or, according to others, what would be the size of a walnut or of a small hen's egg) is grave matter.

Some hold for a more liberal interpretation when the food is not strictly flesh meat, and believe that liquid from meat is not grave matter at any time, or at least when it weighs less than four ounces.

Vegetables cooked or seasoned with meat or meat juice are also considered light matter. He who eats meat twice on a Friday or other abstinence day commits two sins, just as he who works twice on a Sunday or holyday commits two sins. It is commonly held that many venial sins against abstinence committed on the same day coalesce to form grave matter, but on account of the separation between the eatings a larger amount is necessary for grave matter.

(c) Exceptions to the Obligation.--Those are not bound to observe a day of abstinence who have been exempted by indult (Canon 1253), who have been dispensed by the Ordinary, pastor or superior (Canon 1245), or who are excused on account of real impossibility (e.g., the poor, the sick, those obliged to perform very hard work, those who are morally forced to eat meat but not as a sign of contempt of the law). Persons dispensed from abstinence may not eat meat oftener than once a day on fast days, unless they have a special grant. The faithful should be guided by the Lenten regulations of their dioceses, and in doubt they should consult their pastors.

2588. The Obligation of Fasting.--The Second Precept also commands that on the weekdays of Lent and certain other specified days (holydays outside Lent excepted) every baptized person between the ages of twenty-one years completed and sixty years begun shall eat not more than one full meal a day (Canon 1251).

(a) The law speaks of eating, that is, of solid food, and hence the Lenten and other similar fasts are not broken by liquids which are beverages rather than foods, or which are used to allay thirst, or carry food or a.s.sist digestion, and not chiefly to nourish (e.g., water, teas, coffee, light cocoa, wine, beer, lemonade, fruit juice).

Likewise, sirups taken as medicines are not considered foods, even though they contain nourishment, unless one drinks a large quant.i.ty for its food content. Light ices may be considered drink, but ice-cream is food. On the contrary, liquids that are chiefly nourishing are regarded as food (e.g., soup, oil, honey). Finally, some liquors vary between food and drink, according to their richness or weakness, their great or small quant.i.ty. Thus, hot chocolate as made in the United States contains only a small amount of solid and may be considered as a drink, but as made in Europe it is stronger and rather food than drink.

(b) The law admits as an indulgence on fast days, in addition to the one meal, a small breakfast in the morning and a light collation to be taken either around noon (lunch) or in the evening (supper). The quality and quant.i.ty of these two repasts are left to local custom. The Uniform Norm for Fast and Abstinence in the United States adopted by the Hierarchy, Nov. 14, 1951, establishes the following norm for these two meatless meals. They are to be "sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to each one's needs; but together they should not equal another full meal." This norm, called the relative standard, was adopted by many Bishops of the United States, beginning with Lent of 1952. Thus, the amount of food is dependent to some degree on a person's own needs and appet.i.te. The relative standard is distinguished from the absolute norm which allows about two ounces for the morning collation and eight ounces for the evening.

(c) The law permits one to eat but once in the day (exception being made for breakfast and collation), but it places no limits as to the quality of the food at the princ.i.p.al meal (unless the day be also a day of abstinence, when meat is forbidden), or as to its quant.i.ty, though temperance bids one to eat at all times in moderation. On fast days, therefore, one may not eat between meals, nor so divide or prolong the dinner that it really becomes several meals. A notable interruption (two or three hours) made without good reason divides a dinner into two meals, and over two hours of uninterrupted eating, under ordinary circ.u.mstances, seems to be more than the one full meal which the law allows.

2589. The Obligation of the Precept of Fasting.--(a) Origin.--The natural law commands fasting in general, since without some kind of austerity above common temperance certain desirable ends (such as atonement for past transgressions, conquest of unruly pa.s.sions, and elevation of the soul) cannot be attained; and as these ends are necessary it is also necessary to use the means as far as one needs them. The particularization of this natural law has been made by the positive law of the Church, and with such wisdom as to promote the good of both soul and body. The times appointed are most appropriate (e.g., the season when the Pa.s.sion is commemorated, Luke, v. 35); the duration of the long fast is modelled on that of Christ (Matt., iv. 1); the curtailment of food required is not only beneficial (as an exercise of self-control and a rest and change to the metabolism), but is moderate, since it permits sufficient food for the day, and even in the fast of Lent the Sundays occur to give a respite.

(b) Gravity.--The precept of fasting is grave, both from the purpose of the law (see 2469), and from the express declaration of the lawgiver (Denzinger, n. 1123). But the spirit of the precept is not notably deviated from by every transgression, and hence even in reference to matter there are minor or venial violations; and moreover the precept is probably (unlike that of abstinence) an indivisible one, since it consists in the limitation to one meal, and hence it cannot be violated more than once a day. Grave matter, when the absolute norm is used, seems to be about four ounces added to the collations or taken between meals, either all at once or at different times during the day (Denzinger, n.1129), But if the relative norm is used, a greater quant.i.ty is needed to establish grave matter, e.g., one fourth of a full meal. But he who has broken his fast (e.g., by a second full meal) does not break it again by a third or fourth full meal on the same day, for after the second full meal the fast has become impossible for that day. He who accidentally takes too much at breakfast can still keep the fast by proportionately diminishing his evening repast.

(c) Exceptions.--Physical or moral impossibility excuses from the fast, and gives the right to eat meat as often as moderation allows on days that are not meatless days. The chief persons who labor under impossibility are those who are too weak to fast (e.g., the sick, the convalescent, pregnant and nursing mothers, the nervous), those who are too poor to get one square meal a day (e.g., street beggars who have nothing may eat as often as they are given an alms, if it does not buy them a dinner), and those who cannot do their necessary or customary hard work if they fast. Hard work is such as is exercised for many hours continuously, or for a less time if it is very intense, and which is greatly fatiguing to the mind (e.g., daily teaching, lecturing, studying, hearing confessions, preaching, etc.) or to the body (e.g., heavy manual labor, the difficult jobs in offices or stores, work that requires one to be on one's feet for hours at a time, necessary journeys made under hardship). The confessor or physician can decide about cases of impossibility that are not manifest, but dispensation should be had from the pastor (Canon 1245). Those who are dispensed from the ecclesiastical fast or abstinence should remember that they are not dispensed from the natural law of temperance, and they should practise some abstemiousness according to their ability (e.g., by self-denial in alcoholic beverages, tobacco, sweets, etc., or mortification in the quant.i.ty or quality of food).

2590. The Third Precept of the Church.--This precept commands that all the faithful, male and female, who have reached the age of discretion go to confession at least once a year (Canon 906).

(a) The subject of this precept is every baptized person who has entered the Church through valid Baptism and who has the use of reason, which begins usually at the age of seven. Infants are incapable of committing sin, and the unbaptized are incapable of receiving the Sacrament of Penance.

(b) The matter of the precept is a good sacramental confession of the grave sins not yet confessed, made with the purpose of obtaining absolution to any duly authorized priest. Hence, those who have only venial sins on their conscience are not bound according to the common opinion by this precept, and, on the other hand, those who make a sacrilegious or voluntarily null confession do not fulfill the law (Denzinger, n. 1114; Code, Canon 907). It seems that one who, after a confession of venial sins at Easter, falls into grave sin is not bound from this precept to confess again before the end of the year.

(c) The time for fulfillment of the precept is once during the year.

The law leaves one free to confess on any day during the twelvemonth, and to count the year either civilly (i.e., from January 1 to December 31), or ecclesiastically (e.g., from Easter time to Easter time, as is commonly done), or from the date of the last confession. The limit is set, however, not to terminate but to insist upon obligation, and hence it seems that he who has not made his 1957 confession must make it as soon as possible in 1958, but the 1957 confession made in 1958 will satisfy for the 1958 obligation also (see 468 sqq.).

2591. The Obligation of the Third Precept.--(a) Origin.--From divine law sacramental confession is necessary for all who have fallen into serious sin after Baptism, since Christ has given His Church the keys of heaven and appointed His bishops and priests the physicians and judges to cure and pardon (Matt., xviii. 18; John, xx. 23). But Our Lord did not fix the frequency of confession, and it is this which the present precept determines. The law of annual confession goes back to the Fourth Lateran Council (1215).

(b) Gravity.--The precept of annual confession obliges under pain of mortal sin, for its purpose is of vital importance and the Church has always regarded it as a grave obligation. The purpose of the law is to ensure the use of the Sacrament inst.i.tuted by Christ for forgiveness and to keep sinners from delaying their repentance too long. If a good business man takes stock of his a.s.sets and liabilities at least once a year, and those who are careful of their health have medical attention or examination at least yearly, it is most reasonable that the faithful should settle their spiritual accounts and attend to the well-being of their souls within an equal period of time. In the early centuries when fervor was greater and conditions different, no general church law on the frequency of confession was needed; but there is no doubt that the Lateran Decree met well the need that began after the change from the early penitential discipline, The penalties for violation of this precept were excommunication and exclusion from ecclesiastical burial, and, though they are not enforced today, they show the intention of the Church to impose a grave duty.

2592. The Fourth Precept of the Church.--This precept commands that all the faithful, male and female, who have attained the use of reason, go to Holy Communion at least once a year, and that during Easter time (Canon 859).

(a) The subjects of this precept are the same as those of the previous precept, and consequently children of seven years or thereabout, who are able to understand, must make the Easter duty.

(b) The matter of the precept is a worthy Communion (Viatic.u.m or ordinary Communion) received in any parish, but preferably in one's own parish. Persons living in community (e.g., religious, soldiers, college boarders) may make the Easter duty in their own chapels, strangers and vagi in any church or chapel, and priests in the place where they say Ma.s.s.

(c) The time of the precept is the Paschal Season (i.e., from Palm Sunday to Low Sunday, but in the United States, by privilege, from the First Sunday of Lent to Trinity Sunday). The Easter time may be prolonged for an individual by his pastor or confessor for a just reason. The year within which the Easter duty is to be made begins, it seems, with the opening of one Paschal Season and ends with the opening of the Paschal Season of the following calendar year. Since the law requires that the Easter duty be made, not only within the Paschal Season, but also once a year, it follows that he who neglects Communion during the Easter period is still bound by the law to go to Communion before the opening of the next Paschal Season, but probably he is not bound to go at the first opportunity. As a rule, we believe those who do not make their Easter duty during a year are guilty of but one sin, since they do not think of distinct violations.

2593. The Obligation of the Fourth Precept.--(a) Origin.--There is a divine precept of receiving Communion some time during life, since Our Lord willed the Eucharist to be the necessary nourishment of the soul's journey (John, vi. 54) and the perpetual memorial of Himself (I Cor., xi. 24). The Church in the present precept has prescribed both the frequency and the time for complying with the will of Christ. Since the Eucharist is a daily bread, the law does not permit it to be abstained from by anyone beyond a year; and, since the Paschal Season brings the anniversary of Christ's sacrifice and of the inst.i.tution of the Blessed Sacrament, it is the time most fitly chosen for the obligatory Communion.

(b) Gravity.--The precept obliges under pain of grave sin, for it determines a law given by Our Lord Himself and regulates the minimum in the use of the Eucharist, the greatest of the Sacraments and the end of all the others. The doctrine of theologians is that it is a grave sin to delay culpably the Easter Communion for even a day beyond the Paschal Season as prescribed.

2594. The Fifth and Sixth Precepts of the Church.--The Fifth Precept commands the proper maintenance of the clergy by the laity. The manner of giving the support is left to the special statutes and customs of each country (Canons 1496, 1502). This ecclesiastical law is but a determination of the natural law of justice and religion, and also of the divine law; for even in the Old Testament the Levites were supported by the people. The duty is, therefore, grave (see 2185 sqq.).

Respect and obedience in spiritual matters are owed the clergy, and it is sinful to usurp their functions (see 2351, 2355 sqq., and Canons 119, 683, 1931, 166).

The Sixth Precept commands the proper solemnization of marriage and prohibits the solemn blessing of marriages at stated times. Canon 1108, 2 specifies these times as "from the first Sunday of Advent until the day of the Nativity of Our Lord inclusive, and from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday inclusive." It is to be noted that the forbidden time excludes only the solemn blessing, and even this may be permitted by the Ordinary for just cause, subject to liturgical laws (Canon 1108, 3).

2595. Two Other Important General Laws of the Church.--(a) The prohibition of wicked and dangerous writings (Canons 1384 sqq.) is based on the natural law, which requires one to avoid what is proximately dangerous to faith or morals. This subject is treated above in 1456, 849 sqq., 1529.

(b) The prohibition of the cremation of corpses (Canon 1203) is not based on natural law or on any dogma, as though the burning of dead bodies were intrinsically evil or repugnant to our faith in immortality and resurrection. On the contrary, in exceptional cases (e.g., in time of war or epidemic) cremation is permitted, if a real public necessity requires it. The reasons for the anti-cremation law are: the tradition of the Old and New Testaments (Gen., iii, 19; I Cor., xv. 42), and especially the example of Christ whose body was consigned to the tomb; the a.s.sociation of burial throughout the history of the Church with sacred rites and the doctrine of the future life, and the contrary a.s.sociation of cremation both in times past and today with paganism and despair; the sacred dignity of the human body (Gen., i. 25; I Cor., iii. 16, vi. 5), and the feeling of affection for parents, relatives, friends, which is outraged when their bodies are consigned to the furnace. The practical arguments offered for cremation are chiefly hygienic and economic; but it is certain that proper burial at sea or in the grave is no menace to public health, and is not more expensive or difficult than cremation. A most serious objection to cremation is that it makes exhumation impossible, and is therefore a means of concealing murder by poison. It is not lawful for a Catholic to coperate (except materially in case of necessity) with cremation, or to belong to any society that promotes the incineration of corpses; it is not lawful for a priest to give the last Sacraments or funeral rites to those who ordered the cremation of their bodies.

2596. The Special Duties of Clerics.--From the duties of Catholics in general we pa.s.s now to the special duties of clerics; for the clergy, on account of their position as the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt., v. 16), are bound to a greater internal and external holiness and edification than the laity. The word "cleric" is understood in a wide or in a strict sense. In the wide sense, a cleric is any Christian specially set apart for the service of G.o.d, whether by ordination or religious profession (e.g., lay brothers, nuns); in the strict sense, a cleric (clergyman) is one who has been admitted to Orders, or at least to their preparation through tonsure (Canon 108).

(a) Duties Before Entering the Clerical State.--The person who would enter the clerical state must have a vocation and a right intention. As to the latter, since the clerical state has for its ends the glory of G.o.d and the salvation of souls, it would be a serious sin to choose it princ.i.p.ally for temporal ends, such as wealth, dignity or pleasure; but it is not a sin to desire secondarily and moderately the necessary support of the clerical state (I Cor., ix, 3).

(b) Duties After Entering the Clerical State.--The privileges of clerics are treated in canonical works. Here we speak only of duties.

The obligations of a cleric are of two kinds--the positive, such as celibacy, and the negative, such as the avoidance of unbecoming amus.e.m.e.nts or occupations.

2597. Vocation to the Clerical State.--(a) Internal Vocation.--No one should enter the religious or clerical state unless called thereto by G.o.d (John, xv. 16; Acts, xiii. 2; Heb., v. 4, 5; I Cor., xii. 4 sqq.).

The foundation of the entire religious, priestly and apostolic life, namely divine vocation, consists of two essential elements, the one divine, the other ecclesiastical. As to the first element, G.o.d's call to embrace the priestly or religious life must be considered so necessary that in its absence the foundation upon which the whole structure is to rest is absent (Pius XII, _Sedes Sapientiae_). The signs of a divine call do not necessarily or even ordinarily include a feeling of inspiration or invitation from the Holy Spirit, but it suffices that one may have a liking, a right intention, and fitness (physical, mental, moral) for the life; for, where G.o.d gives a call, He gives the means to fulfill the duties. Thus, those who will not be able to say Ma.s.s, or who cannot master Latin or theology, or who cannot observe celibacy, or who are vicious (e.g., mischief-makers, drunkards) or unspiritual (e.g., the lazy, those who dislike exercises of piety), do not show the signs of a priestly vocation.

(b) External Vocation.--No one should be admitted to the religious life or to Orders unless he has given sufficient signs of a call from G.o.d.

Thus, a Bishop would sin most gravely and be a sharer in the sins of others if he conferred Major Orders on anyone about whose unworthiness he was morally certain on positive grounds (Canon 973); nor may a Religious Superior receive to profession any novice about whom he is doubtful (Canon 571). Scarcity of vocations is no excuse for laxity, since it is better to have a few creditable clerics than a mult.i.tude of unworthy ones (Benedict XIV). What St. Paul said of deacons ("Let these first be proved, and so let them minister, having no crime," I Tim., iii. 10), is therefore to be applied to all candidates for the clerical life. A vocation is tested by the years of probation which the church law provides for seminarians, novices and other aspirants to the ecclesiastical state. No cleric has a right to ordination before he receives the free call from a bishop, but on the other hand it is criminal to prevent a suitable candidate from embracing the clerical state (Canon 971). "By a divine vocation to the religious and clerical state a person undertakes publicly to lead a life of holiness in the Church, a visible and hierarchical society, and to exercise this hierarchical ministry. Such a person, therefore, ought to be authoritatively tested, approved and directed by the hierarchical rulers to whom G.o.d has entrusted the administration of the Church"

(Pius XII, _Sedes Sapientiae_).