November 6, 2012      Martin Mallon  (Ireland)      Martin's previous articles

 

                                              THE LAW OF LOVE

 

In his article on The Law of Love, Scott Hahn writes that Love is the only law we are to live by.Who could disagree as Jesus, when asked in the Gospel of 3 November, 2012 , which is the greatest of all the commandments? stated:  

“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel : the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)  

Here Jesus gives the Law of Love primacy by stating these are the greatest commandments and he then reinforces his argument by saying There is no other commandment greater than these.”  

Where does this leave the institutional Church? Clearly it is more important to obey this Law of Love than to obey the Church. Yes, Church teaching is useful for guidance, but Jesus puts the Law of Love above Church teaching and we can see this in the Second Vatican Council document on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, which in Section 16, as stated in my article of 9 October 2012, beautifully points out that God has written the divine law in our hearts and conscience reveals that law:  

In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God; to obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged. Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, Whose voice echoes in his depths. In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor…  

This last sentence emphasises our point precisely: In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor.”  

Here we have it in black and white; Jesus tells us that the Law of Love is the most important commandment and There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The most authoritative Church teaching we have, that of an Ecumenical Council, tells us that this Law of Love is revealed to us by our consciences In a wonderful manner conscience reveals that law which is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor.”  Hence, In a wonderful manner” conscience rules.

Primacy of Conscience, or the Law of Love, over any Church teaching or canon law would appear to be the logical conclusion from the above. Unfortunately, Scott Hahn, in his interesting article, did not explore the relation of the Law of Love to Church teaching.

Scott Hahn’s article can be found here 

HTML Comment Box is loading comments...