Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern AuthoritiesCallan, Charles J. (Charles Jerome)
Religion
Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities
Callan, Charles J. (Charles Jerome)
Christian ethics -- Catholic authors
(b) One is excused when a lower or less urgent law is in conflict
with a law that is higher or more urgent. In such a case the greater
obligation prevails, and the lesser obligation disappears. Examples:
The divine laws that one must preserve one’s life or administer Baptism
to a dying person prevail over the human law of attendance at church.
The less urgent law of fasting yields to the more urgent law of
devoting oneself to duties required by one’s state of life, if there is
a conflict between the two laws.
495. The loss, evil or inconvenience that constitutes moral
impossibility with respect to a law, must bear a proportion to the
law itself; and hence the higher or the more imperative the law, the
greater must be the reason that suffices to excuse from it.
496. Only a learned and prudent man can determine whether moral
impossibility exists with reference to a particular case, and hence it
would be dangerous for those who are not theologians to decide, either
for themselves or for others. The points that have to be considered
in judging are: (a) whether or not the difficulty is of a gravity
proportionate to the importance of the law (e.g., a graver reason is
required to excuse from a law that obliges under mortal sin than to
excuse from a law that binds under light sin); (b) whether or not the
difficulty is grave in relation to the person concerned (e.g., an
obligation that is easy for a healthy person may be very difficult for
one who is infirm).
497. It is never lawful to bring about either physical or moral
impossibility of observing a law, if this be done with the sole or
principal purpose of escaping one’s duty. Example: To go away on
Saturday in order to avoid Mass on Sunday.
498. It is lawful to cause impossibility of observing a law, if there
be some sufficient reason for doing this; for it is lawful to do
something from which two effects, one good and the other bad, result,
if the good effect is the one intended, and there is a sufficient
reason for permitting the evil effect (102 sqq.). Example: It is
sometimes lawful to do some extra work that is very useful, even if the
labor makes one unable to observe a fast.
499. The sufficient reason spoken of in the last paragraph is one that
is proportionate to the urgency and importance of the command and to
the frequency of the non-observance. Examples: A greater reason is
required to take up some work which will make it impossible to keep the
fast, if this be done on the fast day itself, than if it be done the
day before. A far greater reason is required to take up some work that
makes the observance of the fast impossible, if this happens frequently
or habitually, than if it happens only once or twice.
500. Cessation of Law.--A law ceases in two ways.
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