A "Living Morality"

Jesus’ listeners knew the commandment, "You shall not commit adultery." They were Jews, they knew it by heart. But they interpreted the commandment in a purely external way. But the human heart was left untouched and unchanged. Laws can externally regulate human moral behavior, only Jesus has the power to transform hearts.

By calling attention to “adultery in the heart,” Jesus shifts the problem to a different plane, to man’s inner desires. He goes beneath the surface of external actions and appeals to the “inner man.” He appeals to his “heart.” After all, our external actions are just manifestations of our inner lives. True morality, a living morality, emanates from the heart.

Morality is not just about “following the rules.” Unfortunately, for many of us Catholics, morality has been reduced to mere “legalism.” Living a mature moral life does not mean begrudgingly submitting oneself to an external code of ethics or moral laws. “In such case,” comments Christopher West, “people keep to legalistic observance of the formula, but the spirit of the law does not abound in their hearts.” This kind of morality never leads to holiness.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us to something different. He calls us to a “living morality” that springs forth from a heart transformed by him and where the spirit of the law abounds. That is why he appeals to the human heart – the seat of authentic Christian morality.

Ethos refers to a person’s inner world of values - the system of values that attracts or repulses him. Ethos is “the interior form, almost the soul, of human morality.” It refers to values that really shape a man’s heart and defines the kind of person he is. In the case of a “living morality,” the ethical norm is not per-ceived as something “imposed” from the outside. The observance of moral norms wells up from within the person. The desires of the heart are in harmony with objective moral commands.