Morality is more limited than religion

March 19, 2006 -- Third Sunday of Lent

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What is the difference for you between religion and morality? 2. Why is one's disposition so important in following God's commandments? 3. Why is Jesus a stumbling block and an absurdity to certain individuals?

During the season of Lent we do well to reflect on the importance of morality and religion in our lives. The moral life, the land of freedom and responsibility, is central in our relationship to one another and to the mystery of God. Religion is broader and deeper than morality for it involves a life of prayer and worship as well as a relationship with God and the community that is more inclusive than our moral choices.

L e n t
• Everyday People, Everyday Faith articles
• Other Lent articles

The Ten Commandments address the type of behavior that diminishes our relationship with God and with one another. Idolatry, irreverence, and a failure to give time to God by keeping the Sabbath alienate us from our loving Creator. Disrespect for parents, killing, adultery, stealing, bearing false witness and coveting are attitudes and actions that injure and sometimes destroy our relationships with our fellow human creatures. By abiding by the Ten Commandments we grow in grace and come to know the peace of God.

But our disposition is important here. Do we live the commandments with a willing heart or not? In his classic The Varieties of Religious Experience, the noted psychologist William James writes: "Morality pure and simple accepts the law of the whole which it finds reigning, so far as to acknowledge and obey it, but it may obey it with the heaviest and coldest heart, and never cease to feel it as a yoke. But for religion, in its strong and fully developed manifestation, the service of the highest never is felt as a yoke. Dull submission is left far behind, and a mood of welcome, which may fill any place on the scale between cheerful serenity and enthusiastic gladness, has taken its place."

Again we see that morality is more limited than religion. This is made evident in the Gospel passage wherein the temple has been turned into a marketplace. The temple, the very heart of religious practice, has been desecrated by immoral practices. Jesus' response is strong and swift. Zeal for His Father's house is expressed in a righteous anger that witnesses to the importance of respecting the house of God and the worshipping community.

This brings us to the short but powerful passage of St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. Paul links morality and religion together in the person of Jesus. Christ is the power (morality) and the wisdom (religion) of God. Jesus has a unique relationship with the Father and expressed that relationship through His love and mercy, indeed, through His self-giving sacrifice on the cross.

This is too much for both the intellectual Greek and the religious Jew. For them the cross, Christ crucified, is a stumbling block and an absurdity. For those who believe, the cross is the way to the Father and the most meaningful event of Christianity.

Religion and morality; belief and behavior; faith and ethics; creed and code. During Lent we reflect on the quality of our faith and the level of our commitment to discipleship. A rich season indeed.

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)