How Do I Decide What Is Right? (Part 1)

How Do I Decide What Is Right?
Part One
Nothing is more important than making good moral choices. When we make good moral decisions, there is a sense of happiness and contentment in our life, even if we must make hard decisions. And when we make poor moral decisions, we are disturbed because we are not at peace with ourselves. So how do we decide what is right and what is wrong? How do we know that we are making good moral decisions? In the coming weeks I will be dealing with this important question and developing the following theme: If we want to make good moral decisions we must answer three questions: (1) Who Are We? Where Are We Going? How Are We Going To Get There? However, before dealing with these questions, I want to make a few preliminary remarks.

First, all of us can live a morally good life, a life that allows us to be the kind of person God created us to be. The morally good life is not beyond the capacity of any one of us. All to the contrary, we have been created to be morally good people—people who do what is right and avoid what is wrong.

Second, the morally good life is not a burden. It is the morally good life that brings us the happiness that so often seems to escape. And it is the immoral life that brings us the unhappiness we so much dread. When we try to live a morally good life, we are most true to ourselves. And when we live an immoral life, we live a life that is less than truly human.

Third, there is a tendency in all of us to live the morally good life, and there is a tendency in all of us to live a selfish and immoral life. This is why we often find ourselves conflicted. On the one hand, we want to do what is right. On the other, for reasons we cannot fully explain, we are tempted to do what is wrong.

Fourth, because there are these two tendencies in us, we must learn how to live the morally good life. We must learn what is right and what is wrong. We must form and develop our conscience so that it will recognize what is right and what is wrong.

Fifth, to live the morally good life we need the support and encouragement of others. We cannot live a morally good life by ourselves, in isolation from others. If we try to do this, we will fail. This is why community is so important in living the morally good life.

Sixth, rules play an important part in the morally good life. They are the distillation of centuries of wisdom. The Ten Commandments, for example, instruct us about what is right and what is wrong. Jesus teaches us what is right and what is wrong. When understood correctly, such rule and instruction are not a burden; they are guideposts that we can follow to live the morally good life.

Seventh, the morally good life is more than dos and don’ts. It is more than a matter of following rules and regulations. It is a life of virtue and charity that we learn over a course of time. It is a life of living with and in Christ under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit. In the weeks ahead, I will be developing these and other themes about the morally good life. Fr. Matera