When the topic of morality is raised, many think immediately of what they have done wrong. The topic also causes people to think of what they need to do, or can get away with, before they are "in trouble" with God or the Church. More correctly, however, and certainly more to our benefit, morality should cause us to think of holiness. The moral life is a holy life. It is a life lived in union with God, a life based on love. The moral life is not a life of limits. The moral life is one of fullness.

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. -Colossians 3:12-14

These words of Paul head us in the right direction for real moral living. We are to live the Christ life into which we are baptized. Moral living is "doing," not merely "avoiding." We are called to think "holy," not merely how to escape hell.

A story is told of the little boy who fell out of his bed one night. His mother went in and asked, "What happened?" The little boy said, "I don't know. I guess I just stayed too close to where I go in." Sadly we do this too often in living the moral life. We live minimally, doing only what is necessary. Thus we spend a great amount of energy trying to stay within the limits, simply because we stay so close to "where we got in." The moral life calls us to fullness of life. We can do this by acquiring the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Moral living is seeking the good through love of God, self, and others.

© Harcourt Religion Publishers/BROWN-ROA