1. Norms for Moral Living pp

2. Norms and Obligations
Norms are guides for actions that come in the form of laws, rules, principles, commandments and maxims. They also come with varying degrees of obligation.
They are declared by an authority (God, judges, kings, parents etc.)
They must be reasonable (then you can reason as to why you should follow them)
They involve our freedom (they oblige us to act a certain way by freely choosing to act responsibly)
They direct our inclinations and desires

3. Laws The law is the highest expression of a norm for action.
It is a judgment of a lawmaker about the means necessary for the common good. It requires:
A lawmaker (God or human)
A specific directive
The common good is maintained
A specific group of people are addressed
Obligation (if it serves the common good)

4. Rules
A prescribed guide for conduct or action. They can be absolute (apply under all circumstances), generally binding (apply under all circumstances unless it conflicts another rule) or relative. Maxims are general truths or rules of conduct. Proverbs are brief, popular sayings or adages containing a nugget of wisdom.

5. In the bible, many books contain words from the wise.
These books in the Old Testament are known as the books of Wisdom (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Sirach and Job).
e.g. “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer (of gossip), quarrelling ceases.”
- Proverbs 26.20

6. Moral Principles and Natural Law
Moral principles are basic truths we use to determine rules of conduct.
- The common good, the principle of subsidiarity, preferential option for the poor etc.
 In moral reasoning, principles enable us to measure our moral obligation to figure out what to do in a particular situation.

7. Natural law is the original moral sense which enables people to discern by reason, what is good and what is evil (C.C.C. 1954).
It affirms that we have the capacity to figure out what is good. According to St. Thomas Aquinas,
“Natural Law is the light of understanding that is placed in us by God; through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid.”