We often portray Christian morality as something negative, a series of don’ts: Don’t kill… don’t miss Mass on Sunday… don’t lie or steal… In other words, don’t have any fun… Seeing morality as a list of arbitrary rules that restrict and control our lives makes it unattractive and repulsive. True Christian morality is a positive affirmation of love, the roadmap guiding us to our goal—to know, love, and serve God in this life, and to enjoy a happy and intimate relationship with Him forever in heaven.

Nobody likes rules, which seem like arbitrary directives instituted by people in power to control our lives. More appealing is St. Augustine’s often repeated adage: “Love and do what you want.” In fact, if you truly love then you don’t need rules or commandments, love itself will suffice.

Think about it: does a newlywed bride need rules? Suppose a newlywed asked you for advice: “How far can I go with my boss before I would be unfaithful to my beloved husband? Would I be unfaithful by letting my boss take me out to lunch? Can I let him hold my hand or give me a kiss? How far is too far… what are the rules of fidelity?” If a newlywed were to ask such questions, would you think she was truly in love? Of course not! Someone in love doesn’t need rules about how far she can go before hurting the other or being unfaithful but is focused on pleasing her beloved with positive deeds.

Rules and commandments exist just to point out when we have lost the correct focus of love. If we lust over another, lie or steal then our love clearly has fallen short, hurting our relationship or keeping our love from reaching what it should: God and all his beloved children. In saying, “love and do what you want,” St. Augustine is not denying the need to follow God’s Commandments but affirming that true love naturally fulfills them all. As our Lord says:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:37-40).

By loving God totally and your neighbor as yourself you fulfill the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes… and everything else.

Jesus tries to raise our eyes higher and go beyond doing the minimum by giving us the Beatitudes: blessed (happy) are the poor in spirit… the pure of heart… the merciful… If our actions arise from love and reflect love, it will make us truly happy and lead to seeing God in heaven. Beatitudes challenge us to truly go beyond the minimum. They do not wipe out the Commandments but help us to fulfill them, as our Lord says, after giving us the Beatitudes:

Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them… Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:17,19).

Ultimately, morality—happiness—is about love, which fulfills all the Commandments:

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:8-10).

So, morality is our response to God’s love story, to his invitation to love, making true morality into a way of living, of pursuing happiness, not just a set of rules. Morality reflects what it means to be human, what fulfills our life and gives it meaning. Christ is that way, the way of love, the way of blessed happiness, the way to be holy, even as God is holy.

At the Last Supper Jesus raises love even higher: “I give to you a new commandment, Love one another even as I have loved you” (John 13:34), which he does “by laying down his life for his friends” (John 15:13), calling us to “lay down our life for the brethren” (1 John 3:1). That’s the New Commandment of Love, summarizing Christian morality.