CSDC 140

The exercise of freedom implies a reference to a natural moral law, of a universal character, that precedes and unites all rights and duties²⁶⁵ Cf. Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, 50: AAS 85AAS — Acta Apostolicae Sedis (official gazette of the Holy See)Volume 85 (1993) at vatican.va — scanned PDF (1993), 1173-1174.. The natural law “is nothing other than the light of intellect infused within us by God. Thanks to this, we know what must be done and what must be avoided. This light or this law has been given by God to creation”²⁶⁶ Saint Thomas Aquinas, In Duo Praecepta Caritatis et in Decem Legis Praecepta Expositio, c. 1: “Nunc autem de scientia operandorum intendimus: ad quam tractandan quadruplex lex invenitur. Prima dicitur lex naturae; et haec nihil aliud est nisi lumen intellectus insitum nobis a Deo, per quod cognoscimus quid agendum et quid vitandum. Hoc lumen et hanc legem dedit Deus homini in creatione”: Divi Thomae Aquinatis, Doctoris Angelici, Opuscola Theologica, vol. II: De re spirituali, cura et studio P. Fr. Raymundi Spiazzi, O.P., Marietti ed., Taurini - Romae 1954, p. 245.. It consists in the participation in his eternal law, which is identified with God himself²⁶⁷ Cf. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 91, a. 2, c: Ed. Leon. 7, 154: “partecipatio legis aeternae in rationali creatura lex naturalis dicitur”.. This law is called “natural” because the reason that promulgates it is proper to human nature. It is universal, it extends to all people insofar as it is established by reason. In its principal precepts, the divine and natural law is presented in the Decalogue and indicates the primary and essential norms regulating moral life²⁶⁸ Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1955.. Its central focus is the act of aspiring and submitting to God, the source and judge of everything that is good, and also the act of seeing others as equal to oneself. The natural law expresses the dignity of the person and lays the foundations of the person's fundamental duties²⁶⁹ Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1956.