Ok. I realize I was using very broad brushstrokes in my post there but there’s a reason for it. I, too, was raised in the pre Vatican II Church and view the Church now as understanding God’s love, and the love He wants to achieve in us, better than ever. And while I recognize that the term “love” can easily be misunderstood, misapplied, and abused I also understand why the Church teaches the following about man’s “particular judgment”, quoting St John of the Cross:
”At the evening of life we shall be judged on our love.”
The fulfillment of the Greatest Commandments in each individual is the goal of Christianity, and therefore the purpose of the Church in everything she teaches and does, including her jurisprudence at the end of the day.
Love is the basis of the divine law, the natural law, and any “publicly revealed” law such as the Ten Commandments or the Mosaic law for that matter.