Reviewer no. 3: Morality
Overview1. Morality begins in the awareness of our incompleteness, the shattering recognition that we are far from whole.
2. LOVE - Christian principle focused in Christian Morality 3. Questions answered in Christian Morality course a. How do I see reality – myself, my relationship with others, the world and God? b. How do the Church and other authorities viewed particular moral issues and what effect/s do they have on my decisions? c. What will be my personal and responsible stance in response to these pluralities of views? 4. Our moral life is our response to the love of God to us. Introduction (taken from Veritatis Splendor) 1. Veritatis Splendor – written by Pope John Paul II 2. Question that “someone” asked Jesus (Mt. 19:16) about – full meaning of life 3. There is connection between moral good and eternal life. 4. Meaning of beatific vision – seeing God face to face 5. Meaning of summum bonum – God is the absolute Good 6. Moral life presents itself as the response to the love of God. 7. There is connection between eternal life and obedience to God’s commandments. 8. Love of God is higher than the love of neighbor. 9. Essential and primordial foundation of Christian morality – following Christ 10. Being a follower of Christ means becoming conformed to him who became a servant even to giving himself on the cross. Morality and Spirituality 1. My immoral behavior affects me and the rest of society - belongs to morality 2. I am free to worship God or not - belongs to spirituality 3. Commission of murder or theft - belongs to morality 4. A person cannot make spiritual progress by skipping over or ignoring morality. 5. Philosophy that promotes enjoyment of life and avoidance of pain and suffering – hedonism 6. Catholic spirituality is rooted in the revelation of Jesus Christ. 7. When spirituality is separated from morality, the individual cannot perceive the call to holiness that is fundamental. 8. Meaning of “call to holiness” – making moral choices according to the example of Christ. 9. Meaning of embracing Christ – embracing holiness, embracing teaching of Christ and the Church, assimilating Christ into the particulars of our life, standing firm against the forces from mass media, consumerism, and hedonism 10. The common misperception that spirituality is separate from the moral life defines what is right or wrong. 11. Christian Morality is compatible with Christian Spirituality. 12. Christian spirituality is the response of the believer to the Holy Spirit through the example of Jesus Christ. 13. The root of Christian Catholic Spirituality - Revelation of Jesus Christ 14. Mother Teresa of Calcutta - said that “Holiness is nothing extraordinary. Holiness is for all of us, for you and for me. We are all called to live holy lives.” 15. St. Paul - said that “you refrain from immorality, that each of you knows how to acquire a wife for yourself in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion as do the Gentiles who do not know God ... God did not call us to impurity but to holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not a human being but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you” 16. No one is spiritual whose actions are immoral. 17. No Catholic is a true Christian without embracing Jesus Christ and the Church’s moral authority. Morality and Ethics 1. Morality from Latin word moralis which means custom or manner; Delve into right and wrong at a much general and deeper level. (morality) 2. Ethics from Greek word ethos which means moral character or custom;Principles used to decide what behaviors are right, good and proper; Formal study of standards or conduct of action; Define the code that a society or group of people adhere to. 3. Moral concept carrying the word behavior - Moral Standards 4. Moral concept referring to our conscience - Moral Responsibility 5. Moral concept referring to our capability to do right or wrong action - Moral Identity 6. Three levels wherein Morality is related to our behavior according to C.S. Lewis a. fair play and harmony between individuals; b. good people in order to have a good society; c. good relationship with God; 7. Morality impacts our everyday decisions, and those choices are directed by our conscience. 8. Morality is what we live while Ethics is what we study. 9. Goal of moral life is imitation of Christ, not observance of the law. 10. The love for God is connected to our love for one another. 11. The good news of Christianity is “that God loves the unworthy, that he does not need us to be worthy in order to love us.” 12. The task of Magisterium is to authentically interpret the word of God, may it be written or handed on. Christian Morality 1. Issues that are essential in understanding Christian Morality – moral life, absolute dependence on God, authority of the church, what we must do. 2. Magisterium - receive the God-given authority and responsibility to teach on faith and morals. 3. Way to become fully the beings God wills us to be – exercise our freedom of choice reasonably according to divine, eternal, and natural law Meaning and Purpose of Life 1. Three specific questions to understand why we exist a. Where did we come from? b. Why Are We Here? and c. Where are we Going? 2. Acts 17:24, 25, 28 provides that All kinds of life were originally created by God in six days. 3. The real purpose of life according to the teaching of the bible is to keep the commandments of God. 4. The most important work that God intends for us to accomplish in life is to love God and our fellowman. Desire of Man for Happiness 1. Beatitudes - responding to the natural desire for happiness. 2. Desire for happiness - from Divine origin 3. St. Augustine - said “How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you.” 4. St. Thomas Aquinas – said “God alone satisfies.” 5. Desire for God - written in the human heart 6. Heaven - the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness. Character Formation 1. Catechism of the Catholic Church - teaches, '"The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute; - The right and the duty of parents to educate their children [is] primordial and inalienable... 2. Moral or character formation is essential than intellectual formation. 3. Aristotle - calls the character, or habitual formation of a man, his 'second nature.' 4. Character formation cannot be separated from the person. 5. Plato – said that a person who is a slave to the inclinations of his passions is a slave. Such a person is not ultimately happy. 6. The virtue of obedience opens the door to the other virtues, and to the acquisition of prudence. 7. Prudence - is the acquired ability—that is, the habit—of discovering and judging what is right in any given set of circumstances. 8. Character matures somewhere between the ages of 24 and 30, so children complete the process of character formation on their own. 9. Virtue is a habit, and habit is gained and perfected through repeated action. 10. Virtues to Emphasize from Four to Seven Years: obedience, sincerity, order 11. Virtues to Emphasize from Eight to Twelve Years: fortitude, perseverance, industry, patience, responsibility, justice, generosity 12. Virtues to Emphasize from Thirteen to Fifteen Years: modesty, moderation, simplicity, sociability, friendship, respect, patriotism 13. Virtues to Emphasize from Sixteen to Eighteen Years: prudence, flexibility, understanding, loyalty, audacity, humility, optimism Virtue According to Catechism 1. Virtue - habitual and firm disposition to do the good. 2. Emotions are good if they contribute to a good action. 3. Kinds of Virtue – Theological and Cardinal/Moral 4. Theological Virtues - dispose Christians to live in a relationship with the Holy Trinity. They have God for their origin, their motive, and their object - God known by faith, God hoped in and loved for his own sake. 5. Kinds of Theological Virtues – Faith, hope, and charity 6. It is not enough that the disciple of Christ must only keep the faith and live on it. He must also profess it, confidently bear witness to it, and spread it: "All however must be prepared to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the Cross, amidst the persecutions which the Church never lacks." ( LG 42; cf. DH 14). 7. Mary - model and example of faith. Her virginity is the sign of her faith "unadulterated by any doubt", and of her undivided gift of herself to God's will. 8. Hope - theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. " 9. The virtue of Hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man. 10. Abraham – model of hope. His hope was blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice. "Hoping against hope, he believed, and thus became the father of many nations." (Rom 4:18.) 11. Charity - theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. 12. Jesus - makes charity the new commandment. 13. Charity is superior to all the virtues. It is the first of the theological virtues. 14. Four Cardinal virtues – prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance 15. Prudence - virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it. 16. Justice - moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. 17. Fortitude - moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good; it strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life; it is the virtue that enables us to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. 18. Temperance - moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. Morality of Human Acts 1. Freedom - makes man a moral subject. 2. Sources of Morality – object, end/intention, circumstance 3. End/Intention - an element essential to the moral evaluation of an action. 4. It is not proper to consider only the intention in determining the morality of the human acts. 5. Circumstances - contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral goodness or evil of human acts. 6. A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the circumstances together. 7. An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention. 8. No person can be held wholly responsible for human actions performed without perfect knowledge and full freedom. 9. The greater the knowledge and freedom, the greater the voluntariness and moral responsibility involved. 10. Ignorance – lack of the knowledge which man/woman should have of his/her moral duties. 11. Invincible Ignorance – cannot be overcome despite ordinary diligence and reasonable efforts. 12. An act which proceeds from invincible ignorance is not voluntary; it is not a human act and consequently completely excuses man/woman from wrongdoing. 13. 3 elements or components of human acts: Human act must be a knowing and deliberate act; must be free; and must be a voluntary act 14. When a person does not know what he/she is doing or when he/she is no longer free to act, the responsibility for his/her actions is no longer attributed to him/her. 15. Vincible Ignorance – can be overcome or removed by ordinary efforts. 16. Vincible ignorance does not destroy, but it does lessen the voluntariness and responsibility of an act. 17. The degree of responsibility or culpability of Vincible Ignorance depends on three circumstances: Amount of effort put forth to get proper information; Importance of the matter; Obligation of the agent to acquire proper knowledge on the matter. Moral Norms 1. Moral norms can be expressed as rules, principles, dispositions, character traits, and even through the life of the person. These are different ways of specifying criteria for moral judgments. 2. Sources of Christian Moral Norms: Scripture, Reason (includes natural law), Tradition, Experience. 3. Types of Moral Norms: Material norms, Formal norms, and Synthetic Norms 4. Material norms - Specify the “matter” or means of specific actions; Answer the question “WHAT should (or should not) be done?”; Focus on DOING and tend to indicate actions. 5. Formal Norms - Specify the “form” of acting and especially the form of being; Answer the question “HOW should (or shouldn’t) one act?” or “WHO should (or shouldn’t) one be?; Focus more on BEING and tend to indicate character traits or dispositions. 6. Synthetic Norms - Combine description of an action with moral evaluation of the action; Combine description of WHAT is done with HOW it is done and/or WHY 7. The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides that one may never do evil so that good may result from it. 8. The purpose of increasing in knowledge of good and evil is to call good what God calls good and to call evil what God calls evil. 9. In order to be able to choose to be good and do good one must learn to recognize evil. 10. The first thing that was not “good” during the creation of man according to the book of Genesis is that man was alone and isolated. 11. Sin - is the state of disobedience and the individual act of falling short of perfection, literally “missing the mark.” 12. Teleology – refers to everything that has an end or purpose. Morality involves working out what our purpose as humans is, and acting in a way that fulfills it. 13. Deontology – morality is about doing your duty, an obligation to follow rules or do right actions. 14. St. Thomas Aquinas - said that acting in accordance with reason was the same thing as acting in the way a Christian would act. 15. To justify abortion, euthanasia, and suicide is to argue that the end justifies disobedience to God's word. 16. No one can do evil that good may come - we commonly know this as “the end does not justify the means.” 17. Direct abortion - abortion willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. 18. In the principle of double effect, the intended effect, good or evil, is called “direct”. 19. The Principle of Double Effect states that an action, good in itself, which has two effects--an intended good effect, and a foreseen, but not intended evil effect—is moral provided there is a just order between the intended good and the permitted evil. 20. In the principle of double effect, the good must be willed and evil effect merely tolerated. 21. In the principle of double effect, the good effect must not come about as a result of evil effect, but must come directly from the action itself. 22. In the principle of double effect, the good effect must be at least equivalent in importance to evil effect. 23. Law - objective norm of morality; an ordinance of reason promulgated for the common good by one who has charge of the society 24. Classifications of laws: according to immediate author (Divine Positive law and Human Positive law - church and civil); according to duration (Eternal and Temporal laws); according to manner of promulgation (natural and positive laws); according to effect of violation (moral and penal) Fundamental Option 1. "Fundamental option" - refers to a theory of morals according to which each person gradually develops in a basic orientation of his or her life, either for or against God. 2. Fundamental direction is said to be FOR God if one's life is fundamentally devoted to the love and service of others, and AGAINST God if one's life is essentially devoted to self-love and self-service. 3. The Church admitted the description of a person's basic moral disposition as a "fundamental option." What is NOT admissible is to claim that INDIVIDUAL HUMAN ACTIONS cannot radically change this fundamental option. Moral Conscience 1. Conscience is a practical judgment "which makes known what man must do or not do, or which assesses an act already performed by him. 2. Conscience formulates moral obligation in the light of the natural law. 3. Conscience is not a "decision on how to act in particular cases". 4. Conscience is the proximate norm of personal morality," but its dignity consists in its capacity to disclose the truth about moral good and evil, the truth "indicated by the 'divine law', the universal and objective norm of morality". 5. The obligation, in conscience, to "form" one's conscience, i.e., "to make it the object of a continuous conversion to what is true and to what is good," and obviously "Christians have a great help for the formation of conscience in the Church and her Magisterium ....the authority of the Church, when she pronounces on moral questions, in no way undermines the freedom of conscience of Christians 6. "Conscience is man's most secret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths". 7. A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. 8. Sources of Formation of moral conscience: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, Magisterium, and Natural law Sin (according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church) 1. Sin - an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. 2. Gravity of sin - mortal and venial 3. Mortal sin - destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God 4. 3 conditions of mortal sin: object is grave matter, committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent. 5. Venial sin - a less serious matter, person does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent. 6. Proliferation of sin: by repetition of the same acts, by cooperate in them: - by participating directly and voluntarily in them; - by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them; - by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so; - by protecting evil-doers. Commandments 1. The Decalogue must be interpreted in light of the twofold yet single commandment of love 2. Decalogue - means literally "ten words." God revealed these "ten words" to his people on the holy mountain; The Decalogue is a path of life: If you love the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply. 3. The Decalogue in the OT are handed on to us in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. 4. The Commandments take on their full meaning within the covenant. According to Scripture, man's moral life has all its meaning in and through the covenant. 6. The first three commandments concern love of God, and the other seven love of neighbor. 7. The Ten Commandments were themselves given on two tablets. Three were written on one tablet and seven on the other. 8. Fourth Commandment - Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you; addressed expressly to children in their relationship to their father and mother; concerns the ties of kinship between members of the extended family; requires honor, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors; extends to the duties of pupils to teachers, employees to employers, subordinates to leaders, citizens to their country, and to those who administer or govern it; includes and presupposes the duties of parents, instructors, teachers, leaders, magistrates, those who govern, all who exercise authority over others or over a community of persons. 9. Fifth Commandment - "You shall not kill. You have heard that it was said to the men of old, "You shall not kill: and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment." 10. First Commandment - "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. It is written: "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." 11. Second Commandment - "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. You have heard that it was said to the men of old, "You shall not swear falsely. . But I say to you, Do not swear at all." 12. Third Commandment - "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.90 The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath." Vocation 1. Vocation - from the latin word VOCARE which carries the sense of calling, invoking, naming , and designating. 2. Vocation is something dynamic; it is a call to LIVE. 3. A call indicates that another person is reaching out to us, speaking to us. 4. Vocation is a way of life, a personal relationship with someone. It requires being with the person often without saying anything, just being present. 5. Vocation is a gift that we receive and so we should be grateful for it. Vocation is always a grace. 6. Vocation is never an escape from reality or an evasion of our duties: on the contrary, it is a sincere search for truth. It is an act of faith in God, in myself and in all humankind. 7. The specific calling or vocation of man and woman right from the beginning of creation is to cooperate with God in the ongoing process of creation. 8. Vocations are concrete answers to concrete needs of humanity. Vocations are “incarnations” of the love of God, here and now. 9. Vocation is a moment when God calls for us, “Follow me.” He is always coming through persons and events. Vocation is a gift. Vocation is a surprise. “You did not choose me. I have chosen you” (John 15:16) 10. Our true vocation is just to be ourselves. Vocation (marriage, single blessedness or consecrated life) is a call to live fully. 11. LAYPERSON = A CHRISTIAN COMMITTED TO LIVING THE BAPTISMAL PROMISES. THE TASK OF THE LAYPERSON IS THE TRANSFORMATION OF THIS WORLD TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. THE LAYPERSON IS TO BE “THE YEAST AND SALT” OF SOCIETY. THE VOCATION OF THE LAYPERSON IS TO BRING THE VALUES OF THE GOSPEL TO TEMPORAL REALITIES. THEIR MISSION IS THE SANCTIFICATION OF HISTORY. 12. VOCATION AS CHRISTIAN LAYPERSON IN THE SINGLE LIFE = THIS VOCATION IS ALSO AN OPTION TO LOVE AND TO SERVE OTHERS; IT IS FAR FROM EGOISM OR BITTERNESS. 13. CONSECRATED PERSON = A CHRISTIAN WHO RECEIVES THE CALL TO BE AVAILABLE WITH ALL HIS STRENGTH, QUALITIES, INTELLIGENCE, TIME, CAPABILITY TO LOVE AND CREATIVITY, IN ORDER TO PROCLAIM THE KINGDOM OF GOD, SERVING AND LOVING OTHERS. 1.) CONSECRATION THROUGH THE SACRAMENT OF ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD ( BISHOP, PRIEST, DEACON ) 2.) CONSECRATION THROUGH THE EVANGELICAL VOWS OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE = THE RELIGIOUS ( BROTHER, SISTER, PRIEST ) LIVING IN COMMUNITY, DECIDES TO FOLLOW JESUS IN HIS POVERTY, CHASTITY, OBEDIENCE, AS WITNESS OF LOVE AGAINST THE HATE OF SIN ELEMENTS OF VOCATION : Every vocation has, in its origin, three essential elements: One who is calling, One who is called, and people. 1. God is the one who calls. The initiative belongs to Him. Vocation is a gift that we receive and so we should be grateful for it. Vocation is always a grace. 2. The man or woman called is radically free to accept or refuse. The answer has to be personal, responsible, conscious and generous. 3. The goal of vocation is people. Every vocation is given in order to serve people. There is no vocation only to satisfy my own caprice. The beginning of a true vocation is the needs of our brothers and sisters. Actually we find the will of God for us when we are able to open our eyes and our hearts to the reality of others. The kind of love that God wants from us is that committed in a concrete service for our neighbors, especially the most abandoned. ELEMENTS OF VOCATION IN THE BIBLE: 1. Situation of human necessity. The starting point of each vocation is a commitment to the struggle against misery, all kinds of misery: lack of food, inhuman living conditions, ignorance, lack or respect for dignity, disregard of the values of the Gospel. 2. God is the one who takes the initiative. We do not know when or how, but one day God appears calling us to surrender our lives. 3. Person called encounters obstacles. The call we receive from God is bigger than our capacities. We feel small and incapable. The obstacles seem insurmountable. 4. God overcomes our fears. This is the most beautiful element in each vocation. Despite all our obstacles, doubts and fears, God is assuring us that we can overcome them. 5. God expects a “yes.” Even though we will never be one hundred per cent certain in our discernment, we are invited to give a full “yes.” 3 Evangelical Vows: Poverty - evangelical vow that witnesses against the exploitation of material resources; evangelical vow which calls for simplicity of life Obedience - evangelical vow that witnesses against a social order characterized by the imposition of will by force and violence Chastity - evangelical vow that witnesses against a society where sex is divorced from love |
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