Session #8

Lecture Text

PART THREE - LIFE IN CHRIST

1699 Life in the Holy Spirit fulfills the vocation of man (chapter one). This life is made up of divine charity and human solidarity (chapter two). It is graciously offered as salvation (chapter three).

1700 It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to Christian Beatitude (article 3). By his deliberate actions (article 4), the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience (article 5). Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth (article 6). With the help of grace they grow in virtue (article 7), avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son to the mercy of our Father in heaven (article 8). In this way they attain to the perfection of charity.

SECTION ONE: MAN'S VOCATION: LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

  CHAPTER ONE: THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

    ARTICLE 1: MAN: THE IMAGE OF GOD

             IN BRIEF

The dignity of the human person is rooted in his being made in the image and likeness of God. Exactly what "image" and "likeness" mean thoroughly define man's nature and end. Exactly its meaning was totally mysterious since man's concept of God was so separated from man until Jesus took on flesh. Furthermore, man's faculties in their own way form something of a trinity of the man, the intellect, will, and passion. This inner communion also corresponds to his external communion where man, especially on the level of the family, is grown by the love of parents. "Image", then, corresponds to man's "structure", i.e. how he functions and exists on a spiritual level and in material expression. The remaining correspondence to God is "likeness". "Likeness" concerns the freedom of man and what his ambitions are. Man is naturally ordered to love in every aspect of his being i.e. ordered to will the good and to be good. In this two-fold goodness, man's dignity consists. This love is expressed in three directions and is only well ordered in this succession: love of God, neighbor, and self. This is, therefore, how moral theology is formed. given man's fallenness it must turn to God in surrender and great intent as a response to His grace to restore that which is loss of His dignity to corruption. Since He was made in the image and likeness of Goodness Itself, man is broken in both his image and likeness. By God's grace, we are given power "to become children of God" (John 1:12).

    ARTICLE 2: OUR VOCATION TO BEATITUDE

          I. The Beatitudes

         II. The Desire for Happiness

        III. Christian Beatitude

             IN BRIEF

Man's dignity is fulfilled in His Divine Filiation. "Christ . . . makes man fully manifest to man himself and brings to light his exalted vocation." The Beatitudes are the reflection of the Christ in the life of the Christian. The beatitudes imply a desire to be blessed i.e. joyful and in harmony with the Creator and fellow creation. This fact resonates with paragraph 460 which states "God became man that man could become god"

    ARTICLE 3: MAN'S FREEDOM

          I. Freedom and Responsibility

         II. Human Freedom in the Economy of Salvation

             IN BRIEF

Freedom extends from the autonomy God Himself has. Whenever someone poses the question of the existence of evil against the goodness of God they fail in truly understanding the freedom man is given. This freedom is given in love, meaning that man is free to choose God or not. The option of choosing other than God is sin which although is to man's detriment is his choice to make. 1744 states: Freedom is the power to act or not to act, and so to perform deliberate acts of one's own. Freedom attains perfection in its acts when directed toward God, the sovereign Good.

    ARTICLE 4: THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS

          I. The Sources of Morality

         II. Good Acts and Evil Acts

             IN BRIEF

Evil result from a lack of good. The requirement to consider an act good is three-fold (although not necessarily in an equally potent way):

1. the object chosen - concerns the act itself and its moral value, this makes it the primary concern of the conscience, as the bow, arrow, and releasing of the archer.

   1. in abortion the object/act is killing

   2. in bestowing a Christmas gift it is giving

2. the end in view or the intention - concerns the motivation of an act to which the agent is propelled as the target at which the archer aims 

   1. in abortion the end/intent is removing the inconvenience of loving someone by way of killing

   2. in bestowing a Christmas gift it is showing love through the demonstration of giving/sacrifice

3. the circumstances of the action - concerns the cite-able environment of the act as the weather, lighting, etc. that influences the accuracy/willingness, and the implications of where the arrow lands. The circumstances do not necessarily make an action good or evil but they can affect culpability undermining or bolstering goodness or evil.

   1. in abortion the circumstance of the action is whether the woman is coerced or drugged, whether there is medical concern, the life of the mother, etc.

   2. in bestowing a Christmas gift, it is the fact of Christmas wherein gift giving is customary (the fact of giving does not necessarily correspond to a random act of love, and not giving one can actually communicate a relationship that does not require one).

    ARTICLE 5: THE MORALITY OF THE PASSIONS

          I. Passions

         II. Passions and Moral Life

             IN BRIEF

The term "passions" refers to the affections or the feelings. Passions often heavily form the intent of an act and are themselves amoral. As such they can affect vices and virtues. This is where peace and love of God can be essential elements of virtuous living. Passions can be adapted to the good although not directly willed so, this is where conversion involves changing the heart.

    ARTICLE 6: MORAL CONSCIENCE

          I. The Judgement of Conscience

         II. The Formation of Conscience

        III. To Choose in Accord with Conscience

         IV. Erroneous Judgment

             IN BRIEF

Conscience is a concerns preemptive judgment of the moral quality of an act, bearing in mind the inclination one has to the good and the laws he considers binding upon him. As such conscience can be conformed or un-conformed to the laws actually binding upon man. In the depth of depravity, man can become sociopathic where he no longer acts as if bound by conscience. Contrarily, the virtuous person can so form his conscience that good moral acts become nearly subconscious.

    ARTICLE 7: THE VIRTUES

          I. The Human Virtues

         II. The Theological Virtues

        III. The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit

             IN BRIEF

Avoidance of evil is still immensely short of what Christians are called to. Man is first called to virtue and then to holiness beyond avoiding the lack of necessary good. If virtue is possessed at all, the cardinal virtues. Prudence is practical reason. Justice is the firm will to give another his due, called religion where God is concerned. Fortitude is the strength of will necessary to overcome obstacles to the good to be willed. Temperance is a moderated and therefore ordered engagement with goods that allows one to obtain the most good (spiritual and otherwise) of created things without attachment or excess. Faith, Hope, and Love give greater life and context to all other virtues. The Gifts of the Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. These correspond to following God in His providence, trusting Him, knowing and acting on the tenets of faith, and recognizing the debt one has to him. This is to say they provide everything we need to follow God rightly. We will discuss the aspects of slavation in a bit but this colors our understanding of grace greatly.

    ARTICLE 8: SIN

          I. Mercy and Sin

         II. The Definition of Sin

        III. The Different Kinds of Sins

         IV. The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin

          V. The Proliferation of Sin

             IN BRIEF

One of the most important paragraphs sets from this article is the definition of sin which includes how sin relates to reason, fraternal charity, relationship with God, man's nature, conscience, reality, and law. Of course, sin includes all speech, deeds, or operational intents that may be contrary or contradictory to any of those. The Church does not define sin without also mentioning the Mercy and the Passion of our Lord. The nature of sin as a mechanism is difficult to understand much less to explain, but it can be said it is a crashing of man against the order established for harmony between creatures, and although culpability may vary, the effect of sin remains. Our first parents welcomed sin into the world by 1) renouncing trust in their Creature, 2) seeking the good, true, and beautiful in creatures rather than the Creator, and 3) acting as thought 1 & 2 are absolutely the case.  We see sin's nature in even one of these moves which we also emulate in all of our own sins.

  CHAPTER TWO: THE HUMAN COMMUNITY

    ARTICLE 1: THE PERSON AND SOCIETY

          I. The Communal Character of the Human Vocation

         II. Conversion and Society

             IN BRIEF

Man is made for Communion. Society is a natural implication of this fact and it in its own way is not only formed of a "collision" of folks with others, but even has a spiritual nature to it. Yet when fallen man tries to reduce all affairs to the communal dynamic, it can have very negative consequences as can be seen in every use of communism. The Catholic Church suggests instead of having local concerns be the primary locus of answering those concerns and "higher order" communities should defer to and support the more local communities e.g. federal government should allow for localities to handle local issues. This principle is called subsidiarity. The conversion and needs of individuals (made in the image and likeness of God) ought to be supported by communities.

    ARTICLE 2: PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL LIFE

          I. Authority

         II. The Common Good

        III. Responsibility and Participation

             IN BRIEF

Order is one of the most fundamental principles of all creation. In our sin, we orient ourselves against it, and so incur brokenness and poverty on all concerned and in a way the whole community insofar as community has a spiritual nature. Political authority/government is a necessity. Corrupt governments amplify destructions. However, there is only so much a government can do to avoid corruption. The United States of America is perhaps the best experiment in government the world has ever seen. Still, it is not without its problems. It is important, at least as far as Aquinas is concerned, that whatever evils result from the system must be tolerated so that the good of the system may subsist. This concept extends from the fact they participate in the authority of God Himself. Jesus made Himself subject to such authorities, who are we do not follow the master? CCC 1925 "The common good consists of three essential elements: respect for and promotion of the fundamental rights of the person; prosperity, or the development of the spiritual and temporal goods of society; the peace and security of the group and its members." This is the end of any legitimate system of government, organization, or societal community. 

Compendium of the Catholic Church Reading

Questions 357-410

Questions answered by the Catechism and Compendium.

1. How is the Christian moral life bound up with faith and the sacraments?

2. What is the root of human dignity?

3. How do we attain beatitude?

4. Why are the Beatitudes important to us?

5. What is the relationship between the Beatitudes and our desire for happiness?

6. What is eternal happiness?

7. What is freedom?

8. What is the relationship between freedom and responsibility?

9. Why does everyone have a right to exercise freedom?

10. What place does human freedom have in the plan of salvation?

11. What are the sources of the morality of human acts?

12. When is an act morally good?

13. Are there acts that are always illicit?

14. What are the passions?

15. Are the passions morally good or bad?

16. What is the moral conscience?

17. What does the dignity of the human person imply for the moral conscience?

18. How is a moral conscience formed to be upright and truthful?

19. What norms must the conscience always follow?

20. Can a moral conscience make erroneous judgments?

21. What is a virtue?

22. What are the human virtues?

23. What are the principal human virtues?

24. What is prudence?

25. What is justice?

26. What is fortitude?

27. What is temperance?

28. What are the theological virtues?

29. What are the theological virtues?

30. What is the virtue of faith?

31. What is hope?

32. What is charity?

33. What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

34. What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit?

35. What does the acceptance of God’s mercy require from us?

36. What is sin?

37. Is there a variety of sins?

38. How are sins distinguished according to their gravity?

39. When does one commit a mortal sin?

40. When does one commit a venial sin?

41. How does sin proliferate?

42. What are vices?

43. Do we have any responsibility for sins committed by others?

44. What are structures of sin?

45. In what does the social dimension of man consist?

46. What is the relationship between the person and society?

47. What is the principle of subsidiarity?

48. What else is required for an authentic human society?

49. What is the foundation of the authority of society?

50. When is authority exercised legitimately?

51. What is the common good?

52. What is involved in the common good?

53. Where can one find the most complete realization of the common good?

54. How does one participate in bringing about the common good?