Download Life in Christ – Principles for Christian Morality

Life in Christ – Principles
for Christian Morality
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part III – Articles 1691 - 1876
Stephen M. Matuszak, S.T.L.
© All rights reserved.
Morality is not simply following rules,
but living fully the new life of grace:
“Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that
you share in God’s own nature, do not return
to your former base condition by sinning.
Remember who is your head and of whose
body you are a member. Never forget that
your have been rescued from the power of
darkness and brought into the light of the
Kingdom of God.”
~ St. Leo the Great (#1691)
It is the following of Jesus Christ
Christ Jesus always did what was pleasing to
the Father and always lived in perfect
communion with Him. Likewise Christ’s
disciples are invited to live in the sight of the
Father “who sees in secret,” in order to
become “perfect as your heavenly Father is
perfect.”
(#1693)
Living the New Life of Grace
 Incorporated into Christ by Baptism,
Christians are “dead to sin and alive to God in
Christ Jesus” and so participate in the life of
the Risen Lord. Following Christ and united
with him, Christians can strive to be “imitators
of God as beloved children, and walk in love”
by conforming their thoughts, words and
actions to the “mind … which is yours in
Christ Jesus,” and by following his example.
(#1694)
The Two ways… (see Psalm 1)
 The way of Christ “leads to life”; there is also
a contrary way that “leads to destruction”
 Today the Church speaks of a culture of life
and a culture of death; the choice is clear!
 The Gospel parable of the two ways remains
ever present in the catechesis of the Church
(cf. Deut. 30: 15-20; Psalm 1: 1, 4; Mt. 7: 13).
 Catechesis has to reveal in all clarity the joy
and the demands of the way of Christ.
Catechesis for the newness of life in
Christ should be a catechesis of:
 The Holy Spirit, who is the interior Master of life;
 Grace, for it is by grace that we are saved;
 The beatitudes, for the way of Christ is summed up in
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them, they articulate the path to eternal happiness
which we desire and were created for by God;
Sin and forgiveness, for unless we acknowledge that
we are sinners, we cannot know the truth about
ourselves; we must forgive others as God forgives us;
The theological virtues of faith, hope and love inspired
by the example of the saints & the moral virtues;
The twofold commandment of charity;
An ecclesial catechesis in the “communion of saints.”
Section I: Man’s Vocation – Life in the Spirit
Chapter I – the Dignity of the Human Person
 Human dignity is rooted in our creation in the image
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and likeness of God;
It is reflected in our vocation to divine beatitude;
It is essential for human fulfillment;
Allows for free & deliberate human action;
Conforms to the true good attested to by moral
conscience;
Guides the passions toward growth & fulfillment;
With the help of grace, it leads to virtue;
It teaches us to avoid sin and live in God’s mercy.
Eight Foundational Elements/Articles:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
Man is created in the image of God
We are created for beatitude / happiness
We are endowed by God with true freedom
Three elements of the morality of human acts
The role and morality of human passions
Moral conscience and its formation
The importance of the virtues
The mystery of sin and greatness of God’s
mercy
Art. 1: Man, The Image of God
 It is in Christ that the divine image, disfigured in man
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by the first sin, has been restored to its original
beauty & ennobled by grace. (See G.S. 22)
The divine image is present in every person and
shines forth in the communion of persons.
By virtue of his rational soul, man is endowed with
freedom which is an “expression of the divine image.”
Through reason, man recognizes the voice of God
directing our actions through conscience.
Man abused his freedom at the beginning of history.
We are transformed by filial adoption, to follow Christ.
Art. 2: Our Vocation to Beatitude
 The desire for happiness (beatitudo) lies in the heart
of every human person.
 The beatitudes take up God’s promises to Abraham
and the chosen people by ordering them to fulfillment
in the kingdom of heaven.
 They “depict the countenance of Jesus and portray
his charity.”
 They express the vocation of the faithful associated
with his Passion & Resurrection and shed light on
actions & attitudes in living the Christian life.
The Beatitudes
 Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of
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heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, they shall be
comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice…
Blessed are the merciful…
Blessed are the pure of heart …
Blessed are the peacemakers …
Blessed are those who are persecuted …
Blessed are you when men revile you …for your
reward is great in heaven.
All human beings seek happiness
 God has placed the desire for happiness in
the heart of every person in order to draw
men to Himself – God alone can fulfill it.
 “All men want to live happily. In the whole
human race there is no one who does not
assent to this proposition.” (St. Augustine)
 “God alone satisfies” (St. Thomas Aquinas)
 God calls us to His own beatitude; This call is
addressed to each person as well as the
whole Church.
Christian Beatitude
 The New Testament uses several expressions to
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characterize the beatitude to which we are called: the
coming of the Kingdom of God; the vision of God;
entering the joy of the Lord; entering God’s rest.
Beatitude makes us partakers of the divine nature
and of eternal life; man enters the joy of Trinitarian
life and love – being in communion with God!
This beatitude surpasses human powers and
understanding. It is supernatural and is accompanied
by a special grace to help us receive divine joy!
It confronts us with decisive moral choices and invites
us to purify our hearts and to seek the love of God!
The beatitude of heaven sets a standard for the use
of earthly goods in keeping with the will of God.
Art. 3: Human Freedom
 “God willed that man should be left in the hands of
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his own counsel so that he might seek the Creator of
his own accord.” (Sirach 15:14; GS 17).
Freedom is the power rooted in reason and will to
perform deliberate actions.
It allows us to grow and mature in truth & goodness.
It attains its perfection when directed toward God, our
Beatitude and final end.
We are faced with choices between good and evil
and also between lesser goods and the highest good.
This freedom characterizes properly human acts.
The more one does good, the freer one becomes.
Freedom & Responsibility
 There is no true freedom except in service to what is
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good and just.
To disobey God’s commandments is to abuse
freedom & leads to the “slavery of sin.”
Freedom makes us responsible for our actions.
Progress in virtue & knowledge of the good requires
self-denial (asceticism) to enhance self-mastery.
Responsibility can be diminished or nullified by the
“enemies of freedom”: ignorance, duress, fear, etc.
We are responsible for every deliberately willed act.
Some good actions have unintended consequences
that are bad. Are these morally permissible? We
must use the “Principle of the Double Effect” to judge.
The Principle of the Double Effect
“An effect can be tolerated without being willed by its
agent; for instance, a mother's exhaustion from
tending her sick child. A bad effect is not imputable if
it was not willed either as an end or as a means of an
action, e.g., a death a person incurs in aiding
someone in danger.
For a bad effect to be imputable it must be foreseeable
and the agent must have the possibility of avoiding it,
as in the case of manslaughter caused by a drunken
driver.” (CCC #1737)
The Principle of the Double Effect
1.
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If an action has two or more consequences, both
good and bad, the act is morally good if the
following conditions are met:
The act itself is good or at least neutral;
The good effect does not come from the evil effect
or consequence;
The evil effect is not intended, merely permitted and
cannot be avoided;
There is a proportionate for allowing the evil effect.
A classic example of this Principle is an ectopic
pregnancy and the removal of the ovum and/or
Fallopian tube. This saves the life of the mother but
also results in the termination of the pregnancy
which is unintended. All four conditions are met.
Human Freedom in the
Economy of Salvation
 Human freedom is limited and fallible. Why?
 The misery of sin and the abuse of human freedom is
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attested to everywhere in the world.
Liberation & salvation: By his glorious Cross, Christ
has set us free for true freedom; “Where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 17)
The grace of Christ does not in the slightest way
diminish our freedom, but rather actualizes it.
The more docile we are to the promptings of grace,
the more we grow in inner freedom & confidence.
Every temptation involves a denial of God’s love for
us, calling into doubt His goodness and providence.
True Freedom is a Gift from God!
 By the working of grace, the Holy Spirit
educates us in spiritual freedom in order to
make us free collaborators in the Church and
in the world:
“Almighty and merciful God, in your goodness
take away from us all that is harmful, so
that, made ready both in mind and body, we
may freely accomplish your holy will!”
(Roman Missal)
Art. 4: Morality of Human Acts
 Freedom makes persons moral subjects so
that they are the “parents of their actions.”
 Human actions, chosen in consequence of a
judgment of conscience, can be morally
evaluated as either good or bad.
 The morality of human acts depends upon:
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The object chosen (also called “the means”)
The end in view or the intention (“telos”)
The circumstances surrounding the action
Sources of Morality
 The object chosen is a good toward which the will
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deliberately directs itself and morally specifies the act
of the will. Reason judges whether it is in conformity
with the true good. A good will leads to a good act!
Objective norms of morality express the rational
order of good & evil, attested to by conscience.
The intention or end resides in the acting subject.
The end is the first goal of the action, its purpose.
A good intention does not make a disordered action
to be good. “The end does not justify the means!”
The circumstances include the consequences and
are secondary considerations. By themselves they
cannot change the moral quality of human acts.
Good and Evil Actions
 A morally good act requires the goodness of the
object, of the end & of the circumstances. An evil
end corrupts an action even if its object is good (eg.
prayer & fasting to be seen by others, etc.)
 The object of the will can by itself vitiate the act, or
cancel out its goodness, making it bad in its entirety.
There are some acts that are always wrong to chose
because doing do entails a disorder of the will, which
is a moral evil. (i.e. fornication, calumny, etc.)
 One may not do evil so that good may result!
(Romans 3:8)
Art. 5: The Morality of the Passions
 Feelings or passions are emotions or movements of the
sensitive appetite that incline us to act or not act in regard to
something felt or imagined to be good or evil.
 The passions are natural components of the human psyche.
They form a passageway to connect the life of the senses to the
life of the mind. They spring from the heart.
 Love is the most fundamental passion, aroused by the attraction
for the good. This movement finds pleasure and joy once the
good is possessed. Therefore love begins with a desire.
 Other passions include hatred (aversion to evil) and fear (aver-
sion to an impending evil). These can lead to sadness & anger.
 Passions are evil if the love or desire behind them is evil; they
are good if the desire behind them is good (St. Augustine)
 True love is understood as “willing the good of the other.”
Passions & the Moral Life
 In themselves passions are neither good nor evil. They become
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morally specified to the extent that they engage reason & free
will. They must be guided by reason toward a proper end and
fulfillment.
Passions are voluntary because they are either commanded or
permitted by the will.
Strong feelings are “the inexhaustible reservoir of images &
affections” in and through which the moral life of human beings
is expressed.
In Christ human feelings are seen to reach their consummation
in charity & blessedness. We strive to imitate the Lord in this
and every other way.
Moral perfection consists in being moved to the good not by the
will alone, also by the sensitive appetite. This means that we
desire what is good and right because we desire it with our
hearts. That is to say, we find the good to be appealing and
attractive, not something repugnant that must be endured!
Art. 6: Moral Conscience
 “Deep within his conscience man discovers a law
which he has not laid upon himself but which he must
obey… For man has in his heart a law inscribed by
God… The conscience is man’s most secret core and
sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice
echoes in his depths.” (Vat. II, Gaudium et Spes 16)
 Moral conscience is at the heart of the human person
and enjoins him to do good and avoid evil. It also
judges particular choices and convicts of the
wrongness of some choices.
 Conscience functions before we act, while we act and
after we act by examining the goodness or lack
thereof, in the things we do and desire.
The Judgment of Conscience
 Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the
human person recognizes the moral quality of a
concrete act
- that he is going to perform,
- is in the process of performing,
- or has already completed.
 In everything we do, we are obliged to follow what we
know to be just and right.
 It is important for every person to be present to
himself in order to hear and follow the voice of
conscience. This requires interiority & examination.
This requires prayer, discernment and counsel.
Judgment of Conscience, cont.
 The dignity of the human person implies and requires uprightness
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of moral conscience.
Conscience includes perception of the principles of morality
(synderesis) and their application in given circumstances by
practical discernment of reasons & goods.
The truth about the moral good is recognized practically and
concretely by the prudent judgment of conscience.
Conscience enables one to assume responsibility for all of the
actions that one carries out.
The judgment of conscience remains a pledge of hope in man’s
desire to do what is good, and also of the mercy of God who
forgives us when we err in our judgment.
Man has a fundamental right to act in accord with his conscience
and in true freedom; He must not be prevented from doing so,
especially in religious matters. (See Vatican II Declaration on
Religious Liberty, Dignitatis Humanae #1-2.)
The Formation of Conscience
 Conscience must be informed and moral judgment
enlightened.
 A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It
formulates its judgments in conformity to reason, to
the true good willed by the Creator.
 The education of conscience is a lifelong task. The
Word of God is the light for our paths. We assimilate
God’s word in faith and & in prayer (meditation).
 We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided
by the witness or advice of others and guided by the
authoritative teaching of the Church.
Choosing in Accord with Conscience
 Conscience can either make a correct judgment in
accordance with reason and the divine and natural
law, or an erroneous judgment opposed to this law.
 In making moral judgments, we must always seek to
discern the will of God expressed in divine law.
 The virtue of prudence assists us in this task.
 Charity always proceeds by way of respect for one’s
neighbor and for his conscience: “Never do anything
that makes your brother stumble” (Romans 14:13).
Judgment: Correct vs. Erroneous
 Always obey the certain judgment of conscience!
 Ignorance can often be imputed to personal
responsibility – failure to form conscience well.
 At the source of errors of judgment may be found
ignorance of Christ & his Gospel, bad example given
by others, a mistaken notion of autonomy or freedom,
rejection of the Church’s authoritative teaching, and
lack of conversion or lack of charity.
 If ignorance is invincible, the evil committed cannot
be imputed to the moral subject for his erroneous
judgment. However it remains an objectively evil act.
More on Conscience – Principles:
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Always follow a certain conscience.
Strive for a correctly formed conscience.
Never act on a doubtful conscience.
Conscience can remain in ignorance and make erroneous
judgments. Such ignorance and errors are not automatically
free of guilt.
 The Word of God is a light for our path. We must assimilate it in
faith and prayerfully put it into practice.
 The more a correct conscience prevails, the more will people
and groups be guided by objective standards for moral conduct
and find happiness, harmony & peace in their lives.
 A good and pure conscience is enlightened by true faith; charity
proceeds “from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere
faith” (I Tim. 5).
Art. 7: The Virtues
 A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the
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good through a prudent judgment of reason.
It allows the person not only to perform good acts,
but to offer the best of oneself through self-mastery.
The virtuous person uses all the sensory and spiritual
powers in order to pursue the good and to choose it
in all of his concrete actions and decisions.
The four cardinal virtues play a pivotal role: Justice,
Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude.
Moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are
the fruit of morally good acts and dispose all the
powers of the person for communion with God.
Theological Virtues
 Human virtues are rooted in the theological
virtues which adapt human faculties to
participate in the divine nature.
 The virtues are the foundation for Christian
moral activity; they animate it with grace.
 They are infused by God at baptism and
make us capable of acting as His children to
merit eternal life.
 They are the pledge of the presence & action
of the Holy Spirit in the human faculties.
Faith
 Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in
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God, all that He has revealed to us, and all that the
Church proposes for our belief.
By faith man freely commits his entire self to God to
do His will.
“The righteous person shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17).
The gift of faith remains in one who has not sinned
against it. When deprived of hope and love, faith
does not unite the believer to Christ or His Body.
The true disciple of Christ must not only keep the
faith but also live it and confidently bear witness to it.
Hope
 Hope is the 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.
 The virtue of hope responds to the desire for
happiness which God has placed in the heart of
every person. It takes up and purifies our individual
hopes to order them to the Kingdom of heaven.
 It keeps us from discouragement and sustains us in
difficult times of abandonment.
 Christian hope unfolds in Jesus’ proclamation of the
Beatitudes which raise our hope toward heaven.
Charity
 Charity is the theological virtue by which we
love God above all things for his sake, and our
neighbor as ourselves for love of God.
 Jesus makes charity the New Commandment.
 He manifests the Father’s love which He
receives. By loving each other, the disciples
imitate the love of Jesus which we receive.
 The Lord asks us to love even our enemies.
 The practice of all the virtues is animated and
inspired by charity. Therefore charity is called
the form or “soul” of all of the virtues.
Fruits & Gifts of the Holy Spirit
 The moral life of all Christians is sustained by
the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They are
permanent dispositions which make us docile
in following the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
 The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit complete
and perfect the virtues of those who receive
them. They belong in their fullness to Christ
who gives them to us through the Holy Spirit.
 The twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit are special
perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as
the ‘first fruits’ of eternal glory.
Art. 8: Sin & God’s Mercy
 The Gospel is the revelation of God’s mercy
in Christ to sinners. “You shall name him
Jesus, for he will save his people from their
sins.” (Mt. 1:21)
 God created us without us: but he did not will
to save us without us. (St. Augustine)
 God, by his Word and by his Spirit, casts a
living light on sin. Conversion requires the
convicting of sin and includes the interior
judgment of conscience so that we can
repent and amend our lives from sin.
The Definition of Sin
 Sin is 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.
 It wounds the nature of man and injures human
solidarity.
 It is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the
eternal law.
 In the Passion of Christ we see sin most clearly
manifested in its violence, unbelief, murderous
hatred, mocking, cowardice and cruelty to others.
Different Kinds of Sin
 Sins can be distinguished according to their objects,
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according to the virtues they oppose or according the
commandments they violate.
Sins are also evaluated according to their gravity.
Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart and turns man
away from God, by preferring an inferior good to Him.
Venial sin allows charity to subsist even though it
wounds it.
Mortal sin requires a new initiative of God’s mercy
and a conversion of heart in order to be forgiven.
Conditions for mortal sin
 For sin to be mortal, three conditions must together
be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave
matter and which is committed with full knowledge
and deliberate consent (voluntary or free choice).
 Grave matter – specified by the Ten Commandments
 Full knowledge of the sinful character of the act and
its opposition to God’s law, but willful disobedience.
 Sufficiently deliberate consent is presupposed.
 Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not
diminish but increase its voluntary nature.
Unintentional sin and culpability
 If ignorance is unintentional, it can diminish or
even remove culpability for a grave offense.
 No one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law which are written in the
conscience. We have access to the truth.
 Passions can diminish the voluntary and free
character of the offense, as can external
pressures or pathological disorders.
 Sin committed through malice by deliberate
choice, is the gravest kind of sin & moral evil.
More on sin
 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom,
just as love itself is also possible.
 Mortal sin is especially destructive because it results
in the loss of charity and a privation of the sanctifying
grace that justifies us with God.
 If it is not redeemed by repentance and forgiveness it
causes exclusion from Christ’s Kingdom and the
eternal death of hell.
 We must always however entrust the judgment of
persons to the justice & mercy of God, and not seek
to make our own judgments about others.
Venial sin
 One commits venial sin when one does not observe
the standard prescribed by the moral law or disobeys
the law in a grave matter but without full knowledge
or complete consent.
 Venial sin weakens charity and manifests a
disordered affection for created goods.
 It impedes the soul’s progress in the virtues and
merits temporal punishment.
 Unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to
commit mortal sin.
Proliferation of sin
 Sin creates a proclivity to sin and engenders vice.
This results in perverse inclinations which cloud
conscience and corrupt the judgment of good and
evil. It makes men accomplices with one another in
doing evil and opposing the good.
 We each have our share of responsibility for the sins
of others when we cooperate in them by:
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Participating directly or voluntarily in the sin;
Ordering, advising or approving of the sin;
Not disclosing or not hindering others from committing
the sin when we have an obligation to do so;
By protecting evil-doers and not opposing them.
Structures of sin; Social sin
 Sin gives rise to social situations and even
institutions which are the expression and effect of
personal sins within society.
 They lead their victims to do evil in their turn.
 In an analogous sense they constitute a “social sin”
for which all are responsible.
 “Structures of sin” are the expression and effect of
personal sins which take on a “life of their own” when
they are condoned in secular society. They gravely
damage human community and contribute to the
deionization of culture and civilization.
We must never forget His mercy…
“When the goodness and
loving kindness of God
our Savior appeared, he
saved us, not because
of deeds done by us in
righteousness, but in
virtue of his own mercy,
by the washing of
regeneration and the
renewal of the Holy
Spirit which He poured
out upon us richly
through Jesus Christ.”
(Titus 3:5-6)