Christian Morality Building Blocks PDF

Christian Morality LCC-Bais What is Christian Morality? (What is Christian Way of Life?) ▪Christian morality is all about living like Jesus. The focus of Christian morality is our response to a God who created us out of love and keeps us in being every moment of every day a...

Christian Morality LCC-Bais What is Christian Morality? (What is Christian Way of Life?) ▪Christian morality is all about living like Jesus. The focus of Christian morality is our response to a God who created us out of love and keeps us in being every moment of every day and never ceases to love us unconditionally. ▪Christian morality is the faith lived in the daily circumstances of our lives. It is about appropriate and inappropriate responses to a God who loves us. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 1:CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD ▪To be created in the image and likeness of God means that every human person in our global family, born or unborn, is endowed with infinite dignity and should be treated with reverence and respect. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 1:CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD ▪Because we are created in God’s image, we are blessed with intellect and will. Because we have an intellect, we can distinguish good from evil. Because we have a will, we can freely choose to follow God’s law of love. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 2: CREATED FOR THE BEATITUDE OR HAPPINESS ▪The Catechism calls this “our vocation to beatitude,” a word which means happiness. The problem is that because of the influences of the world, our own tendency towards sin and the temptations of the flesh, we may believe that true happiness is not found in a life committed to God, but rather in the passing things that the world holds out to us. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 2: CREATED FOR THE BEATITUDE OR HAPPINESS ▪The Catechism tells us that the beatitude or happiness that God offers us “confronts us with decisive moral choices” (C 1723). It teaches us that the key to happiness is following the law of love as spelled out in the Ten Commandments, the beatitudes and the teachings of the Church. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 2: CREATED FOR THE BEATITUDE OR HAPPINESS ▪The beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12) are at the heart of Jesus’ teaching. Many scholars tell us that the eight beatitudes are summed up in the first one: “Blessed are the poor in Spirit” (Mt 5:3). The “poor in spirit” are those who know their absolute need for God and liven their lives in radical trust and dependence on God. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 3: RESPONSIBLE USE OF FREEDOM ▪Freedom is not the freedom to do as we want, but to do as we ought as creatures of God. When we abuse our freedom to do only as we want, we will gradually become slaves to selfishness, sin and evil. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 4: THREE ELEMENTS OF A MORAL ACT ▪The fourth block or foundation stone of Catholic morality concerns the three elements of a moral act: the act (what we do), the intention (why we are doing this act), and the circumstances in which we perform a particular act (where, when, how, with whom, etc.) Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 4: THREE ELEMENTS OF A MORAL ACT Objective act (what we do). For an individual act to be morally good, the object, or what we are doing, must be objectively good. Some acts, irrespective of the motive or intention for doing it, are always wrong because they go against a fundamental or basic human good that ought never to be compromised, e.g., the direct killing of an innocent person, torture or rape. “Such acts are called intrinsically evil acts, meaning that they are wrong in themselves, apart from the reason they are done or the circumstances surrounding them” Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 4: THREE ELEMENTS OF A MORAL ACT Intention or motive (why we are doing this act). This is usually called the subjective element of a moral act because the intention for doing the act lies within Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 4: THREE ELEMENTS OF A MORAL ACT Two things should be noted here: A good intention can never make an intrinsically evil act good. For example, the killing of an unborn child to protect the mother’s reputation is always seriously wrong. Hence, the saying: “The end does not justify the means.” A bad intention can turn a good deed into an evil one, e.g., giving money to a charitable organization for the sole purpose of being recognized and praised. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 4: THREE ELEMENTS OF A MORAL ACT Circumstances surrounding the act. Circumstances can and do contribute to increasing or diminishing goodness or evil of the act, e.g., how much money was stolen. Circumstances can also lessen or increase a person’s blame worthiness for a particular act. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 4: THREE ELEMENTS OF A MORAL ACT In summary, for an act to be morally good, all three elements: the act (what I do), the intention (why I do it), and the circumstances surrounding the act, must be good. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 5: FORMATION 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” (C 1778). Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 5: FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE The voice of true conscience is like a law written in the core of our being by God calling us to do good and avoid evil. This inner voice helps us to distinguish right from wrong and nudges us to do what we believe to be good. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 6: REALITY OF SIN AND GOD’S MERCY “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (Jn 1:8-9) Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 6: REALITY OF SIN AND GOD’S MERCY We live in an age when the reality of sin is denied and in which there is much confusion about sin. Facing sin in our lives demands courage. Denying it is as dangerous as denying cancer. It can lead to spiritual death. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 6: REALITY OF SIN AND GOD’S MERCY In general, sin is our failure to live the Great Commandment to love God, others and self. The Confiteor, which we sometimes pray at the beginning of Mass, offers us a good description of sin. Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 6: REALITY OF SIN AND GOD’S MERCY “I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters [a recognition that sin is not only an offense against God but it also wounds the Body of Christ and our church community], Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 6: REALITY OF SIN AND GOD’S MERCY that I have sinned through my own fault [I take responsibility for the wrong I have done], in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done [sins of commission], Building blocks of Christian Morality. BUILDING BLOCK 6: REALITY OF SIN AND GOD’S MERCY and in what I have failed to do [sins of omission].” Too often, we forget sins of omission, the failure to do the good we could have done. Building blocks of Christian Morality. Mortal and Venial sins While all sin is serious and ought to be avoided, some sins are more serious than others, just as some offenses between two people are more hurtful or damaging to the relationship than others. Some offenses are so serious that they can kill a relationship. So it is with us and God. Building blocks of Christian Morality. Mortal and Venial sins Mortal sin fatally damages the relationship between us and God. The Catechism states that “mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man...it turns us away from God...” (C 1855). Building blocks of Christian Morality. Mortal Sins Traditionally, the Church has taught that for a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be present. Grave matter, e.g., murder, adultery, rape, torture. Building blocks of Christian Morality. Mortal Sins Full knowledge: we clearly know that our action is gravely sinful. Full consent of the will: we freely and under no duress choose to do the evil. Factors that diminish full consent are fear, compulsion, and addiction (C 1860). Building blocks of Christian Morality. Mortal Sins The first of the above three elements of mortal sin is easy enough to determine since “grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments” (C 1858). But the other two conditions can be very difficult to properly discern, even in oneself, much less in others. Hence, we should never assume that someone is guilty of mortal sin (C 1861). Building blocks of Christian Morality. Venial Sins Venial sin wounds but does not destroy our relationship with God. “All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly” (1 Jn 5:17). All sin should be avoided for it weakens our relationship with God. Building blocks of Christian Morality. Venial Sins Ignoring venial sin is like ignoring a minor cancer that can become a serious one. “Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin” (C 1863). Building blocks of Christian Morality. Seven Capital/Deadly Sins The seven capital sins. Some sins are called “capital” or “deadly”’ because they can lead us to other sins (C 1866). They come from the writings of St. John Cassian who lived in the fourth century. Building blocks of Christian Morality. Seven Capital/Deadly Sins The seven capital sins are pride, avarice (greed), envy, wrath, sloth, lust, gluttony. Building blocks of Christian Morality. Social sin In addition to personal sin, the Catechism also speaks about “structures of sin,” sometimes called institutionalized sin, e.g., unjust political and economic laws that favor one segment of the population over another. Building blocks of Christian Morality. God’s Mercy “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:18). We cannot speak about sin without speaking about God’s mercy. His mercy is always greater than our capacity to sin. Building blocks of Christian Morality. God’s Mercy One of the best ways to deepen our sense of God’s mercy is to meditate on the wonderful mercy stories in the scripture (Lk 7:36-50, 15:1-32, 23:39-43). Building blocks of Christian Morality. God’s Mercy In order to receive God’s mercy, we must first sincerely repent of sin. The above scripture readings are wonderful stories about God’s mercy and about people turning from sin.