Morality and the Christian Vocation PDF

Morality and the Christian Vocation Life in Jesus Christ God’s Plan for Us 302 Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created "in a state of journeying" toward an ultimate perfection y...

Morality and the Christian Vocation Life in Jesus Christ God’s Plan for Us 302 Creation has its own goodness and proper perfection, but it did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created "in a state of journeying" toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call "divine providence" the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward this perfection: By his providence God protects and governs all things which he has made, "reaching mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and ordering all things well". For "all are open and laid bare to his eyes", even those things which are yet to come into existence through the free action of creatures.161 306 God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures' co-operation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God's greatness and goodness. God’s Plan for Us 307 To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of "subduing" the earth and having dominion over it.168 God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbors. 309 …why does evil exist? Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin and the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible mystery, they can also turn away in advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil. Evil and Free Will 311 Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil, incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil.176 He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it: 312 In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures…From the greatest moral evil ever committed - the rejection and murder of God's only Son, caused by the sins of all men - God, by his grace that "abounded all the more",179 brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption. But for all that, evil never becomes a good. Romans 8:28 and the Saints St. Catherine of Siena said to "those who are scandalized and rebel against what happens to them": "Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal in mind."181 St. Thomas More, shortly before his martyrdom, consoled his daughter: "Nothing can come but that that God wills. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best."182 314 We firmly believe that God is master of the world and of its history. But the ways of his providence are often unknown to us. Only at the end, when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God "face to face",184 will we fully know the ways by which - even through the dramas of evil and sin - God has guided his creation to that definitive sabbath rest185 for which he created heaven and earth. Real Talk 1692 …by the sacraments of rebirth, Christians have become "children of God," "partakers of the divine nature." Coming to see in the faith their new dignity, Christians are called to lead henceforth a life "worthy of the gospel of Christ." They are made capable of doing so by the grace of Christ and the gifts of his Spirit, which they receive through the sacraments and through prayer. Why and How We Exist 1. God creates us to share eternal love and happiness with Him in Heaven. 2. God creates us in His image and likeness Desire and Longing for God 27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for: The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator. (Gaudium et spes 19) The Fall and the Promise of Redemption 410 After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his fall. This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium ("first gospel"): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. Why Did the Word Become Flesh? 456 With the Nicene Creed, we answer by confessing: "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man." 457 The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who "loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins": "the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world", and "he was revealed to take away sins":70  Why Did the Word Become Flesh? 458 The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God's love: "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him." 72 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."73 459 The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." 74 Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: "Love one another as I have loved you." 76 This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example.77 460 The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":78 "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God." 79 "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."80 Dignity of the Human Person 1700 The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God (article 1); it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude (article 2). It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment (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 1 to the mercy of our Father in heaven (article 8). In this way they attain to the perfection of charity. Dignity of the Human Person 1701 "Christ,... in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation." 2 It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God," 3 that man has been created "in the image and likeness" of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God. 4 1702 The divine image is present in every man. It shines forth in the communion of persons, in the likeness of the unity of the divine persons among themselves. Reason, Intellect, and Free Will 1703 Endowed with "a spiritual and immortal" soul, 5 the human person is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake." 6 From his conception, he is destined for eternal beatitude. 1704 The human person participates in the light and power of the divine Spirit. By his reason, he is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection "in seeking and loving what is true and good." 7 Reson, Intellect, and Free Will 1705 By virtue of his soul and his spiritual powers of intellect and will, man is endowed with freedom, an "outstanding manifestation of the divine image." 8 1706 By his reason, man recognizes the voice of God which urges him "to do what is good and avoid what is evil." 9 Everyone is obliged to follow this law, which makes itself heard in conscience and is fulfilled in the love of God and of neighbor. Living a moral life bears witness to the dignity of the person. Our Response to God’s Plan - Response of love 1828 The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who "first loved us" Called to Beatitude/Joy Effects of the Beatitudes 1718 The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it…God alone satisfies 1720 Beatitude also called “the coming of the Kingdom of God; the vision of God; entering into the joy of the Lord; entering into God's rest” - We come to know, love, and serve Him and thus enter into His life True wealth, true honor, true happiness Being a True Follower of Christ 1. What is the meaning of your baptism? Divine filiation 2. Do you truly belong to Him? Is your life focused on Him? 3. Conversion and justification (being declared righteous by God) lead to authentic joy God Has Taught us How to Live a New Life in Christ 1. God rules the universe with wisdom and directs its divine fulfillment 2. Eternal law- God’s fatherly instruction on how to remain in God’s love and to attain beatitude - Presupposes the rational order of human beings The Natural Moral Law - Natural Law: the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie - Hinges upon the desire for God and our submission to Him - CCC 1954-1956 - Basis for moral rules and civil law - 1960 The precepts of natural law are not perceived by everyone clearly and immediately. In the present situation sinful man needs grace and revelation so moral and religious truths may be known "by everyone with facility, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error."12 The natural law provides revealed law and grace with a foundation prepared by God and in accordance with the work of the Spirit. Revelation 1. What teachings were revealed by God under the Old Covenant? Read in groups and discuss/report: CCC 2052-2074 - Context of the Decalogue  Commandment 1 (CCC 2052-2082) “I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaZFIaGkJM Barron “The Highest Good is God Alone” WE DO NOT ALWAYS HAVE THE SUMMUM BONUM (highest good) AT THE CENTER OF OUR LIVES===UNHAPPINESS “Listen, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words th at I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repe Vocab Gentiles= non-Jews Decalogue= 10 Commandments Evangelical counsels= the Gospel virtues recommended for perfection in the spiritual life - Poverty, chastity, and obedience Shema= Hear O Israel….the Lord our God is one Lord. Therefore, you shall love the Lord your God with all your… Sins against Faith CCC 2110-2132 Superstition and Idolatry 2111 Superstition… To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition; the attribution of a kind of magical power to certain practices or objects, like charms or omens. 2113 Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and mammon." [Mt 6:24] Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God. [Cf. Gal 5:20; Eph 5:5] [398, 2534, 2289, 2473] Divination and Magic CCC 2116-2117 2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. [Cf. Deut 18:10; Jer 29:8] Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. 2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion Other sins against faith 2119 Tempting God consists in putting his goodness and almighty power to the test by word or deed. 2120 Sacrilege consists in profaning or treating unworthily the sacraments and other liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to God. 2121 Simony: the buying or selling of spiritual things. Atheism CCC 2124-2126 Forms of atheism - Practical materialism- restricts its needs and aspirations to space and time. - Atheistic humanism- man is "an end to himself, and the sole maker, with supreme control, of his own history." [GS 20 § 2] - Economic and social liberation- religion does not emphasize the present life enough - Nihilism: nothing is important; our decisions do not matter 2125 To the extent that they are careless about their instruction in the faith, or present its teaching falsely, or even fail in their religious, moral, or social life, [believers] must be said to conceal rather than to reveal the true nature of God and of religion." [GS 19 § 3] 2126 Atheism is often based on a false conception of human autonomy, exaggerated to the point of refusing any dependence on God. [Cf. GS 20 § 1] Sins against Faith CCC 2089 Incredulity= the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. Heresy= the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith (or an obstinate doubt concerning the same) Apostasy= the total repudiation of the Christian faith Schism= the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him