LIFE IN CHRIST. vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnpptx

life in christ

1. PART 3 LIFE IN CHRIST

2. Dignity in Christ God's Greatest Work (1691-1692) " Christian, recognize your dignity. Remember who is your head and whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness" (Pope St. Leo the Great). The creeds confess God's great works (man's creation, redemption, and sanctification). The sacraments communicate these gifts to man. Through Christ and the Spirit, Christians must live a life "worthy of the Gospel of Christ" (Phil 1:27).

3. Called to Be Perfect (1693-1695 ) Christians are invited to become "perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). Because they are to be "dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:11) they must become "imitators of God as beloved children" (Eph 5:1-2). The Spirit teaches believers to "pray to the Father" (Eph 4:23) and to bring forth "the fruit of the Spirit" (Gal 5:22).

4. Church catechesis stresses the "two ways" (to life or to death) and the importance of moral decisions for our salvation. "There are two ways, the one of life, the other of death , but between the two, there is a great difference" (Didache).

5. Aspects of Man's Call (1699) This section has three parts: The vocation of man in the Spirit A life of charity toward God and solidarity with man Salvation

6. Man's Vocation (1700) This first part has eight articles: Man, the Image of God Man's Call to Happiness Man's Freedom The Morality of Human Acts The Morality of the Passions Moral Conscience The Virtues 8. Sin

7. MAN'S FREEDOM Free to Choose (1730) Man is created by God as a human person who can begin and control his own actions. He is meant to seek God and gain perfection by cleaving to him. Good or Evil (1731-1733) By freedom (rooted in his intellect and will), man has the power to act or not to act. He can shape his own life, mature in goodness, and gain a perfection which is rooted in God.

8. Until man attains God, he can choose to do good or evil, to grow in perfection or to sin. Because human acts are free, they are worthy of praise or blame. By constantly doing good, man grows in freedom. Doing evil leads man into a "slavery of sin" (Rom 6:17).

9. A person is responsible for his voluntary acts. By progressing in virtue, in knowledge of good, and in self-discipline, he gains greater mastery. Man’s responsibility and imputability which means ( credited to ) can be lessened or nullified by ignorance, passions, fear, violence, habits . These factors affect the moral character of human persons and at times they diminish the responsibility of individuals. Responsible for Acts (1734-1735)

10. What are humans acts? A human act is an act that proceeds from the deliberate and free will of a man. The acts may be good or evil, e.g., helping a sick person or telling lies. We speak of human acts in relation to the act of man.

11. What are Acts of man Acts of man acts which are performed by a man in deliberately and without free will e.g. Breathing, coughing, sneezing.

12. Confrontations (1736-1737) God confronted Eve, "What is this that you have done?" (Gen 3:13). He also confronted Cain, "What have you done?" (Gen 4:10). A person is responsible for any directly willed act. Also, an action can be indirectly voluntary (from negligence or ignorance).

13. A person is not responsible for an evil act if he did not will it and did not intend it as a means to an end. For example, a person might incur death while trying to help another. A person is responsible if they could have avoided the evil (as a drunk driver killing someone).

14. Respecting Freedom (1738) Every human person must recognize the right of freedom in others. Exercising freedom, especially in moral or religious matters, is an inalienable right of the human person. This must be protected by civil authorities within the limits of public order.

15. Abuse of Freedom (1739-1740) Human freedom refused God's love and became a slave to sin. The first sin has led to so many others. Human history attests that the problems of man come from man's abuse of freedom. Freedom does not give man the right to say and do everything, because man's purpose is not his own earthly satisfaction. Man's blindness and injustice destroy the cultural conditions needed for freedom. Deviating from the moral law violates man's own freedom and imprisons him within himself.

16. Grace and Freedom (1741-1742) "For freedom, Christ has set us free" (Gal 5:1) and saved us from sin's power. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (1 Cor 17). Christ's grace is not a rival to man's freedom. The person grows in inner freedom by being docile to God's Spirit. "Take away from us all that is harmful so we may freely accomplish your will"

17. MORALITY "Father of His Acts" (1749-1750) Whenever man deliberately chooses, he is the "father of his acts." These freely chosen acts can be morally evaluated as good or evil.

18. What is Morality “morality” refers to a   code of conduct that would be accepted by anyone who meets certain intellectual and volitional conditions , almost always including the condition of being rational. That a person meets these conditions is typically expressed by saying that the person counts as a moral agent.

19. Morality refers to the set of standards that enable people to live cooperatively in groups. It’s what societies determine to be “right” and “acceptable.”

20. Sources of Morality Three Sources (1750) The three sources of morality: The object chosen The person's purpose The circumstances of the act

21. The Object Chosen (1751) The object directly chosen by the will determines the basic morality (good or bad). The person's intellect sees this as according to moral standards (good) or not according to moral standards (evil).

22. The Intention (1752-1753) The person also has an intention which determines the act's morality. An intention can guide many acts or even a whole lifetime (as loving God).

23. One act can have a multiplicity of intentions (Doing a favor to help someone and also to receive a favor in return). However, a good intention can never turn an evil act into a good one. A good purpose cannot justify evil means. However, an evil intention can make a good act into an evil one, such as giving alms to gain praise.

24. The Circumstances (1754) Only the act and the intention make an act good or bad. The circumstances can increase or diminish goodness or evil. For example, stealing a large amount of money increases the evil, while fear of harm can lessen a person's responsibility. Circumstances can never make an evil act into a good one .

25. Determining Good and Evil Acts (1755-1756) An act is good when the object, the intention, and the circumstances are all good. A good act is lessened by an evil intention (praying in order to be seen as good). Some acts are evil in themselves and are always wrong to choose.  

26. Therefore, the person's intention and the circumstances, such as pressure cannot change a morally evil act, such as murder, blasphemy, or adultery, into a morally good act. We cannot do evil so good will come from it. A good acts done with an evil intention , the result may not be good

27. Morality of the Passions Their Help (1762) The passions or feelings can help the person in his duty to choose.

28. Passions are movements of the sensitive appetites brought about by the representation of good or evil in the imagination and accompanied by a corporal change. St Thomas of Aquinas talks of 11 passions: love, hate, desire, joy, sorrow, hope, courage, despair, fear, anger, aversion.

29. Feelings (passions ) are movements of the sensitive appetite. These lead us to act or not to act when experiencing a perceived good or evil. Emotions are a passageway connecting man's life of the senses with his life of the mind. Jesus called this source of human emotions "the heart" (Mk 7:21).

30. Loving Good or Evil (1765-1766 ) Love (the most fundamental emotion) is attracted by the good causes hope and finds pleasure in possessing its object. In contrast, seeing evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear. This leads to sadness or to anger (to remove the evil). Passions (feelings) are evil if they love what is evil and they are good if they love what is good.

31. Passions to Good and Evil (1767-1768) Passions in themselves are neither good nor evil . They become good or evil as they lead the reason and the will to make a choice. Passions become voluntary when the will commands them or places no obstacle to them. "Moral goodness exists when passions are governed by reason" (St. Thomas Aquinas).

32. Strong feelings do not decide morality. They are only the inexhaustible reservoir of images and affections. Feelings are good when contributing to good acts. They are evil when leading to evil acts. These feelings can be lifted up by virtues or perverted by vices.

33. The Holy Spirit and Feeling (1769-1770) The Holy Spirit mobilizes the whole human person with his sorrows and fears. In the garden, Christ made his human feelings lead to the highest charity (his own death). Man must choose the good with his will and with his sensitive desires. "My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God" (Ps 84:2).

34. MORAL CONSCIENCE An Inner Law (1776) Deep within his conscience, man discovers a law which he must obey, namely to do good and to avoid evil . In his conscience (man's most secret core) he is alone with God whose voice echoes within man.

35. What is conscience Conscience is the practical judgments of reasons concerning the moral goodness or badness of a human act to be performed here and now. Conscience is a voice ever calling and telling you to do good and avoid evil.

36. “ Conscience is the inner voice in a man that moves him to do good under any circumstances and to avoid evil by all means.  At the same time it is the ability to distinguish one from the other.  In the conscience, God speaks to man.”  -# 295

37. Different classifications/types of conscience Correct conscience This is a judgement in accordance with the facts i.e. when conscience judges what is really good and evil that is really evil, e.g. praising God is good and lying is evil .

38. 2. Erroneous Conscience It is a conscience which represents facts or laws e.g. refusal of some people to see any wrong in cheating. A correct conscience must always be obeyed but in doubts never acts.

39. 3. Scrupulous Conscience This is a sick conscience that see sin where there is none. A scrupulous person is often tortured by doubt that he may be living in moral sin

40. Signs of Scrupulous Conscience Stubbornness of judgment- one is not easily convinced of his mistakes. Frequent change of judgment – one repeats something fearing that one has not heard it. Fear of committing sin in everything Continuous anxiety with regard to the validity of the previous confession

41. 4. Pharisaic Conscience Pharisaic conscience minimizes grave sins buts magnify matter of little importance e.g. one loves at seeing a naked baby but celebrates on seeing a naked adult. One does not see evil in overlooking the constitutions It is a don’t care key of conscience.

42. 5. Strict Conscience This is that follows the lines or dots that dictates of reason. It does not change

43. 6. Delicate Conscience This is the one which entails' us to avoid anything in the slightest decree evil e.g. gift which is questioned always , thinking it might lead me to sin We should be most careful to keep our conscience delicate without exaggerating

44. 7. Laxed Conscience This is an indifferent attitudes. It is that conscience which overlooks moral norms or ignore certain dictates of human reasons. Indifferent attitudes to all things. (bad it is good, good thing is evil)

45. 8. Perplexed Conscience When one is doubting what he should do and he is not able to solve the doubt. His conscience is said to be perplexed. e.g. the mother of a sick child fears that, if she does not go for Sunday mass, she commits sin……..

46. 9. Dead Conscience A dead conscience is a kind of conscience that is unable to defeat wrong signals in an act that is to be done or already done

47. 10. Tender Conscience This is a conscience that has horror of sinning . It moves ones to creative love which leads to sin. It is a kind of conscience only concerned on personal gain. This conscience is shortly lived e.g. shortly lived friendships.

48. 11. Conditioned Conscience   A conditioned conscience has gotten used to doing evil little by little until it becomes comfortable with even very great evils. If you have a habitual grave sin, you are the proud owner of a conditioned conscience. We avoid having a conditioned conscience by taking Jesus’ words seriously when he tells us, “If your right arm causes you to sin, cut it off.” No, we don’t take him literally – we take him seriously.

49. Jesus is telling us to avoid sin at all costs. We should work consciously to avoid sin – making holiness our number one goal. We should also avoid the near occasion of sin – temptation – and work hard to replace our sinful tendencies with virtue.

50. Forming ones Conscience Today there is a lot of people who assert that this or that is “okay according to my conscience” or “my conscience is clear”.  It’s worth noting that we need to make sure we are forming our conscience not according to what we ourselves think is right and wrong but according to God’s ways.

51. Our conscience needs to be properly formed according to what is true and right.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church in Paragraph 1783 affirms this when it states: Conscience must be informed and moral judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative teachings .

52. In Paragraph 1785 of the Catechism gives  4 ways our conscience needs to be formed : According to the Word of God, the Sacred Scriptures The Gifts of the Holy Spirit The witness and advice of others (those who are trustworthy, seeking God’s truth themselves)  The Teachings of the Church

53. A well-formed conscience will help steer us away from sin or steer us to Confession when we realize we have sinned. “In the formation of conscience, the Word of God is the light for our path, we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord’s Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others NB. Take time to learn more about forming your conscience, which is vitally important for growing closer to God and living a happy, moral life.

54. Our conscience can help guide the decisions we make. The Second Vatican Council guides us: “Always summoning [one] to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience can when necessary speak to [one’s] heart more specifically: do this, shun that” (Gaudium et Spes 16). However, our conscience doesn’t just come to us when we are born. We must work throughout our lives to form it through prayer, learning, and conversation.

55. Saint Ignatius makes the distinction between general and particular examinations of conscience in the first week of his Spiritual Exercises. The general examination surveys all the morally significant actions of the day, so far as we can recall them. The particular examination we focus our attention on one particular fault against which we are struggling and the corresponding virtue we are trying to cultivate (because the positive cultivation of virtue is the most effective way of fighting against the vice that is opposed to it). Saint Ignatius tells us that we should make the particular examination three times a day—morning, after lunch, and after dinner; the general examination, in contrast, is best done just before we go to bed.

56. Additionally, it is important to consider how our community of faith can help us form good consciences through some of these steps: 1) Seek the prudent advice and good example of trusted leaders and others to support and enlighten our conscience. 2) Learn about the authoritative teaching of the Church. 3) Pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to help us develop our conscience. 4) Regularly partake in an examination of conscience to hear God’s voice in your life.

57. Conscience is not something that allows us to justify doing whatever we want, nor is it a mere "feeling" about what we should or should not do. Rather, conscience is the voice of God resounding in the human heart, revealing the truth to us and calling us to do what is good while shunning what is evil.

58. Here are some questions for further reflection: 1. When has my conscience guided me to "do good and avoid evil”? 2. What are some key resources I can use to form my conscience? 3. Forming a conscience is a “lifelong task.” What do I do to regularly form my conscience? What more should I do?

59. So how do you form your moral conscience? Keep learning, focus on love, grow in self-discipline, and be intentional about avoiding sin and growing in goodness. There’s your plan – that’s the virtue of prudence