THEOLOGY 103

Mark Joseph P. Cendaña

June 22, 2009

LESSON 1
MORAL THEOLOGY

About Moral Theology

– is an aspect of every activity we do
– decision and people aspect
– is it right or wrong, practical or not

“Morals”
– etymology: from the latin – mos, moris – behaviour (same as greek, ethos-
hence ethics) and by derivation, custom
– definition – morality is the QUALITY of human activity by which they are
characterized as RIGHT or WRONG and GOOD or BAD
– Synderesis: “do good, avoid evil”

Survey of Moral Positions

Some Moral positions Criterion of Goodness

Aristotelian Pursuit of happiness –

(Nicomachean ethics) virtues

June 25, 2009

What is Moral Theology?
– The part of Sacred Theology (the study of “God reveals himself to us”, God
telling us himself, is the Catholic study of FAITH) that judges and directs
human acts toward the supernatural end under the guidance of Revelation
 Morals as ethics
 Study of how do we reach God through our actions
 The final point of theology is God
– Related to other disciplines such as:
 Ascetical and Mystical Theology
 Pastoral Theology
  Canon Law
– Division of Moral Theology
 Fundamental Moral Theology
 Special Morals – morals issues relating to society
 Sacramental Morals – our human action is studied

ANTHROPOLOGICAL FOUNDATION: Dignity of the Human Person

(Man has importance which is dignity)
– Man is made in God’s image (man is a person)
– Man is wounded (we all have in us bad tendencies)
– Christ saved man

Compendium 358. What is the root of human dignity?

The dignity of the human person is rooted in his or her creation in the image
and likeness of God. [it is a revelation] Endowed with a spiritual and immoral soul,
intelligence and free will, the human person is ordered to God and called in soul and
in body to eternal beatitude.
 Genesis 1:26-27 – man have dominion over all the Earth
 Our gender is God’s image

– Gaudium et Spes, 22[Vatican 2]: - man “is the only creature on earth that
God willed for its own sake” and man “cannot fully find himself except
through a sincere gift of himself.”
 We are made for love
 When you will something, you want it for a reason.
 Pleasure or for the sake of love.
 Love one another (we are love by God for his own sake | we got
to live with others as well)

Man is a “PERSON”
– “Person” is an “Individual of a rational (man having intellect, brain) nature.” A
spiritual subject.
 As spiritual, has intellect and will, and both open infinity - has an
INNER LIFE. (the ability of the mind to think, you are not tied
down to matter, thus having own inner life –decision of your
own)
 As individual, has a UNIQUE identity.
 Both point to man’s unparalleled DIGNITY.

Important characteristics of being a person:

– Person is (Personalistic norm) VALUABLE in HIMSELF – wanted for his own
sake.
 As END and not MEANS, therefore, not to be REDUCED to beings
to be USED (e.g., servants have human dignity, even if we “pay”
for their services).
June 29, 2009
– Person is FREE. Hence he has self-possession. FREEDOM. (refer book o page
9)
 “Freedom” is a quality of being by which it can determine itself.
Man is free in the sense that he chooses to MOVE HIMSELF as he
has determined.
 Our mind can perceive our action. First reactions are animalistic.
Then wait a minute, we have choice.
 Heart of freedom is given us to choose
– MAN FULFILLS HIMSELF in his choices whenever he exercises his freedom
towards his perfection.
 Our choices fulfils us, or we fulfils our selves through our
choices.
 Man must treat other persons ALSO as END.
 Hence, fulffill of man lies in: (crux)
– MAKING A SINCERE GIFT OF HIMSELF (an ACT of free choices, involving the
most valuable in himself and in others) TO OTHER PERSONS (marriage, GOD,
friendship). This is called COMMUNION.

MAN IS WOUNDED after the Fall of Adam and Eve

– Naturalism goes against this doctrine (man is a noble savage, society
destroys us, and if we live out of the society we’ll become good)
– Loss of SANCTIFYING GRACE; loss of preternatural gifts, afflicted with
wounded nature. The wounds are (the wounds of nature):
 Ignorance and/or error in the intellect (we think it is true but it is
not, we fail because we don’t know any better)
 Malice (self-seeking choices) in the will
 Concupiscence (disorderly desires) in the concupiscible
appetite (desires become bad)
• Desires make the person strive. Lust (disorderly desire).
 Weakness (lack of fortitude) in the irascible appetite (referring
to emotions)
• Defect of our emotions (physical).

CHRIST SAVES MAN: man’s situation

– Roman’s 7:14-25
– Christ was able to save us, achieving reconciliation with God, in the PASCHAL
MYSTERY of his passion, death , resurrection and ascension.
 The death of Christ is mystery that we benefit from. We become
united to Jesus and united through the help of sacraments.
– WE participate in the Paschal Mystery through the sacraments (Baptism,
Eucharist, etc.) and our correspondence to grace.

8 BEATITUDES
– Matthew 5:1 –12
– Mercy is doing good to others in need
– Peacemakers – people who are united

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LESSON 2
HUMAN ACTS AND FREEDOM
(freedom is essential part of being moral)

Human Acts
– acts that proceed form a deliberate will

Act of Man
– Not from deliberate will. Such as
 vegetative acts
 person without use of reason
 automatic reaction
• without intellect there will be no will.
Freedom
– External “freedom”: absence of constraint to the human action
– Internal “freedom”: our capacity to choose or to self-determination
 To act or not to act (contrariety)
 To act this way or that (choice)

Compendium... 363. What is freedom?

Freedom is the power given by God to act or not to act, to do this or to do
that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility. Freedom
characterizes properly human acts. The more one does what is good, the freer on
becomes. Freedom attains its proper perfection when it is directed toward God, the
highest good and our beatitude. Freedom implies also the possibility of choosing
between good and evil. The choice of evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to the
slavery of sin.
– “Love and do whatever you want.”- Saint Augustine (love of God)
– Morals is about proper use of freedom.

Freedom, good and sin

– Will -> good and end -> subordinate ends
– Last end: God or Creatures (self)
 True good (reasonable): perfects freedom
 Apparent good (mere appearance): slavery of sin.

Moral choice and moral being

– “to choose to steal is to choose to be a thief”

Ignorance
– Nothing could be desired unless it is known
– Ignorance will affect your voluntariness
– Types:
 Invincible – “vincere”
 Vincible
• It could be a.) simple (overcome with correction),
• b.) gross,
• c.) affected

Advertence: awareness of action

– Actual or virtual
– Full or partial
 – Distinct or confused

Voluntariness
– Direct – you wanted it
– Indirect

PASSIONS
– 1. Movement of sensible (bodily) appetites, due to sense input and with
bodily effects.
 Passion, emotion and feelings
– 2. Proper use of passions; to accompany human act
– 3. Improper use of passions: hindrance to right choice, blindness,
precipitation
 We should learn how to use our passions, channel them
correctly

Classification of passions
– Acts of concupiscible (sensible goods you want) appetite:
 Love (attraction toward a sensible good) and hate (aversion
toward a sensible evil or rather, privation of sensible good)
 Desire (caused by the inclination to attain a sensible good) and
aversion (disgust toward a sensible evil that is not yet suffered)
 Delight or joy (rest in the possession of sensible good) and
sadness (sorrow cause by the absence of a sensible good that
has not been attained)

– Act of the irascible (difficult good, anger) appetite

 Hope (caused by the knowledge of an absent good, difficult to
obtain, but still achievable) and despair (when the same good
is perceived as unattainable)
 Courage (rebellion against and rejection of present sensible
evil) and fear (uneasiness toward a future evil that is deemed
unavoidable)
 Anger (prompting a wish to revenge a present sensible evil)
How to fight
– Should come from the head (External senses)
– Control imagination
– Mind over matter
– Control senses

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July 9, 2009

LESSON 3
NATURAL LAW

Problem of moral relativism

– “To have a clear faith, according to the creed of the Church, is often labelled
as fundamentalism. While relativism, that is. Allowing oneself to be carried
about with every wind of “doctrine”, seems to be the only attitude that is
 fashionable. A dictatorship of relativism is being constituted that recognizes
nothing as absolute and which only leaves the “I” and it whims as ultimate
measure.
– “We have another measure: the Son of God, true man. He is the measure of
true humanism”
 (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Homily during Mass before the
conclave which elected him as Pope Benedict XVI

– The way we could act in a common ground is natural law.

Existence of a “law” for all

– Roman 2:14-16
 14 when Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the
law requires, they are able a law to themselves, even though
they do not have the law.
 15 they show what the law requires is written on their hearts...

Compendium 416. In what does the natural moral law consist?

-the natural law which is inscribed by the Creator on the heart of every
person consists in a participation in the wisdom and the goodness of God.

Definition of Natural Law

– Natural Moral Law is the body of moral norms discoverable (and hence
acceptable) to man using the natural light of reason without presupposing
faith or revelation for their validity (cf. P.31)
– The light of understanding placed in us by God. Through it we know
what we must do and what we must avoid.”
– Participation of rational creature in the eternal law/creative wisdom of God.
– EXAMPLE: Seen in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Reason and the Moral Law

– The basic content is the first principle of practical reason or “synderesis”: do
good and avoid evil, primary and self-evident
– The fundamental norm of morality is right reason
– NOT “cerebralism” and coldness. “The heart has reasons that reason cannot
know” (B. Paschal)
 BUT reason is demanded by the very nature of moral choice, as
a deliberate act, otherwise, it would enter the realm of morality
 REASON, being faculty for truth, must be guided by truth, and
hence the reality of what is he is and what he is acting on – TO
BE RIGHT
– The fundamental norm of Christian morality is reason ENLIGHTENED BY
FAITH.
 While the Revealed Truth shows the mind of man higher
demands of acting (e.g., charity, heroism, forgiveness, etc.) it
does not contradict right reason but rather it perfects and raises
it. (law of talon)

July 13, 2009

RIGHT Reason is SPECIFIED in MORAL Norms
– In the deepest level, moral truth is rooted in God’s creative wisdom of the
“eternal law”
– Moral norms can be seen in the very nature and order of created things
(especially man).
– Looking a the man as the rational creature destined to beatitude, it is in his
nature where we discover:
 VALUES in the person
 VIRTUES the person acquires
 COMMANDMENTS of God by which he is guided

Properties (essential) of Natural Law

– Universal (because based on human nature): it is applicable to all men
(especially geographical)
– Immutable (because human nature, as a person, does not change): it applies
to the past, present and future (chronological)
– *some explanation of apparent discrepancies:
 Fashions can change but the moral principles behind them
remain the same (e.g., different standards of “modesty”)
 Some realities change (e.g. the evolution of economic system,
money – issues of usury or property rights)
 Allowances for the limitations of man, in his fallen nature.
Tolerances may Be exercised over some moral aberrations (e.g.,
polygamy, slavery, etc.)  lesser evil

Knowability of Natural Law

– Knowable (because of being a light of reason): it is accessible to all, although
it is not that easy to arrive at in all cases.
– Conclusions:
 Primary (first commandment is love of God, love God above all
things)
 Secondary (those that most people would know, most people
would generally know, associated with the Ten
Commandments).
 Remote –not always possible to know (stem cells), it requires a
certain explanation and moral reasoning.

How Natural Law is lived in Christian Morals

– Christ is the perfect fulfilment of the natural law; while fulfilment of natural
law is essential for perfection of Christian morals
 Law of Charity  God’s Love
 Law of Grace or Perfect Freedom  matrimonial sacrament
– The Magisterium proclaims precepts of natural law that Christ confirmed
(indissolubility of marriage). It can also make pronouncements on natural
morality as applied to new realities (e.g. cloning, bioengineering, etc.)

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July 16, 2009

LESSON 4
EVIL ACTS: SIN

Pope Pius XII – 1940’s to 1950’s

– “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.”

Definition and nature of sin

Compendium 392. What is Sin?
Sin is “a word, an act, or a desire contrary to the eternal Law” (St.
Augustine). It is an offense against God in disobedience to his love. It wounds
human nature and injures human solidarity. Christ in his passion fully revealed the
seriousness of sin and overcame it with his mercy.

An offense against God

– Our relationship to God damaged
– God’s plan of love is hindered
– Privation of the due moral order (which is a aversion a Deo and conversion ad
creaturas).
– 2 types of evil
 Physical evil – sometimes inevitable
 Moral evil – private-
○ We choose some lesser good instead o the ultimate good, against the
reason of the existence of the universe

Voluntary and against the moral law

– Voluntary, means it is an act, which could then be thought, word, or deed or
omission. This is the material aspect of it.
 Thoughts
– The moral recognition by conscience of violating moral law is the formal
aspect.

General Outline of Classification of Sin

A. Original and Personal
B. Mortal and Venial (longer treatment later)
C. By thought, word, deed or omission
D. Formal and Material
E. Special classifications:
a. Sins against the Holy Spirit
b. Sins crying to heaven
c. Capital Sins (longer treatment later)

Mortal Sin
Compendium 395. When does one commit a mortal sin?
“One commits a mortal sin when there are simultaneously (continue)
present: grave matter, full knowledge, and deliberate consent. This sin destroys
charity in us, deprives us of sanctifying grace, and, if unrepented, leads us to the
eternal death of hell. It can be forgiven in the ordinary way by means of the
sacraments of Baptism and Penance or Reconciliation”
 – “Mort” - death
– Deprives the soul of the LIFE(hence mortal) of grace.
– Main effects: merits hell, loses past merits, disorder in passion and even more
inclination to sin.
– Need to confess because ONLY GOD CAN BRING THAT SOUL BACK TO LIFE.

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July 20, 2009

Venial Sin
Compendium 396. When does one commit venial sin?

Negative Effects of Sin

– STATE OF GUILT (not to be confused with a feeling, it is a state of soul, of
disorder, in innermost being).
– DEVELOPMENT OF VICE, which is best described by the seven capital sins.
 This will make you pone to commit the same sins
 Virtue is the facility of doing good things
– Need for REPARATION of the objective moral evil – the “Remains” of sin.
– ECCLESIAL - In the light of the communion of the saints, we hinder the life of
the mystical body.
– SOCIAL – We affect other people and how we relate to them It can even lead
to permanent structures that foster sin (social sin, like jueteng,
institutionalizing of homosexual marriages, etc).
 “Structures of sin are social situations of institutions that are
contrary to the divine law. They are the expression and effect of
personal sins.” (CCCC 400)

The Moral Struggle Against Sin

13 Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your loins
with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness

Recognizing the sources of temptation

– World
– Flesh – our own body
– Devil

Recognizing the eternal sins

– Three types
 Bad thought – the representation of something sinful in our
imagination. When you entertain the thought already, and you
say “I like it”.
 Sinful joy – sin of the past
 Evil desire – is when I would project that representation in the
future. Thinking of the past and plan to do it again in the future
• Consent or feel (sentir)
– Why specially dangerous
 Easily done
 Not easily detected
  Source of “DEFORMED” conscience

The SEVEN CAPITAL Sins: What and Remedies (enumeration) PAA-LEGS

PRIDE
– (or vainglory) is an inordinate desire for one’s on excellence
– Leads to other vices: presumption, ambition, boasting, hypocrisy, and
disobedience
– The remedy for pride is humility. Some means to be humble are:
 meditation on Jesus’ humility
 sincerity in Confession and spiritual direction
 self knowledge - pride is the lack of self knowledge, we think
that we are but we are not.

AVARICE
– (greed or covetousness) is the inordinate desire of having possessions of
riches.
– Produces the ensuing vices: hardness of heart, disordered anxiety, and use of
violence, fraud, and deceit.
– Some remedies for greed are:
 Detachment from earthly goods, uncleanness of every kind.
 Practice mortification in eating and drinking
 Concern for the others
 Avoiding the occasions of sin

ANGER
– (or wrath) is lack of moderation in rejecting things we consider bad that
moves us to the inordinate desire for revenge.
– Ensuing vices are revenge, malicious thoughts and indignation, abusive
speech and quarrels and blasphemy.
– Some remedies for anger are:
 Patience, especially considering of Lord’s example.
 Having the right intention
 Charity – kindness

LUST
– Is the inordinate desire for the sexual pleasure
– Vices that follow lust are mental blindness, precipitance (acting too rashly),
inconstancy, too much attachment to present life and fear of the future, and
hatred for God.
– Some remedies for lust are:
 Humble and frequent prayer (have a life of piety)
 Frequent reception of the sacrament
 Living well the details of temperance and modesty
 Being busy, and working with the right intention
 Avoid occasions of sin

ENVY
– Envy is sadness on account of the goods possessed by another, which are
regarded as harmful since they diminish one’s own excellence or glory
 – Vices with it are hatred, slander, detraction, gossiping and sadness.
– The remedies for envy are:
 Fraternal charity
 Humility
 Consideration of the evils that result form envy

GLUTTONY
– Is an inordinate desire for food and drink
– The ensuing vices are laziness, mental dullness, excessive talking and
uncleanness of every kind.
– Remedies

SLOTH

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July 23, 2009

LESSON 5
THE VIRTUE OF FAITH

Where does reason find moral truth?

– In man’s deliberate acting:
 Virtues
 The goodness of his actions – values
 What God has told us to be good and bad

Correspondence of Commandments and Virtues

Commandment Virtue

1-3 Theological virtues and

religion (part of Justice)

4 Justice as Piety

5 Justice as right to life

and charity

6&9 Temperance as
Chastity and fortitude
as self-mastery

7&10 Justice as right to

property

8 Justice as right to truth

and Prudence
especially in counsel
What is Virtue?
– Etymology: form “poser” (vir, viris)
– Definition: Virtue is a good quality of the soul (good habit) that inclines a
person to good acts (opposite of vice)

Definition of the virtue of faith

– CCC 1814: Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and
believe all that is said and revealed to us, and the Holy Church proposes for
our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire
self to God.”

Description of faith: Compendium 28. What are the characteristics of faith?

Faith is the supernatural virtue which is necessary for salvation. It is a free
gift of God and is accessible to all who humbly seek it. The act of faith is human act,
that is, an act of intellect of a person – prompted by the will moved by God - who
freely assents to divine truth. Faith is also certain because it is founded on the Word
of God...

Some Characteristics of the act of faith

– The act of faith is firm, voluntary, and supernatural assent to the truths
revealed by God, based on the authority of God himself (S. Th. II-II q. 2, a. 9)
 The act of faith is an assent but the will must move intellect to
assent. Requires a special divine motion.
 The object of faith is God in his deity and not merely as cause of
creatures.
 The internal motive of faith is the authority of God who reveals

Properties of the Act of Faith

– Supernatural in its object, its motive and its principle
– Voluntary, since the will commands the intellect to assent. We can thus say
that faith is free
– Infallible, since it is based on the authority of God as author of revelation
– Firm, that is, it must exclude an doubt (cf. Eph 4:14)

How to grow in the virtue of faith?

– Asking God to increase it, as the apostles begged the Lord: “increase our
faith” (Luke 17:5)
– Reading the Sacred Scriptures
– Receiving instruction on the truths of faith
– Practicing it in words and life
– Doing apostolate

76-88. and compendium – Quiz on Monday

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July 30, 2009

Obligation to profess the Faith

Sir Thomas Moore
– When it is required by the honor due to God
 – When the spiritual welfare of our neighbor requires it, for example, if keeping
silent would cause scandal

Virtue and Sin

– VIRTUE – golden mean of reason and charity
– SIN omission
– commission defect
– excess – doing to much

Sins of faith by excess

– Rash credulity, by which one believes as revealed by God things that are not
(cf.1 jn 4:1)
 Believing to much
– Superstition

Sins of faith by defect

– Infidelity - is the culpable lack of faith in an unbaptized person due to his
rejection or contempt of it
– Heresy is the sin of a Christian who rejects the faith by stubbornly denying
some revealed truth.
– Apostasy is the complete rejection of Christian belief after having accepted
freely
– Schism is the voluntarily separation from the Church by stubborn
disobedience to the hierarchy
– Doubting the faith consists involuntarily admitting or entertaining doubts
against some aspect of the content of the faith.

Dangers to Faith
– Moral obligation
– “Communicatio in Sacris” – to share sacred things, the most thing for catholic
is Christ, and Christ as Eucharist
 Goodness of religious tolerance and dialogue
 Evil of religious indifferentism of fanaticism

– Dangerous readings
– Mixed marriages
– Man’s internal Dangers
 Pride
 Immorality

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August 3, 2009

LESSON 6
THE VIRTUE OF HOPE

If you are travelling you have no money, you’re dirty, but you have a goal.

Spe salvi…
– Sadness and pessimism (“life is a useless passion”)
 – Human hope in progress and consumerism
– True Hope (big and small)
– Perfect happiness (we seek for this)
– Better world

HEAVEN
– Happiness means “rest in the possession of good”
– What is the true and fitting good for man? We must possess the infinite,
which is God, by knowledge and love.
– Must go beyond natural possession, to the “supernatural happiness to which
we have been elevated.

HOPE
– Is the theological virtue by which we desire and await from God eternal life as
our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying on the help
of the grace of the Holy Spirit to merit it and to persevere to the end of our
earthly life.
– Compendium 387, 442

Elements of Hope
– The object of hope is God, whose possession will make us happy. Includes the
means to reach God.
– The reason for hope is the omnipotence and goodness of God.
– The subject of hope is all the faithful, even those in the state of sin. Includes
souls in purgatory.

Properties of Hope
– Supernatural, like faith.
– Effective – strive to reach the object of our hope
– Firm, insofar as it rests on God, but it is not firm as regards the certitude of
our cooperation.

Sins against hope by defect

– Despair consists in deliberately giving up any hope of eternal salvation
 Discouragement may be just a temptation that must be
rejected.
 Positive despair, which leads us to giving up all efforts to reach
salvation because the latter is deemed impossible

Sins Against Hop by excess

– Presumption is a reckless confidence of reaching salvation by means other
than those that are established by God.
 Hoping to reach salvation by one’s own means (Pelagius)
 Hoping to be saved by God’s help alone, without one’s own
cooperation (Quietism)
– Expecting God’s help for evil deeds.
– Hoping to receive an extraordinary help of God without sufficient cause
(tempting God)
– Trusting God’s mercy in such a way that one is led to sin more easily
Needs to make acts of Hope
– Times of Temptation
– Frequent consideration of God’s goodness and love.

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August 6, 2009

LESSON 7
THE VIRTUE OF CHARITY

Compendium 388… What is Charity?

Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things and
our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus makes charity the new
commandment, the fullness of the law. “It is the bond of perfection” (Col. 3:14) and
the foundation of the other virtues to which it gives life and inspiration, and order.
Without charity “I am nothing” and “I gain nothing” (1 Cor. 13:1-3).
 God is love.
 Goodness lies in love.
 Moral  Will  Good Will  Love (love of God)
 Charity is the form of all virtues.

Properties of the act of charity toward God

– Supernatural
– Effective – good acting
– Above all thing “sume”
 We must keep our relationship with God as the most important.

The act of Charity (actual charity) is necessary

– At the beginning of the moral life
– During one’s life
– When, being in mortal sin, it is not possible for someone to receive the
Sacraments of Baptism or Penance
– When death is imminent

Sins against love of God

– Sins of omission against charity: indifference, ingratitude, and lukewarmness.
– Sins of commission:
 Hatred for God is always a mortal sin (ex toto genere suo)
 Sloth, or acedia, is disgust for the spiritual goods because they
are difficult to obtain and exercise.

Love of neighbor: fraternal charity.

– Affective – carried our with external acts of love – and effective- manifested
in external works of charity
– Universal, extending to all creatures that are capable of eternal happiness. It
excludes only the devils and the damned.
 We must love our enemies because they are human beings and
children of God. They must be loved in spite of being enemies.
 One has to put aside all ill will (hatred, or desiring evil for the
enemy) and thirst of revenge.
  The enemy has to be shown all common good signs of good will

Love of neighbor: fraternal love (2)

– Charity has to be orderly, both as regards the personal loved and the goods
wanted for them
 Love of self comes before love of others, since this is the
standard imitate: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt.
22:39).It would not be reasonable to risk one’s own eternal
salvation in order to save another
 Other persons must be loved according to their closeness to God
and ourselves

----------------Aug 09, 2009-------------------

The works of mercy

– Mercy is the moral virtue that incline the will to feel due compassion for our
neighbor’s distress and to alleviate it.
 Love is part of it.
– The traditional, non exhaustive listing includes seven capital and seven
corporal works of mercy

The spiritual works of mercy are:

– To admonish the sinner
– To instruct the ignorant
– To counsel the doubtful
– To comfort the sorrowful.
– To bear wrongs patiently
– To forgive all injuries
– To Pray for the living and the dead

The Corporal works of mercy

– To feed the hungry
– To give drink to the thirsty
– To clothe the naked
– To visit the imprisoned
– To shelter the homeless
– To care for the sick
– To bury the dead

Some sins against charity toward our neighbor are:

– Hatred, enmity, or ill will: desiring evil for our neighbor
– Envy, seeing another’s good fortune as bad for us because it lessens our own
excellence
– Discord (“separation of hearts”) or dissent of will, which is not to be confused
with mere disagreement
– Quarrels or unruly verbal disputes
– Fights or physical altercations among people

The Sin of Scandal

 – Scandal is any evil saying, deed, or omission that constituents an occasion for
others to fall into sin (cf. Mt. 18:6ff)
 It worst if you corrupt of make other people commit sin.
 Direct scandal includes intention to make others sin
 Formal or diabolic scandal is a direct scandal that is aimed at
corrupting and harming, rather than at the benefit that one may
get from another’s sin.
 Indirect scandal is that in which the other person’s sin is
foreseen but not directly intended.

Cooperation in evil
– Formal cooperation is always illicit
– Mere material cooperation is also illicit. Charity binds us to prevent our
neighbor’s sins as much as
– Charity does not bring us to avoid another person’s sin when this would
cause us a great inconvenience or require a disproportionate effort.

Material cooperation in evil

– Material cooperation may be lawful in order to obtain a necessary good or
void a great damage
 The action of the collaborators must be in itself good or
indifferent
 The intention of the collaborator must be good: all formal
cooperation and illicit intention must be excluded
 There must be a appropriate cause to justify the cooperation.
The good to be obtained – or evil to be avoided - must be
carefully balanced against the evil that is caused by one’s
cooperation.
 The goof effect that is sought should not be a consequence of
the evil action with which one cooperates.
– Scandal should be avoided. Others – especially persons with poor formation –
may think that one is consenting to the sin committed.
– Proximate occasions of sin must be avoided. How to remove occasion of sin?
 Remote or Proximate (had experienced, given the chance again)
 Unnecessary or Necessary
 Objective and Subjective “remoteness”

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August 13, 2009

LESSON 8
THE VIRTUE OF JUSTICE

Notion of Justice
– Scriptural use: complete moral goodness

Compendium 381. What is justice?

Justice consists in the…
Definition and Properties
– Justice is the perpetual and constant will to render to each one his right (or
due, “jus”).
– The three essential properties:
 Refers to another person
 Object of justice is strictly due  gifts
 Demands what is exactly due.

Types of Justice
– Legal or general; render to society what is its due
 Person giving  society  state  through laws
– Commutative: render to another person (equal to you) what is his due
 State  private entities
– Distributive; the ruler to render burdens and honors for common good

Application of “distributive justice”

Compendium 463. How authority should be exercised in the various spheres
of civil society
Authority should always be exercised as a service, respecting fundamental
human rights, a just hierarchy of values, laws, distinctive justice…

Obligations related to general justice

– Man’s social nature
– Obligation to pay taxes and special questions on unfair taxes
– Obligation to cooperate in public affairs: observe laws, perform duties, sense
of solidarity

Compendium 519. In what way do Christians participate in political and

social life?
The lay faithful take part directly in political and social life by animating
temporal realities with a Christian spirit and collaborating with all as authentic
witness of the Gospel and agents of peace and justice.

Opposition to unjust laws or unjust state:

– Obligation of passive and peaceful resistance
– Option of Armed resistance:
1. Certain, grave, and prolonged violation of fundamental right
2. All other means of redness have been exhausted
3. Will not provoke worse disorders
4. Well-founded hope of success
5. Impossible to foresee any better solution

Right: definition and types

– “right” is the moral capacity to do, own, demand or omit something
 – Kinds of rights of a person
 Natural rights or “human rights” when recognized by law
 Divine positive right
 Civil and Ecclesiastical life

Some important human rights are:

– The right to life, liberty and security of person
– The right to food, clothing and housing
– The right to sufficient health care
– The right to rest and leisure
– The right to freedom of expression
– The right to education and culture
– The right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; and the right to
manifest one’s religion either individually or in community, in public or in
private
– The right to choose a state in life, found a family, and enjoy all conditions
that are necessary for family life
– The right to property and work, adequate working condition and a just wage

Ownership (or “dominion”): definition

– Ownership is the right to dispose of something as one’s own
 Disposition - sell, destroy
 Use – enjoyment of a thing or its fruit
 Usufruct – disposition of the fruit

Types of Ownership
– Absolute (all item above) or partial (one item above is missing)
 Within partial, several sub-classifications like: useful, strict,
limited, etc.
– Eminent Domain or private ownership

Violation of justice: injury

– Unjust damage
– Unjust appropriation
– Need for restitution

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August 20, 2009

LESSON 9
THE RIGHT TO LIFE

Duties towards human life

A. General principle: sacredness of human life
 B. Man has partial (no absolute) ownership of his own body

Sacredness of human life:

– Meaning of “sacred”

Compendium 466. Why must human life be respected?

Human life must be respected because it is sacred. From its beginning
human life involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special
relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. It is not lawful for anyone directly
to destroy an innocent human being. This is gravely contrary to the dignity of the
person and the holiness of the Creator. “Do not slay the innocent and the
righteous” (Exodus 23:7).

Man has only partial ownership of his own body

– He is a steward
– Roman 14:7-8: None of us live to himself, and one of us dies to himself. If we
live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether
we die, we are Lords.

Compendium 474. What duty do we have toward our body?

We must take reasonable care of our own physical health and that of others
but avoid the cult of the body and every kind of excess. Also to be avoided are the
use of drugs which cause very serious damage to human health and life, as well as
the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco and medicine.

Some signs against our own body

– Suicide: voluntary taking of one’s own life
 Seriousness – usually, there is no time for repentance
– Euthanasia: an action or omission that of itself and by intention causes death
with the purpose of eliminating suffering.
 “Extraordinary means” and indirect voluntary
– Mutilation: voluntary damage to part of the body (e.g. sterilization)
 Principle of totality and application to organ transplants
(solidarity and integrity)

Respecting the right to life and bodily integrity

Compendium 470. What is forbidden by the fifth commandment?
The fifth commandment forbids as gravely contrary to the moral law

– Direct and intentional murder and cooperation in it

– Direct abortion, willed as an end
– Direct euthanasia which consists in putting an end to life of the handicapped
– Suicide and voluntary cooperation in it, insofar as it is a grave offense.
Principles involved:
1. The life of the innocent is inviolable.
2. The life of the guilty person can be taken only in case of legitimate self-
defense, just war, or death penalty imposed by legitimate authority.

Application of principle to some issues

– HOMICIDE: “direct killing of an innocent person”
 Direct and innocent. Distinction between moral and legal
definitions
– ABORTION: the expulsion from the womb of immature, non-viable fetus.
 Special malice of induced abortion and ecclesiastical penalty.
“Abortifacients”.
– Scientific research with human subjects: requirement for morality  stem
cells
 Could be done provided that life is preserved

Application of principles to some issues: Bodily integrity

Compendium 477. What practices are contrary to respect for the bodily
integrity of human person?
They are: Kidnapping and hostage taking, terrorism, torture, violence, and
direct sterilization. Amputations and mutilations of a person are morally permissible
only for strictly therapeutic medical reasons.

Self-defense
Compendium 467. Why is the legitimate defense of person and of society
not opposed to this norm (i.e., respect for human life)
Because in choosing legitimacy …
 Indirect voluntary

– There must be an actual unjust aggression in the present. Suspicions or even

threats of a future attack are not enough
– There must be some proportion between the good to be protected and the
damage that is caused to the aggressor.
– The damage that is caused must be limited to what is needed to avert the
unjust attack.

Evils of War
Compendium 486. What must be done to avoid war?
Because the evils and injustices that all war bring with it, we must do
everything reasonably possibly to avoid it. To this end it is particularly important to
avoid; the accumulation and sale of arms which are not regulated by the legitimate
authorities; all forms of economic and social injustice; ethnic and religious
discrimination; envy, mistrust, pride and the spirit of revenge. Everything done to
overcome these and other disorders contributes to building up peace and avoiding
war.

August 26 2009.

Capital Punishment
Compendium 469. What kind of punishment may be imposed?
 The punishment imposed must be proportionate to the gravity of the offense.
Given the possibilities which the State now has for effectively preventing crime by
rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm, the cases in
which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity “ are very rare, if not
practically non-existent” (Evangelium Vitae). Which non-lethal means are
sufficient, authority should limit itself to such means because they better
correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good, are more in conformity
with the dignity of the human person, and do not remove definitely from the guilty
party the possibility of the reforming himself.

Respect for the Dead

Compendium 479. How are the bodies of the deceased to be treated?
The bodies of the departed must be treated with love and respect. Their
cremation is permitted provided that is does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the
resurrection of the body.

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September 3, 2009

LESSON 10
THE RIGHT TO TRUTH and REPUTATION
Justice and 8th Commandment

Values involved
– Truth – is the agreement of the mind (words, actions) with reality.
 The source of truth is bigger than our minds
– Honor – is the good esteem that a person has from others.
 Humble, good estimation of others.
– We need honor and truth as a personal being and in our social dealings.

The Value of Truth

Compendium 521. What is one’s duty toward the truth?
Every person is called to sincerity and truthfulness in acting and speaking.
Everyone has the duty to seek the truth, to adhere to it and to order’s...

Reasons for Truthfulness

– Truth is something SACRED reality. The devil is the father of all lies. God is
truth.
– Man has the faculty of SPEECH (of communicating), and these are meant by
nature to be the MEANS of EXTERNALLY MANIFESTING OUR INNER
THOUGHTS.
– The SOCIAL nature of man requires truthful communication. The PERSONAL
PERFECTION provided by social life is only possible in an atmosphere of truth.

Virtue of Sincerity | Virtues related to the Truth

 – Sincerity (veracity) – the virtue which inclines on always to speak and act
according to the truth. It involves:
 SIMPLICITY, of acting consistently with what we believe, as
opposed to
• DUPLICITY, acting in a way that we hide our true motives
(e.g. Kind, in order to manipulate).
 FIDELITY, of living up to the word we promised (the truth of our
future intent)

Commandment 523. What is forbidden by the eighth commandment?

The eighth commandment forbids:
 False witness, perjury and lying, the gravity of which is
measured by the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the
intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its
victim.

About Lying
– Lying is saying the opposite of what is being thought (locution contra
mentem)
 CCC 2482 “A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the
intention of deceiving.”
 CCC 2483 - By injuring man’s relation to truth and to his
neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man
to God.

Kinds of Lies
– JOCULAR lies are those that are told merely to give amusement or pleasure,
as a tall tale.
 Not a lie – true joke, drama, convention, mental, reservation,
extreme situations of injustice.
– PROFITABLE lies are said in order to gain some benefit.
 Not a lie – polite expressions that are used to avoid frictions in
daily conversation, whether conventional or not (e.g. He is busy
at the moment, may mean, “He doesn’t want t talk to you.”)
– HARMFUL lies cause damage to the listener, such as giving…

More “Lies”
– Hypocrisy - To act out a lie, or to feign to be better than what we are in
reality
– Perjury or False Testimony - lie done in a public or official forum.

Every real lie is intrinsically evil.

Lying goes against:
– The natural purpose of language
 – Human relationships
– Good of the listener, and also
– The good of the lair himself, who may end up living in an unreal world of lies.

Secrets and Principle of Privacy:

Compendium 524. What is required of the eighth commandment?

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September 10, 2009

More issues related to the right to privacy:

– Limits of communication
 Sacramental seal: absolutely inviolable

Definition of and types of secret

– Act of knowing a hidden fact with the obligation of not revealing it.
I. A natural secret is a fact whose publication would be reasonably
opposed by the concerned person.
II. A promised secret is a fact that a person has promised to keep hidden
but was already known before making the promise.
III. An entrusted secret is a fact that was known only after having
promised not to reveal it, and with that explicit condition.

Principles involved on right to know and to communicate

– Principles governing the revelation of secrets:
 Common good and individual rights
– A natural secret binds under grave sin
– A promised secret bids under venial sin (unless it is also a natural secret)
– In itself, an entrusted secret binds under grave sin. The obligation is stricter
than for natural secrets.

– A secret may be rightfully revealed in the following causes:

 It is urgently necessary for the common good.
 Evil avoided is greater than the harm that the revelation would
cause to the concerned person.
 Necessary for the welfare of a third party, otherwise, harm
 It is necessary for the welfare of the person who told the secret,
and whom it concerns. His opposition to the revelation is not
reasonable.

Compendium 523. The 8th commandment forbids:

Honor and Reputation (“fame”)

 – Honor is the external recognition of someone’s excellence, which may be
manifested in words, deeds of other eternal signs.
– Reputation is the common opinion about the goodness of somebody
– Honor and reputation are natural rights

Offenses against honor and reputation:

– Contumely is unjustly dishonoring somebody in his presence (aka insult of
affront).
– Defamation mean unjustly tarnishing another’s reputation (denigration)
 “unjust” hence defamation in revealing a hidden crime so that
the culprit may be prosecuted.
 Simple defamation of detraction: hidden but true defects
 Slander or calumny if false defects.
 Defamation is a mortal sin that can become venial if the act is
not perfect
– Rash judgment is the firm assent of the mind to the guilt of another without
sufficient reason.
 Rash doubts, rash suspicions and rash opinions belong to the
same species
 Rash judgment reflects the ill will that moves the intellect to
assent, without sufficient evidence (et bccl 10:3)
– Flattery, Adulation is giving excessive compliments, generally for the
purpose of ingratiatory oneself w/ the subject of to encourage another in
malicious acts.
 Adulation is a grave fault if it makes one an accomplice in
another’s vices or grave sin.
 Adulation is a venial sin when it seeks only to be agreeable,
avoid evil, meet a need, or obtain legal advantages
– Complaisance, in negative meaning, is over eagerness to please
– Boasting or bragging can be an offense against truth if what is claimed is
false. Also against humility.
– Irony (aka sarcasm) that is aimed at disparaging someone by maliciously
caricaturing an aspect of his behavior or character.

Virtue of Prudent Silence

– The virtue of DISCRETION can be defined as the virtue of keeping prudent
silence.
– Revealing confidential information
– Unjustly using confidential information

Care for speech

– James 3:2-6

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September 14, 2009

LESSON 11
THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY

Compendium 503. What is set forth by the seventh commandment?

The seventh commandment requires respect for the universal destination
and distribution of goods and the private ownership of them…

God’s plan for man in the Material World

– “God created everything for man, but man in turn was created to serve and
love God and to offer all creation back to him (CCC. 358)
– Man has been called to “subdue” the earth (Gen 1:28) as God’s administrator
or steward. “This sovereignty is not to be an arbitrary and destructive
destruction.

Universal destination of goods

– Man as person, called to vocation of communion.
– The goods of the earth are meant to fulfill the needs of all men. Hence, all
men have a right to the foods of the earth to take care of their basic human
requirements. “Private property” has a social mortgage.
– Some application;
 Right of eminent domain, for the common good
 Wealth of nations, solidarity (help other nations).
 Ecological concerns

The right to private property

Compendium 505. What is the purpose of private property?
The purpose of private property is to guarantee the freedom and dignity of
individual persons by helping them to meet the basic needs of those in their charge
and also of others who are in need.

Some reason for the greater convenience of private property:

– People are usually more willing to work for their own benefit than for that of a
group of society
– There is more order in society if each person is in charge of obtaining some
things, rather than if all try to get all things indiscriminately
– Experience shows that shared properties often cause greater disagreements.

The right to private property

– “Ownership” or “dominion” is the power to use and dispose of something as
one sees fit. People may use, enjoy and dispose of goods as “owner” or
referring to self (proprium)
 – Specific manned it is exercised can vary with cultures and with states,
specified by different human laws.
– Subordinate to Universal Destination of Goods – “social mortgage”

Titles to ownership
– Legal – based on natural positive laws
– Conventional – founded on free agreement or contracts

I. Legal Titles
– Occupancy is the act of taking possession of some not owned thing in order
to make it ones own (e.g. fishing and hunting)
– Finding lost property refers to cases in which there is an owner, albeit
unknown.
– Accession is the lawful title to the fruit or accretion of one’s existing property.
– Prescription is the acquisition of something (property or rights) through its
uninterrupted possession for a time that is specified by positive law.
 The object must be capable of prescription,
 It must be possessed in good faith
 There must be a title a reason why the possessor is convinced
that the object is his own
 There must be actual possession of the property of exercise of
the right.
 The possession must be enjoyed for a certain period of time,
specified by positive law

II. Conventional Titles:

– A contract is the agreement of two or more parties to the same resolution
manifested by a sensible sign, and entailing obligations for at least one of the
parties.
 An innominate contract is an exchange of goods and services
without any fixed structure
 A nominate contract, on the other hand, has a fixed structure
and also a fixed name, like the lease or insurance contracts.

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September 17, 2009

Unjust Appropriation: Theft

Compendium 508. What is forbidden by the seventh commandment?

Above all, the seventh commandment forbids theft, which is the taking or
using of another’s property against the reasonable will of the owner. This can be
done also by paying unjust wages; by speculation on the value of goods in order to
gain an advantage to the detriment of others; or by the forgery of checks or
invoices. Also forbids is tax evasion or business fraud; willfully damaging private or
public property; usury; corruption; the private abuse of common goods; work
deliberately done poorly; and waste.

Definition of theft and robbery

– Theft is the secret taking away of property against the owner’s reasonable
will. Includes unjust retention of property:
 Not paying debts
 Not returning borrowed property
 Keeping something out of fraud
 And not returning what has been found to its owner
– Robbery if in the presence of the owner, with use of force or fear.

Moral evaluation
– Determining what constitutes a serious matter is no easy question. In
principle, there is serious matter and a serious damage is inflicted, capable of
causing grave and reasonable offense and indignation, or if society is
seriously damaged by introducing a grave disorder.

Special moral issues of Stealing

– Extreme need
– Occult compensation (hidden compensation, which is just.)
– Gambling – gamble as to fund raising and fun
 VICE: you are not allowed

Restitution or Compensation
– Restitution: return something to its rightful owner
– Reparation: objectively making good for the damage
– Satisfaction: subjectively making good for damage
 Explanation: arises from unjust possession and unjust damage

Restitution in the case of:

– Theft
 Requires restitution for forgiveness
 The property calls for its owner, and fructifies of perishes for
him; besides , no one can enrich himself at the expense of
another
– Damage
 Moral obligation is related to the injustice involved. Otherwise,
obligation arises from custom or civil law.
– Honor
 Restoration of good name and material damage caused

How to restitute
 i. Restitution has to be made to the victim of the injustice of to his heirs. If the
victim is unknown, inquiries must be made. If the victim is not discovered
thereby, the person who is keeping something in bad faith must give it to
the poor
ii. Restitution is to be made as soon as possible. It cannot be postponed until
the moment of death
iii. Reparation of the injustice is enough for restitution. There is no need to let
oneself be known as the author.

Causes of postponing restitution

– Temporary impossibility to make restitution
– Surrender of the debtor’s property, by order of the court or in an out-of-court
settlement, to be distributed to the creditors in proportion to their debts –
such cases is usually regulated by civil law. …

Causes absolving from restitution

– Condonation by the creditor, either expression or reasonably presumed.
– Prescription, in the case of a possessor in good faith, if and when it takes
place

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September 24, 2009

LESSON 12
I. JUSTICE: Religion and Piety

Compendium 2. Why does man have a desire for God?

God himself, in creating man in his own image… By nature and by vocation,
therefore, man is a religious being, capable of entering into communion with God.
This intimate and vital bond with God confers on man his fundamental dignity.

Virtue of Religion
– The moral virtue that inclines us to give due worship to God as our Creator
and Lord, that is as our Supreme Principle.
1. Material object of religion is the actions whereby we worship God:
genuflections, prayers, etc.
2. Formal object is the imperfect equality with which man tries to
return to God something that is equivalent to what God gave him:
all that he is and has.

Acts of religion
– Devotion
– Prayer
– Adoration
 – Oaths
– Vows
– Sanctity Sunday

Devotion
– The resolution to dedicate oneself to the things that pertain to the service of
God.
 The principal extrinsic cause of devotion is the grace of God.
The intrinsic cause of devotion is meditation and
contemplation of God.
 Some effects of devotion are spiritual joy, facility and readiness
in performing other acts of religion, and a certain influence in
human external behaviors an gestures

Prayer
Compendium 534. What is prayer?
Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God… is personal and living
relationship of the children of God with their Father who is infinitely good…

Compendium 568. What are the expressions of the life of prayer?

– Vocal payer
– Meditation - thinking prayer
– Contemplative prayer - awareness of God’s presence

– Prayer is the raising of the mind to God with the purpose of piously
conversing with him.

 Prayer ca be mental if it is performed exclusively by the mind, or

vocal if, in addition to the mental activity, thoughts are
manifested in words
 It can be public it is if made in the name of the Church or private
 According to it purpose, we can distinguish the prayer of
adoration (prayer or praise), thanksgiving, atonement
(conversion of heart) and petition
– Life of prayer (contemplative life) is the habit of being in the presence of God
in communion with him.

Some aspects of Prayer:

– What to pray for:
 as to the object of prayer, we can say with St. Augustine that we
can ask whatever it is lawful to desire
 Moral evil can never be asked (for example, that a crime is
successfully achieved).
– For whom we can pray
  We can pray for ourselves and for every creature that is capable
of sharing in eternal glory.
 We are not permitted to pray for the damned. In any…
– To whom we can pray:
 Petitions can be addressed only to God, who alone has the
power to grant them.
 It is also licit to invoke the saint and the angels in order to ask
their intercession
 Because of the Virgin Mary’s singular cooperation with the
action of the Holy Spirit, the Church loves to pray in communion
with her. After “magnifying” the Lord for the great things he did
for her, we entrust our supplications and praises to her.
 Private invocation of the souls in purgatory is allowed.

Effects of prayer
– The main effects of prayer are; merit, satisfaction and granting of the petition
– Prayer has many important secondary effects:
 Enlightens the intellect
 Increases faith
 Confirms hope and confidence
 Inflames charity
 Increase humility
 Facilitates the exercise of all virtues
 And provides consolation.

Adoration
– Generally speaking, “adoration” means the honor paid to another because of
his superior excellence and as sign of submission.
– We reserve the term adoration (or latria) for the worship of God as the
uncreated and supreme Being
– Veneration (dulia in Greek) can be given to the angels and saints
– A special form of the veneration corresponds to the exalted excellence of the
Blessed Virgin: hyperdulia or special veneration

Sacrifice – sacrum and facire (to make it holy)  Holy pertaining to God.
– Sacrifice is a sacred offering that is directed to God alone to acknowledge
that his Lord of all.
 Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be an expression of
spiritual sacrifice
 In the New covenant, the only perfect sacrifice is that of the man
Jesus Christ…
 The holy mass makes present the one sacrifice of Christ and
includes the Church’s offering.
Vows
 – A vow is a free and deliberate promise that is made to God that concerns
something possible, good, and better than it opposite.
 A mere resolution is not a vow
 The promise is made to God, since it is an act of latria.
 Something good must be promised.
 It must be possible; otherwise, the vow would be absurd.
 It must also be better than opposite.

Oath
– An oath is the invocation of God’s name to bear witness to the truth of what
is said.
 An invocatory oath invokes God as witness to the truth
 Promissory – truth of future act and to the present
 Imprecatory – god as witness to the truth of falsehood

Sanctification of Sunday and Feasts

Compendium 453. How does one keep Sunday holy?

Reason for sanctifying Sunday

– Natural law directs man to devote some time to divine worship, not only
privately but also publicly.
– Divine positive law established in the Old Testament that a fixed day of the
week, Saturday, be devoted to God (cf. Ex 20:8-11).
 Sabbath was a reminder of creation, a memorial of Israel’s
liberation form bondage in Egypt, and a sign of the irrevocable
covenant between God and mankind.
– Human ecclesiastical law (or, possibly also apostolic tradition) appointed
Sunday instead of Saturday (in Latin, dies dominica, “The Lord’s day”).
 Our Lord resurrected on a Sunday. Sunday symbolizes the
creation that was inaugurated by Christ’s resurrection

Serious obligation of Attending Mass on Sundays and Holy days of

obligation
– One must be physically present. A person who is unable to enter an
overcrowded temple fulfills the precepts, even if he is outside and cannot see
anything.
– The entire mass must be heard, from the beginning up to the blessing and
dismissal
 Missing an essential part of the Mass through one’s fault is a
serious sin, but not venial if the part is not essential
– A devout and not merely physical attendance is required
– As the proper time, same time…

October 5, 2009
Causes of excusing from the precept of participating in the Mass
– Those who are excused by physical or moral impossibility are:
 Elderly, sick
 Those who are taking the sick
 Mother who cannot leave their children unattended and cannot
bring them along
 Thos who cannot leave their posts (soldiers…)
 Those who would suffer material loss.

Compendium 445.

By Excess
– Idolatry is the adoration of an idol, that is, of an image of something that is
different from God, of more generally, the adoration of something that is
different from God, with or without use of images
– Divination is the prediction of [free] future events through unlawful or
improper methods.
 Spiritism is the invocation of the spirits of the dead. It is
equivalent to divination.
– Vain Observance is a form of superstition that pretends to infallibility
obtain a certain effect through means that are not fitted to that purpose, but
either nature of the prescription of God of the Church.
– Magic is equivalent to vain observance, it is called sorcery when the result
that is sought is evil in itself.

By Defect
– Tempting God is an action of word whereby…
– Blasphemy is an injurious expression against God or by extension. Sacred
persons of things
– Taking the name of God in vain means using it without due reverence. It is
normally a venial sin
– Sacrilege is the violation of something sacred.
 Real sacrilege.
 Personal sacrilege is the violation of a person who is sacred
 Local sacrilege is the violation or profanation of a sacred place.
– Simony is the express will to buy or sell for a material price what is spiritual
or inseparably annexed to something spiritual.

II. PIETY - Reverence and Obedience

Piety
– It is the stable disposition to offer to parents and fatherland the honor and
service that is due to them as principles of our existence.
  Patriotism and nationalism
– Reverence is the moral virtue that inclines

Obligations of Children to parents

Compendium 459. What are the duties of children toward their parents?

Children are bound to show their parents:

– Love, which must be affective -- loving them and wishing them good. And
effective –- praying for them and supporting them in their material and
spiritual needs
– Reverence, in words, gestures and actions
– Obedience, which changes with the child’s age and degree of dependence
(Eph. 6:1, Col 3:20). “Emancipation” - time when the children will be
independent from their parents.
 There is no obligation to obey one’s parents in the choice of
profession and state of life, but, it is prudent to seek their
advice.

Obligations of Parents to Children

Compendium 460. What are the duties of parents toward their children?
Parents… have first responsibility for the education of their children and theu
are the first heralds of the faith for them

Parents have to love and raise their children, both physically and spiritually.
– Love excludes hatred to their children, insults…
– Physically raising their children
– Spiritual education

Obligation of Spouses to each other

– Mutual obligations: loving each other and living together.
– Obligations of the husband: governing the family and family property - this
excludes tyranny, since the wife is not a servant, but a companion.
– Obligations of the wife: those directed toward the good of the family through
her specific dedication
 Women have a special role in the family.
Obligations of teachers and similar situations
– Teachers occupy the place of parents in relation to a great part of the
spiritual education of the children.

LESSON 13
THE VIRTUE OF TEMPERANCE
Materialism, Consumerism and Hedonism.

Compendium 383. What is temperance?

Temperance
– It moderates the attraction of pleasures, assures the mastery of the will
over instincts and provides balance in the use of created goods.
– DEFINITION: Temperance is the cardinal virtue that regulates the pursuit of
pleasure according to right reason (human virtue) or reason enlightened by
faith (supernatural virtue)
 Moderates the pursuit of pleasure of food, sex and

Related Virtues
– Chastity moderates the use of the reproductive power.
– Modesty, in its stricter sense of propriety, governs other acts that are
connected in some way with personal intimacy.
– Abstinence controls the use of food.
– Sobriety regulates the use of intoxicating drinks.

Compendium 488. What is chastity?

Chastity means the positive integration of sexuality within the person.
Sexuality becomes truly human when it is integrated in a correct way into the
relationship of one person to another. Chastity is a moral virtue, a gift of God, a
grace, and a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Positive Integration
– Body and emotions subject to right reason.
– Conjugal love: mutual total self giving
 Exclusive and indissoluble
 Open to life
– Self- mastery for self-giving

Elements of struggle
– Fallen nature but not corrupted: Christ’s heals
 Grace
– Right reason
 Natural
 Normal
– Effort

Joyful affirmation and supernatural sport

Compendium 490. What are the means that aid the living of chastity?
– Self-knowledge
– Asceticism

Is Purity Possible?
 – The sexual appetite and emotions have a life of their own – wound of
concupiscence
– Control of reason and will can be:
 Despotic – control, it follows
 Political – convince, it will follow.
– “Grafting” emotions to the rule of reason through positive values.

Remember positive values of chastity [from Achieving Chastity in a Pornographic World

by Rev. T.G. Morow]
– Sex is holy, not a plaything. It should never be trivialized
– Created in the image of God, I can live by reason, not just by urges (as the
animals do)
– Persons are to be love, not merely used as objects of enjoyment.
– I must not treat persons as objects, even in the mind, lest I become a user of
persons in practice
– Unchaste activity destroys my most precious friendship, that with God, the
source of all happiness.
– Unchaste activity brings pleasure but not happiness.

October 8, 2009

Compendium 530. What are the other requirements for purity?

Modesty… intimate center… dignity… wide-spread eroticism….

Modesty
– Not directly on sexual pleasure
– It deals with the personal intimacy
– Senses in relation to chastity and dignity
– Moderate curiosity

Compendium 492. What are the principal sins against chastity?

Grave sins against chastity differ according to their object: adultery,
masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, and homosexual acts.
These sins are expressions of the vice of lust. These kinds of acts committed
against thee physical and moral integrity of minors become even more grave.

Schematic chart of sins against chastity in general

Illicit sexual gratification  Involving self alone  Masturbation: fallacy of
natural
 Involving others  Consummated: Fornication (PMS).
Adultery, Sodomy
Non-consummated: Voluntary arousal of
sexual passions as in passionate kissing,
touches, pornography, conversations, etc…
Sobriety
– Sobriety: virtue that regulates the desire and us of intoxicating drinks.

Compendium 474. What duty do we have toward our body?

We must…

Aspect of Self-mastery: Abstinence and Fasting

– Abstinence is the moral virtue that inclines man to moderate the use of food
according to the dictates of right reason.
– Fasting means taking less food than what natural abstinence would
recommend, for ascetical reasons.

Abstinence and Fasting:

Church Practice
– Compulsory fasting only on two days:
 Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
 18-60 are bound to fast
 Does not apply in cases in which fasting would cause a serious
harm
 Taking only one full meal on that day (other meals partial)
– Compulsory abstinence forbids the eating of meal on all Fridays of the year.
 In the Philippines, this practice can be commuted for works of
penance, charity or devotion.
 Above 14 years are bound to observe abstinence, with the same
exceptions as fasting.

LESSON 14
CONSCIENCE: Proximate Norm of Morality

Compendium 372. What is the moral conscience.

It is a judgment – about good and evil.
At the appropriate moment.

Etymology of Conscience
Cun + scientia (with knowledge)  awareness of acting (free and deliberate)
 awareness of moral quality

Conscience in the Moral Action

– Natural Law and Right Reason (general Principles.
 Moral conscience (general to particular case)
 Moral Action (concrete action)

Definition and elements

 – Conscience is the judgment of the intellect on the goodness or evil of an act
performed or about to be performed
 Not another faculty, but the practical intellect
 Not a “habit”, but affected by synderesis and other habits.

Conscience and Law

Compendium 373. What does the dignity of the human person imply for the
moral conscience?

– Errors about conscience and “law”

 The heteronomous conscience… there is hardly any place for
the conscience to evaluate and decide
 The autonomous conscience, totally subjective, ignores the law
and determines by itself what is right and wrong.
• Etymology: self-law or autonomous.
– Subjective: the judgment of conscience has an imperative character… it is
the proximate norm of personal morality
– Objective: the “divine law”, is the universal and objective norm of morality.
The judgment of conscience does not establish the law.

Compendium 376. Can a moral conscience make erroneous judgments?

A person must always obey the certain judgment of his own conscience but
he could make erroneous judgments for a reasons that personal guilt.

Principles of following conscience:

– Right conscience – is the judgment of a person who - on the basis of the
principles – decides, in conformity with the truth
– Erroneous conscience -
 Certain – without fear of being mistaken
 Doubtful – cannot see clearly
1. Certain conscience must always be followed
 Binding in itself and per se
1. Besides being certain, conscience must be right or at least invincibly
erroneous in order to a rule of morality
 Invincibly erroneous conscience is binding indirectly, only by
virtue of subjective good faith.
1. Doubtful conscience cannot be followed if it entails the possibility of doing
something bad; the doubt must be resolved first.
 Direct way, by consulting or by checking the facts.
 If there is no time, in an indirect way, by applying some maxims
called reflex principles.
• Some reflex principles are the following:
 A doubtful law doesn’t bind
  In a case of doubt, the possessor has a
better right.
 A person is presumed innocent until proven
guilty
 In case of doubt, the defendant is to be
favored.
 In case of doubt, the superior is presumed to
be right.
 In case of doubt, one as to judge according
to what ordinarily happens
 An act is to be presumed valid proven invalid
 In case of doubt, what is odious should be
restricted and what is favorable should be
expanded.
 If the judgment could cause a serious
damage, the principle to be followed is: in
case of doubt, one has to follow the safest
solution.
Scheme of classification

Conscience Correct  refined/delicate

 Erroneous  invincible/not culpable
 vincible

Types of habitual-conscience
– Refined and delicate: sensitive to moral matters.
– Scrupulous: decides that an action is sinful based on weak or insufficient
reasons.
 Some symptoms of scrupulous conscience are:
• An excessive anxiety over the sufficiency of good actions,
especially over past confessions.
• Fastidious scrutinizing of unnecessary
 Some remedies of scrupulous conscience are:
• Removal of its cause
• Strict obedience to one’s confessor
• Trust in God, who is our father
– Lax: judges without sufficient reason that a certain action is not, or is only
slightly, sinful.
– Hardened conscience if laxity becomes excessive because of repeated
sins.
– Pharisaic(al) conscience is characterized by great punctiliousness in some
things, together with laxity in matters of far greater importance (cf. Mt 23:24)

Formation of Conscience
Compendium 374. How is a moral conscience formed to be upright and
truthful?
An upright and true moral conscience is formed by education and by
assimilating the Word of God and the teaching of the Church. It is supported by the
gifts of the Holy Spirit and helped by the advice of wise people. Prayer and an
examination of conscience can also greatly assist one’s moral formation.
WILL (direct) INTELLECT
– Diligently learning the laws of the moral life (through spiritual formation)
– Seeking expert advice in difficult cases (spiritual direction)
– Ask God for light (prayer)
– Removing the obstacles to right judgment, such as bad habits (ascetical
struggle),
– Personal examination of conscience

----------------------------
LESSON 15
THE SOURCES OF MORALITY
“Love means deeds, not sweet words” (They Way, 933)

What is Morality?
– Quality of human act as good or bad
– Good as “END”
– The conformity of non-conformity of the human act with the norms that
determine its ordination to the last end.

Norms and sources of Morality

– Norms of morality: external standards the human choice must follow
 Eternal law (the supreme objective norm of morality)
 Natural law, divine positive law, and human laws (proximate
objective norm of morality
 Conscience (subjective proximate norm of morality)
– Sources: internal elements in the choice must follow standard

Compendium 367. What are the sources of the morality of human acts?
The morality of human acts depends on three sources: the object chosen,
either a true or apparent good; the intention of the subject who acts, that is, the
purpose for which the subject performs the act; and the circumstances of the act,
which include its consequences.

Sources of Morality
– To be good, the Human Act
 Itself can be ordained to God (object)
 The will actually ordains it (intention)
 Other elements are also good (circumstances)
The process of the Human Act
– Nihil volitum nisi praecognitum - knowledge precedes any choice.
– What is first in intention is last in execution (it is the will that matters) Action
first come from within.
1. The intellect grasps reality and presents an aspect of it as “good” or “end”.
2. The will adheres to the goal without external execution (intention)
3. The intellect presents various means (subordinated goods or ends)
4. The will chooses one among many, geared to its own acting (chosen object)
5. All within a context of circumstances that affect the judgment of conscience.

Diagram of steps in the moral act

END (intellect)
Intention (will)
Means: action (intellect)
Chosen acting object (will).
Diagram of steps in the chosen object (or moral object
INTENTION
PHYSICAL Object
ETHICAL VALUE (natural law) – justice and honesty,
purpose of material goods

CHOSEN OBJECT

Moral object of the Human Act

– What the human action by its own nature (as human) tends to, independently
of the intention of the agent and the circumstances that may accompany it
 Also called the chosen object, intrinsic end or “end of the action”
– finis operis
 NOTE: not the same as the physical object of the action, but to
the action in relation to the norms of morality.

Importance of Moral Object

– The essential and primary morality of a

Compendium 369. Are there acts which are always illicit?

Errors related to this:

– Subjectivism, which reduces morality to the good intentions of the age,
judges by subjective criteria
– A false conception of the fundamental option: once the person has chosen
a right, fundamental option or orientation in his life, he would not be
accountable of the grave sins he commits, as long as he dos not change his
overall attitude.
Intention of the agent
– The end of the agent, finis operantis, rather than of the action itself. It is the
conscious ordination made of the man acting.

Compendium 368. When is an act morally good?!

GE
False  evil

Integrity of goodness (bonum ex intregre cause)

– When the object chosen is in itself seemingly indifferent, a good or bad
intention makes the action good or bad, respectively
– A good intention makes a good object better. If the object is bad, the action
becomes less bad, but never completely good. “The end does not justify the
means.”
– An evil intention makes a good object result in a bad action. A bad object
becomes worse action.

Moral Circumstances
– The accidental moral conditions that contribute to increase or diminish the
moral goodness or evil of an already existing action, without changing its
essential moral status. They can
 Mitigate (soften or less severe)
 Extenuate (make thin – less serious)
 Aggravate (make more serious)

8 moral circumstances
Time Quando Duration or timeliness

Place Ubi Location

Quantity Quantum Amount involved

Effect (quality Quid Kind of consequences

of arising
consequences)

Subject Quis Qualities of the agent

Manner Quomodo Quality of action

Means Quibus Instruments used

employed auxilities

Motives Cur Secondary intentions

*Circumstantia
 l”

Errors based on circumstances

– Consequentialism - the morality of an action depends exclusively on the
foreseeable consequences resulting from the choice of action (in effect, the
end can sometime justify the means)
– Proportionalism -the morality of an action can be measured solely by
weighing the values and goods being sought by the doer and comparing
them with the resulting bad effects (not on the object of the action itself)

Supernatural merit of Human acts

Compendium 426. What is merit?