Transcript LIFE IN CHRIST - Christian Brothers High School

LIFE IN CHRIST
Our Moral Life
What is the Purpose of Life?
To Know,
love, and serve
God to get to heaven
What is Morality?
• A standard by which we judge our actions to
be good or evil.
• Morality can differ from culture to culture
• How is the morality in this culture judged?
• How can the moral lifestyle of Jesus help us?
What is Christianity?
• The unveiling of the mystery of God as
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit by Jesus, the
son.
• A name given to a life lived as Jesus Christ
(Son of God) lived in word and action.
• To live our life as Jesus Christ lived his life
It All Starts With God
• For everything, absolutely everything, above and
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below, visible and invisible, got started in Him
and finds its purpose in him (Col 1:16)
It is God who directs the lives of His creatures;
everyone's life is in His power (Job 12:10)
It is in Christ we find out who we are and what
we are living for… (Eph 1:11)
We Are Not an Accident
• I am your creator. You were in my care
before you were born (Isaiah 44:2)
• The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me
(Psalm 138:8)
• God decided to give us life through the
word of truth so we might be the most
important of all things He made (James
1:18)
• Knowing your purpose gives your life
meaning, simplicity, focus and motivation.
It also prepares you for eternity
• You Lord give perfect peace to those who
keep their purpose firm and put their faith
in you (Isaiah 26:3)
What is Christian Morality?
• Morality that helps the individual grow in the
knowledge and love of God to enable the
person to become Christ-like as possible
• So what does it mean to be Christ like?
What is the difference between
Ethics and Christian Morality?
• Ethics doesn’t necessarily hold the belief in God as the
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main principle; it is based on natural morality.
Example- Humanism: humanity is the highest form of
existence. It’s end is to produce the highest way of life to
gain happiness here on earth.
It ignores many of the questions posed by Aristotle/Plato.
(Where do we come from? / What happens after we die?)
It is more a list of do’s and don’ts– like many lived in the
time of Jesus. Very narrow / legalistic / hypocritical
Human Conduct
• The requirements for human conduct are
derived not from what we think is
reasonable, just, or coherent, but from
what God indicates to be so
• Because of God’s love for us He desires a
relationship with us.
What is Love?
• A strong positive emotion of regard and
affection
• Any object of warm affection or devotion
• A deep feeling of sexual desire and
attraction
• a score of zero in tennis- Ha!!
• We know what love is but it is hard to
define it.
• LOVE IS RELATIONSHIPS
• Love requires one who loves (giver) and
one who is the recipient
• Love deals with feelings, emotions
• Love requires a giving of ones self
• To love requires selflessness
• Love requires not just that we do “good” to
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others but that we respect them, listen to them,
and be ready to learn from them.
To truly love others, we have to stand ready to
receive from them at least as much as we hope
to give to them
If “doing good” is not accompanied by respect
and mutuality, then love becomes patronizing
kindness.
Love requires a reciprocal giving and taking.
Does this attitude require us to look differently
at “love thy neighbor”?
Why Jesus?
• JESUS = LOVE
• Christian morality finds its perfection in the
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moral message taught by Jesus
Jesus reveals God’s relationship to His children(humanity)
Through Jesus we can demonstrate to others
the saving life of God.
He came to promote a new way of living, not to
replace one set of rules with another
How do we live a life emulating
that of Jesus Christ?
GRACE
•By God’s Grace – Through
the Holy Spirit we receive
God’s grace.
•Grace strengthens and
develops virtues within us.
Certain virtues are infused in
us (i.e. they are part of our
make up)
What are Virtues?
•Characteristics that
exhibit moral
excellence,
righteousness,
goodness
Cardinal Virtues
• These virtues are the foundation of all
other virtues. These are good habits we
can acquire through human effort
Prudence
• 1) Prudence – makes us see what we
should do and what we should avoid in
order to save our souls, as well as choose
the best means to reach heaven. “Right
reason in action.” It helps us discover the
good in every situation and choose the
right method for achieving it.
Justice
• 2) Justice – makes us render to each one his
due.
There are four types:
* Commutative – (community) fairness in our
exchange with others. “You get what you pay for
and you pay for what you get.”
* Distributive – the obligation of government to
its citizens. Justice that guarantees the common
welfare. Making sure everyone gets what is
necessary to live a truly human life.
* Legal – the flip side to distributive justice.
It relates the citizens obligations to the
larger society and government. It requires
that citizens obey the laws of the society
* Social – applies the gospel message of
Jesus to the structures, systems and laws
of society to guarantee the rights of the
individuals. It is also known as contributive
justice because we all have a duty to help
create goods, services, and other values
necessary for living together.
Temperance
• 3) Temperance – helps control evil desires
and use rightly the things that please our
senses. Enables us to “control” our
appetites. It is developed by self denial
These Cardinal virtues help us lead good
Christian lives
Fortitude
• 4) Fortitude – gives us strength to do
God’s will in the midst of trials and
difficulties. “Intestinal courage.” I have the
ability to do what is right in the face of
adversity, even when fearful
Theological Virtues
• Theological virtues dispose us to live in a
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relationship with God (The Father, Son, Holy
Spirit)
They are given to us by God
They allow the Holy Spirit to live and work
through us
They enable us to share in the divine life of God
They are given at baptism
The 3 Theological Virtues
Faith
Hope
Charity
Faith
1) – The virtue by which we firmly believe
• Empowers us to believe in God and all
that God has said and revealed to us
• Faith is not just a human act to believe
something. It is sharing in God’s own act
of knowing which means we can’t share
unless we share in God’s divine life.
Hope
2) – The virtue by which we firmly trust that
God will give us eternal happiness in
heaven and the means to obtain it.
Helps us desire heaven and eternal
happiness, trusting the promise of Christ
Charity
3) – The virtue by which we love God
above all things for His own sake, and our
neighbors as ourselves for the love of
God– and respect and wisely use God’s
good earth
Christianity is a Religious Morality
• It is not a man-made ethical system
• It is revealed by God to clarify the
concepts of good /evil
• God reveals his ethical plan first to Adam
and Eve
• God reaffirms with the 10 Commandments
• Perfects it in the moral message taught by
Jesus and the way he lived it
What is Sin?
• Sin is when we no longer acknowledge God as
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our creator and himself wishes to be the one
who determines, with complete independence,
what is good and evil (Gn. 3:15) The first
temptation
Not being faithful to our beliefs and practices
makes it impossible to live a style of life
proposed by Jesus.
God has not given us permission to sin; only the
free will to choose
How do we recognize sin? / Avoid sin?
Following and imitating Christ
• This IS Christian Morality
• Following Christ is to be Christ like: To be a person who
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fully understands and lives Christian Morality
The imitation of Jesus is not to take the form of a literal
copy of his life, but a moral approach
It is a morality of perfection (shooting a basketball
/hitting a baseball)
We are called by Christ – Lk 9:59 “Follow me…” – Mk
8:34/ Mt 19:16 “If any man would come after me…”
• We are obligated to accept this call
• Accepting this call of following Jesus
requires us to take up our cross and strive
to make every moral choice as Jesus
would during our daily life.
• It is a patterning of our life after his. It is
to show the same attitude and disposition
Christ displayed
Vocation / Discipleship
• The story of the young rich man (Mt. 19:16)
• Vocation comes from the Latin for call.
• Our life is seen as a vocation (calling) to a
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particular type of life
The word Disciple means “follower” indicating
adopting another persons way of life, taking on
his particular type of discipline
Faith Requires Discipline
• We are inclined to seek our own will in spite of
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the fact we are called to follow Christ
To live a life of true discipleship we must
discipline our minds and bodies to make this
discipleship possible
Do you improve musically, athletically, physically,
mentally without consistent practice, discipline
and dedication?
Exercises for a Stronger Faith
1) SCRIPTURE
Before every moral choice is made, the question must me
asked, “what approach and action would Jesus take in
this situation?” The Gospels give us the answer.
• Follow Jesus’ example to the best of your ability.
• To do so you must have a working knowledge of the
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Gospels, Acts of the Apostles and Epistles.
The goal is to be conformed to Jesus. Others should be
able to see him shinning through our words and actions.
2) PRAYER
• Prayer is communication with God
• Can you have a close, intimate and satisfying relationship
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with someone you don’t talk to?
God desires to have a relationship with us
It helps us see ourselves in proper relationship to God.
We are His servants– He is our God
Prayer helps us see the purpose of God’s calling for our
life
Prayer is a two way street. We talk to God and He talks to
us
Ephesians 1:17-20
• You receive the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him
• The eyes of your understanding will be
enlightened
• You may know what is the hope of His
calling
• You understand the exceeding greatness
of His power toward us who believe
Jesus is our Example
• Jesus prayed because of His relationship to the Father
• Six times in John’s Gospel Jesus invites us to ask the
Father in His name for those things which glorify the
Father (John 14:13,14; 15:16; 16:23,24,26)
• Our Lord spent all night in prayer before choosing His
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disciples (Luke 6:12)
Jesus goes to the desert to pray and be strengthened
immediately after His baptism (Matthew 4:1-5)
Some Examples of Jesus in Prayer
in Marks Gospel
• 1:35 -prays in a 'solitary place'
6:41 -gives thanks for bread
6:46 -prays on the side of a mountain
8:6 -another prayer of thanks for bread
8:7 -prays thanks for the fish, too
14:22 -gives thanks for dinner bread
14:23 -gives thanks for the wine
14:32-41 -prays 3x in a garden
• Prayer is our power source
3) Church Community
• We are social beings
• We are dependant on each other; we do not live
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lives independent of others
It is a communal gathering. We come together
to give each other unity
There’s a common experience shared
We are all part of the one Mystical Body of
Christ
Ubuntu
• It is a reference to ones actions toward
another fellow human being
• I am human because I belong – or
• A person is a person through other people
• No one comes into the world fully formed
• We would not know how to think or walk
or speak or behave unless we learned it
from fellow human beings
• We need other human beings in order to
be human
• The solitary, isolated human being is a
contradiction in terms
• Because we need one another, our natural
tendency is to be cooperative and helpful
Summery of Principles
1. Christ’s love is the foundation of Christian
morality
• Christianity begins with love. Christ’s gift of
himself to us is the perfect act of love.
• Christ’s love elevates human nature and perfects
the natural law.
2. Christian religion has Christ as its end.
In his great love for us Christ established
the Church to unite mankind with himself.
To seek unity with Christ we must be
united with his Church which is his
Mystical Body. The institution of Christian
religion is based on this idea
3. Our actions affect those with whom we
are united
• Because we seek to be eternally united
with the Mystical Body of Christ, the
actions of our lives, both good and bad.
Have eternal effects on ourselves and on
the whole Church.
4. Christ is our model
• Good habits promote an awareness of the
value of personal integrity
• Good moral habits are founded on good
personal habits
• Those who habitually try to do the good
find making correct choices easier
• To ensure that we become like him, Christ
gives us the Church, grace and the
scriptures
• Mother Teresa is a perfect example of
someone whose words and deeds manifest
Christ’s presence within her.
• Moral choices are not merely the
acceptance of laws
• They are made as a matter of human
freedom and personal determination
• Our moral choices stem from and shape
our particular attitudes toward life.
• Therefore our mind and heart must be
trained to be directed toward God.
• The secret lies in creating good habits.
Goodness is habitual
Why encourage Good Habits?
• Good habits promote an awareness of the value
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of personal integrity
Good moral habits are founded on good
personal habits
Those who habitually try to do the good find
making correct choices easier
The person trying to acquire the Cardinal virtues
will find it easier to express these convictions
into good acts.
Acting out of Love
• Christian morality is positive, motivated by the love of
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God
Motivation by fear limits us to “do’s” and “don'ts”
Christian morality is a choice to return love for love
Love is self sacrifice – selflessness
Christ acted out of love, and He calls us to respond to
Him out of love
Love is more than not doing bad—it is the reason we do
good
• Mk 11:12-21 The rich man fails to care for his
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neighbors needs
Mt 25: 14-30 The man refuses to make use of
his talents
Mk 11: 12-14, 20-21 The fig tree is condemned
because it failed to produce fruit required of it
When we fail to do the required good, we are
guilty of sins of omission
Hunger, misery, and war are often falsely
attributed to God when they are a product of
human sin. We have a moral obligation to avoid
and, if possible, prevent these evils
Transforming The Soul
• The moral life is forged in the heart– the interior
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of a person
It is in thought, will, and emotion where moral
battles are fought
The heart must be kept free from evil thoughts,
desires, affections—they lead to bad actions
The senses must be kept under control– since
sin begins as a desire
Mt 15:10-20 Jesus explains defilement
We are called to Holiness
• By Baptism we are incorporated into
Christ. Because of that we become what
Christ is.
• We are united to Christ’s roles as prophet,
priest, and king at Baptism
Prophet
• We are witnesses to Jesus Christ
• We witness by the lifestyle in which we
live
• The way we act, treat others, our attitude,
all reflects how we are living our faith.
Priest
• Minister to others / live the gospel
• Nurture others
• Be loving to all
King
• The responsibility of establishing the reign
of Christ in the world
• Leadership
• Stewardship
• Being born makes you a creature of God.
Being Baptized makes you a child of God
Human Intellect / Free Will and
God’s Law of Love
• The human intellect enables us to
recognize and understand God’s command
to do good and avoid evil. Free will
enables us to choose good with the
guidance of our conscience and to obey
God’s law of love.
Free Will
• God gives us the freedom to accept/reject
His will for us
• We are free only to the extent we make
good choices
• All choices to commit sin limit or reduce
freedom and lead to slavery to sin
• True freedom is the ability to do what is
good
Christian Morality Finds its
Beginning and End in Love
• Fear can keep you from committing sin
but only love allows you to do good
• Jesus gave the Apostles the 2 great
commandments before His ascension
1. Love the Lord your God with all your
heart, mind and soul
2. Love your neighbor as yourself
Living a Moral Life
• Three moral principles for a moral life apply to
everyone
1. Freedom: which makes a person a moral
agent
2. Conscience: which gives us the capacity to
discover God’s will as written in our souls
3. Law: which should not limit freedom, but
allow it to function properly
Living a Moral Life
• Right moral conduct perfects the human
being – wrong moral conduct degrades
him
• Humans are the only ones to whom moral
good and evil can be attributed to.
Animals are only attributed physical good
and evil
• Animals do not sin nor do they practice virtues
• Humans are responsible for their actions.
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Responsibility makes sin possible
Humans act out of thought and deliberation. We
are unlike other animals because we have a will
and intellect
Intelligence gives meaning to the things and free
will allows for the doing or omitting of actions the
intellect has determined to be good or bad
Moral theology is the science that teaches us how
to choose good and avoid evil
Moral and Immoral Acts
• What circumstances determines whether
and act is moral or immoral?
An act is immoral when it is done with
knowledge and free will
Actions that lack knowledge or free will do
not fall under the realm of morality
Knowledge as a Condition for
Morality
• Actions without knowledge or free will fall under
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something called acts of human which are
considered differently than human actions
(actions like other animals)
Intellect and free will are the spiritual faculties
that humans possess
Human acts are acts because the express and
determine the goodness or evil of the individual
that performs them (and our choices form our
character)
• Because we are rational animals, the first
requirement for a moral act is that it be
done with knowledge
• Sin does not come about by surprise. It
requires thought and consent to act
• Full knowledge involves clear and
deliberate knowledge of the morality of an
action
Full knowledge Presumes Two
Things
• Knowing clearly what he or she is doing.
Sins do not occur while asleep or semiunconscious
• Being aware of its moral dimension.
Knowing the act is a good or an evil
Freedom
• Freedom is our greatest quality
• Freedom is the power, rooted in reason
and will, to act or not to act on ones own
responsibility
• It is a force for growth and maturity in
truth and justice
• It attains perfection when directed toward
God
• Freedom is one of the central themes of
moral theology since the two specific
operations of our soul are founded in it—
intellect and will
• The higher degrees of freedom a person
reaches, the more capable the person is to
higher levels of morality
• A sinful person becomes a slave to his
passions
• Freedom does not make us free to be who or
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what we wish
The freedom we have is to establish a loving
relationship with God
When we choose to reject this call is when we
become slaves to our passions (Romans 7:15)
Doing evil is not freedom, nor a part of freedom,
but only a sign that we have the capability to
choose
The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of
freedom
The proper use of freedom increases our
capacity to love the truth and grow in the
knowledge of moral virtue
• One never loses the capability to make
choices, but habits of making correct moral
choices is necessary for freedom to function
(a drug addict)
• Freedom is not rooted in the physical ability
to do evil, but in the moral duty to do the
good—a strong man can abuse a weaker on
but he ought not to do so.
• We have the physical ability to do many
morally objectionable things, but we have
the moral duty to avoid them
• “Do you not know that if you yield
yourselves to any one as obedient slaves,
you are slaves to the one whom you obey,
either of sin, which leads to death, or of
obedience, which leads to righteousness
(Rom 6:16)
• Thus a person increases his freedom when
he rejects evil and does good
Responsibility For Ones Actions
• Each person is responsible for his own actions
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and their consequences
There is no freedom independent of
responsibility
The way to acquire and grow in freedom is by
exercising responsibility
God is not to blame for human evils that
originate from our abuse of freedom
War, hunger, crime, drugs, AIDS—none are
desired by God. The abuse of human freedom is
to blame
• Is a person less free because he accepts
restrictions?
• Not all restrictions necessarily involve a loss
of freedom. Certain restrictions are in fact a
safeguard of freedom. One may accept
them because he believes they help to
make him free (or stay free)
At the end of the day, one
must examine his conscience to
understand the results of all his
moral choices - and eliminate
those choices that led to sin
What is Conscience?
• Conscience is a judgment of reason
whereby the human person recognizes the
moral quality of an act he is going to
perform, or has already performed.
• It is a practical judgment; it judges
whether a particular act is right or wrong
from an ethical point of view and advise
accordingly
• By conscience, God’s law is made known to
us which is fulfilled in the love of God and
of one’s neighbor
• Conscience is rooted in the truth—the truth
about mankind, law, and what is good and
evil
• Truths remain true whether we adhere to
them or not, conscience is not an infallible
guide; there is always the possibility of
error in one’s judgment
• Conscience does not create truth (law);
rather, it finds law and takes it as a guide
• Conscience does not create truth (God’s
law); rather, it finds truth (law) and takes it
as a guide
• Freedom of conscience is never freedom
“from” the truth but always and only
freedom “in” the truth
• So the value of right conscience prevails
over an unjust (man made) law
• Our conscience, if formed properly, protects
our dignity and the means necessary to
reach happiness
• Can you think of any examples where civil
laws and moral truths conflict with one
another?