Transcript What makes for a Good and Happy Person

WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD
AND HAPPY PERSON
pp. 134-145
Grace and Justification Discussion
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http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/cat
echism/p3s1c3a2.htm
Read articles 1987-2005
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What is grace?
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What is does grace mean for us?
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Three Ways of Pursuing Good
A Catholic approach to ethics and morality has three
components:
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2)
3)
Natural Ethics
The Role of Obligation
The Impact of the Gospel
Teleological: Natural Ethics
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3)
Aristotle’s teleological approach reflected in the
work of St. Thomas Aquinas:
How do we define the standards of excellence of
the “good life”?
What is the role of the other in attaining the good
life?
What is the institutional context of this good life?
1) Standards of Excellence of the
Good Life
a) There Are No Recipes
Each person is created by God and is unique.
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Each person’s vocations are also unique.
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The communion of saints serves as examples to help us
plan our own path in life.
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The saints have set standards of human excellence.
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b) Standards of Excellence
These are sets of best practices
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Consider any vocation (professional or spiritual) –
Standards of excellence/best practices are set out for
people in each vocation.
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They serves as guidelines to follow.
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c) The Study and Practice of Virtue
Virtues are the standards of excellence in living the
good life.
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They are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual
perfections of intellect and will, that govern actions,
order our passions and guide our conduct according
to reason and faith. They make it possible to lead a
morally good life.
Theological Virtues
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Virtue is a kind of excellence, according to Plato
and Aristotle.
In Catholic tradition identifies 3 Theological virtues
that are gifts of grace from God and whose
practice is aimed God himself: Faith, Hope and
Charity (Love)
Cardinal Virtues
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The four cardinal virtues are the principle moral
virtues that all other virtues hinge on: Prudence,
Justice, Fortitude and Temperance.
They can be practiced by anyone and represent the
foundation of natural morality.
Temperance
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It is the restraint of human passions and appetites in
accordance with reason; self-control of the body.
Many people think it is moderation in eating and
drinking (misunderstanding)
It involves taking care of ourselves and thinking in
terms of self-preservation; it is a love that is lifegiving and selfless.
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Temperance touches the most basic appetites and
passions: food, drink and sex.
Temperance is more than just repressing these urges
– it is about tempering these urges and desires and
using them for human growth.
Abstinence humanizes our desire for food, sobriety
humanizes the pleasure of drinking and chastity
humanizes our desire for sexual pleasure.
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Intemperance abuses food, drink and sex so that
they are no longer there for self-preservation, selfassertion and self-fulfillment and become objects of
addiction.
These things become ways of escaping our human
and Christian responsibility.
Intemperance can be a sign that we don’t like or
love ourselves.
Temperance and Chastity
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Humans are made in God’s image, male and female
(first creation story)
A rib from the male is used to make the female (second
creation story)
Males and females complete each other and together
make up the face of God which is love.
The gift of sexuality is an expression of love between a
husband and wife; and the means of procreation.
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Sexuality is a gift found in the reciprocal love of a
man and woman – It contains the sublime word of
love that completes the person in the likeness of
God.
Chastity – the integration of sexuality within the
person. It includes self-mastery. Every baptized
person is called to lead a chaste life according to
his or her state in life.
Temperance of Food and Drink
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Food and drink is meant to be enjoyed within reason.
Consumption in excess failing to consume enough is a
vice that undermines the body’s health.
Overeating is the vice of indulgence.
The vice of drunkenness can lead to affect owur ability
to make rational and moral choices while also having
chronic effects on health.
Check out these clips
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOK0q4XX1YM
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy-9nugHRAI
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How do the gift of sexuality and the virtue of
chastity relate to sacrifice and love?
2) The Role of the Other in Attaining
the Good Life
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Friendship, according to Aristotle, is not primarily a
feeling of attachment of another – it is that and
more. Friendship is a virtue.
Friendship is a deliberate activity that requires
continuous exercise.
Friendship is essential for the good life.
What is Friendship?
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It is an opening of one’s heart and mind to the other – it
is a free and independent communication of one’s own
person.
The openness of friendship calls for faith.
Friendship calls us to count on one another, requiring us
to have hope.
Friendship involves a free self-giving on one person to
another through love.
Solicitude: The other, not as a friend
but as an ethical appeal
Solicitude – Anxious concern for another
We have 2 types of experiences of the “other” that
enter into ethics: friendship and the appeal of those in
need.
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Sometimes, in our attempt to help those in need, we
find that we don’t really help them, but rather they
help us (provide inspiration, courage, example).
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3) The Good Life Needs Just Institutions
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It goes beyond individuals and includes the social
structure of institutions (family, the state, health care,
churches, market/economy etc.)
Some institutions are natural like family and
marriage.
Other institutions have developed over time to meet
our needs like protection, justice, education etc.
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Institutions structure the expectations of people who
live in together in society.
They are the backbone of the common good and
they embody our values, beliefs and practices
Institutions are as good as the people who are part
of them and who are willing to put their efforts into
them.