Transcript Christian Morality: What Does Love Look Like?

Christian Morality: What Does
Love Look Like?
ARMANDO HERRERA
CONFIRMATION CLASS
Opening Prayer
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your
faithful and kindle in them the fire of your
love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall
be created. And You shall renew the face of
the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit,
did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant
that by the same Holy Spirit we may be
truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations,
Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Introduction
 We will explore the concept
that, for Christians, living a
moral life requires that we
respond to Jesus’ mandate to
love as he loved
 We will explore how to make
moral judgments
Group Exercise: Love is…
 You have 25 definitions of love in your packet
 One person reads the definitions and puts them on




the table for all to see
Pick top 10 that best define love (put the rest back in
the envelope)
From the top 10 select the best 3 that best define love
From the last 3 pick the best one that defines love
Have a person from each team tell the group what
does the selected definition means from a practical
level
The Meaning of Christian Love
 “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in






my love: (Jn 15:9)
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as
I have loved you” (Jn 15:12) This statement is the
foundation of Christian morality
Love is the highest law – love directed to God, to
neighbor, to self and to all creation
The Reign of God is love
Love means being deeply concerned about the dignity
and welfare of other people
It means respecting all life because we are in relationship
with all life – this is central to Christian life
Christ is the sign of God’s love for us (and our example)
Clean Joke of the week
The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a
Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of
the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a
note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE.
God is watching.“
Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end
of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A
child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is
watching the apples."
How do we know the Moral Law?
 Gn 1:26-27 tell us that man is created in the image of
God




Unlike all other animals, we have spiritual souls
We have intellects and wills
Like God, we know and love
We are truly free, unlike the rest of creation that is moved by
instinct
 Because we are free, we are moral beings
 We can choose to do either good or evil
Conscience
 Through our intellect, we can discover the morality
or goodness of an action
 This judgment of the intellect is called “Conscience”
 It is true that we must follow our conscience but,
 We need to first form our conscience according to
Church teachings!

Ask for some examples of how we can do this
How do we know what is good and evil?
 We consult the moral law
 Which is based on the eternal law of God
 God is a God of truth, justice and love
 Therefore, we must act in truth, justice and love
 The moral law is unchanging
because God is unchanging:
He will always be truth, justice
and love
 The 10 commandments sum up
the requirements of the moral law
How do we evaluate Moral Acts?
 Morality considers the rightness and wrongness of
human actions
 We can only evaluate those human actions
performed freely and knowingly
 3 elements to determine morality of an action:



The object of the act (what the act is objectively)
The intention or purpose of the act (why)
The circumstances surrounding the act
 For an act to be moral all of these 3 must be good!
Morality Exercise – evaluate the morality of each
of these actions
 Praying with the intention of getting human praise
 Robbing a bank to provide a family vacation
 The end doesn’t justify the means
 Speeding to take someone the hospital
 Abortion because the mother can not afford to raise a
kid
 Abortion in order to save the life of the mother
 Assisted suicide for a person with a terrible and
painful terminal decease
How can we do to get better?
 One thing we can do to make it easier is to put some
effort into developing good habits – virtues
 With God's help we can acquire and practice these
virtues and lead the kind of moral life that brings us
into closer communion with God
 Four Cardinal Virtues

Prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance
Cardinal Virtues - Definition
 Prudence is the habit of thinking before acting. The prudent
person uses reason to figure out the true good in every situation and
then to choose the right way to achieve it
 Justice is the virtue of giving to God and to our neighbors
what they are due. The just person thinks about the needs to
other people, recognizes their God-given dignity, and reaches out to
them with love
 Fortitude is the strength to live morally even in difficult
situations. A person with fortitude is able to resist temptations
and make sacrifices in order to do good
 Temperance is the self-control that keeps one's appetite for
pleasure from becoming extreme. It doesn't mean we can't
have fun. The temperate person develops the habit of setting limits,
however, because too much of a good thing can get in the way of the
moral life and can separate us from God
Group Exercise
 Group 1: Mathew 5: 13-16 and Mt 5:17-26
 Group 2: Mt 5:38-48 and Mt 6:1-15
 Group 3: Mt 6:16-24 and Mt 25-34
 Group 4: Mt 7:1-11 and Mt 7:15-29
 In just a few words in your handbooks, identify the central
value or teaching of Jesus reflected in the passage.
 Identify at least three applications that the content of the
passage might have for young people today, and then list these
in your handbooks under the statement about the value or
teaching.
 Share your answers with the rest of the group
Summary
 Learn and strive to love as God loves. A love that




gives, outside of self, cares for the beloved
Form your conscience based on the teachings of the
Catholic Church
Follow your conscience
Practice and improve on the cardinal virtues
Persevere and remember that the Mercy of God has
no limits because God is Love
Closing Prayer – Suscipe*
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my
memory, my understanding and my whole will.
All that I am and all that I possess, You have
given me: I surrender it all to You to be
disposed of according to Your will.
Give me only Your love and Your grace; with
these I will be rich enough and will desire
nothing more. Amen
* Attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola