Transcript What is Morality?

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he
loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. 1
John. 4
Lord, it was you who loved us first. We did not earn
your love. May we remember that we are called to love
others, even if they did not earn our love. Amen.
INTRODUCTION
What is Morality
What is Morality?
Morality
Knowledge based on human
experience, reason, and God’s
revelation that discovers what
we ought to do to live fully
human lives.
What is Morality?
Three main sources of knowledge to
reach conclusions about how we should act:
 Human reason – our God-given
intellects
 Human experience – the collective
wisdom of others, living and dead
 Divine revelation – the teachings of
God as found in the scriptures and
the teachings of the Church
What is Morality?
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
-God-given abilities that help us live a Christian life with
God’s help. Jesus promised and bestows these gifts through
the Holy Spirit, especially in the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Wisdom
Understanding
Knowledge
Counsel – right judgment
Fortitude
Piety - reverence
Fear of the Lord – wonder and awe
What is Morality?
Fruits of the Holy Spirit
Described as the firstfruits of eternal glory
Charity
Joy
Chastity
SelfControl
Peace
Fruits
of the
Holy Spirit
Modesty
Patience
Kindness
Faithfulness
Goodness
Gentleness
Generosity
What is Morality?
Magisterium
The official teaching
authority of the Church.
The Lord bestowed the
right and power to teach in
his name on Peter and the
apostles and their
successors, that is , the
pope and the college of
bishops.
What is Morality?
Morality as a Response to God
Responsibility requires freedom and intelligence.
Morality is a response to a loving God and a
continuing venture to become fully the persons
God wants us to be.
We are able to respond to God because of:
Intelligence and freedom
Help of the Holy Spirit
Living a Moral Life
This means to decide and then act according to God’s plan
for us. It means being responsible and cooperative with
God’s grace to live a fully human life.
Living a moral life:
Allows the Holy Spirit to work in us, making us like Jesus
Strengthens our friendship with the Lord
Makes us persons of integrity who are responding to our
God-given vocation to be fully human
Attracts other people to God and to the Christian faith,
helping to build up Christ’s body, which is the Church
Helps bring about God’s reign on earth, “a kingdom of
justice, love and peace.”
Living a Moral Life
A Gospel Example of Living a
Moral Life
The commandments … are meant to
safeguard the good of the person, the
image of God, by protecting his
goods.
Character and Virtue
Character
Who we really are and who
we are becoming through
our choices and actions
Character and Virtue
Ways to summarize character:
1.Persons with good moral
characters are loving. They love
God, themselves, and others.
2.People with good moral
characters are fully human
persons.
3.Good people are virtuous people.
Character and Virtue
Virtues
Healthy, good
habits that help us
do good and
empower us to
become what God
wants us to be.
Character and Virtue
Prudence
Faith
Fortitude
Theological
Hope
Virtues
Cardinal
Justice
Love/
Charity
Temperance
Character and Virtue
Theological Virtues
Gifts from God that
empower us to be good so
that we may do good.
Infused by God
into our souls,
enable us to live in
relationship to the
Blessed Trinity.
Character and Virtue
Theological Virtues
Faith – enables us to believe in God
Hope – enables us to desire
heaven and eternal life
Charity/Love – greatest virtue of all;
enables us to love God and our neighbor
Character and Virtue
Cardinal
Virtues
Four hinge virtues
that support moral
living
Character and Virtue
Cardinal Virtues
Prudence – practical wisdom;
responsible decision-making
Justice – giving God and their
neighbor what is due by right
Fortitude – strength and courage to stand firm in
our own convictions and do the morally right thing
Temperance – moderation that
brings balance in our life
Nine Steps for Living a Moral Life
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Appreciating the gift of being human.
Using your intellect.
Looking to the law to guide your freedom.
Imitating Jesus.
Forming, informing, and following your
conscience.
6. Repenting and seeking forgiveness when you
sin.
7. Loving God above all.
8. Loving yourself.
9. Loving your neighbor.
Vocabulary
Morality
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Fruits of the Holy Spirit
Magisterium
Character
Virtues
Theological virtues
Cardinal virtues
What does it mean to be
human
Humans are Made in the
Divine Image
God freely
created
humans out
of love.
God is the
Creator; we
are not. We
are God’s
creatures.
Christian
beliefs
about
creation
We are
magnificent
creatures, the
summit of God’s
creative activity.
God has put
humans in charge
of the rest of
creation,
commanding us
to lovingly care
for and use it for
human betterment.
Act Human
God makes us in the divine image
Humans are unique because God made us in
the divine image, enabling us to share in
God’s own life.

We are spiritual beings who possess
incomparable dignity, value, and worth.

We are made out of love, for love,
and to love.
Act Human?
God created us as complementary beings,
male and female:
Complementary – “making up what is
lacking in the other.”
The nature and purpose of
marriage comes from God – not
from civil law or the Church.
God made us equal in dignity
Humans are sexual beings and God
declares what he made, including his
sexual nature, is very good. We have
bodies and souls.
Act Human
Creation is Good
A philosophy that denies
there’s any meaning in
existence or in religious
beliefs. The only thing
that matters after life is
nothingness, annihilation
Nihilism
Human Dignity
Dignity is the quality of being worthy of
esteem or respect. Every human
person has worth and value
because each person
is made in God’s
image.
Inherent
means inborn
or inherited, something
that does not need to be earned
or acquired
Our Spiritual Nature
What separates humans from other
earthly creatures?
Ability to think
Free will
Ability to love
Responsible beings
Capacity to grow
Our Spiritual Nature
Free Will
“The power rooted in
reason and will [that
enables a person], to
perform deliberate actions
on one’s own
responsibility.
Our Spiritual Nature
Principle of Subsidiarity
subsidiarity
The principle of
Catholic social
teaching that holds
that a higher unit of
society should not
do what a lower unit
can do as well (or
better)
“Sum total of social
conditions that allows
people, either as
groups or as
individuals, to reach
their fulfillment more
fully and more
easily.” (Pastoral
Constitution of the
Church in the
Modern World, 26)
common good
solidarity
The Christian
virtue of social
charity and
friendship
The Social Nature of Humans
God made us social beings.
It is part of our human nature to live
in various societies.
Societies are groups that are bound by
a principle of unity that goes beyond
each individual in these communities
(e.g. families, neighborhoods, schools)
Humans are Wounded by Sin
Original Sin
The consequences of the sin of
our first parents; the hereditary
stain with which human beings
are born because of our origins
or descent from Adam and Eve
Humans are Wounded by Sin
Paschal
Mystery
God’s love and
salvation revealed
through the life,
passion, death,
resurrection, and
glorification
(ascension) of Jesus
Christ. The
sacraments, especially
the Eucharist,
celebrate this great
mystery of God’s love
Vocabulary
Nihilism
Dignity
Inherent
Free will
Subsidiarity
Common good
Solidarity
Original sin
Paschal mystery
Journal Assignment
Read the New York Times article and answer the following
questions:
1. How are opinion and fact defined according to the son’s
classroom?
2. How does the author argue that treating all value claims as
opinion leads to the absence of moral facts?
3. How does the author differentiate between opinion and fact
at the end of the article? i.e. how can both a fact and opinion
be true according to the author?