Chapter 17: Freedom, Morality, and Grace INTRODUCTION TO CATHOLICISM

Chapter 17: Freedom, Morality, and Grace

INTRODUCTION TO CATHOLICISM

ANTICIPATORY SET Free write for a few minutes on the meaning of Christ’s statement that the truth will make one free.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

BASIC QUESTIONS What is freedom? What is the highest exercise of

freedom? What are the consequences of

free choices? What is the relationship between

freedom and truth? Why does God give us freedom? What is the relationship between

grace and freedom? What is morality? What is the relationship between

civil law and morality?

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

KEY IDEAS Freedom is the ability to use the will to

make a conscious choice to believe and act.

The highest use of freedom is to choose to conform one’s own will to God’s.

A free choice has practical, moral, legal, and eternal consequences.

Freedom must be grounded in objective truth; otherwise, it leads to moral slavery.

God gives freedom so people can return his love and love others as he loves them.

God gives grace to free people from the slavery of sin.

Morality is the standards by which actions are judged to be good or evil.

Civil law must always be based on some moral standards. These standards ought to be grounded in the dignity and sanctity of the human person.

FOCUS QUESTION

What does the pyramid analogy reveal about the conscience? Each person has an innate sense of right and wrong, which commends him or her for doing good and censures for doing evil. If someone, however, continually ignores this sense of right and wrong, it gradually fades away.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

FOCUS QUESTIONS What is the origin of conscience? Conscience is given by God. Why are people able to ignore their consciences? God also gave human beings freedom. Extension: Freedom is a power of the soul, the soul being directly created by God at conception.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

FOCUS QUESTIONS Why is discernment necessary to listen to a conscience? Discernment is necessary to distinguish God’s voice from other influences. What duties does a person have toward his or her conscience? Each person must form his or her conscience well in harmony with God’s will and the teachings of his Church, and he or she must follow it when making moral choices.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

GUIDED EXERCISE Complete the following table to articulate true and false ideas of freedom.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

GUIDED EXERCISE Think/Pair/Share using the following question: Based on the “Prayer to Do God’s Will” (p. 384), why

is it wise to seek God’s will rather than one’s own?

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

GUIDED EXERCISE Think/Pair/Share using the following question: What is the relationship between freedom and truth?

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

FOCUS QUESTIONS What effect do moral choices have on the actor’s character? Good moral choices help perfect a person’s character, whereas bad ones corrupt his or her character. According to the Catechism, no. 1730, do human beings have true freedom? Yes; human beings have the dignity of persons who can initiate and control their own actions. According to the Catechism, no. 1730, why did God give human beings freedom? God gave freedom so people could choose to seek him and become perfect by joining themselves to him.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

FOCUS QUESTIONS What is the relationship between freedom and love? God gave freedom so people can return his love and love others as he has loved them. What did St. Thomas mean when he wrote, “God is offended by us only when we act against our own good”? Moral good and evil are grounded in human nature, which is why sin harms people. Extension: The moral law is not arbitrary; that is, good is not good and evil is not evil simply because God says so. Because he is all good, God has created human beings in such a way that the good is that which is in a person’s own best interest and evil is that which harms a person.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

FOCUS QUESTIONS Why is choosing to do the will of God the truest exercise of freedom? God made human beings free so they can grow and mature in truth and goodness in order to attain perfection. If people freely choose what God wants, they will begin to receive what they should want most. What is the role of habit in both moral freedom and moral slavery? Striving to do God’s will in every instance forms moral habits that make it easier to do good and to avoid sin. Extension: Good moral habits are called virtues. Evil moral habits are called vices.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

FOCUS QUESTIONS What is the highest choice a person can make with respect to God’s will? (Hint: This was illustrated in the life of Bl. Teresa of Calcutta [Mother Teresa].) It is the choice to reveal Christ to others through self-sacrifice. Bl. Teresa lived out this choice daily while ministering to the needs of the poor in Calcutta. What obligation does each person have with respect to others’ freedom? Everyone is obliged to respect others’ religious and moral freedom within the limits of law and the common good.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

FOCUS QUESTIONS Why did Christ die on the Cross? He set all people free from the slavery of sin. What is the relationship between the Sacraments and sin? Christ’s Sacraments lead their recipients toward holiness and away from sin. What is the relationship between grace and temptation? When a person is tempted to sin, grace helps him or her see what should be done, but it does not force either action.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

GUIDED EXERCISE Free write for a few minutes—for your eyes only—about the greatest obstacle to avoiding sin and seeking holiness in modern world.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

FOCUS QUESTIONS Is religion only for holy people? Why or why not? No; every person is a sinner and tempted to sin throughout his or her life. Every person, therefore, should strive to grow closer to God. Why is frequent examination of conscience in light of Church teaching important? Frequent examination in light of Church teaching helps a person to see his or her flaws, confess his or her sins, seek greater virtue and holiness, and avoid sin in the future.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

FOCUS QUESTION What factors can reduce a person’s responsibility for sin? Fear, force, ignorance, habit, inattention, inordinate attachments, and psychological or social factors reduce responsibility for sin. Extension: These factors reduce responsibility because they reduce a person’s freedom to choose good over evil.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT Study Questions 1-7 (p. 402) Practical Exercise 4 (p. 403) Workbook Questions 1-15 Read “What is Conscience?”

through “Types of Conscience” (pp. 388-394)

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

CLOSURE Summarize this lesson by answering each of the Basic Questions in one or two sentences.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT Work with a partner to answer Practical Exercise 4 about virtues.

1. Freedom (pp. 382-387)

ANTICIPATORY SET Discuss how the cardinal virtues of fortitude and temperance are necessary to do the right things a person wants to do and avoid the wrong things he or she does not want to do.

2. Conscience (pp. 388-394)

BASIC QUESTIONS What is conscience? Why must a person form his or her conscience? How does conscience relate to the moral law? What effect do the passions have on conscience? Must a person always obey his or her conscience? In what states can the conscience be?

KEY IDEAS Conscience is a judgment of reason regarding the good or evil of a

particular act in light of the objective moral law. Conscience must be formed so a person can know the moral law,

make correct applications of the law to particular actions, and have an upright attitude toward the good.

Nobody determines the moral law but discovers it or is instructed in it.

Because of Original Sin, passions can lead people astray when making moral decisions.

Everyone must obey his or her conscience. A conscience can be right or invincibly or vincibly erroneous.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What is morality? Morality is the standards by which actions are judged to be good or evil. What is the relationship between morality and civil law? Civil law is necessarily based on moral standards. What is the difficulty with respect to morality and civil law? The difficulty is determining what moral standards should be the basis to judge the goodness or evil of a civil law.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What is the fundamental disagreement regarding standards of morality in the modern United States of America? The fundamental disagreement is between (1) those who believe in an objective morality rooted in the dignity of the human person and the sacredness of human life and (2) those who embrace moral relativism, a view that morality varies from person to person and situation to situation. The former believe that the moral law is universal and applies to everyone, while the latter believe in no absolute standards for human dignity and behavior. What is the great inconsistency with respect to laws permitting abortion? There are laws forbidding the murder of innocent people, yet the law allows a doctor to abort a living child in the womb.


FOCUS QUESTIONS How is all true civil law rooted in human dignity? True civil law promotes and protects people’s well-being. For example, traffic codes protect people from unsafe driving; taxes support services like military defense; and criminal law protects lives and property. What does reason reveal about the moral law? Reason affirms that there is an objective moral law and obeying this law can make people better and bring them true happiness.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What is conscience? Conscience is a rational judgment of the intellect regarding the good or evil of a particular act in light of the objective moral law. What is the origin of the word conscience? It comes from the Latin cum scientia, which means “with knowledge.”


FOCUS QUESTIONS What kind of knowledge does conscience possess? It possesses a clear knowledge of right and wrong and of how an action relates to this standard. What does it mean to say that conscience is a practical judgment? Conscience is a judgment about the moral quality of a concrete action that a person is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already performed.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What is both right and wrong about the following statement: “My conscience says it is okay for me to __________”? It is right that a person’s conscience deserves to be respected and should be followed. Often, however, his or her conscience is poorly formed without consideration of what is objectively right and wrong. Are only Catholics required to act according to their consciences? No; as the pagan poet Homer attested 2500 years ago, people should not “do anything that wounds our conscience or that makes us ashamed of ourselves” (The Iliad).


GUIDED EXERCISE Perform a paragraph shrink on CCC 1776 (p. 389).


FOCUS QUESTIONS Why is conscience a gift? God has given each person a conscience to enable him or her to demonstrate love for him by doing good and avoiding evil. What human power is employed to make acts of conscience? Intellectual judgment makes acts of conscience.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What ought to be the basis of moral judgments? Truth ought to be their basis. What are the sources of truth upon which moral judgments should be based? They are the natural law, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the teachings of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.


FOCUS QUESTIONS Why do consciences require formation? In order to form a conscience properly, a person must know both the moral teachings of Christ and how to apply them to concrete situations. Extension: The moral law is not always self-evident, and applying it to his or her own life often requires knowledge, discernment, and prudence. Why is a conscience wrong if it advises something apart from what the Church teaches? The Magisterium of the Catholic Church enjoys the gift of infallibility in matters of Faith and morals; an individual conscience does not. Therefore the teachings of the Church are more trustworthy than an individual conscience.


GUIDED EXERCISE Of the seven ways to form a conscience listed in the text, the first three are relatively obvious. Choose one of the final four and free write about why that method is important to form conscience.


GUIDED EXERCISE Perform a focused reading on Veritatis Splendor, no. 32 (p. 391), using the following question: Why is conscience subordinate to the truth?


FOCUS QUESTIONS What two major forces incline a person to act? They are the intellect and passions. Why does a person often act according to passion instead of intellect? Original Sin has disordered the passions, so he or she can choose to be overwhelmed by them. What should be the final determiner of every action? The will should obey the intellect.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What are some examples of passions? They include love, anger, hatred, and fear. Extension: The love referred to here is either romantic or sensual love, not the theological virtue of charity. What is the moral quality of the passions? In themselves, the passions are neither good nor evil, but they can influence a moral choice for good or evil.


FOCUS QUESTIONS Must a person obey his or her conscience? Yes. Extension: Everyone is obligated to obey a certain conscience, that is, a course of action that he or she has a high degree of certainty is morally right. Should a person follow his or her certain conscience even if it is objectively wrong? Yes.


FOCUS QUESTIONS When is a person’s conscience fully formed? It is never fully formed. He or she must seek to form the conscience throughout life. What is the result of continually ignoring the conscience? It is the eventual loss of the ability to make correct moral choices.


GUIDED EXERCISE Complete the following table to organize the states of a conscience.



HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT Study Questions 8-10 (p. 402) Practical Exercises 3, 5 (p. 403) Workbook Questions 16-29 Read “The Moral Act” through “Conclusion” (pp. 394-

398)


CLOSURE Write a paragraph summarizing the ideas about conscience explicated in this lesson.


ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT In Mark Twain’s classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck decides to try to help his friend, the runaway slave, Jim, escape captivity, even though he believes this act is morally wrong and will send his soul to Hell. Based on the material in this chapter, free write to develop a moral evaluation of Huck’s decision.


ANTICIPATORY SET Brainstorm to list as many virtues as possible.

3. The Moral Act (pp. 394-398)

BASIC QUESTIONS What are the conditions for a moral act to be good? What are virtues in general and the Cardinal Virtues

in particular? KEY IDEAS For a moral act to be good, the act, the intention, and

the circumstances must all be good. A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good;

the Cardinal Virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance are the bases of all the natural virtues and are necessary to exercise the theological virtues.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What are the three elements of a moral act? They are the objective act, the intention, and the circumstances. For an act to be good, which of the elements must also be good? All three of the elements must be good for the act to be good. What does objective act mean? The objective act refers to the action in itself.


FOCUS QUESTIONS Are all acts always either good or evil? No; some acts are morally good or morally evil depending upon a person’s intention or the circumstances. Extension: Killing an attacking terrorist to protect oneself and others is morally good. Killing a witness who could testify to a crime a person has committed is morally evil. What does it mean to say an act is intrinsically evil? This describes an act that, in itself, is always morally wrong.


FOCUS QUESTION What are some intrinsically evil acts? One intrinsically evil act is murder: directly killing an innocent person, including abortion. Another is extramarital sex. Both are always in themselves wrong acts regardless of the intention of the actor.


GUIDED EXERCISE Work with a partner to come up with an example for each relationship between intention and act, including an evaluation of how the intention affects the good or evil of the act.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What does intention mean? Intention is the end, or motive, for which a person acts. How do act and intention interrelate? Ideally, a good act is performed for a good reason, but a good act can also be done for a bad reason. A bad act, moreover, can be done both for a good reason or for a bad reason. Each intention affects the moral value of the act.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What are circumstances? Circumstances are factors that occur with the act and contribute to its morality. What is an example of circumstances affecting an act? Telling a lie out of fear makes the lie less blameworthy, but the lie is still wrong. Telling the truth despite fear could, by contrast, make the act more praiseworthy. What does it mean to say that the end does not justify the means? This statement means that a good intention does not make an evil action good. Nobody may do evil so good might come of it.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What is a virtue? A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. Do virtues suppress emotions and passions? No; virtues order emotions and passions according to the mind of Christ and reason. What effect do virtues have on a person? Virtues lead to a sense of peace and joy based on the mastery of oneself.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What are the Cardinal Virtues? The Cardinal Virtues are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. What is the meaning of the word “cardinal”? It comes from the Latin cardo, which means “hinge.” All the other virtues hinge, or depend, on the Cardinal Virtues for their success. How does a person acquire the Cardinal Virtues? He or she does so through instruction, perseverance in struggle, regular choices to act morally, and God’s grace.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What is prudence? Prudence is the habit of examining every action in light of its capacity to bring a person closer to God. How should a person employ prudence to overcome a particular sin? He or she should make a serious self-examination to determine whether he or she is in danger of temptation to sin by the places he or she goes, the type of entertainment preferred, or the company kept.


FOCUS QUESTIONS Who is the best ally to acquire prudence? The Holy Spirit is the best ally. What ascetic practice helps a person to become prudent? A regular examination of moral choices both before and after a particular act helps.


FOCUS QUESTIONS What is justice? Justice is the moral virtue that enables a person steadfastly to will what is right with regard to what is due to God and neighbor. Is justice a matter of feelings? No; it is an impersonal measure regulated by nature, law, or prior agreement. What is the basis of Christian social justice? The basis of Christian social justice is the common good. By the Christian vocation, everyone wants to perfect the “city of man” so it is more like the “city of God.”


GUIDED EXERCISE Complete the following table to get a better grasp of the Cardinal Virtues.



FOCUS QUESTIONS What is fortitude? Fortitude is the virtue that enables a person to control the passion of fear and endure the dangers and difficulties of life. What is temperance? Temperance is moderation of sensual pleasures.


FOCUS QUESTIONS Are sensual pleasures evil in themselves? No. When do sensual pleasures become evil? Sensual pleasures become evil when they are not subject to reason.


FOCUS QUESTIONS Are the Cardinal Virtues only for Christians? No; all human beings are called to exercise the Cardinal Virtues. How do the Cardinal Virtues relate to the theological virtues? One needs to exercise the Cardinal Virtues to be able to exercise the theological virtues.


HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT Study Questions 11-15 (p. 402) Practical Exercises 1-2 (p. 403) Workbook Questions 30-42


CLOSURE Write a paragraph explaining how act, intention, and circumstances affect the quality of a moral act.


ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT Work with a partner to explore what it means to say that a person needs to exercise the Cardinal Virtues to be able to exercise the theological virtues.


THE END

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Chapter 17: Freedom, Morality, and Grace INTRODUCTION TO CATHOLICISM