INTRODUCTION

1. 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.

2. INTRODUCTION What is Morality

3. 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.

4. 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

5. Gifts of the Holy Spirit Wisdom Understanding Knowledge Counsel – right judgment Fortitude Piety - reverence Fear of the Lord – wonder and awe 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.

6. Charity Chastity Joy Peace Self- Control Patience Modesty Fruits of the Holy Spirit Kindness Faithfulness Goodness Gentleness Generosity What is Morality? Fruits of the Holy Spirit Described as the firstfruits of eternal glory

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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.”

10. 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.

11. Character and Virtue Character Who we really are and who we are becoming through our choices and actions

12. Character and Virtue • Ways to summarize character: • Persons with good moral characters are loving. They love God, themselves, and others. • People with good moral characters are fully human persons. • Good people are virtuous people.

13. Character and Virtue Healthy, good habits that help us do good and empower us to become what God wants us to be. Virtues

14. Prudence Faith Fortitude Virtues Cardinal Theological Hope Justice Love/ Charity Temperance Character and Virtue

15. Character and Virtue Theological Virtues • Infused by God into our souls, enable us to live in relationship to the Blessed Trinity. • Gifts from God that empower us to be good so that we may do good.

16. 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

17. Character and Virtue Four hinge virtues that support moral living Cardinal Virtues

18. 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 Character and Virtue

19. Nine Steps for Living a Moral Life 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. Repenting and seeking forgiveness when you sin. Loving God above all. Loving yourself. Loving your neighbor.

20. Vocabulary Morality Gifts of the Holy Spirit Fruits of the Holy Spirit Magisterium Character Virtues Theological virtues Cardinal virtues

21. What does it mean to be human

22. Humans are Made in the Divine Image 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. God freely created humans out of love. God is the Creator; we are not. We are God’s creatures. Christian beliefs about creation

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. Act Human • Creation is Good Nihilism A philosophy that denies there’s any meaning in existence or in religious beliefs. The only thing that matters after life is nothingness, annihilation

26. 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

27. Our Spiritual Nature • What separates humans from other earthly creatures? • Ability to think • Free will • Ability to love • Responsible beings • Capacity to grow

28. 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.

29. Our Spiritual Nature Principle of Subsidiarity solidarity “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) subsidiarity The Christian virtue of social charity and friendship 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) common good

30. 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)

31. 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

32. Humans are Wounded by Sin 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 Paschal Mystery

33. Vocabulary Nihilism Dignity Inherent Free will Subsidiarity Common good Solidarity Original sin Paschal mystery

34. 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?