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LESSON 1
MORAL THEOLOGY
“Morals”
– etymology: from the latin – mos, moris – behaviour (same as greek, ethos-
hence ethics) and by derivation, custom
– definition – morality is the QUALITY of human activity by which they are
characterized as RIGHT or WRONG and GOOD or BAD
– Synderesis: “do good, avoid evil”
– Gaudium et Spes, 22[Vatican 2]: - man “is the only creature on earth that
God willed for its own sake” and man “cannot fully find himself except
through a sincere gift of himself.”
We are made for love
When you will something, you want it for a reason.
Pleasure or for the sake of love.
Love one another (we are love by God for his own sake | we got
to live with others as well)
Man is a “PERSON”
– “Person” is an “Individual of a rational (man having intellect, brain) nature.” A
spiritual subject.
As spiritual, has intellect and will, and both open infinity - has an
INNER LIFE. (the ability of the mind to think, you are not tied
down to matter, thus having own inner life –decision of your
own)
As individual, has a UNIQUE identity.
Both point to man’s unparalleled DIGNITY.
8 BEATITUDES
– Matthew 5:1 –12
– Mercy is doing good to others in need
– Peacemakers – people who are united
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LESSON 2
HUMAN ACTS AND FREEDOM
(freedom is essential part of being moral)
Human Acts
– acts that proceed form a deliberate will
Act of Man
– Not from deliberate will. Such as
vegetative acts
person without use of reason
automatic reaction
• without intellect there will be no will.
Freedom
– External “freedom”: absence of constraint to the human action
– Internal “freedom”: our capacity to choose or to self-determination
To act or not to act (contrariety)
To act this way or that (choice)
Ignorance
– Nothing could be desired unless it is known
– Ignorance will affect your voluntariness
– Types:
Invincible – “vincere”
Vincible
• It could be a.) simple (overcome with correction),
• b.) gross,
• c.) affected
Voluntariness
– Direct – you wanted it
– Indirect
PASSIONS
– 1. Movement of sensible (bodily) appetites, due to sense input and with
bodily effects.
Passion, emotion and feelings
– 2. Proper use of passions; to accompany human act
– 3. Improper use of passions: hindrance to right choice, blindness,
precipitation
We should learn how to use our passions, channel them
correctly
Classification of passions
– Acts of concupiscible (sensible goods you want) appetite:
Love (attraction toward a sensible good) and hate (aversion
toward a sensible evil or rather, privation of sensible good)
Desire (caused by the inclination to attain a sensible good) and
aversion (disgust toward a sensible evil that is not yet suffered)
Delight or joy (rest in the possession of sensible good) and
sadness (sorrow cause by the absence of a sensible good that
has not been attained)
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July 9, 2009
LESSON 3
NATURAL LAW
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July 16, 2009
LESSON 4
EVIL ACTS: SIN
Mortal Sin
Compendium 395. When does one commit a mortal sin?
“One commits a mortal sin when there are simultaneously (continue)
present: grave matter, full knowledge, and deliberate consent. This sin destroys
charity in us, deprives us of sanctifying grace, and, if unrepented, leads us to the
eternal death of hell. It can be forgiven in the ordinary way by means of the
sacraments of Baptism and Penance or Reconciliation”
– “Mort” - death
– Deprives the soul of the LIFE(hence mortal) of grace.
– Main effects: merits hell, loses past merits, disorder in passion and even more
inclination to sin.
– Need to confess because ONLY GOD CAN BRING THAT SOUL BACK TO LIFE.
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July 20, 2009
Venial Sin
Compendium 396. When does one commit venial sin?
PRIDE
– (or vainglory) is an inordinate desire for one’s on excellence
– Leads to other vices: presumption, ambition, boasting, hypocrisy, and
disobedience
– The remedy for pride is humility. Some means to be humble are:
meditation on Jesus’ humility
sincerity in Confession and spiritual direction
self knowledge - pride is the lack of self knowledge, we think
that we are but we are not.
AVARICE
– (greed or covetousness) is the inordinate desire of having possessions of
riches.
– Produces the ensuing vices: hardness of heart, disordered anxiety, and use of
violence, fraud, and deceit.
– Some remedies for greed are:
Detachment from earthly goods, uncleanness of every kind.
Practice mortification in eating and drinking
Concern for the others
Avoiding the occasions of sin
ANGER
– (or wrath) is lack of moderation in rejecting things we consider bad that
moves us to the inordinate desire for revenge.
– Ensuing vices are revenge, malicious thoughts and indignation, abusive
speech and quarrels and blasphemy.
– Some remedies for anger are:
Patience, especially considering of Lord’s example.
Having the right intention
Charity – kindness
LUST
– Is the inordinate desire for the sexual pleasure
– Vices that follow lust are mental blindness, precipitance (acting too rashly),
inconstancy, too much attachment to present life and fear of the future, and
hatred for God.
– Some remedies for lust are:
Humble and frequent prayer (have a life of piety)
Frequent reception of the sacrament
Living well the details of temperance and modesty
Being busy, and working with the right intention
Avoid occasions of sin
ENVY
– Envy is sadness on account of the goods possessed by another, which are
regarded as harmful since they diminish one’s own excellence or glory
– Vices with it are hatred, slander, detraction, gossiping and sadness.
– The remedies for envy are:
Fraternal charity
Humility
Consideration of the evils that result form envy
GLUTTONY
– Is an inordinate desire for food and drink
– The ensuing vices are laziness, mental dullness, excessive talking and
uncleanness of every kind.
– Remedies
SLOTH
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July 23, 2009
LESSON 5
THE VIRTUE OF FAITH
Commandment Virtue
4 Justice as Piety
6&9 Temperance as
Chastity and fortitude
as self-mastery
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July 30, 2009
Dangers to Faith
– Moral obligation
– “Communicatio in Sacris” – to share sacred things, the most thing for catholic
is Christ, and Christ as Eucharist
Goodness of religious tolerance and dialogue
Evil of religious indifferentism of fanaticism
– Dangerous readings
– Mixed marriages
– Man’s internal Dangers
Pride
Immorality
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August 3, 2009
LESSON 6
THE VIRTUE OF HOPE
If you are travelling you have no money, you’re dirty, but you have a goal.
Spe salvi…
– Sadness and pessimism (“life is a useless passion”)
– Human hope in progress and consumerism
– True Hope (big and small)
– Perfect happiness (we seek for this)
– Better world
HEAVEN
– Happiness means “rest in the possession of good”
– What is the true and fitting good for man? We must possess the infinite,
which is God, by knowledge and love.
– Must go beyond natural possession, to the “supernatural happiness to which
we have been elevated.
HOPE
– Is the theological virtue by which we desire and await from God eternal life as
our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying on the help
of the grace of the Holy Spirit to merit it and to persevere to the end of our
earthly life.
– Compendium 387, 442
Elements of Hope
– The object of hope is God, whose possession will make us happy. Includes the
means to reach God.
– The reason for hope is the omnipotence and goodness of God.
– The subject of hope is all the faithful, even those in the state of sin. Includes
souls in purgatory.
Properties of Hope
– Supernatural, like faith.
– Effective – strive to reach the object of our hope
– Firm, insofar as it rests on God, but it is not firm as regards the certitude of
our cooperation.
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August 6, 2009
LESSON 7
THE VIRTUE OF CHARITY
Cooperation in evil
– Formal cooperation is always illicit
– Mere material cooperation is also illicit. Charity binds us to prevent our
neighbor’s sins as much as
– Charity does not bring us to avoid another person’s sin when this would
cause us a great inconvenience or require a disproportionate effort.
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August 13, 2009
LESSON 8
THE VIRTUE OF JUSTICE
Notion of Justice
– Scriptural use: complete moral goodness
Types of Justice
– Legal or general; render to society what is its due
Person giving society state through laws
– Commutative: render to another person (equal to you) what is his due
State private entities
– Distributive; the ruler to render burdens and honors for common good
Types of Ownership
– Absolute (all item above) or partial (one item above is missing)
Within partial, several sub-classifications like: useful, strict,
limited, etc.
– Eminent Domain or private ownership
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August 20, 2009
LESSON 9
THE RIGHT TO LIFE
Self-defense
Compendium 467. Why is the legitimate defense of person and of society
not opposed to this norm (i.e., respect for human life)
Because in choosing legitimacy …
Indirect voluntary
Evils of War
Compendium 486. What must be done to avoid war?
Because the evils and injustices that all war bring with it, we must do
everything reasonably possibly to avoid it. To this end it is particularly important to
avoid; the accumulation and sale of arms which are not regulated by the legitimate
authorities; all forms of economic and social injustice; ethnic and religious
discrimination; envy, mistrust, pride and the spirit of revenge. Everything done to
overcome these and other disorders contributes to building up peace and avoiding
war.
August 26 2009.
Capital Punishment
Compendium 469. What kind of punishment may be imposed?
The punishment imposed must be proportionate to the gravity of the offense.
Given the possibilities which the State now has for effectively preventing crime by
rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm, the cases in
which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity “ are very rare, if not
practically non-existent” (Evangelium Vitae). Which non-lethal means are
sufficient, authority should limit itself to such means because they better
correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good, are more in conformity
with the dignity of the human person, and do not remove definitely from the guilty
party the possibility of the reforming himself.
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September 3, 2009
LESSON 10
THE RIGHT TO TRUTH and REPUTATION
Justice and 8th Commandment
Values involved
– Truth – is the agreement of the mind (words, actions) with reality.
The source of truth is bigger than our minds
– Honor – is the good esteem that a person has from others.
Humble, good estimation of others.
– We need honor and truth as a personal being and in our social dealings.
About Lying
– Lying is saying the opposite of what is being thought (locution contra
mentem)
CCC 2482 “A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the
intention of deceiving.”
CCC 2483 - By injuring man’s relation to truth and to his
neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man
to God.
Kinds of Lies
– JOCULAR lies are those that are told merely to give amusement or pleasure,
as a tall tale.
Not a lie – true joke, drama, convention, mental, reservation,
extreme situations of injustice.
– PROFITABLE lies are said in order to gain some benefit.
Not a lie – polite expressions that are used to avoid frictions in
daily conversation, whether conventional or not (e.g. He is busy
at the moment, may mean, “He doesn’t want t talk to you.”)
– HARMFUL lies cause damage to the listener, such as giving…
More “Lies”
– Hypocrisy - To act out a lie, or to feign to be better than what we are in
reality
– Perjury or False Testimony - lie done in a public or official forum.
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September 10, 2009
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September 14, 2009
LESSON 11
THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY
Titles to ownership
– Legal – based on natural positive laws
– Conventional – founded on free agreement or contracts
I. Legal Titles
– Occupancy is the act of taking possession of some not owned thing in order
to make it ones own (e.g. fishing and hunting)
– Finding lost property refers to cases in which there is an owner, albeit
unknown.
– Accession is the lawful title to the fruit or accretion of one’s existing property.
– Prescription is the acquisition of something (property or rights) through its
uninterrupted possession for a time that is specified by positive law.
The object must be capable of prescription,
It must be possessed in good faith
There must be a title a reason why the possessor is convinced
that the object is his own
There must be actual possession of the property of exercise of
the right.
The possession must be enjoyed for a certain period of time,
specified by positive law
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September 17, 2009
Moral evaluation
– Determining what constitutes a serious matter is no easy question. In
principle, there is serious matter and a serious damage is inflicted, capable of
causing grave and reasonable offense and indignation, or if society is
seriously damaged by introducing a grave disorder.
Restitution or Compensation
– Restitution: return something to its rightful owner
– Reparation: objectively making good for the damage
– Satisfaction: subjectively making good for damage
Explanation: arises from unjust possession and unjust damage
How to restitute
i. Restitution has to be made to the victim of the injustice of to his heirs. If the
victim is unknown, inquiries must be made. If the victim is not discovered
thereby, the person who is keeping something in bad faith must give it to
the poor
ii. Restitution is to be made as soon as possible. It cannot be postponed until
the moment of death
iii. Reparation of the injustice is enough for restitution. There is no need to let
oneself be known as the author.
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September 24, 2009
LESSON 12
I. JUSTICE: Religion and Piety
Virtue of Religion
– The moral virtue that inclines us to give due worship to God as our Creator
and Lord, that is as our Supreme Principle.
1. Material object of religion is the actions whereby we worship God:
genuflections, prayers, etc.
2. Formal object is the imperfect equality with which man tries to
return to God something that is equivalent to what God gave him:
all that he is and has.
Acts of religion
– Devotion
– Prayer
– Adoration
– Oaths
– Vows
– Sanctity Sunday
Devotion
– The resolution to dedicate oneself to the things that pertain to the service of
God.
The principal extrinsic cause of devotion is the grace of God.
The intrinsic cause of devotion is meditation and
contemplation of God.
Some effects of devotion are spiritual joy, facility and readiness
in performing other acts of religion, and a certain influence in
human external behaviors an gestures
Prayer
Compendium 534. What is prayer?
Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God… is personal and living
relationship of the children of God with their Father who is infinitely good…
– Prayer is the raising of the mind to God with the purpose of piously
conversing with him.
Effects of prayer
– The main effects of prayer are; merit, satisfaction and granting of the petition
– Prayer has many important secondary effects:
Enlightens the intellect
Increases faith
Confirms hope and confidence
Inflames charity
Increase humility
Facilitates the exercise of all virtues
And provides consolation.
Adoration
– Generally speaking, “adoration” means the honor paid to another because of
his superior excellence and as sign of submission.
– We reserve the term adoration (or latria) for the worship of God as the
uncreated and supreme Being
– Veneration (dulia in Greek) can be given to the angels and saints
– A special form of the veneration corresponds to the exalted excellence of the
Blessed Virgin: hyperdulia or special veneration
Sacrifice – sacrum and facire (to make it holy) Holy pertaining to God.
– Sacrifice is a sacred offering that is directed to God alone to acknowledge
that his Lord of all.
Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be an expression of
spiritual sacrifice
In the New covenant, the only perfect sacrifice is that of the man
Jesus Christ…
The holy mass makes present the one sacrifice of Christ and
includes the Church’s offering.
Vows
– A vow is a free and deliberate promise that is made to God that concerns
something possible, good, and better than it opposite.
A mere resolution is not a vow
The promise is made to God, since it is an act of latria.
Something good must be promised.
It must be possible; otherwise, the vow would be absurd.
It must also be better than opposite.
Oath
– An oath is the invocation of God’s name to bear witness to the truth of what
is said.
An invocatory oath invokes God as witness to the truth
Promissory – truth of future act and to the present
Imprecatory – god as witness to the truth of falsehood
October 5, 2009
Causes of excusing from the precept of participating in the Mass
– Those who are excused by physical or moral impossibility are:
Elderly, sick
Those who are taking the sick
Mother who cannot leave their children unattended and cannot
bring them along
Thos who cannot leave their posts (soldiers…)
Those who would suffer material loss.
Compendium 445.
By Excess
– Idolatry is the adoration of an idol, that is, of an image of something that is
different from God, of more generally, the adoration of something that is
different from God, with or without use of images
– Divination is the prediction of [free] future events through unlawful or
improper methods.
Spiritism is the invocation of the spirits of the dead. It is
equivalent to divination.
– Vain Observance is a form of superstition that pretends to infallibility
obtain a certain effect through means that are not fitted to that purpose, but
either nature of the prescription of God of the Church.
– Magic is equivalent to vain observance, it is called sorcery when the result
that is sought is evil in itself.
By Defect
– Tempting God is an action of word whereby…
– Blasphemy is an injurious expression against God or by extension. Sacred
persons of things
– Taking the name of God in vain means using it without due reverence. It is
normally a venial sin
– Sacrilege is the violation of something sacred.
Real sacrilege.
Personal sacrilege is the violation of a person who is sacred
Local sacrilege is the violation or profanation of a sacred place.
– Simony is the express will to buy or sell for a material price what is spiritual
or inseparably annexed to something spiritual.
Piety
– It is the stable disposition to offer to parents and fatherland the honor and
service that is due to them as principles of our existence.
Patriotism and nationalism
– Reverence is the moral virtue that inclines
Parents have to love and raise their children, both physically and spiritually.
– Love excludes hatred to their children, insults…
– Physically raising their children
– Spiritual education
LESSON 13
THE VIRTUE OF TEMPERANCE
Materialism, Consumerism and Hedonism.
Related Virtues
– Chastity moderates the use of the reproductive power.
– Modesty, in its stricter sense of propriety, governs other acts that are
connected in some way with personal intimacy.
– Abstinence controls the use of food.
– Sobriety regulates the use of intoxicating drinks.
Positive Integration
– Body and emotions subject to right reason.
– Conjugal love: mutual total self giving
Exclusive and indissoluble
Open to life
– Self- mastery for self-giving
Elements of struggle
– Fallen nature but not corrupted: Christ’s heals
Grace
– Right reason
Natural
Normal
– Effort
Is Purity Possible?
– The sexual appetite and emotions have a life of their own – wound of
concupiscence
– Control of reason and will can be:
Despotic – control, it follows
Political – convince, it will follow.
– “Grafting” emotions to the rule of reason through positive values.
October 8, 2009
Modesty
– Not directly on sexual pleasure
– It deals with the personal intimacy
– Senses in relation to chastity and dignity
– Moderate curiosity
LESSON 14
CONSCIENCE: Proximate Norm of Morality
Etymology of Conscience
Cun + scientia (with knowledge) awareness of acting (free and deliberate)
awareness of moral quality
Types of habitual-conscience
– Refined and delicate: sensitive to moral matters.
– Scrupulous: decides that an action is sinful based on weak or insufficient
reasons.
Some symptoms of scrupulous conscience are:
• An excessive anxiety over the sufficiency of good actions,
especially over past confessions.
• Fastidious scrutinizing of unnecessary
Some remedies of scrupulous conscience are:
• Removal of its cause
• Strict obedience to one’s confessor
• Trust in God, who is our father
– Lax: judges without sufficient reason that a certain action is not, or is only
slightly, sinful.
– Hardened conscience if laxity becomes excessive because of repeated
sins.
– Pharisaic(al) conscience is characterized by great punctiliousness in some
things, together with laxity in matters of far greater importance (cf. Mt 23:24)
Formation of Conscience
Compendium 374. How is a moral conscience formed to be upright and
truthful?
An upright and true moral conscience is formed by education and by
assimilating the Word of God and the teaching of the Church. It is supported by the
gifts of the Holy Spirit and helped by the advice of wise people. Prayer and an
examination of conscience can also greatly assist one’s moral formation.
WILL (direct) INTELLECT
– Diligently learning the laws of the moral life (through spiritual formation)
– Seeking expert advice in difficult cases (spiritual direction)
– Ask God for light (prayer)
– Removing the obstacles to right judgment, such as bad habits (ascetical
struggle),
– Personal examination of conscience
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LESSON 15
THE SOURCES OF MORALITY
“Love means deeds, not sweet words” (They Way, 933)
What is Morality?
– Quality of human act as good or bad
– Good as “END”
– The conformity of non-conformity of the human act with the norms that
determine its ordination to the last end.
Compendium 367. What are the sources of the morality of human acts?
The morality of human acts depends on three sources: the object chosen,
either a true or apparent good; the intention of the subject who acts, that is, the
purpose for which the subject performs the act; and the circumstances of the act,
which include its consequences.
Sources of Morality
– To be good, the Human Act
Itself can be ordained to God (object)
The will actually ordains it (intention)
Other elements are also good (circumstances)
The process of the Human Act
– Nihil volitum nisi praecognitum - knowledge precedes any choice.
– What is first in intention is last in execution (it is the will that matters) Action
first come from within.
1. The intellect grasps reality and presents an aspect of it as “good” or “end”.
2. The will adheres to the goal without external execution (intention)
3. The intellect presents various means (subordinated goods or ends)
4. The will chooses one among many, geared to its own acting (chosen object)
5. All within a context of circumstances that affect the judgment of conscience.
CHOSEN OBJECT
Moral Circumstances
– The accidental moral conditions that contribute to increase or diminish the
moral goodness or evil of an already existing action, without changing its
essential moral status. They can
Mitigate (soften or less severe)
Extenuate (make thin – less serious)
Aggravate (make more serious)
8 moral circumstances
Time Quando Duration or timeliness