Say “

”
Case Study
CASE 1: The Wrong Bill

You and your friends have just dined in an expensive

restaurant. When you inspect the bill, you notice that the
waiter forgot to charge your table one main entrée your
ordered that cost Php 250.00 Your friend Matthew tells all of
you to keep quiet about the mistake since the waiter was rude
earlier. What will you do?
Case Study
CASE 2: Taking Care of a Sick Parent

You are left to care of your bedridden mother one Sunday.

Around six o’clock in the evening, your other family members
call you to tell you that they might come home a bit late. You
were hoping to catch the 7 p.m. mass in your parish, but it
seems that you might not be able to make it because you need
to take care of your mom. What will you do?
Case Study
CASE 3: Text Victim

Marcy, your classmate, recently became the victim of cyberbullying

when an unknown individual spread a malicious text message about
her to members of the school community, including teachers and
administrators. The text message falsely depicted her as
promiscuous, untrustworthy, and two-faced. As Marcy’s friend, you
know that these are all false. During recess, you overhear another
classmate, Gina, telling another classmate that she was the one who
sent the malicious text message to teach Marcy a lesson. What will
you do?
Process of Discernment
 In essence, discernment is a decision-
making process that honors the place of God's
will in our lives. It is an interior search that
seeks to align our own will with the will of God
in order to learn what God is calling us to.
Every choice we make, no matter how small, is
an opportunity to align ourselves with God's
will. Here are some tried-and-true pointers
that can help you discern God's will
VOCATION
The word itself comes from the Latin
word vocare, which means “to call”
or “to summon.” This connection to
calling has often led to the common
understanding of vocation as related
to the priesthood, religious life, or
marriage.
 LUMEN GENTIUM on VOCATION
“Fortified by so many and such powerful
means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever
their condition or state, are called by the
Lord, each in his own way, to that perfect
holiness whereby the Father Himself is
perfect...”
N.B. Aspects of Vocation from Lumen Gentium
 ASPECTS OF VOCATION

1. Vocation is what is received at baptism.

2. Vocation is more specific and concerns
the state of life of a person.
3. Vocation is personal mission.
Finding one’s vocation is NOT
easy. It finds a deeper sense
of meaning in the world and a
deeper sense of peace in
participating with God’s
creative work in the world.
 Frederick Buechner on Vocation

“We can speak of a man choosing his vocation, but perhaps

it is at least as accurate to speak of a vocation’s choosing
the man of a call being given and a man’s hearing it, or not
hearing it. And maybe that is the place to start: the
business of listening and hearing. A man’s life is full of all
sorts of voices calling him in all sorts of directions. Some of
them are voices from inside, and some of them are voices
from outside...Which do we listen to? What kind of voice
do we listen for?”
 The Catholic understanding of God
believes that God speaks to each person
various ways, meeting that person in his
or her particular life situation and
communicating God’ self to the others in
the best way that that person can
understand. God wants what is best for
us and that this will also give us the most
joy and deep peace.
Ikigai ( 生 き 甲 斐 ) is roughly
translated as the “reason for
being” or the “reason why you
wake up each morning”. is the
intersection of a person’s
passion or happiness, the
person’s skills and practical
needs, and what the world
needs.
CONSCIENCE
“The call to grow, the call to move forward as disciples, the
call to put on virtue is always a call heard in the Christian
conscience.” Therefore, a person’s conscience is better
understood to be a process where a person grapples with
what God communicates to him or her and acts according to
the judgment made by this process.
It consists of “mentored practices of justice,
temperance, fortitude, fidelity, and self-care
through the ministration of conscience’s own
prudence” that “allows us to learn more and
more about how we are to respond to God,
neighbour and ourselves in love.”
Gaudium Et Spes On
Conscience
“In the depths of his conscience, man
detects a law which he does not impose
upon himself, but which holds him to
obedience. Always summoning him to
love good and avoid evil, the voice of
conscience when necessary speaks to
his heart: do this, shun that. For man
has in his heart a law written by God;
to obey it is the very dignity of man;
according to it he will be judged.”
  Conscience is the most secret core and
Gaudium Et Spes On sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with
Conscience God, whose voice echoes in his depths. In a
wonderful manner conscience reveals that
law which is fulfilled by love of God and
neighbor. In fidelity to conscience,
Christians are joined with the rest of men in
the search for truth, and for the genuine
solution to the numerous problems which
arise in the life of individuals from social
relationships. Hence the more right
conscience holds sway, the more persons
and groups turn aside from blind choice and
strive to be guided by the objective norms
of morality.”
 CONSCIENCE BASED DISCERNMENT

3 Things to consider:
1. Act itself
2. Intentions
3. Circumstances
Subjective Axis

Cases:
Objective Axis
1. Steal to Survive
2. Lie to Save Life
3. Cheat to Help in Need
 Formation of Conscience
Developing conscience is important for it to stay working
in its best form. Forming the conscience is a lifelong
process which means, it does not happen overnight nor it
is an easy task. However, forming the conscience entails
two concerns: what happens when the person is in
ignorance, which leads to an erroneous conscience; and,
what happens when one’s conscience differs from the
Catholic Church’s teachings.
 Gaudium Et Spes On
Formation of Conscience

“conscience frequently errs from

invincible ignorance without losing its
dignity;” however, “the same cannot be
said for a man who cares but little for
truth and goodness, or for a conscience
which by degrees grows practically
sightless as a result of habitual sin
Can one’s conscience be wrong?
Though a person will never know everything and will
always be coming from a particular perspective that will
have blind spots or weaknesses, there is still a way to
have some degree of moral certitude in deciding which
side is more correct.
“to follow the strongest evidence available is the
only proper way for a human agent to act in any
uncertain situation. That is, basing our moral
decisions upon the evidence that we do have is
the only way to act properly as rational,
responsible moral agents…when you know that
you do not know, find out!”
What if one’s conscience conflicts
with Church Teaching?
 Catholic moral theology has upheld
what is called the primacy of
conscience. This means that a
human being must always obey his
or her conscience; as Gaudium et
Spes put it, the conscience “holds
one to obedience.” Still, saying that
the conscience has primacy does not
make the person infallible.
 What if one’s conscience conflicts
with Church Teaching?
Part of conscience formation is seriously
learning and understanding what the Church is
teaching and to see whether or not a person
still has legitimate grounds for disagreeing with
the teaching. “Legitimate grounds” require a
defense of the dissenting side using the sources
and methodology of the Catholic Church.
If the person does have a serious disagreement with legitimate
grounds, this is called dissent. Dissenting from Church teaching is
a serious matter and should not be taken lightly nor done
disrespectfully.
 FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE
Ways of Forming Our Minds Ways of Forming Our Hearts
1. Learning from the experiences and 1. Spending moments alone in quiet personal prayer and
reflections of friends reflection
2. Taking time to read and study Sacred 2. Attending and participating in the Eucharistic liturgy
Scripture
3. Listening to parent’s advice or engaging in 3. Joining reflection sessions, prayer groups, or youth
dialogues with them over important issues recollections with friends
4. Learning in school: listening to teachers, 4. Celebrating the sacraments, especially the Eucharist
asking questions, participating in and the Sacrament of Reconciliation
classroom discussions, doing research
5. Studying the teachings and the stand of
the Catholic Church on moral issues
6. Consulting parents, teachers, and
counselors on issues and life situations