Chapter 4:

The Church, Grace, and Sin

19: The Church and Christian Moral Living
20: Obstruction to the Kingdom of God
21: Sense of Sin
22: Dimensions of Sin
23: Seven Capital Sin
24: God’s Grace
Objectives:

 To explain the three functions of the Church in fostering

a Christian moral life
 To describe sin in broader sense
 To develop a sense of sin
 To describe and provide example of each dimension of
sin
 To identify and describe each capital sin
 To identify the meaning and importance of grace
19: The Church and Christian Moral
Living
 The Church has a mission, in a broader sense, in regard
to the moral lives of her members in terms of three
functions:

A. Active Agent in Forming Christian Character (To help

form Christian moral character)
- The Church provides different symbols, images, and stories
to help her members how to think, evaluate, judge, and
decide in accordance to Christian moral norms
B. Bearer of Moral Tradition (To carry on and witness
to Christian moral tradition)
- the Church helps its members gain a sense of
who they are as Filipino Catholics through her
moral tradition

C. Community of Moral Deliberation (To serve as

the community of Christian moral deliberation)
- she provides directives/guidelines and the
moral reasoning on many moral issues that beset
the country. She supports the moral catechetical
programs in school, parish, or, community
Moral Character
Is the preference or lack of virtues which serve
as disposition to act in certain ways

Moral Tradition
Comprises the customs or beliefs that provide
constancy in moral living

Moral deliberation
The process of determining the moral decision
on moral issues/ situations
20: Obstruction to the Kingdom of
God

“The mystery of evil is already at

work” – St.Paul
Evil obstructs the coming of Christ’s
Kingdom
Sin is “an utterance, a deed, or a
desire contrary to the eternal law”
Sin can be understood in a broader sense
as:

Refusing to follow our own conscience’s call

toward the good
Rejecting God, our Creator, and our own true
selves and others by turning away from God,
our true end
Breaking God’s loving covenant with us,
shown forth in Jesus Christ, dying and rising for
our sake
St. John Paul II describes sin as a product of
man’s freedom.

Thus, they have to take sin seriously and

reflect deeply to:

a. truly appreciate God’s everlasting

merciful love
b. correct the common distorted ideas of
God, the Church, conscience, law, and the
sacrament of Reconciliation
21: Sense of Sin

The one who sins needs God’s forgiveness

“Moral life requires that we recognize in
ourselves the tendency to sin and acknowledge
ourselves as sinners as we have done evil”
Today’s sense of sin is continuously threatened
and weakened by secularism
“The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of
sin”
22: Dimensions of Sin

Sin has three dimensions these are: spiral,

sickness, and addictions

1. Spiral – sin is like a virus that infects and pollutes our

thinking and feeling, making us slaves of bad habits and
negative attitude
2. Sickness - weakens our will to overcome it and
temptation. It can further complicate our sinful ways and
lead us to more sin
3. Addiction – can make us powerless as it progressively
becomes compulsive and obsessive
Social Sin – sin can be committed
not by an individual only but also
by a group of persons
23: Seven Capital Sin

Pope Gregory I first compiled the

seven deadly sin around the year 600
Roots of sins
These are called seven capital sins
because “capital” means “head” in
Latin
The Seven Capital Sins

1. Pride – exalting oneself beyond what is due and true

2. Lust – disordered desire for, or inordinate enjoyment of
sexual pleasure
3. Wrath or Anger – destructive aggressiveness
4. Gluttony – excessive indulgence in food or drink
5. Envy – begrudging other’s talents and success, and
wishing them evil
6. Greed/Covetousness/Avarice – desiring what belongs to
others, leading to dishonesty, stealing, and injustice
7. Sloth – laziness and escape from exerting due effort
24: God’s Grace

One needs the grace of God to strengthen

him/her in this spiritual battle
Grace is God’s loving PRESENCE. It is the spirit
within the person – guiding, strengthening,
protecting, and sanctifying
The spirit is:
Needed from the start to obey the love
commandment
The goal of our loving life
The Gifts of the Spirit is a Spirit who:
1. Adopts us as children of God
2. Enable us to love as Christ commanded
3. Empowers us to bear witness to Christ and to
know the truth
4. Draws us into community unity and service
5. Inspire us to live a truly Christian life