Unit I: CALLED TO SALVATION IN CHRIST
We look up to Christ as the ultimate revelation of the
INTRODUCTION
DIGNITY is revealed in the very mystery of the person of
JESUS CHRIST who is the image of the invisible God, and
the Good Teacher.
JESUS CHRIST
A. The Ultimate Revelation of the Father
B. The Good Teacher
C. Sheds Light on The Mystery and Dignity of The
Human Person
D. Calls Us to Discipleship
LESSON A: CHRIST AS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE
GOD
What is our ultimate life list or what is it that we
consider as absolute in our lives?
Our CORE?
In Latin, COR means heart.
the question: “What is in our hearts?”
“You’ve got to figure out what you love… and it’s going
to bring you great joy.” -- Jeff Bezos Founder CEO of
Amazon Richest man in the world.
HIERARCHY OF VALUES
Ranks or orders human needs according to importance,
immediacy, and level of difficulty in terms of
acquisition: at the bottom stands the physiological
needs, while perched at the pinnacle is self-
actualization.
“The Last Dance,” Michael Jordan was shown as the
man who obsessed himself with winning championship.
WHAT IS THE MEANING AND PURPOSE OF OUR LIFE?
It is natural for human beings to desire to be happy.
Human beings, embark on a lifelong search for that
absolute good, which will lead them to the happiness
that never ends.
Domine, Non-Nisi Te.
How do we attain God?
Takeaways:
• By claiming that we are redeemed.
• The road that leads to God is described as:
- “narrow”
- “passing through the eye of a needle.”
1. Jesus Christ, the Ultimate Revelation of the Father It
is only through Christ, the only true mediator between
God and man, that human beings can reach God.
“No mission is activated and no identity is clarified apart
from Christ.” --PCP II
Father, who calls us to communion, and as the good
teacher who leads us to the Father.
A. GOD AS OUR PERSONAL ABSOLUTE
“God is a personal absolute in whom is found the
reason for our existence, and therefore, He is a being
who gives absolute meaning to our lives.”
“God, infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself, in a plan
of sheer goodness freely created man to make him
share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every
time and in every place, God draws close to man. He
calls man to seek Him, to know Him, to love Him with all
his strength.” --Catechism of the Catholic Church
“To be a human being means to come from God and to
go to God.” --YOUCAT
God, as our personal absolute, gave Himself to us
through the incarnation of Christ, His only Son our Lord.
B. CHRIST IS GOD IN A HUMAN WAY
God did more for human beings than for any other
creature that He has created:
He shared His life with them, which happened perfectly
through the incarnation of Christ
“In His Son and through Him, He invites men to become,
in Holy Spirit, His adopted children and heirs of his
blessed life.” --CCC, 13.
Through the mystery of Christ’s incarnation people
actually live with God, have a special bond or
relationship with Him, and most importantly they feel
or experience His love every day of their lives.
C. CHRIST IS HUMAN IN A DIVINE WAY
God’s coming down to meet His people also means
raising them up and liberating from their sinful
condition.
By becoming human...
• Christ became an example for all people to follow
because He manifested those characteristics that make
man perfect.
• Jesus Christ, through His life, words, and works,
revealed how people should live their lives.
• Jesus corrected the false belief that people are bad or
helplessly sinful.
• Jesus revealed what is true and good about human
beings: that they are all invited by God to be perfect like
Him
When asked how many times we should forgive, his
response was: ALWAYS! (Matthew 18:21).
Christ demonstrated that goodness is not give and take.
Doing good does not expect something in return but is
the habitual response of someone who is created in the
image and likeness of God.
When the woman caught in the act of adultery was brought
to Him (John 8:1-11), Jesus did not show condemnation but
only mercy and compassion. When He lovingly told the
woman to sin no more, Jesus showed that people, by the
grace of God, can change for the better.
In his encounter with Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke
19:1-10), he exemplified before the crowd that an act of
compassion can move even the most hardened sinner.
When He asked to eat dinner with the tax collector, He
demonstrated that we are capable of seeing the good in
others.
TO BE TRULY HUMAN IS TO BE LIKE GOD.
That man can love, forgive, show compassion, and set
aside prejudices toward others, shows that the divine is
truly shared with the human.
2. Images of Jesus in the Gospels: The Way, The Truth,
The Life
It is only in the mystery of the incarnation of Christ that
people can understand who they are and what their
purpose in this world is
Before performing his mission or public ministry, Jesus was led
by the Spirit to the desert where he was tempted by the devil
(Mark 1:12,13; Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13).
The very name of Jesus, which means “the one who is
to save people from their sins” also means that Jesus is
the greatest sign of God’s love for his people.
OUR GOAL: SEQUELA CHRISTI
We rise from the temporary setbacks of our lives and
we redirect ourselves back to Christ, “once we give up
our own wealth and very self.”
In the responses of the Disciples whom Jesus invited to follow
Him as fishers of men (Matthew 4:19);
Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus cast out seven demons
(Luke 8:2) and who later became the apostle to the apostles.
In Saint Paul who became the apostle to the Gentiles.
Following Christ entails RADICAL CONVERSION:
forgetting oneself and committing everything to Christ.
• Stripping the old self of that sinful life to take on the
new white garment of Christ.
• It is dying to oneself but rising again as a new person
configured to Christ, no longer living one’s life for one’s
own but for Christ.
• Being immersed in the waters of baptism all over
again and time and time again
As we praise God for the gift of discipleship, we recall in
thanksgiving those inspired moments when we
triumphed over sin.
LESSON B:
JESUS CHRIST AS THE GOOD TEACHER
certain currents of thought have gone so far as to exalt
freedom to such an extent that it becomes an absolute, which
would then be the source of values (vs, 32).
a radically subjectivistic conception of moral judgement or
individualist ethic is: where the individual conscience is
accorded the status of a supreme tribunal of moral judgment
which hands down categorical and infallible decisions
a number of disciplines, grouped under the name behavioral
sciences, have rightly drawn attention to many kinds of
psychological and social conditionings which influence the exercise
of freedom. vs, 33
some theories, using scientific research about the human person
argue from a great variety of customs, behavior patterns, and
institutions present in humanity, end up with an outright denial of
universal human values, with a relativistic conception of morality
(vs, 33)
John Paul II exhorts people of today to “turn to Christ once
again in order to receive from Him the answer to their
deepest questions” (VS, 8)
1. JESUS OPENS UP THE FAITHFUL TO THE SACRED
SCRIPTURE
“If you wish to enter into life, keep the
commandments.” Matthew 19:17
Jesus brings the question about morally good action
back to its religious foundation (VS, 9): THE
DECALOGUE.
In the “first tablet” of the Law, Jesus teaches us that
God is the beginning and end of our life.
Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:4-7
Jesus definitively confirms the Decalogue and proposes
them as the way and condition of salvation. VS, 12
The “Second Tablet of the Law” commands us: “you
shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you
shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and your
mother; also, you shall love your neighbor as yourself
(Matthew 19: 18- 19). These commandments are
summarized by Jesus’ command to His disciples: “you
shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19;
cf. Mk. 12:31).
Jesus brings God’s commandments to fulfillment. Jesus
shows that the commandments must not be
understood as a minimum limit not to be gone beyond,
but rather as a path involving a moral and spiritual
journey towards perfection (VS, 15)
Christian moral vocation is precisely: to commit
ourselves through the power of Christ’s redeeming
grace to the progressive overcoming of the evil of sin in
and around us – a personal human reaching out in
loving service to others – rather than simply avoiding sin
or shrinking from evil.
2. JESUS REVEALS THE FATHER’S WILL
The three-fold yeses covering the three dimensions of
human life:
• the intra-personal
• the inter-personal
• societal must be grounded on the fourth foundational,
integrating…
• Yes, to God.
Christ Jesus, With him it was always yes, and however
many the promises God made, the yes to them all is in
Him. That is why it is through Him that we answer Amen
to the praise of God.
This demands a radical change of heart, a real
conversion, manifested in a triple yes to self, others,
and society, and grounded in the ultimate yes to God,
overcoming the “No” of sin.
3. JESUS TEACHES ABOUT MORAL ACTION
To go to the heart of the Gospel’s moral teaching and
grasp its profound and unchanging content, we must
carefully inquire into:
• the meaning of the question asked by the rich young
man in the Gospel
• the meaning of Jesus’ reply, allowing ourselves to be
guided by Him.
Jesus as the patient and sensitive teacher, answers the
young man by taking him, as it were by the hand, and
leading him step by step to the full truth
4. JESUS SHEDS LIGHT ON MAN’S LOFTY VOCATION
The first and ultimate vocation of man is communion
with God and there is only one way to respond to this
calling: JESUS CHRIST.
The basic motivation for following Christ in moral action
is, of course the Blessed Trinity: eternal Father’s love
for us, manifested pre-eminently in Jesus’ Paschal
Mystery, and the Holy Spirit sent into our hearts who
enables us to fulfill Christ’s own command: Love one
another as I have loved you.
5. CHRIST IS ALWAYS PRESENT TO HIS CHURCH
Christ empowered the Church to proclaim, without fear
of error, faith and morals.
- Church must always be deeply conscious of her duty in
every age to examine the signs of the times and
interpret them in the light of the Gospel.
- Church as the People of God among the nations, while
attentive to the new challenges of history and to
mankind’s efforts to discover the meaning of life, offers
to everyone the answer which comes from the truth
about Jesus and his Gospel.
LESSON C: JESUS SHEDS LIGHT ON THE MYSTERY AND
DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
CALLED to be children of God (cf. 1 Jn 3:1), destined for
eternal life of blessed communion with the Father, His
Risen-Incarnate Son, and their Holy Spirit
Being in full solidarity with humankind, our Lord
showed us how to be fully human and fully alive. Christ
primarily revealed how the essential dignity of all
persons is grounded directly on their origin, meaning
and destiny.
1.Created in the Image and Likeness of God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, “through whom everything was
made and through whom we live” (1 Cor 8:6)
Man is the only creature on earth that God has willed
for its own sake, and he alone is called to share, by
knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this
end that he was created, and this is the fundamental
reason for his dignity.
The doctrine that man is created in the image and
likeness of God provides the theological grounding that
upholds the sacredness of the human person and
guarantees the respect to be given him.
a. Able to Know and Love his Creator
• He is an image of God by virtue of his/her possession
of the distinctive faculties of intellect and freewill, that
on account of which, he/she is capable of self-
determination.
• Because of the spiritual character of his/her soul, man
possesses freedom, an eminent sign of divine image.
• Man’s reason enables him/her to know the voice of
God compelling him/her to do good and avoid evil.
b. Willed by God for His own Sake
• Every human being is an irreplaceable and no
substitutable person, a kind of good that cannot be
treated as an object of use or as a means to an end.
• As a subject, he/she is the one in charge of his/her life
as he/she can act according to their conscience, in
freedom and with sufficient knowledge
c. Called to be Stewards of Creation
▪ The companionship between man and woman is not
of dominance but solidarity, not inferiority but
complementarity, equity and not equality.
▪ As stewards of creation both man and woman were
equally ordered to "subdue" the earth as His stewards.
▪ This sovereignty is not destructive domination. God
calls man and woman, to share in his providence toward
other creatures; hence their responsibility for the world
God has entrusted to them. CCC, 373.
d. Called to Communion
•As images of the self-giving love of God, human beings
are capable of self-giving love as well.
• As products of a divine self-gift, human beings should
respond to God by giving themselves to others.
• To give oneself to others as much as possible in
imitation of the self-giving of God in the Trinity is the
concrete living out of our being an image of God.
Therefore, being created in the image and likeness of
God is both a gift and a task. The challenge to be true to
who and what we are is an endless task – it never
expires. We always look at Jesus Christ and strive to
always model our lives to his, for we are not just any
slave or servant who follows the will of his/her master
but we are raised to the status of being adopted sons
and daughters of God.
2. Redeemed by the Blood of Christ and are sanctified
by the indwelling Holy Spirit
God elevated man to participation in the divine life
and live-in communion and belongingness with the
Trinity.
But with the entry of sin, this communion and
belongingness was shattered, as well as their
communion among themselves.
Yet God did not abandon man altogether; instead, He
held out the means of saving them by gathering men
together to counter the chaos which was the
consequence of sin.
“That all of them maybe one, as You, are in Me, and I
am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world
may believe that you sent me. I have given them the
glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as we are
one.
Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by
death. By sending his own Son in the form of a slave, in
the form of a fallen humanity, on account of sin, God
"made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God
“For in Christ and through Christ, we have acquired full
awareness of our dignity, of the heights to which we are
raised, of the surpassing worth of our humanity and of the
meaning of our existence.” CCC, 602.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every
spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the
creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In
love, He predestined us for adoption to Sonship through
Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the
praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in
the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches
of God’s grace.” Ephesians 1:3-7.
Healing the wounds of sin, the Holy Spirit renews us
interiorly through a spiritual transformation. He
enlightens and strengthens us to live as "children of
light" through "all that is good and right and true." CCC,
1695.
3.Made Holy by the Presence of the Spirit
When God touches man's heart through the illumination of
the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving
that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without
God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself
toward justice in God's sight. CCC, 1993.
The merit of good works is to be attributed in the first
place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's
merit itself, moreover, is due to God, for his/her good
actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and
assistance given by the Holy Spirit. CCC, 2008.
Being a witness of Christ, as in leading a life worthy of
the Gospel of Christ is made capable of doing so by the
gift of his Spirit which we can obtain through prayer,
though the impulse to pray is still permeated with the
promptings of the Holy Spirit.
4.Christ as the One who Sheds Light on the Dignity of
the Human Person
To understand man as a person is to point out that man
is created by God with inviolable dignity.
Human Person in the Aristotelian-Thomistic Hierarchy
of Beings the Aristotelian-Thomistic hierarchy of beings
(scala naturae) provides a backdrop for the Christian
understanding of man. It gives is a view of human
beings both in relation to God (as creator) and other
created beings
In the ecology of the visible world, only human beings
possess rationality, i.e., intellect and freewill, while
possessing altogether the excellent traits of the beings
in the lower strata of the hierarchy, to wit: motion
(animals), and life (plants).
▪ Hence, we define human beings as individual
substance of rational nature (Individua Substantia
Naturae Rationalis).
Human Person According to the Catechism for Filipino
Catholics CFC, 687-692.
Open and Relational. Persons are open and relational
by nature. No one exists by oneself, but only in
relationship with others. Human existence does not
precede relationship but born of relationship and is
nurtured by it. We grow into our full selves as persons
only in relating with others.
Being a person means being by others (our conception,
birth, upbringing), being with others (our family,
friends, neighbors, business associates), and being for
others (love, service).
Our Trinitarian origin infers that this is how we have
been created by God — as social beings. This is how we
have been redeemed by Christ — as a people. This is
how the Holy Spirit works not only within but among us
as the people of God, journeying towards our common
destiny in God. CFC 687
Conscious Beings, aware of themselves in their
outgoing acts. We possess this self-awareness through
our knowing and free willing.
By his reason, human beings:
- Know the order of things established by God;
- Understand how and what things should be.
–Is imbued with the instinctive awareness of the
unwritten decree inscribed in his heart.
- Recognizes this as the voice of God constantly urging
him to do the good and avoid evil. CFC, 688.
Embodied Spirits
- This stresses the unity between our “body and soul.”
- This substantial unity of our body and soul is known as
“hylemorphism.”
- Our body is an essential part of our being human and
not merely an “instrument” we “use” as we please.
The Body
• BODY as “good and honorable since God has created
it and will raise it up on the last day” (GS 14).
• God the Son further dignified the body through his
Incarnation: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us” (Jn. 1:14).
• St. Paul admonishes us: “You must know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within — the
Spirit you have received from God… So, glorify God in
your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20)
The SOUL
• Serves as the form (the nature or essence of a thing
that makes it what it is) of the body.
• Functions as the unifying principle that forms the one
unique human being.
• Needs embodiment, i.e., assistance of the senses for
the fulfillment of the soul’s vital task.
Historical Realities
As Persons, we are:
▪ Pilgrims on-the-way, who gradually, through time,
become our full selves.
▪ Free to decide for ourselves and form ourselves; in
this sense we are our own cause.
▪ Developing in discernible stages, described in great
detail by modern psychology. CFC, 690.
▪ Integrating our past to our present existence to makes
us move into our future with a sense of integrity and a
coherent sense of direction. (R. M. Gula, S.S.)
Unique yet Fundamentally Equal
▪ All men are endowed with a rational soul and are
created in God’s image; they have the same nature and
origin and, being redeemed by Christ, they enjoy the
same divine calling and destiny; there is here a basic
equality between all men.” GS, 29
▪ But despite sharing common features of humanity, we
do things differently. This implies therefore that we
seriously consider each person’s uniqueness and
originality. Each of us is called to “image” God in a
unique way — no one can “take our place”
LESSON D: THE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST IS A
CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP
EMMANUEL LEVINAS: NOTION OF THE OTHER
Egocentrism
• The struggle for life or the desire to persevere in
being, heightens egoism, which is characterized by the
desire for enjoyment or happiness.
• The primordial tendency of the ego is to live for itself
and secure any means available and attainable in order
to maintain a happy existence.
• The “I” in its inwardness becomes the origin of
meaning and determines whether or not something is
valuable, i.e., usable or consumable.
Alterity
• The Other stands at the top of my hierarchy of values,
I am beholden to it before anything else as “the other is
characterized by height or highness.”
• The absoluteness with which the other’s existence
transcends the claims of my self-centered universe by
more radical demands, is what Levinas calls infinity…we
must be the servant of our neighbor.
• our existence is affirmed or validated not by the mere
fact of persevering in being but by our liberation from
our own constricting egotism. In other words, we are
liberated by our ethical response when we encounter
the Other who reveals its face to us.
This Other deposes me and imposes itself upon me as
my priority. Ethics, for Levinas, is the radical
interpretation of the formula of etiquette: apres vous
(after you, please!). Moreover, the Other, as it reveals
its face to me, puts me under a basic obligation or
command to be at its service before myself, which
Levinas underscored: me voici (Here I am!).
“We are all guilty of all and for men before all, and I
more than the others.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1. Christian Discipleship is Countercultural and Radical
Alterity
We turn to Jesus Christ:
• We listen to his words. • We follow his actions.
Following Christ is the essential and primordial
foundation of Christian morality. Jesus’ ways and words,
his deeds and his precepts constitute the moral rule of
Christian life.
What does discipleship entail?
▪ Come follow me and I will send you out to fish for
people. At once, they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:19
▪ If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions,
come follow me. Matthew 19:21
▪ If anyone should come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24
Who is a disciple?
• A disciple is a lover of Truth:
• Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life
How does one become a disciple?
• A disciple imitates Jesus who gives primacy to the will
of the Father.
What is expected of a disciple?
• A disciple lives in loving service of others.
BEATITUDES
-A set of precepts that utterly demonstrate the moral
standards of our Lord and at the same time resonate his
call to follow him as his disciples.
CHRIST CRUCIFIED: Brutal, Anguish, Terrible Wounds
According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, Christ Crucified is
the perfect exemplification of the Beatitudes.
• A picture of a happy man.
• Freedom and joy: when all our expectations are
turned around.
TO BE HAPPY: Despise what Jesus despised on the
Cross. 4 things that make us happy: Wealth, pleasure,
power and honor
Love what Jesus loved on the Cross.
▪ Doing the will of the Father:
▪ The single-hearted one
▪ Hunger for righteousness
▪ Ultimate peacemaker and
▪ Ultimate bearer of God’s mercy.
2. The Church: Willed by God to Make Possible the
Encounter with Christ
The Church was instituted by Christ to perpetuate His
presence on earth. She signifies in a visible, historical
and tangible form the presence and redeeming activity
of Christ offered to all persons of every age, race and
condition.
The Church have always wished to serve this single end:
that each person may be able to find Christ, in order
that Christ may walk with each person the path of life.
RH, 13
As the sacrament of salvation of all, not only of the
explicit members but also those who share in the
“theandric communion without explicit awareness of
Christic foundation,” She is mindful of her task to make
present everytime, in every situation the encounter
between the spirit and the flesh, God and mankind
WEEK 4
THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE
PURPOSE – is that for which an action is done.
◼ All our actions, provided they are human acts, have a
purpose or end or objective.
◼ There is no human act without a purpose.
◼ Every human act has happiness for a purpose or
objective.
◼ All men strive to be happy.
◼ Therefore, the over-all purpose of human life is
happiness.
GOOD AND HAPPINESS
Good is “that which all men desire.” – Aristotle
The concepts of good and evil are most fundamental in
ethics for that is what Ethics is all about: to determine
what is morally good or evil for man.
The concept of good and evil, from the moral point of
view, is determined from man’s relationship to his end
or purpose, that is to say, we consider man as man.
Any action that leads an individual to his end as man is
morally good.
Any action that separates or prevents an individual from
his end as man is morally evil.
Thus, it will be impossible to define the notion of what
is morally good or evil without making reference to
man’s end as MAN
INTELLECT AND FREE WILL
Man is created imperfect. He is endowed with power
and potencies or faculties through the exercise of which
he grows and develops until he reaches a progressive
state of perfection he did not have when he was born. It
is towards this perfection that man dedicates his life.
The intellect and free will are two spiritual faculties of
man. Through his intellect, man discovers the Truth.
Through his will, man tends towards that which the
intellect presents as Good.
The intellect of man seeks the truth and will not stop
until it possesses truth without error. The will of man is
always inclined towards the good.
Anything that is good and known as such by man, will
attract his desires
Things attract man differently because they are:
❖ useful - it renders service and facilitates work
❖ pleasant - it makes you feel good
❖ befitting his condition - it promotes healthy and
vigorous life
According to Aristotle, it is “that for the sake of which
everything else is desired and which is not desired for
the sake of anything else.
Happiness to be considered the ultimate purpose or
end of man must be self-sufficient to satisfy man’s
aspiration.
As Aristotle also says: “that which when isolated makes
life desirable and lacking in nothing.”
Happiness even isolated makes life desirable
It will be easy to understand that whatever happiness
consists in, it will have to be something that satisfies
man’s total needs and aspirations, especially the needs
of his superior qualities: the INTELLECT and the FREE
WILL.
Supreme Good being correlative of Perfect Happiness
must meet:
1. Happiness being the last and Supreme Good must be
desired for its own sake.
2. Happiness being proper to man, the Supreme good
must be something that fits man as man.
3. The Supreme Good must be capable of permanent
possessions.
Requirements of Lasting Happiness
What can satisfy man’s craving for happiness must be
total, permanent, lasting and eternal. True happiness
must have no admixture of pain, misery or unhappiness.
So, man’s ultimate happiness does not consist in the
possession of money, power, popularity or good looks.
What can make man happy lies in the satisfaction of his
capacities as man.
What makes man distinctly man are his faculties of
intellect and free will, and hence man’s satisfaction lies
in knowing the ULTIMATE TRUTH and doing the
SUPREME GOOD
In any theological ethics the ultimate criterion of
morality is true happiness. An action is morally good
because it leads to happiness for persons. The only authentic
happiness is one which satisfies the whole person in his or
her deepest and most ultimate needs.
Worldviews/Trends in Achieving Happiness Hedonism
• To seek the pleasurable is the primary reason of
human behavior.
• Happiness equates with pleasure. Pleasure ranges
from the physical exhilaration to the material things
which the world cunningly offers.
• The hedonist chases physical pleasures as gateway to
what will satisfy inner longings. In the end, after the
fleeting feeling has welled up, the emptiness remains
and the same cycle of chasing after pleasure continues
without providing the authentic remedy to their
insatiable yearnings.
Materialism and Consumerism
• Material possession, success, and progress are the
highest values in life. This doctrine highly values the
material realm and is opposed to intellectual and
spiritual values.
• An upshot of materialism is Consumerism, which
believes that personal wellbeing and happiness depend,
on a very large extent, on the level of consumption,
particularly on the purchase of material goods.
• Like hedonism, buttressing one’s happiness on
material things, in the end, only throws a person into a
cycle of dissatisfaction and constant yearning for
something that is temporal and fleeting.
c. Eudaimonism
• The highest form of happiness can be acquired
through the practice of virtues. For Aristotle, these
virtues are actions turned into good habits which lead a
person to transcend his/her passions.
2. GOD AS THE ULTIMATE HAPPINESS OF THE HUMAN
PERSON
a. St. Thomas Aquinas on Happiness
• Happiness as end. Human beings have the power of
reason to determine what seems good for them and the
power of free will to choose what goods they will seek
and how they will go about obtaining them.
• Thus, according to Aquinas we are masters of our own
actions.
• Those goods that we seek are goals or ends, the things
we hope to achieve by our actions.
• The angelic doctor adds, “although the end be last in
the order of execution, yet it is the first order of the
agent’s intention and it is in this way that it is a cause.”
• St. Thomas asserts that human beings are not so
much pawns who are pushed by the random events of
their past as masters of their fates who are pulled by
future goals of their own making.
• Aquinas insists that an end acts as a final cause, a
cause for the sake of which human beings undertake to
do something.
• Aristotle and Aquinas agree that although each
individual has his/her own personal likes and dislikes,
he/she acts, most of the time, for the very same final,
last end.
• So, what then is that final end
False happiness. According to St. Augustine, “all men
agree in desiring the last end, which is happiness.” Why,
then, do individual men and women act so very
differently and achieve such differing degrees of
happiness? St. Thomas notes that “to desire happiness
is nothing else than to desire that one’s will be satisfied.
And this is what everyone desires.” And yet, “all do not
know Happiness; because they know not in what the
general notion of happiness is found.”
In determining what will bring happiness, St. Thomas
starts by enumerating some common false contenders,
which are as popular and alluring today as they were in
the thirteenth century, namely: wealth, power, honor,
fame and glory.
• These are only means to the end of happiness itself
and none of them ever completely brings satisfaction.
Two Kinds of Happiness:
• An imperfect happiness while here on earth. (Felicitas)
- enjoyment
• A perfect happiness consisting of the beatific vision of
the Uncreated Good (i.e., God) in heaven. (Beatitudo) –
lasting happiness
Augustine expressed this so beautifully in his writing,
“Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
Augustine refers to God who is the ultimate source of
every good thing and the end towards whom human
beings ought to direct all their actions.
b. Happiness in God as the Ultimate Goal of Human
Beings
• Happiness is associated with the meaning of life. JPII
• “In the depths of his heart there always remains a yearning
for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it.
This is eloquently proven by man's tireless search for
knowledge in all fields.” JPII
St. Thomas Aquinas points out: “every agent acts for an
end; otherwise, one thing would not follow more than
another from the action of the agent.”
- clarifies the how rational beings differ from irrational
beings in their pursuit of an end:
• Irrational creatures seek their end by means of natural
inclination.
• In rational creatures, this inclination is caused by the
deliberation of the intellect, which knows the end as
good, and the free decision of the will.” As the faculty
that chooses, the will empowers the person to choose
which path to take on the way to happiness: whether
right or wrong.
Relationship between the Human Person’s Rationality
and the Totality of His Being:
• All human persons are oriented towards the good, in
virtue of their rationality.
• This good is broken down and made up of the basic
goods of the person, which are perfective of him, or
her.
• The knowledge, right ordering, and harmonizing of
the human goods by reason, and the moral effort to
pursue them throughout a lifetime, are necessary for
human happiness.
• If disorder enters in here, it upsets the balance of a
person’s life and affects their happiness. E.g., housing
and nourishment and material well-being serve human
life and not vice versa.
“Man seeks his last end in his actions by knowing that last
end (God) and wanting it.” “How is it, then, that I seek you,
Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let
me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws
life from my soul and my soul draws life from you. God
alone satisfies.” St. Augustine, Confessions
Jesus brings the question about morally good action
back to its religious foundations, to the
acknowledgment of God, who alone is goodness,
fullness of life, the final end of human activity, and
perfect happiness.
“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by
the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will
of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”
c. God’s Commandments: Criteria in Attaining Eternal
Life
• JPII elucidates the connection between eternal life
and obedience to the decalogue in his remark:
• “God's commandments show man the path of life and
they lead to it.”
• the decalogue sheds light on the dignity of the human
person, and consequently our obligation to respect it, to
wit:
10 Commandments are:
• Reflections about the good of the person at the level
of the many different goods which characterize his
identity as a spiritual and bodily being in relationship
with God, with his neighbor and with the material
world.
• Teach us man's true humanity. They shed light on the
essential duties, and so indirectly on the fundamental
rights, inherent in the nature of the human person.
• “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery;
You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness” are
negative precepts, which express with particular force
the ever urgent need to protect human life, the
communion of persons in marriage, private property,
truthfulness and people’s good name.
d. Beatitudes: Call to Perfection
• Beatitudes respond to man’s natural desire for
happiness.
-are more about basic attitudes and dispositions than
about particular rules of behavior.
• This desire is of divine origin. God has placed it in the
human heart in order to draw man to the One who
alone can fulfill it.”
• There is no separation between them and the
commandments since both are oriented to eternal life.
Beatitudes:
• Suggest commitment to live out the different
suggested attitudes to attain the graces promised by
God.
• Give an idea that the true happiness that we should
pursue cannot be totally attained in this world through
temporal things but eternally reside in heaven.
• Articulate that the destiny of man can be achieved
through service and the contemplation of heavenly
things
first three beatitudes are dedicated to removing the
obstacles, which purely material goods can present to
be genuine happiness.
• Blessed are the poor in spirit, refers to the need for
detachment either from riches or honors, which results
from humility.
next two beatitudes restrain and moderate the
irascible and concupiscible appetites respectively.
• Blessed are the meek, protects man’s irascible nature
from falling into excessive anger and keeps it within the
bounds of reason.
• Blessed are those that mourn, moderates’ man’s
desire for pleasure by keeping it in proportion, which is
the effect on us when we suffer trials, tribulations and
the death of loved ones.
The second group explains our duty to serve our
neighbor.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness. The active life should be devoted
principally to one’s duty and spontaneous inclination to
serve one’s neighbor.

• Blessed are the merciful. But spontaneous inclination

also leads us to go beyond what is strictly due to others
and show them generosity, understanding and
forgiveness, and indeed gratuitously without expecting
anything in return.

The third group brings forth the importance of living a

contemplative life.

• Blessed are the pure of heart. We say of men who

triumph over the passions,

• Blessed are the peacemakers. The virtues gifts, which

perfect man in his relations with his neighbor, have
peace as their effect, as we read in Isaiah: “The work of
justice shall be peace” (32:17).

The Beatitudes do not suggest certain actions but

correct dispositions and attitudes that remain necessary
in forming our will to choose the Good and turn to God.
They are reminders that are given to us so that we can
become “morally good persons and attain our integral
human fulfillment (everlasting happiness) in Jesus
Christ.” The Beatitudes indicate a way of life, a life that
finds its full actualization in God, the one true source of
happiness.

There is only one total and ultimate truth, and that is

God or the Supreme Being. There is only one total and
highest good, and that is God or the Supreme Being. It is
only in God where we can find such perfection. He is the
Perfect Truth and Supreme Goodness who alone can
fully satisfy man’s aspirations for knowledge and
goodness.

If we therefore search ourselves deeply for the

satisfaction of our deepest human desires, we will find
that only the Creator can satisfy His creatures. Hence,
God or the Supreme Being is the ultimate purpose of
human life He alone can make man completely happy.
God or the Supreme Being is the beginning as well as
the end of human existence, truly the Alpha and the
Omega.

It is therefore imperative for us to seek and know the

TRUTH, for it is only in knowing the truth where we can
strive to do the GOOD which eventually will lead us to
GOD our ultimate purpose and end, the source and
summit of infinite HAPPINESS.