HUMAN CONSCIENCE

❖ For the most Filipinos, conscience is understood as a kind of inner voice (Tinig ng Budhi)
which guides us in our moral life.
- Tinig ng budhi calls us to choose and do what is right.

❖ “Voice always summoning us to love the good and avoid evil.”

- It speaks to our hearts more specifically: do this, shun that.
- Compels us to obey this inner voice to do what is good and avoid evil.
- We are bound to obey our conscience.

❖ “Proximate norm of personal morality for discerning good and evil.”

- Conscience is a law created by God. Obeying it means obeying Him.
- We become GOOD if we choose to obey our conscience, and we become BAD if we go
against the good that we are called to become.

FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE
▪ Conscience is developed through experiences.

3 Types of Conscience

1) FEAR OF CONSCIENCE
- conforms not because it is the right thing to do but because of the fear of consequences.
- What is GOOD is based on the approval and praise of the authority.
- What is BAD is based on the disapproval and punishment.

2) MORAL OR ETHICAL CONSCIENCE

- Acts according to universal human values and considers and respect the rights of others.

3) CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE
- Person is good in connection to his personal and loving relationship with God.

HOW CAN WE FORM A CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE

1. The Heart

- Read and reflect Jesus’ teachings and actions.

- Attend and participate actively in the celebration of the sacraments especially the
Eucharist and Reconciliation
- Spend moments of personal prayer and reflection.

2. The Mind

- Listen to parents’ advice and have a dialogue with them about important issues.
- You may also ask the help of your teachers, participate in classroom discussions and do
research.
- Listen and study the teachings and the stand of the Catholic Church on moral issues.
- Take time to read and study the Bible.
 SIN
❖ An offense against reason, truth, and right conscience
❖ A failure in love for God and neighbor due to perverse attachment to material things.
❖ When we say, do or desire contrary to the eternal law.
❖ When we sin, we alienate ourselves from God and other people.

3 Concepts of Sin

1. MISSING THE MARK

- Offense inflicted on another by failing to meet the obligations stated in 10
commandments and the great commandments of love.
- SIN OF OMMISION
- SIN OF COMMISION – we know that it is an evil act and yet we indulge ourselves to it.

2. DEPRAVITY AND PERVERSITY

- Defect of character or disorder that weighs the sinner down.
- Ex. You have firm resolution not to take the things that does not belong to you and yet
temptation comes, and once again you indulge yourself in temptation.

3. REBELLION AND TRANSGESSION

- Conscious choice that destroys positive relationships.
- Ex. When we spread rumors about others.

2 Kinds of Sin

1. MORTAL SIN
- Which lead to death, the loss of true or eternal life – exclude from the kingdom of God.
They are mortal because they kill the overall LOVE pattern of our freedom to God.
- By such sins, a person “freely rejects God and his law”.

2. VENIAL SIN
- Venia means “pardon” or “forgiveness.”
- This sin is excusable sin which do not involve a person’s fundamental freedom nor lead to
spiritual death.

JUDGING THE MORALITY OF AN ACT

1. NATURE OF AN ACT
- Refers to the kind of action done.
- Ex. You gave your classmate 500-peso bill.

2. INTENTION OF THE PERSON

- It is the reason why the person did the act.
- Ex. So that the student can easily contact his classmate whenever he wants to ask an
answer for his module.

3. CIRCUMSTANCES
- Refers to the situations within each person committed the act.
 - Ex. He is failing in a particular subject.

DIMENSION OF SIN

PERSONAL SIN
- our tendency to become self-centered and freely choose to o what is morally evil.
SOCIAL SIN
- negative moral attitude, an act, or a failure to act that attacks human rights and basic
freedom, human dignity, justice, and the common good.
- Ex. Consumerism, corruption, and racial discrimination.
- Social sin invole in community or society but it is always rooted in personal sin.

Catechism for Filipino Catholics describes the dimention of sin in 3 different images.

1. SPIRAL
- Ensalves us in a contagious, pathological habit of vice that acts like a virus, infecting social
attitudes, and structures such as family, social group, and the like.

2. SICKNESS
- It requires healing with forgiveness of sin
- Related to social sin

3. ADDICTION
- When committed repeatedly, the person won’t be able to control it anymore.

VIRTUES (GOOD DEEDS) TO AVOID SIN

THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES

- To have an ultimate relationship with God

a. FAITH
- It is defined as the trust, commitment to and belief to God.
b. HOPE
- It is our inner longings or joyful desires that we will be in perfect happiness in God amidst all trials
that we encounter in life.
c. CHARITY
- It is the virtue that enables us to love God and others as we love ourselves.

CARDINAL VIRTUES

- Guidelines to live a responsible Christian life as we deal with others.

a. PRUDENCE
- It allows us to give correct judgement whether an act is morally right or wrong.
b. FORTITUDE
- It is the ability to overcome fear and be courageous enough in dealing with life’s circumstances
especially yin doing what is good and right.
c. JUSTICE
- It is the virtue that makes the person to practice fairness and give respect to the rights of others.
d. TEMPERANCE
- According to St. Thomas of Aquinas, it is the restraint of our desires and passions. It helps to balance
our desires.
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

- It is a Sacrament of Healing through which we obtain pardon from God for sins committed after
baptism and for which we are truly repentant, and are reconciled with the Church, the Christian
community.
- Through this sacrament, we seek healing for ourselves and repairing the broken relationship with
God and others.
- THE GIFT OF CONVERSION – it is the change of heart. It takes place only of we are able to “sense
our sin”
- We must have to sense our sin, acknowledge it, and be sorry for those mistakes.
- We need to receive the pardon through the Sacrament of Healing.
CHRISTIAN SEXUAL MORALITY
SEXUALITY

- refers to everything about us being human that makes us either male or female.
- Biblical Point of view:
1. Human sexuality is founded in the creation of two differentiated person as well as the
unity established between them.
2. It is a gift that makes a person understand oneself, others, and God in deeper level.
3. Humans are born with an innate capacity for sexual pleasure, and authentic sexuality
develops best within an emotionally caring, trustworthy environment.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

- Gift of sexuality attracts man and woman and eventually makes them decide to give
themselves to a life-time commitment in the Sacrament of Marriage.
- Sacrament of Matrimony – declare freely and publicly to be of one heart and soul, for
better for worse, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health until the end of their life.

Reasons for getting married.

1. The desire to share love. They want to love and to be loved and desire to enjoy the presence
of one another. This kind of love is called romantic love.
2. The desire for intimacy. They are marrying each other because they need a lifetime
companion and who can accept them as they are. They want someone to whom they can
give themselves totally and completely which only marriage can provide.
3. The desire to build a family. The desire for pro-creation.
- Sex – intimate physical expression of the married couple. This makes the couple fulfill the
mission God had given them such as the:
- Continuation of the human race
- Personal development and eternal destiny of the individual members of the family
- Dignity, stability, peace, and prosperity of the family and the whole human race.

Responsible parenthood

1) Family Planning
2) Care and respect for their children
3) Providing for the well-being and education of the children
4) Providing a family atmosphere conducive to loving, forgiving, and supporting.

VIRTUE OF CHASTITY
- Chastity = celibacy
- It is the choice to refrain from engaging in sexual acts.
- It creates in us an inner harmony and unity of the body and spirit that allows us to
use our sexuality to become true loving persons.
CHASTE PERSON
- Someone who is a master of his or her sexual appetite, not its slave. He or she can
disciple the feelings and sexual desires and use it according to plans of God.
6th and 9th Commandments
- These commandments protect the virtue of chastity.
- It calls for the fidelity of the spouse to one another and prohibits sexual acts
with someone other than their spouse. It protects the sanctity of marriage and
the integrity of the family.
- The 9th commandment completes the 6tth by going to the interior root and
source of the disorders of the flesh, covetousness of the heart. It calls us to be
aware of our thoughts, feelings, and acts.

THREATS TO THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY

1. DIVORCE
- Process of terminating a marriage or marital union. It entails canceling or reorganizing
of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of
marriage between the married couple.

3 qualities of Marriage

1. Unity – one man is united to one woman.

2. Fidelity – Each spouses reserve their love fully and exclusively for each other.
3. Indissolubility – the marriage bond is not broken until the death of one of the
partners.

2. ADULTERY
- When two partners of whom at least one is married to another party have sexual
relationships – even transient one.

3. POLYGAMY
- Practice of having more than one spouse at one time.

4. INCEST
- Intimate relationship between relatives or in-law within a degree that prohibits marriage
or sexual relation between them.

5. FREE UNION/ LIVE IN

- Refusal of the couple to have their relationship bin either through civil or church
marriage. This is the same with concubinage, rejection of marriage, the inability to make
a long-term commitment and others.

6. MASTURBATION
- Act of arousing oneself by touching one’s sexual organs or other similar means. It leads
to a wrong notion that sex is for one’s personal pleasure.

7. HOMOSEXUAL ACTS
- Relationships between men or between women who experience an exclusive or
predominant sexual attraction towards person of the same sex.