“You’ve got to figure out what you

Lesson 1 love… and it’s going to be brought you

great joy.”
- Jeff Bezos (Founder CEO of Amazon,
CHRIST AS THE Richest man in the world)
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Values
IMAGE OF THE
 Ranks or orders human needs
INVISIBLE GOD according to importance, immediacy,
and level of difficulty in terms of
What is our ultimate life list or acquisition: at the bottom stands the
what is it that we consider as physiological needs, while perched at
absolute in our lives? the pinnacle is self-actualization.
 Every human person has a sense of
In the Netflix documentary series, titled:
obligation to do.
“The Last Dance,” Michael Jordan was
 Every encounter is an opportunity to shown as the man who is obsessed
do good. himself with winning championship.
 The ultimate life list we consider as
absolute in our lives is TO DO Why is that some people, even if
GOOD.
they seemed to have reached the
 All of our experiences should’ve
contributed to our humanity
top of the world, remain
 The main goal is to become a better unhappy?
person.
 Theological virtues: faith, hope, and What is the meaning and purpose
love (virtues that are not based on
of our life?
your own capabilities)
 “I love you” is the best phrase in a  “It is natural for human beings to
relationship. desire to be happy.” - Aristotle
 There’s faith in love.  “Human beings, embark on a
 There’s power from lifelong search for that absolute
something/someone else to make good, which will lead them to the
things happen. happiness that never ends.” - St.
Thomas Aquinas
What is our core?  Domine, Non-Nisi Te, “Lord,
 In Latin, cor means heart. And so, we nothing except You.”
ask the question: “What is in our
hearts?” 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
 We look up to Christ as the ultimate
revelation of the Father, who calls us
to communion, and as the good
teacher who leads us to the Father.
I. God as our Personal Absolute
 St. Augustine and St. Monica
“Thou hast made us for Thyself, O
Lord, and our hearts are restless until
they rest in Thee.”
 Schillebeeckx, Edward. Christ the
Sacrament of the Encounter with
God. London: Sheed and Ward, 1963.
“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.
II. 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. -
Luke 18:15-17
III. 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 humans… 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, and Life.
 What is the meaning of life?
 Who am I?
 What must I do?
 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.
 Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the
Life.
 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 devil wanted Christ to follow or
surrender to His selfish desires. In
other words, the temptation was for
Christ to use His powers for his
personal benefit, and consequently,
disobey or contradict the reason why
the Father sent Him, which is total
surrender to the Father’s will.
 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.
Lesson 2
JESUS CHRIST AS
THE GOOD
TEACHER
 Absolute end: TO DO GOOD
 To do the good, what is the basis?
 What is good for me isn’t good for
other people.
 Good has its own hierarchy
 What must I do?
 Absolute thing to do: We must do
good. Love your neighbors.
 How to express our love?
 We feel bad when someone asks
fora favor (We missed an
opportunity to do good)
 Every encounter is an opportunity
to us to do good.
What does it Mean to be me?
(Video)
 Jean Paul-Sartre, “Human beings live
in anguish”
 We are condemned to be free.
 We make choice.
 Every choice reveals what we think a
human should be. (Action, Freedom,
Decision)
 Existence because of design
 There is no design for a human
being
 Existentialism is Humanism
 For human beings, existence
precedes essence
 I create myself through what I do
 The choices I make in a world
without fixed values
 I am what I do
 In fashioning myself, I fashion
humanity. I have to act like
everyone is watching me and I
have no escape from this.
Research: Approaching the subject from
different angles and opinions, appraising
the views of various disciplines and
perspectives.
The following trends are pointed out as to
why nowadays, it has become
increasingly difficult to answer questions
as fundamental as the ones asked above:
 Certain currents of thought have
gone so far as to exalt freedom to
such an extend that it becomes an
absolute, which would then be the
source of values (VS, 32).
Relativism: Is it wrong to judge
 In psychology, learning is a long-
term change in behavior that is
based on experience
 Classical Conditioning and
Operant Conditioning
 Classical Conditioning (1890,
Russian Physiologist Ivan Pavlov)
o Dog associate bell with food

other cultures? o Unconditioned Stimulus:

 Moral Relativism - the view that Food, Unconditioned
what’s right in one culture may be Response: Salvation
o Unconditioned Stimulus:
wrong for another.
 Different strokes, Different folks Food, Neutral/Conditioned
Stimulus: Bell
 No “right way to live and right way to
o Example: In humans, you
do”
want to the doctor to get a
 They recognize that morality is
shot
different in different cultures, and
o The doctor said “Don’t worry
they often argue that it’s ethnocentric
this won’t hurt a bit” then it
to impose your own set of values
hurts.
elsewhere as if you know best.
o Next thing, you went to the
 Even truth is relative (no such thing
Dentist and as he was about to
as objective truth)
put the mirror inside your
 A radically subjectivistic conception
mouth he said “Don’t worry,
of moral judgement or individualist
this won’t hurt a bit”. You ran
ethic is: where the individual
after what the dentist said.
conscience is accorded the status of a
 Operant Conditioning -
supreme tribunal of moral judgment
consequences lead to changes in
which hands down categorical and
voluntary behavior
infallible decisions.
o Reinforcement
 Follow your conscience when you do
o Punishment
things and moral decisions.
o Positive: the addition of
 Whether we have the proper
stimulus (getting dessert after
education or not, conscience should
eating vegetables)
be the basis of decisions because
o Negative: the removal of a
what we learn might be wrong.
stimulus (getting a night of no
 Our conscience is supreme
homework because you did
The difference between classical well in an exam)
and operant conditioning o Example: after having dinner
 Learning with family, you wash the
 dishes and clean the table.
After that, your mom hugged
you and thanked you for
helping her.
o Positive Reinforcement:
action or words that make you
repeat what you did.
Psychotherapy - Sigmund Freud
 We are all driven by the pleasure
principle
 Neuroses - the result of faulty
negotiations with repression of the
pleasure principle
 ID - driven by pleasure principle.
 Superego - driven by a desire to
follow the rules and do the right
thing according to society
 Ego - accommodate the two
1. Oral Phase - what we eat
2. Anal Phase - “potty training”
 parents tell us what to do and
where to go
 anally retentive - unable to give or
surrender
3. Phallic Phase (age of 6)
 little children have sexual feelings
 children direct their sexual
impulses towards their parents
 Oedipus complex - “being in love
with the one parent and hating the
other)
 society provides us with many
things but does this by imposing
heavy dictates on us. Societies are
neurotic.
Psychoanalysis
 With proper analysis, people could
uncover what ails them and better
adjust to the difficulties of reality.
 Wish Fulfillments
 Parapraxes = Freudian Slips (ex.
write thigh when we want to write
though)
 A number of disciplines, grouped
under the name behavioral sciences,
have rightly drawn attention to many
kinds of psychological and social
conditioning which influence the
exercise of freedom. VS, 33. (BF
Skinner’s Operant Conditioning…
behavior is determined by its
consequences, be they reinforcements
or punishments; S. Freud’s
Psychoanalytic Theory, behavior is
the result of interactions among the
three component parts of the mind:
id, ego, and superego.
 Ex. Gender as social construct
 Because of influence of society,
we form our conscience.
Metaethics: Crash Course
Philosophy
 Ethics - the branch of philosophy that
studies morality, or right and wrong
behavior
 Metaethics - study the foundation of
morality
 what is morality? what’s its
nature? is it an objective thing or a
preference?
 Example: Steal food or lie for good
cause
 Moral Realism - the belief that there
are moral facts, in the same way that
there are scientific facts. In this view,
any moral proposition can be true or
false. For a lot of us, our gut intuition
tells us that there are moral facts -
 some things are just wrong and others
are indisputably right.
 Grounding Problem: the grounding
problem of ethics is the search for
a foundation for our moral beliefs,
something solid that would make
them true in a way that is clear,
objective, and unmoving.
 Moral Absolutism - there are absolute
standards against which moral
questions can be judged. If something
is wrong, it’s wrong regardless of
culture or circumstance.
 Moral Relativism - more than one
moral position on a given topic can
be correct.
 Cultural Relativism
1. Descriptive cultural relativism -
people’s moral beliefs differ from
culture to culture.
2. Normative cultural relativism -
it’s not your beliefs, but moral
facts themselves that differ from
culture to culture.
 If every culture is the sole arbiter
of what’s right for it, that means
no culture can actually be wrong.
 If what everyone is doing right
now is right, relative to their own
culture, then there’s never any
reason to change anything.
 Moral Antirealism - the belief that
moral propositions don’t refer to
objective features of the world at all -
that there are no moral facts. There’s
nothing about gratuitous violence
that’s inherently wrong. If you look at
the rest of the animal kingdom,
sometimes nurturing your kids
doesn’t seem like it’s that important.
 Moral Subjectivism - moral
statements can be true and false -
right or wrong - but they refer only
to people’s attitudes, rather than
their actions.
 Those preferences key into
personal attitudes, but not into
actual, objective moral facts about
the world.
 Some people favor capital
punishment and think it’s just.
Others oppose it and think it’s
unjust. But it doesn’t go any
deeper than that. there are no
moral facts, only moral attitudes.
Ethical Theories
 all ethical theories have some kind of
starting assumptions, which shouldn’t
be surprising, because really all of
our beliefs rest on some basic
assumed beliefs.
 Natural Law Theory - relies on the
starting assumption that God created
the universe according to a well-
ordered plan.
 Utilitarianism - relies on that starting
assumption that all beings share a
common desire to seek pleasure and
avoid pain.
 Moral Principles
 Some ethical theories hold the
principle that any unjustified killing
is wrong - and that includes animals -
while other theories hold the principle
that it’s only wrong to unjustifiably
kill humans.
 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)
 The concept of good for me is
different for you. It’s subjective or
relativism.
 we are influenced by society
 Universal Human Values: Human
Life, Family Relationships,
Marriage
 We deny the universal human
value because of behavioral
patterns, customs, a social
constructs.
 if it makes you free, do it. it makes
me happy, that’s why it becomes
relativistic
Analysis: Articulating and reflecting on
the question together with the help of
other disciplines in the light of Christian
faith.
 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 Scriptures
 Parable of the Rich Man
 “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 (10 Commandments and
Beatitudes)
 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 toward perfection
(VS, 15).
 The 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 3
dimensions of human life:
 the intra-personal
 the inter-personal
 societal
must be grounded on the fourth
foundational, integrating…
 Yes to God
 The Christ Jesus that we proclaimed
among you… was never Yes and No.
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.
(NNCDP, 285)
 Why is it always yes if we have
free will?
 Every encounter is an opportunity
to us to do good.
 If someone bullies, how do I deal
with this toxic individual?
 He won’t give a challenge that we
can’t do.
 This demands a radical change of
heart, a real conversion, manifested in
a triple yes to self, other, and society,
and grounded in the ultimate yes to
God, overcoming the “No” of sin.
3. Jesus Teaches about Moral
Action
 People today need to turn to Christ
once again in order to receive from
Him the answer to their questions
about what is good and what is evil.
 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.
 sell your properties and give
them to the poor (Jesus guided
the young rich man to do the
right thing)
 we are also guided to do good
and follow the ways of Jesus
 there’s a reason why we are
there.
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
 doing good can be attributed to our
self alone without acknowledging
God. Having faith in God means
 our doing good is attributed not
only to ourselves but to God.
 Transcendental Nature - there are
Lesson 3
experiences that we nor science
can’t explain. An example is
shooting the ball. Is there a 100%
JESUS Sheds light
chance that a 100 free throw on the mystery and
shooter can shoot his 101st shoot?
He’s hoping that the ball will shoot
dignity of the human
for the 101st time. person
 I do good because Christ invited
me to do so. What is the Value of Human
 Doing good can be attributed Life?
because of our natural capability
but more than that, doing good is
17 Sustainable Development
because Christ calls me to do so.
there’s a sense of satisfaction when
Goals
we do good. 1. No poverty
2. Zero Hunger
 The basic motivation for following
3. Good Health and Well-being
Christ in moral action is, of course,
4. Quality Education
the Blessed Trinity: the eternal
5. Gender Quality
Father’s love for us, manifested pre-
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
eminently in Jesus’ Paschal Mystery,
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
and the Holy Spirit sent into our
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
hearts who enables us to fulfill
9. Industry, Innovation, and
Christ’s own command: Love one
Infrastructure
another as I have loved you.
10. Reduced Inequalities
 Since God has loved us so much, we
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
too should love one another.
12. Responsible Consumption and
5. Christ is always present to His Production
Church 13. Climate Action
 Christ empowered the Church to 14. Life Below Water
proclaim without fear of error, faith, 15. Life on Land
and morals. 16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
 The Church must always be deeply 17. Partnerships for the Goals
conscious of her duty in every age to
examine the signs of the times and Analysis: Articulating and reflecting
interpret them in the light of the about the question together with the help
Gospel.
of other disciplines IN THE LIGHT OF
CHRISTIAN FAITH…
 Together with the rest of humanity,
the Church, following Christ as her
model, has made it her mission to
uplift the lives of everyone in this
world. To do this, the Church teaches
that it is only in knowing Christ that
the human person can arrive at a full
understanding of who He really is.
 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.
 In the light of Christian revelation, it
was understood that all persons,
endowed with inviolable dignity, are:
 Created by God in His image and
likeness (cf. Gen 1:26) through
our Lord Jesus Christ, “through
whom everything was made and
through whom we live” (1 Cor
8:6).
 Redeemed by the blood of Christ
(cf. Eph 1:7; Col 1:14); and are
sanctified by the indwelling Holy
Spirit (cf. Rom 8:14-16; 1 Cor
6:19).
 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.
o We have the obligation to
respond to call of God
1. Created in the Image and
Likeness of God
 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. CCC
 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 free will, 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 non-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 his/her conscience, in
freedom and with sufficient
knowledge.
 o In charge = can you do
everything you want when you’re
in charge?
o Karol Wojtyla, Love and
Responsibility (New York:
Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1981),
41.
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.
o symbolic
o majority of policies and
regulations are expressed
negatively (no parking, no
littering, do not cheat)
o in charge = what will you do?
 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
 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 were
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 may be 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.”
 to easily understand, God put the
forbidden fruit in the middle of
the garden
  when you didn’t study well, you
will fail
 don’t eat the forbidden fruit or
you’ll die but Adam and Eve
didn’t die because God didn’t
abandon them.
 Jesus is our redemption.
 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.
 we need the grace of God
 we can’t do things on our own. If
we are going to forgive someone,
it’s not because of our
capabilities.
 if we do something and we had a
sense of fulfillment and
happiness, it’s attributed to the
Grace of God.
 inner joy of doing good, is it
really from you?
 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.
  with the grace of God, we hope
that we’ll be happy and satisfied
with what we do.
 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.
 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.
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.
The 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).
The 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.
 we are open and relational beings
 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. Persons are
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:
 o Know the order of things
established by God;
o Understand how and what
things should be.
o Is imbued with the instinctive
awareness of the unwritten
decree inscribed in his heart.
o Recognizes this as the voice of
God constantly urging him to
do the good and avoid evil.
CFC, 688.
 Embodied Spirits
o This stresses the unity between
our “body and soul.”
o This substantial unity of our
body and soul is known as
“hylemorphism.”
o Our body is an essential part of
our being human and not
merely an “instrument” we
“use” as we please.
The Body
 Christian Faith regards the 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.
 embodiment of soul = to fulfill
our soul, our body is also
important.
 the action of our body has to be
in accordance with our soul.
 our imagination is our soul.
 our soul won’t tell us to fly
because we aren’t capable of
doing so.
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.
 else as “the other is characterized
Lesson 4 by height or highness.”
• The absoluteness with which the
The Encounter with Jesus Other’s existence transcends the
claims of my self-centered
Christ is a Call to universe by more radical
Discipleship demands, is what Levinas calls
infinity… we must be the servant
1. “Christian Discipleship is Counter-
of our neighbor.
Cultural and Radical Alterity
• our existence is affirmed or
2. The Church: Willed by God to
validated not by the mere fact of
Make Possible the Encounter with
persevering in being but by our
Christ
liberation from our own
Question:
constricting egotism. In other
What do we care about the most in this
words, we are liberated by our
life?
ethical response when we
encounter the Other who reveals
Emmanuel Levinas: Notion of its face to us.
the Other • This Other deposes me and
imposes itself upon me as my
Egocentrism
priority.
• The struggle for life or the desire
• Ethics, for Levinas, is the radical
to persevere in being, heightens
interpretation of the formula of
egoism, which is characterized by
etiquette: apres vous (after you,
the desire for enjoyment or
please!). Moreover, the Other, as
happiness.
it reveals its face to me, puts me
• The primordial tendency of the
under a basic obligation or
ego is to live for itself and secure
command to be at its service
any means available and
before myself, which Levinas
attainable in order to maintain a
underscored using the phrase: me
happy existence.
voici (Here I am!).
• The “I” in its inwardness becomes
“We are all guilty of all and for men
the origin of meaning and
before all, and I more than the
determines whether or not
others.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky
something is valuable, i.e., usable
or consumable. Christian Discipleship is
Alterity Counter-Cultural and Radical
• The Other stands at the top of my
Alterity
hierarchy of values, I am
beholden to it before anything
Tale of three trees. Three young trees humanity
each want to do something great: One We go back to the questions:
tree wants to be a big boat that is fit • What must I do?
for a king; another wants to hold a lot • How do I distinguish good from
treasure; and the last one wants to be evil?
the tallest tree. When they are felled, it We turn to Jesus Christ:
seems as if all their dreams are over. • We listen to his words.
One tree is turned into a dinky little • We follow his actions.
fishing boat that smells of rotten fish;  Following Christ is the essential and
another becomes feed box for animals; primordial foundation of Christian
and the last was cut into beams and morality. Jesus’ ways and words, his
left in a lumberyard. But each is deeds and his precepts constitute the
destined to play an important part in moral rule of Christian life.
the life of Jesus, in this, their dreams What does discipleship entail?
are more than fulfilled.  Come follow me and I will send you
1st Tree: To be Our Plans out to fish for people. At once, they
a treasure left their nets and followed him.
chest Matthew 4:19
2nd Tree: to be  If you want to be perfect, go sell your
a mighty ship possessions, come follow me.
3rd Tree: To be Matthew 19:21
a tall tree  If anyone should come after me, let
1st Tree: A feed Cost him deny himself and take up his
box Test of Faith cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24
2nd Tree: A Obedience Who is a disciple?
fishing boat  A disciple is a lover of Truth:
3rd Tree: A  Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life
beam stored in How does one become a disciple?
a lumber yard  A disciple imitates Jesus who gives
1st Tree: God’s Plans primacy to the will of the Father.
Became a What is expected of a disciple?
manger for  A disciple lives in loving service of
the baby Jesus others.
2nd Tree:
Witnessed the The Beatitudes
power of Jesus  A set of precepts that utterly
3rd Tree: demonstrate the moral standards of
Symbol of our Lord and at the same time
God’s love for
 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.
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.
Christ crucified is:
 A picture of a happy man.
 Freedom and joy: when all our
expectations are turned around.
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 has 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.
Lesson 5
Called to Happiness
Lesson A: Search for the True
Happiness
a. Worldviews/Trends in
Achieving Happiness
b. God as the Ultimate
Happiness of the Human
Person
Study
Leo is rushing to the nearest apple store
in order to buy the recently released
version of iPhone. It was just a year ago
when he acquired his current iPhone but
since he believes that keeping up with the
latest trends and upgrades of his favorite
device, would give him immense
pleasure, there is nothing he wouldn’t do
to get hold of one. However, given his
meagre salary, he would sacrifice a lot of
things just to save up for his highly
anticipated tech device, not to mention
that his credit card is on the brink of its
 limit and most of his bills are already
passed their due. Leo doesn’t mind at all,
what’s important is that buying the new
iPhone makes him happy.
Question: Where can I find true
happiness?
I. 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.
Rutt Veenhoven. Happiness and Hedonism, Retrieved
April 10, 2018, https://personal.eur.nl /veenhoven
/Pub2000s/2003c-full.pdf.
 Differentiate Happiness from
Pleasure
 Happiness: Learn, Pleasure:
Pass
 In order for me to be pleased, I have
to experience material things. In order
to pass, I can cheat.
 Pleasure – material/money,
physical/sexual (I can experience
pleasure if I possess the following)
 I may learn without money. Do we
need material things to learn
something? (even if we don’t have
money, we can learn something).
However, to experience pleasure, we
have to have material things.
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.
Consumerism, Retrieve April 9, 2018,
https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/ContemporaryAmeri
canSociety/ Chapter %207%20--%20consumerism
%20--%20Norton%20August.pdf.
• You need material things
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.
 We can’t plan to do good.
 Virtue is doing good. Do I do
good because God plans (God’s
plan to do good) or do I do good
 because of my own decision to
do good?
 If I do good then there’s no
opportunity, then wouldn’t be
able to do good.
 Opportunity knocked on us then
it gives us chance to change our
mindset.
 Robbery Scene: change in
mindset can be shown by
thinking that we shouldn’t text
when we are in an open area.
 Opportunities we don’t
appreciate.
II. 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.
 Summa Theologiae “We shall
consider first the last end of
human life, and second those
things by means which man..”
 Human Life has a purpose, goal,
and end that brings perfect
happiness
1. Our Purpose (happiness)
2. How to Achieve it (how to be
happy)
 Perfect Happiness – once you have
it, there’s nothing more to gain and
seek
 Every creature has a purpose.
When that creature fulfills his/her
purpose, he or she will be greatly
happy. We can learn, think, and
love. Thinking and loving.
 Thinking
 Loving
 Learning and Loving God face to
face. God is existencthatf and
everything that exist.
 We are inherently curious species
to know the cause.
 We want to know that God
 We will only be satisfied when we
learn and love God.
BEATITUDE (AQUINAS 101)
 Capacities to Know and Love
 Different principles and
philosophies say that what we feel
on Earth is imperfect happiness.
 Imperfect Happiness because it’s
a worldly experience.
 The basis of perfection is
presence.
 No matter what kind of
relationship, we have knowledge
and love.
 Friendship is imperfect but God
gave me the capacity to know and
love.
 Loving isn’t automatic. It
becomes a moral condition/moral
obligation.
 It gives a mindset to do better
next time.
  It’s in us to be happy. We know
and we love.
 It’s not about right and wrong; it’s
about what you’ve learned.
 What to know and who to love.
 Decalogue (know) and Beatitudes
(love)
 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 Aquinas on Happiness:
What it is, What it consists, and How
to obtain it (ST I-II, Q.2, Prologue).
Kevin Vost, Psy.D., One Minute Aquinas: The Doctor’s
Quick Answers to Fundametal Questions, (Manchester,
New Hampshire, Sophia Institute Press, 2014). Pp 30-
31.
 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.
 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.
 A perfect happiness consisting of
the beatific vision of the
Uncreated Good (i.e., God) in
heaven.
 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.”
 St. Thomas Aquinas 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.
(Peter Bristow, Christian Ethics and the Human
Person)
 “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” (Rom 12:2).
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:
 The 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
 The Beatitudes respond to man’s
natural desire for happiness.
 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.”
 The Beatitudes are more about basic
attitudes and dispositions than about
particular rules of behavior.
 There is no separation between them
and the commandments since both
are oriented to eternal life.
 The 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.
 The 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. The
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 One day, after attending his first class for
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 they 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.
Lesson 6
Lesson B: The Moral Good of
Human Acts
1. The Nature of Human Acts
2. Constituents of Human Acts
3. Sources of Morality
4. Impediments to Morality
the day, Lien sat in one of the benches in
front of the Central Library. He was
thinking about how he needs money in
order to buy that laptop that he badly
wants because of the demands of his
school works and how he could not ask
his mother for money because they are
running on a tight budget at home. As he
was about to head back to his class, he
saw a pouch which contains a sum of
money. He thought, this is enough to buy
the computer that he needs, and not only
would it help him get by his school
works, he would also be able to have
some to spare that could help ease the
financial backlogs at home. But then,
Lien is in a quandary because he was
thinking about that poor person who lost
the money and might be looking for it at
that moment. He is thinking whether or
not he should keep the money. Is it right
that he should use it to satisfy his
personal needs or should he turn it over
to the security office who could help him
look for the real owner?
 Evil is the absence of Good
 Being absent in class isn’t good.
 We can determine the morality of
the act, whether good or evil, by
the act itself.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
 Act (+), (-) = Intention (+), (-) =
Consequences (+), (-)
 The primary basis to judge
whether the act is good, or evil is
the act itself.
 Negative Intention, Negative Act,
Positive Consequences (Ex. I
want her/him to be sad, so I stole,
but I gave the money to the poor.)
Question: How do I distinguish good
from evil?
Three major moral theories that offer
varying solutions, view good differently,
and expect people to in certain specific
ways.
a. Consequentialism
b. Utilitarianism
c. Deontological Ethics
d. Virtue Ethics
a. Consequentialism
 Focuses on the results or consequence
of our actions and treats intentions as
irrelevant because good consequences
are equivalent to good actions.
 Main Proponents: 18th century,
Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
and much earlier the Greek (341 to
270 B.C.E.) Epicurus, taught that the
merits of actions should be gauged in
terms of the happiness or pleasure
that they produce
 Whatever you do, there’ll be
consequences
 Focus on the results or
consequences of our actions
 Good Consequences = Good
Action
 Ultimately, we want the things that
we want because they give us
happiness.
 Utilitarians agree that a moral theory
should be grounded on something
intuitive, basically in the primal
desire of humans to seek pleasure and
avoid pain.
 Basis of good or evil is if
you’re happy.
 Unlike hedonism, utilitarianism is not
self-centered as it is other-regarding
by thinking that “we should always
act so as to produce the greatest good
for the greatest number of people
even if it means sacrificing your own
pleasure.”
 This is known as the principle of
utility, which implies that choosing
the greatest good for the greatest
number of people.
 Utilitarianism is not self-
centered. Hindi lang dapat ako
ang magiging masaya, dapat
lahat magbebenefit.
 Two Forms of Utilitarianism
 Act Utilitarianism. Holds that in any
given situation, you should choose
the action that produces the greatest
good for the greatest number of
people;
 Rule Utilitarianism. Teaches that we
ought to live by rules that, in general,
are likely to lead to the greatest good
for the greatest number. Rule utility
differs from Act utility by allowing us
to refrain from acts that might
maximize utilty in the short run and
instead follow rules that will
maximize utlity for the majority of
the time.
 Act Utilitarianism – decision
of the majority. Ex. EDSA
People Power, Strike (it’s
allowed because you are
asked to express yourself).
Violating the rule.
 Rule Utilitarianism – whether
we like it or not, it’s in the
rule.
 There can be a conflict
between Act and Rule
Utilitarianism.
 Constitution by Law – people
created the constitution (we
follow the majority) but if the
rule was written by the
institution itself, the rule
would be implemented.
b. Deontological Ethics
 18th century German Philosopher,
Immanuel Kant viewed morality
in terms of categorical
imperatives, i.e., commands that
you must follow, regardless of
your desires.
 For Kant, moral obligations are
derived from pure reason and it
doesn’t matter whether you want
to be moral or not because the
moral law is binding on all of us.
 What is right and wrong is totally
knowable just by using your
intellect.
 I have my own standard and
the institution have their own
standard
 Law – According to St.
Thomas Aquinas is an
ordinance of reason,
promulgated (made known to
us, announced clearly) with
competent authority for the
common good. (Law of the
State)
 Discussed with the plenary
and committee.
 Law of the Church: ordinance
of reason, promulgated, by
men with competent authority,
for the common good.
(Pastoral Letter/Encyclicals)
 Deontological Ethics – look at
the ethics of the authority as
the basis of good and evil
 Popular Formulations of
Categorical Imperative :
 Universalizability Principle.
“Act only according to that
maxim which you can at the same
time will that it should become a
universal law without
contradiction.”
  Formula of Humanity.
 “Act so that you treat humanity,
whether in your own person or in
that of another, always as an end
and never as a mere means.”
 Universalizability – wherever
we go, we have the universal
law
 Pag sinasanay sa isang batas,
naaapektuhan ang kilos natin.
 The universal principle is that
“smoking” is bad for our
health.
 If you are in a different place,
you don’t have to ask if it’s
okay to smoke there. You
already know that it’s bad.
 Universal Principle:
“Wherever you go, the law is
the same”
 Formula of Humanity: e.g.,
It’s your obligation as police
to bring the criminal to the
hospital in case you shot him
while he was stealing.
c. Virtue Ethics
 Aristotle emphasizes the pre-
eminence of the individual’s character
rather than following a set of rules.
This moral theory holds that from
being good people, right actions
could follow effortlessly.
 Sometimes, we ask questions
to get satisfying answer.
 We ask teachers, authorities,
and priests to distinguish right
from wrong.
 When there’s no rules, you
ask to the
authorities/professionals.
 Human beings who have a fixed
nature, can flourish according to
Aristotle, by adhering to their specific
nature.
 Nature has built in human beings the
desire to be virtuous or to have
virtues, which entails doing the right
thing, at the right time, in the right
way, in the right amount, toward right
people.
 Virtue is understood as the midpoint
between the extremes of deficiency
and excess, which Aristotle calls
vices.
 For Aristotle, character is developed
through habituation, i.e., by doing it
over and over again, to the extent that
eventually becomes part of your
character.
 According to Aristotle, we should
become virtuous persons so that we
can attain the pinnacle of humanity or
achieve what is known as eudamonia,
i.e., a life well-lived also known as
human flourishing.
 The kind of person who virtuously
lives is the kind of person who will
do good things.
 Christian morals presuppose
following and imitating Jesus Christ,
wherein every Christian becomes
alter Christus (another Christ).
 The supernatural virtues of faith and
charity transform the natural principle
of morality into the basic principle of
specific Christian morality: to live for
 the sake of the Kingdom, in which all
things, including man, will find
fulfillment in Jesus.”
UNIT II. Called to Happiness
Lesson B: The Moral Good of Human
Acts
1. The Nature of Human Acts
 Putting the blame
 When you ask for favor to other
people, he/she is your
accountability
 Responsible, Culpable,
Imputable, Accountable, Liable
(legal responsibility)
 Not all acts can be
judged/determined good or evil
 Judge the person as suplado,
when it’s naturally his face
 It’s the person’s nature. If it’s
natural, it doesn’t involve any
moral thinking
1. Nature of Human Acts
a. Human acts or actus humani
 are those acts of the human
person, which define him/her as
human in contrast to the actions
of other material created agents
more specifically animals.
 What makes human acts basically
human? Human acts are done
with sufficient knowledge of the
agent and full deliberate consent.
According to St. Thomas
Aquinas, human acts “are
therefore those acts that proceed
from a deliberate will.”
 For Saint Thomas Aquinas,
Human Acts are acts:
 Which we are responsible
for.
 Done with knowledge and
love.
 Done with intellect and
will.
 Freely chosen informed
act.
 Worthy of praise or blame.
 Has value for good or for
evil.
 We are responsible
 May pananagutan (in tagalog)
 We are responsible because it is
done with knowledge and love
 there’s involvement of decision
and knowledge. (giving
instruction)
 Freely chosen informed act. If
you are forced to act against your
will, it isn’t a human act.
 If you love someone, it’s your
responsibility. When you choose
something, it’s your
responsibility.
 Worthy of praise or blame: will
the outcome of your action be
good?
 Human Act – involvement of
reason, will, knowledge, consent,
and intellect.
b. Acts of Man or Actus Hominis
 Those actions, which arise
without the same amount of
knowledge and freedom as human
 acts are called acts of man or
actus hominis.
 “Acts of man, as opposed to
human acts, are actions that man
perform without being master of
them through his intellect and
will. In principle, acts of man are
not the concern of morals, since
they are not voluntary.”
 Acts of Man
 actions of man perform without
being master of them through
his intellect and will.
 performed involuntarily
 The natural acts of vegetative and
sense faculties: digestion, beating
of the heart, growth, corporal
reactions, and visual or auditive
perceptions. However, these acts
become human acts when
performed under the direction of
the will, as when we look at
something, or arouse ourselves.
 Acts of persons who lack the use
of reason. Such is the case with
infants or insane persons.
 Acts of people who are asleep or
under the in influence of
hypnosis, alcohol, or other drugs.
In this case, however, there may
still be some degree of control by
the will. Also, there is indirect
responsibility if the cause of the
loss of control is voluntary.
 Quick, nearly automatic reactions,
called primo-primi acts. These are
reflex and nearly instantaneous
reactions, such as withdrawing
one’s hand after suffering an
electric shock, in which the will
does not have time to intervene.
 Acts performed under violence or
threat of violence. This includes
physical or—in some cases—
moral violence.
 We don’t normally pay
attention to breathing, beating,
and eating. Sometimes, what
we don’t know will harm us.
Most people don’t sleep, they
fall asleep. It becomes moral
decision when you decide to
sleep on that certain time. Pag
pinagsama mo yung isang OC
and burara sa dorm, what will
happen? It’s the behavior of the
person that is unintentional,
there’s no involvement of will.
It’s not a decision of the will.
Take it that it’s not an offense to
you but it’s their natural
behavior
 Spontaneous reaction.
Antecedent and Consequent
(ex. Kadate mo, usapan niyo
6pm pero 8pm na wala pa rin.
You try to think of situations in
your mind on what will you do
once he/she arrived.)
Impulsivity > Rationality.
 Judged as correct and wrong
when you don’t conform to
family tradition.
2. Constituents of Human Acts
 We have to instill value for the
sacraments
 It’s an obligation to attend mass
 There are three essential elements
that must be present in order for an
action to be considered a human act,
these are, namely:
a. Knowledge
b. Voluntariness
c. Freedom
 Knowledge (yes),
Voluntariness (yes), Freedom
(no) – not a human act, we
can’t be blamed for it
because there are certain
situation where you can’t do
anything
 I am aware it’s you’re
birthday. Celebrate the
birthday today. On that day,
you weren’t able to go
because there’s a desirable good or undesirable evil,
transportation strike.
 Knowledge (no),
Voluntariness (yes), Freedom
(yes)
 It’s your birthday so I will
go. You will have a party,
let’s plan for that, let’s invite
people. But on that day, you
went to the place wearing
coat and tie but the theme is
pajama. You don’t have a
knowledge of the theme.
 Knowledge (yes),
Voluntariness (no), Freedom
(yes)
 You have the knowledge of
the birthday and you can go
but on the day of the
birthday, you didn’t come
because of laziness.
 Not to choose is a choice.
Your intention isn’t the one
that happened.
Knowledge
 The intellectual constituent of the
human acts.
 Those actions that are desired are
fruit of knowledge.
 Those known actions may be judged
as moral and immoral.
 A person’s reason “cannot will
without knowing what object he is
concerned with, without being master
and therefore, conscious of the act he
is to perform in order to realize the
aim, and without evaluating the
action in its concrete nature as a
which appraisal also includes the
judgment on the moral value of the
act.”
 The prerequisite of choosing to act is
the adequate awareness of the agent
in what he/she intends to choose.
Freedom
 Freedom is what St. Augustine meant
by his phrase: liberum arbitrium,
translated as “freedom of choice.”
 It designates the sort of freedom that
exists where an agent has more than
one alternative: the alternative of
doing this or that, the alternative of
doing or not doing a particular action.
In any case, the agent is in a situation
of alternatives that are really there
and really available to her or him.
 Freedom is an external personal value
that all human persons should realize.
However, it can also be an intrinsic
characteristic or capacity of the will
that governs the human person in
selecting among different options.
 Therefore, with the later definition
two senses can be derived:
 freedom depends on the
available choices present – to
choose among alternative
acts; to choose between
committing or omitting an act;
 from the possible choices, the
human person decides on
what choice to take without
external influence forcing
him/her to act (or not to act).
Voluntariness
 Voluntariness “is a formal quality of
human acts whereby any action or
omission results from a principle
within the agent and from some
knowledge which the agent possesses
of the end.”
 When a person “knows the end of his
work to the greatest degree and
moves towards it, the voluntary
character of his actions is present to
the greatest degree.”
 Voluntariness is a characteristic of
human act that is not simply chosen
but desired or willed. Having
sufficient or full knowledge of the act
itself as well as the end of the act and
having full consent of the will in
performing the action qualifies
voluntariness.
 Prank isn’t good because we
can think that the person
doesn’t like pranks.
 Therefore, those actions performed
without proper knowledge and acted
out with internal and external
coercion (or not deliberate) cannot be
considered voluntary.
 All voluntary acts are human acts and
not the other way around, like a
student, who knows cheating is a
punishable school offense has chosen
to commit the act to get good grades,
makes a voluntary act.
 If a man is not free to choose what he
would like according to his insight
and will but has to act against his
will, his actions is not free and
consequently not a human act.
 E.g. Caius who is absent-minded,
sometimes gets his hair cut and goes
away without paying.
Kinds of Voluntary Acts
1) Perfectly Voluntary Act Is an act
which is performed with full attention
and full consent of the will.
2) Imperfectly Voluntary Act Is
an act which is performed with
imperfect and partial attention or
consent.
3) Directly Voluntary Act If the act is
intended as an end in itself or as a
means to another end.
4) Indirectly Voluntary Act If an act is
not intended but merely permitted as
the inevitable result of an object
directly willed.
5) Negatively Voluntary Act The will
effects something negatively by the
voluntary omission of an act which
could have altered an evil to another
person or helped him secure a good.
 Kinds of Voluntary Acts (you
have full control of what you
are doing, and you have
knowledge of what you are
doing)
 Perfectly Voluntary and
Directly Voluntary are the
same
 Perfectly Voluntary (full
attention and full will)
 Imperfectly Voluntary (you
took the responsibility than
referring to another doctor)
 Directly Voluntary
 Indirect Voluntary (may
tubig then isasawsaw mo
daliri mo para tignan kung
mainit o malamig. Nung
napaso, you are responsible
because you did it on your
own will)
 You know the risk of doing
something, but you still took
the risk, then you are
responsible.
 It’s a human act despite the
consequences. We are
responsible for this
regardless of whether you’re
right.
 Decision – better to expect
possible output.
Principle of Double of Effect
 First, the moral object may not be
evil in itself.
 Second, the good and evil effects
must proceed at least equally directly
from the act.
 Third, the intention of agent must be
good. The agent may not approve
intend or approve of the evil effect.
 Fourth, there must be a
proportionately grave reason in order
to permit the evil effect.
 Hysterectomy
 Medical procedure done in
women. It’s the removal of
the reproductive organ of the
female.
 An emergency/necessary
procedure for women having
issues with their
reproductive system
 Ectopic Pregnancy
 The fetus is forming outside
the uterus.
 This will put the life of both
mother and baby in danger.
 Uterus will be removed to
save the mother and kill the
baby
 In this case, abortion
becomes cure
 One act but many
consequences
 Singing can’t determine
whether good or evil. If I
sing to disturb you, it’s evil.
 Third, the cure should
happen first.
 Forth proportionately grave
reason

3. Sources of Morality
 Sources of Morality – where
we define if it’s good or bad
 The Catechism of the Catholic
Church highlighted the three sources
of morality that help us to determine
the moral character of the human act.
a. Object of the act itself,
b. Intention or the end of the act
c. Circumstances of the act.
 Object/Act – Primary Basis.
what did the person do?
Example. He gives to the
needy. He was absent.
 Intention – I intend to help
you so I stole from other
people.
 Circumstance
a. Object or action itself (finis operis)
 The object chosen is a good toward
which the will deliberately directs
itself. It is the matter of a human act.
 The object chosen morally specifies
the act of the will, insofar as reason
recognizes and judges it to be or not
to be in conformity with the true
good.
 Objective norms of morality express
the rational order of good and evil,
attested to by conscience.”
 The action itself is the material
element of the human act or the
“substance of the moral act.”
 The object or action is the one to be
judged as moral or good, immoral or
evil, or indifferent.
 Objective norms of morality
 Indifferent (not good and
bad) like singing, dancing,
acting, etc. We look for the
intention to know if what the
person is doing is good.
 Movement of the activity.
Activity has a purpose.
 Walking from point A to B.
Walking to get to point B is
the object or action itself.
 It is important to remember that there
are actions which are intrinsically
evil, i.e., even when performed with a
good intention remain to be evil.
 Judging the morality of an act does
not depend on the act alone. To
understand the totality of the morality
of a certain act also depends on the
intention of the agent and the
circumstances that define the action.
b. Intention (finis operantis)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
describes intention, thus:
 In contrast to the object, the intention
resides in the acting subject.
 Because it lies at the voluntary source
of an action and determines it by its
end, intention is an element essential
to the moral evaluation of an action.
 The end is the first goal of the
intention and indicates the purpose
pursued in the action.
 The intention is a movement of the
will toward the end: it is concerned
with the goal of the activity. It aims at
the good anticipated from the action
undertaken.
 Intention is not limited to directing
individual actions but can guide
several actions toward one and the
same purpose; it can orient one's
whole life toward its ultimate end.
 Very personal reason we’re
making a choice at all. I
intend to show my love, I
choose to tell my mother I
love you or bring her
flowers. I intend to grow
close to God, so I choose to
worship.
 It’s common for people to
think that we can’t judge an
action as good or evil apart
from somebody’s intention.
That’s generally true but not
always. The intention
certainly can tell why
someone chooses to do the
thing they do. But there are
some choices, some
activities whose objects are
always evil.
 In one of his encyclicals,
Veritatis Splendor, St. John
Paul II, following the
teaching of St. Thomas
Aquinas taught that some
activities are intrinsically
evil, and no good intention
can redeem them. Example,
killing a person. There’s
never a reason to do that.
 An indifferent act may become
morally good or evil. Indifferent
acts cannot be judged as neither
good nor evil. Their morality may
depend on their intention. Talking,
per se, is neither moral nor immoral.
However, if the intention of talking
is to destroy the reputation of
another person, then, it becomes
evil. On other hand, talking in order
to save an innocent man from a
certain crime that he did may be
judged as good. If an indifferent act
has good intention, the act becomes
good, so if otherwise, it will be
considered evil.
 An objectively good act may
become morally evil. An evil
intention will make a good act evil.
Donating to charitable institution
just to show off makes the whole
action evil. Praying is an objectively
good action. But if you pray for the
person to meet a certain misfortune
will make the act unacceptable.
 An objectively good act may receive
more goodness. A good act will
become more praiseworthy if it has
a good motive. Panizo made use of
the example of giving alms to the
less fortunate for the greater glory
of God. We can express our love to
God if we help and love our
neighbor.
 An objectively evil act can never
become good in spite of good
motive. The end does not justify the
means. Just like the story of
Robinhood who steals from the rich
to give to the people may sound
heroic, however, his good intention
will never make his evil action be
judged as good. Passing an
examination definitely is a
worthwhile end, but if you cheat in
 order to pass will never be deemed
praiseworthy.
 An objectively evil act may become
more evil. An evil act with an evil
intention will make the act doubly
evil, in the same manner as, a good
act with a good intention will be
judged doubly good. For example
you lie just to intentionally cover up
your fault.
c. Circumstance
 Circumstances, including the
consequences, are secondary
elements of a moral act.
 They contribute to increasing or
diminishing the moral goodness
or evilness of the human acts.
 Circumstances themselves cannot
change the moral quality of acts
themselves; they can make neither
good nor right an action that is in
itself evil.”
 Circumstances are conditions that
affect the morality of the action of
an agent. A certain circumstance
may aggravate, mitigate or even
negate the responsibility of an
agent toward his/her actions.
 Not a question of goods and
evil.
 Ex. Poverty is not a sin but
can diminish act (contribute
to increasing or diminishing
the moral goodness or
evilness of the human acts.
 Circumstance of time
(coding tapos nahuli na)
 Gamit nakalagay sa mesa at
ninakaw
 Who, where, how, and when
of a choice. Sometimes, the
morality of an act can
change depending on where
the act is done.
 Example, there are ways a
husband and wife relate to
each other that are moral in
the privacy of their own
home that wouldn’t be moral
in Central Park.
 The when of a choice may
change its morality. How old
somebody is. You may
choose to challenge or
correct children differently
when theyre five from when
they’re 15.
 Any action we choose any
choice is good and moral if
everything about it is good,
the intention, why we’re
doing it, the object, what
we’re actually doing and the
circumstances. – St. Thomas
Aquinas
 If we intend to deceive
somebody for instance, and
we do so while we tell them
that we love them, that’s
immoral
 If we intend to do something
good and wonderful like to
love someone, but we choose
to punch them in anger,
that’s immoral. It’s immoral
because punching is not an
action to demonstrate the
intention of love. While the
 intention is good, the object,
the activity, the punching is  Impairments to free consent
not the proper way to  Passion
achieve that intention.  Fear and Social Pressure
 Ends doesn’t justify the  Violence
mean.  Dispositions and Habits
 We are prepared to die rather  Ignorance is lack of knowledge
than do something evil – St. about a thing in a being capable of
John Paul II knowing. Ignorance is divided as:
 Circumstance of Person (Who). The  Invincible: Ignorance
“subject or the person who does or which a man is not able to
receives the action.” dispel by such reasonable
 Circumstance of Place (Where). diligence. Completely takes
The setting or place where the agent away the voluntariness of the
performs an action. malice and hence
 Circumstance of Time (When). The its responsibility too.
time of the action performed.  Vincible: Ignorance that can
 Circumstance of Manner (How). be dispelled by simple
The way the agent manages to do his diligence; Voluntary in cause;
act. provoked by conscious
 Circumstance of Means (By what negligence or even bad will.
means). “Although man’s intention Kinds: Simply vincible,
may be normally good, if the means Supine, and Affected.
of attainting the end are illicit or  Error, False Judgment or
unlawful, his acts are immoral.” conviction.
 Circumstance of Thing. The special  Arises from deficient
quality of the direct object of the act. education, bad company or
4. Impediments to Morality misleading information. One
 Impediments to human freedom are is not responsible for the
realities with which ethics and consequences of error made in
jurisprudence must reckon good faith.
concerning the morality of the human  Inattention
act:  Refers to momentary
deprivation of insight. If
 Impairments of required attention is completely
knowledge lacking, there is no human act.
 Ignorance  Passion or concupiscence
 Error  Movement of the sensitive
 Inattention appetite that precedes the free
 decision of the will;
Movement of the sensitive
appetite which is moved by
the good or evil apprehended
by imagination.
 Fear
 Mental trepidation due to an
impending evil. It is fear of
the senses and not intellectual
fear which is one of the
passions, (e.g., threat of
torture)
 The emotion of fear, which
completely darkens the mind
or paralyses the will excuses
from imputability.
Violence
 Compulsive influence brought to
bear upon a one against his will
by some extrinsic agent.
 There is imputability except in so
far as the inner will may have
consented or external resistance
have fallen shortof the degree
necessary and possible in the
circumstance.
Habits
 Facility and readiness in acting in
a certain manner acquired by
repeated acts.
 Deliberately admitted habits,
Opposed habits.
Modifiers of human acts
 There are certain factors which
may affect any of the three
constituents of voluntary human
acts. Such factors which may
diminish one’s culpability are
properly called modifiers of the
human acts.
Ignorance
 In general, ignorance is merely the
lack or absence of knowledge in a
person capable of knowing
regarding a certain thing.
 Types of Ignorance:
1. Invincible Ignorance
(unconquerable)
 Is that ignorance which cannot
be cleared up (or dispelled) or
the knowledge that is lacking
cannot be required.
 No objectively wrong act is
culpable if its is performed in
invincible ignorance in as
much as the element of
knowledge here is lacking and
such lack of knowledge is not
due to the fault of the agent.
 Firmament (heaven and
earth)
 In the books of Psalms, the
Earth has an end.
 Invincible Ignorance
(there’s no way to find out)
 We are still looking for cure
of deadly diseases.
 Invincible Ignorance can’t
be conquered because we
don’t have the capability to
know everything in this
world.
2. Vincible Ignorance
 Is that which can and should
be dispelled. It implies
culpable negligence.
 Whether we like it or not, we
should find the right answer.
A. Simple Vincible Ignorance
exist when one uses some, but
not enough diligence in an
effort to remove ignorance.
A. If one performs an
objectively wrong
action the wrongness
of which one is
unaware because of
simple ignorance, the
action is culpable.
However, the
culpability is lessened
by the presence of that
ignorance.
 Example, sinabihan ka ng
mama mo na may butas
yung bubong niyo. Pwede
mong lagyan ng band aid,
chewing gum, or anything
na pangtapal.
B. Crass or Supine Ignorance is
that which, though not directly
willed, could and should be
cleared up, but left wholly
undisturbed. It results from
mere lack of effort.
B. Crass or Supine
Ignorance lessens the
imputability of an act.
Still it makes one
gravely culpable if it
concerns a matter of
grave importance.
 Example, inutusan kang
maglagay ng harang pero di
mo ginawa or ginawa mo
pero mababa naman yung
harang.
 We do not attain to the real
problem. Rather than
climbing to the roof,
naglagay nalang ng timba
para makuha lahat ng tubig
na galing sa butas.
C. Affected Vincible Ignorance
is that which is deliberately
fostered in order to avoid any
obligation that knowledge
might bring to light. It is not
only the lack of knowledge
but the deliberate
unwillingness of the person to
dispel his ignorance.
C. Affected Ignorance is
regard to a matter
grave importance is
gravely culpable.
 Example, pinatay mo phone
mo para di ka na makakuha
ng calls from parents na
pinapauwi ka na.
 Deliberate unwillingness of
the person (Hayaan mo
nalang)
 Hindi ka nalang tumira sa
bahay dahil tumutulo tubig
or wala ka ng ginawa.
 Vincible Ignorance can be
conquered, it depends to us
on how we conquer it.
  Example, sabi ni mama mo  Fear is a mental agitation or
na merong butas yung disturbance brought about by the
bubong. apprehension of some present or
 Ignorance of the law is lack of imminent danger.
knowledge that a particular law  2 types of Fear:
exists. A. Grave Fear is that which is
 Example. I am driving at aroused by the presence of a
100kph along Skyway. danger:
 There must be a law a. That is regarded by
implemented in that place. most people as
 Law means there’s a need serious;
for legislation. b. That is judged to be
 There’s a presence of the law serious by the one
in that situation. concerned.
 Example. Not wearing  Example. Inutusan kang
unform when going to pumunta sa isang lugar pero
school. Not wearing ID ayaw mo dahil may nag-
inside the premises. aaway don.
 Ignorance of the Fact is lack of  Ayaw mo magsky diving.
realization that one is violating a law. Takot ka sa ipis.
 Example. You don’t need to B. Slight Fear is that which is
look a no smoking sign to aroused by:
not smoke in a hospital. a. a danger that is not
 Example. In using escalator, serious; (Hindi
you know where to walk and pagpasa sa Quiz)
stand only. b. grave danger that is
not very probable.
 It’s automatic that when
(Example marunong
you’re in the library, it must
ka lumangoy pero
be silent.
takot ka sa malalim.
 It’s more on common sense.
Takot kang sumakay
 We are capable of finding
sa eroplano dahil baka
what is to be implemented.
magcrash. Takot
Moral Principles Involved magsagot ng exam
1. Invincible Ignorance eliminates dahil takot)
responsibility or culpability.  Actions that are performed
2. Vincible Ignorance does not because of fear, however
eliminate moral responsibility but great the fear may be, are
lessens it. voluntary (at least
Fear
 conditionally) and so are
imputable.
 You are incharge of your
own hunger (ex. You are
hungry but you don’t want to
open the fridge because
other people might be mad
at you)
Concupiscence
 Is the rebellion of the passions
against reason. Passions are
strong tendencies towards the
possession of something good or
towards the avoidance of
something evil. Passions are also
known as emotions or feeling.
Example are love, hatred, joy,
grief, desire, aversion, hope,
courage, fear, and anger.
 Mind – rationality and Heart –
feelings. Heart is rebelling
against mind. What you’re feeling
overpowers what you think.
 2 types of Concupiscence:
1. Antecedent Concupiscence
is that which arises
spontaneously before the
previous judgment of reason
and before the will controls
the psychological situations.
 Antecedent passions lessen
the freedom and hence the
responsibility of the agent
because antecedent
passions tend to blind the
judgment of the intellect
and to block the freedom of
the will.
 Example. Umiiyak sa drama
na movie or tumatawa
because of comedy movies.
Crying because someone
said something (hindi mo
naman ineexpect) or
someone gave a speech and
you cried.
2. Consequent Concupiscence
is the which is deliberately
aroused by the will in order
to ensure a more prompt and
willing operation.
 Consequent Passions,
however great, do not
lessen the voluntariness
but may increase it
because these passions are
deliberately excited and
they are voluntary in
themselves.
 Example. Plinano ang anger
Plinano ang crime.
Human Act
 ginawa mo na lahat pero
hindi pa rin maganda resulta.
You’re not at fault. You’re
not culpable.
Violence
 Is an external force applied by
someone on another in order to
compel him to perform an action
against his will.
 Bullying
 Anything that compels you
to do against your will.
  Violence isn’t just physical,
we have moral violence
(against value or belief)
 2 types of Violence:
A. Perfect Violence is that in
which complete resistance is
given. Under this type, we have
Physically Perfect Violence
where every possible means of
resisting is utilized.
B. Imperfect Violence occurs
when some resistance is shown
but not as much as should be.
Morally Perfect Violence is
that in which all powers of
resistance that should be used
are employed. (your value in
life is what you fight for. Not
just a physical resistance, but it
says what you believe. Your
morals is being violated so you
resist)
 3 principles in determining the
effect of violence on the
voluntariness of the act and the
imputability of the agent.
 If one resists the violence as
much as possible (Perfect
Violence), the evil act to
which one is forced is in no
way culpable.
 If one does not resist the
violence as fully as possible
(Imperfect Violence), the
culpability of the evil act is
lessened but not taken
away.
 If one sees that any
resistance would be wholly
ineffective, there is no
obligation to resist.
Culpability of one person cannot be
determined.
Purpose of Resistance:
 It might disclose one’s lack
of consent to the act to
which one is being forced.
(If you don’t resist, it might
show that you give consent)
 It might aid one in
preventing internal consent
to the external act.
Habits
 Are inclinations to perform some
particular action, acquired by
repetition, and characterized by a
decreased power of resistance and
an increased facility of
performance. Sometimes called
’second nature”.
 If a habit disposes evil, it is called
a VICE (smoking, cursing,
sleeping late, drinking liquor); if
to good, it is a VIRTUE (bowing
to teachers, pagmamano, using
po and opo)
 2 general principles on the effects
of habit on the imputability of evil
actions:
1. Evil habits do not lessen the
imputability of evilt actions
performed by force of habit
if the habit has been
recognized as evil and is
freely permitted to continue.
2. Evil habits lessen the
imputability of the evil
actions performed by force
 of habit if one is sincerely
trying to correct the habit.
Temperament
 is the sum total of those qualities
which mark an individual. It is the
sum total of native propensities
which constitute an individual’s
disposition. It may be simple
defined as “disposition”
 Concupisence is what you feel on
that day while temperament is
what really is the person’s
personality.
 Ex. Temperament siya kapag
sinabi “Ah yan si ano, masayahin
talaga siya”
Four Major Temperaments
1. Sanguine. The sanguinic person
has a pleasing and agreeable
personality but is not a good
leader because he is not very
stable.
2. Choleric. The choleric person is
domineering and strong-willed;
he can be a good leader.
3. Melancholic. The melancholic
person is pessimistic, brooding,
usually scrupulous and despairs
easily.
4. Phlegmatic. The phlegmatic
person is easy going and lacking
in initiative; but he is trustworthy.
The moral implication of temperament is
that a person’s temperament can affect
his will to the extend of somewhat
lessening the completely voluntary
nature of his actions.
Nervous Mental Disorder
 Specific mental states of man that are
likely to be called abnormal under
certain conditions
Types:
1. Neurasthenia is a neurotic
condition or debility characterized
by feelings of fatigue, worry, and
depression, which may affect the
activity of the will.
2. Hysteria is a psychoneurosis
characterized by emotional
excitability and frequently
accompanied by various
symptoms, many of which have
mortal implications. There are at
times angry outbursts, a partial
loss of memory, a tendency to lie
or steal or to indulge in immoral
act
3. Compulsion Neurosis is a
psychoneurosis characterized by
compulsions and obsessions.
Included in this category are
compulsive feelings and actions.
Among these are various manias
and phobias
4. Melancholiais a mental disorder
characterized by extreme
depression and brooding. It may
give rise to inability to pray or
fulfill other religious duties, and
to a difficulty in making decisions
or carrying them out. At times the
patient may develop feelings of
guilt which are unfounded
5. Hypochondria is a morbid anxiety
concerning one’s own health,
 characterized by imaginary
ailments. Extreme cases at times
are marked by a tendency to
commit suicide.

The moral implications of Nervous

Mental disorder is that to the extent to
which faculties of intellect and will are
affected, moral responsibility is
diminished and eliminated.

Unit 3: Called to the Fullness of Life
Lesson 7
Lesson A: Genuine Freedom:
The Pursuit of the Good
Man has the Freedom to choose Evil
(True or False)
Free will – choice of the human (capacity
of a human to choose, coming from his
own will or decision)
Freedom – more in freedom (not just free
will but something else)
Answer: False. When you hurt someone,
you will feel if what you did is right or
wrong. Somehow, you are reminded if
you did something right or wrong. Even
without law, we can realize something is
wrong. Even before the giving of the 10
commandments, we already knew that
there was wrong. If we hurt something,
we feel there’s something wrong with
nature.
Dimensions of Freedom
1. Fundamental Freedom
 yung fetus na nasa loob ng
sinapupunan, may freedom ba siya?
Well, fetus is not free in terms of free
will but the it has freedom.
 Freedom is not determined by our
choices/decisions but built into our
being. It is part of our dignity. It is
inviolable (cannot be violated)
 Freedom is built in ourselves as
creatures created in the image and
likeness of God. It’s a matter of gift
(it’s given to us when God created us)
 A person in a coma is not making
use/unconscious but still has
fundamental freedom.
 War in Israel: We are hurt once we
see the news regardless of our beliefs
because we know that we are the
same as them. Regardless of what we
believe, the people involved in the
war are still human. Their war is a
choice, but the people injured/died
isn’t their choice. We get hurt because
we possess the same dignity.
 Do animals have fundamental
freedom?
2. Freedom of Choice – dignity
(inviolable)
 Infused choice. Choice of doing good
or evil.
 Animals don’t have a concept of good
or evil. If they bite you, it’s not
considered evil. It’s their nature. It’s
not moral freedom. It might be our
own concept of why animals are
happy. It’s their nature.
 Do animals know they are animals?
 If we say that a dog is a dog, it’s our
own identification for them.
 The names of objects around us are
our own identification.
 Philosophy of language: Language is
very important to improve our nature
as a human person.
 From the concept of nature, birds are
free to do what they want. If we tie or
 cage a dog, we deprive them of their
natural freedom.
 Malaya ba ang isang tao na saktan
ang isang tao?
 If you’re an artist, it’s easy to draw
other people.
 We will feel in ourselves when
something is disoriented from its
original flow
 If it goes out of nature, it will be hard
for us to anticipate.
 I can do good, I can do evil
(Freedom)
• Self is the freedom. Can refer to
capacity.
 Kicking is not a decision a fetus
makes.
 A fetus can grow or develop into
something we expect.
 If a fetus has an underdeveloped part
of the body, there are external factors
like sa pagkain, natamaan, or may
certain situation that happened.
 Fetus nakakasipa but not naninipa.
 God created us beautiful but He gave
us the capacity to make ourselves
more beautiful.
Trisha never really liked Benjamin from
the moment they met at class. She feels
that Benjamin in annoying in every sort
of way and so she doesn’t want to be
around her even if Benjamin is just
minding his own business. Feeding on
her antipathy towards her unsuspecting
classmate, Trisha thought about creating
a fake social media account where she
can spread untrue and mean rumors about
Benjamin in order embarrass the latter.
Trisha knows that this is something that
is doable but she feels distressed thinking
that just because she can doesn’t mean
she should, no matter how badly she
wants it to happen.
How do the people of your age
concretely express their freedom? Can
you identify these forms of expression
(Whether these are positive or negative)?
1. Freedom as Expression of Dignity:
God’s Image and Likeness in Man
 Freedom is anchored on man’s
dignity, i.e., being made in the image
and likeness of God.
 Freedom towards the good can only
be achieved and perfected in God
while being totally aware of the call
to be always faithful to one’s dignity.
 True freedom is a freedom only for
the good.
 Human person as the perfect and the
crowning glory of God’s creation
must participate in Gods creative
works which are good.
 Thus, man is always expected to
choose the good in all his/her
undertakings.
 Genuine freedom must be given
emphasis in order to straighten man’s
path toward the awareness of one’s
fidelity to the dignity which was lost
to sin.
 As man strives to become ‘like-God’,
he/she is called to always be
reminded that the more we become
like God, the more we become human
 and the more we become humans, the
more we should be like God.
 E.g. Mother Teresa has become an
icon of holiness because she
exercised the genuine freedom that
Christians are all called to do: the
works of God.
2. Dignity and Freedom: The fulfillment
in Manifestation of God’s Presence in
Man
 Man’s life is from God and God
alone has the sole right to take it
away.
 Washing man’s inequities through
the blood of Christ makes man
acceptable before God.
 By virtue of baptism, as adopted
sons and daughters of God, man’s
body becomes the temple of the
Holy Spirit.
 God’s presence in man makes
him/her holy, sacred.
 Now freedom enters here when
man treats the other with outmost
respect and high regard for the
presence of God in each person.
 It is by virtue of our dignity that
we are equal before the eyes of
God.
 Creation happened because of the
unconditional, undying and
unending love of God.
 Man’s response to that
overflowing love is faithfulness.
 Cognition of one’s and other’s
dignity must be the basis of a
person’s genuine exercise of
genuine freedom.
 As man navigates the ins and outs
of genuine freedom, ideally, the
good must always take
precedence.
 The responsibility in exercising
freedom entails that a person must
always bear consciously and
unconsciously that he/she is the
only one answerable and
accountable for all the actions
he/she committed.
 The intrinsic goodness of man is
exercised through the aid his/her
freewill and intellect.
 The election toward the good is
only achieved if the person is
definitively bound to God and is
totally aware of the call to be
always faithful to one’s dignity.
 Through this, man is able to
perfect himself/herself and is
capable of arriving at the
promised salvation of Christ.
 Freedom is our ability to be
faithful to our dignity.
 Doing God-like actions: loving,
showing mercy, extending
compassion, forgiving, etc.
 Therefore, freedom is the ability
to choose the good.
 “The more we choose the good,
the freer we become.”
 The beginning of freedom, Saint
Augustine writes, is:
 ”To be free from crimes...such as
murder, adultery, fornication,
theft, fraud, sacrilege and so forth.
When once one is without these
crimes (and every Christian
 should be without them), one
begins to lift up one's head
towards freedom. But this is only
the beginning of freedom, not
perfect freedom..." VS, 13
3. Freedom and Law
 "Of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil you shall not
eat" (Gen 2:17)
 In the Book of Genesis we
read: "The Lord God
commanded the man, saying,
'You may eat freely of every
tree of the garden; but of the
tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for
in the day that you eat of it
you shall die' " (Gen 2:16-
17). VS, 35.
a. The Imagery of Tree of
Knowledge of Good and
Evil:
 Revelation teaches that
the power to decide what
is good and what is evil
does not belong to man,
but to God alone.
 Man is certainly free,
inasmuch as he can
understand and accept
God's commands. And
he possesses an
extremely far-reaching
freedom, since he can
eat "of every tree of the
garden".
 But his freedom is not
unlimited: it must halt
before the "tree of the
knowledge of good and
evil", for it is called to
accept the moral law
given by God. In fact,
human freedom finds its
authentic and complete
fulfilment precisely in
the acceptance of that
law.
 God, who alone is good,
knows perfectly what is
good for man, and by
virtue of his very love
proposes this good to
man in the
commandments. VS, 35
 God's law does not
reduce, much less do
away with human
freedom; rather, it
protects and promotes
that freedom.
 In contrast, however,
some present-day
cultural tendencies have
given rise to several
currents of thought in
ethics which center upon
an alleged conflict
 between freedom and
law.
 These doctrines would
grant to individuals or
social groups the right to
determine what is good
or evil.
 Human freedom would
thus be able to "create
values" and would enjoy
a primacy over truth, to
the point that truth itself
would be considered a
creation of freedom.
 Freedom would thus lay
claim to a moral
autonomy which would
actually amount to an
absolute sovereignty.
VS, 35
 In response to the
encouragement of the
Second Vatican Council,
there has been a desire
to foster dialogue with
modern culture,
emphasizing the
rational, and thus
universally
understandable and
communicable, character
of moral norms
belonging to the sphere
of the natural moral law.
VS, 36
 Some people, however,
disregarding the
dependence of human
reason on Divine
Wisdom and the need,
given the present state of
fallen nature, for Divine
Revelation as an
effective means for
knowing moral truths,
even those of the natural
order, have actually
posited a complete
sovereignty of reason in
the domain of moral
norms regarding the
right ordering of life in
this world.
 Such norms would
constitute the boundaries
for a merely "human"
morality; they would be
the expression of a law
which man in an
autonomous manner lays
down for himself and
which has its source
exclusively in human
reason.
 In no way could God be
considered the Author of
this law, except in the
 sense that human reason
exercises its autonomy
in setting down laws by
virtue of a primordial
and total mandate given  Not only the world,
to man by God.
 These trends of thought
have led to a denial, in
opposition to Sacred
Scripture (cf. Mt 15:3-6)
and the Church's
constant teaching, of the
fact that the natural
moral law has God as its
author, and that man, by  Attaining
the use of reason,
participates in the
eternal law, which it is
not for him to establish.
b. God left man in the power
of his own counsel" (Sir
15:14)
 The Second Vatican
Council explains the
meaning of that
"genuine freedom"
which is "an outstanding
manifestation of the
divine image" in man:
 "God willed to leave
man in the power of his  At the heart of the moral
own counsel, so that he
would seek his Creator
of his own accord and
would freely arrive at
full and blessed
perfection by cleaving to
God". VS, 38
however, but also man
himself has been
entrusted to his own care
and responsibility. God
left man "in the power of
his own counsel" (Sir
15:14), that he might
seek his Creator and
freely attain perfection.
such
perfection means
personally building up
that perfection in
himself. Indeed, just as
man in exercising his
dominion over the world
shapes it in accordance
with his own
intelligence and will, so
too in performing
morally good acts, man
strengthens, develops
and consolidates within
himself his likeness to
God. VS, 39
life we thus find the
principle of a "rightful
autonomy" of man, the
 personal subject of his
actions.
 The moral law has its
origin in God and
always finds its source
in him: at the same time,
by virtue of natural
reason, which derives
from divine wisdom, it
is a properly human law.
VS, 40.
 The rightful autonomy
of the practical reason
means that man
possesses in himself his
own law, received from
the Creator.
Nevertheless, the
autonomy of reason
cannot mean that reason
itself creates values and
moral norms.
 Were this autonomy to
imply a denial of the
participation of the
practical reason in the
wisdom of the divine
Creator and Lawgiver,
or were it to suggest a
freedom which creates
moral norms, on the
basis of historical
contingencies or the
diversity of societies and
cultures, this sort of
alleged autonomy would
contradict the Church's
teaching on the truth
about man.
 It would be the death of
true freedom: "But of
the tree of the
knowledge of good and
evil you shall not eat, for
in the day that you eat of
it you shall die" (Gen
2:17).
 Man's genuine moral
autonomy in no way
means the rejection but
rather the acceptance of
the moral law, of God's
command: "The Lord
God gave this command
to the man..." (Gen
2:16).
 Human freedom and
God's law meet and are
called to intersect, in the
sense of man's free
obedience to God and of
God's completely
gratuitous benevolence
towards man.
 Hence obedience to God
is not, as some would
believe, a heteronomy,
as if the moral life were
 subject to the will of
something all-powerful,
absolute, extraneous to
man and intolerant of his
freedom. VS, 41
 By forbidding man to
"eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and
evil", God makes it clear
that man does not
originally possess such
"knowledge" as
something properly his
own, but only
participates in it by the
light of natural reason
and of Divine
Revelation, which
manifest to him the
requirements and the
promptings of eternal
wisdom.

Lesson 8
Lesson A: Law Abiding in
Truth
1. Sense of Law
2. Definition of Law
3. Types of Law
Catalina will soon be celebrating her 18th
birthday this coming 20 September
2021. She is excited about this day and
has been preparing for it since she turned
thirteen. One can only imagine the
anticipation and the preparations she
poured into it and how the whole family
is involved and excited for her.
Everything is in place: the venue, gown,
caterers, invitations, and the trappings
that go along with this once in a lifetime
event. Then came the announcement of
the WHO that COVID 19 is now a
pandemic and is highly contagious and,
as such, is virulent. In response, The
Philippine Government, through RA
11469, otherwise known as Bayanihan to
Heal As One Act, has prohibited all social
events indefinitely. Upon learning this,
Catalina felt sad, knowing that her dream
celebration will not materialize.
Nonetheless, she accepted the
consequences and understood that the
law only intends to ensure the Filipino
people's safety, to which her right to
celebrate comes only second.
What is Just Law?
Anarchism
 According to Noam Chomsky (1928-
present), Anarchism is a kind of a
tendency in human thought and
action which tries to detect structures
of authority, domination, and
hierarchy and to challenge them, ask
them to demonstrate their legitimacy,
recognizing that they are not self
justifying. They have the burden of
justification.
 This is true across all the spectrum of
human life from patriarchal families
to imperial systems and everything in
between.
 Whenever you find structure of
domination, hierarchy, somebody
giving order, somebody taking them,
you have to ask: is that legitimate?
 You should not assume that it is
legitimate because its been like that,
that is not a justification. You have to
ask, if it is legitimate, when you do,
you generally find that it can’t be
justified.
 Anarchism is the effort to discover
such systems. And when they can’t
justify themselves, they have to be
dismantled and in order to move
towards greater freedom, justice,
opportunity, individual creativity,
cooperative activity, and so on.
 e.g. Expansion of women’s rights.
How did it happen? As soon as these
structures of oppression were
identified, they kind of disappeared,
not instantly, as there are still plenty
of resistance.
 Wage labor, or wage slavery were
people are forced into a system where
they have to sell themselves to
survive. If you work for a wage you
are selling yourself, you lose your
freedom, dignity, independence, your
worth as a person.
 Over the years this has been instilled
into people’s head and the intuitive
understanding of this kind of injustice
has been suppressed. They can be
eliminated by enterprises that are
managed and run by their
participants.
 These are changes that have taken
place just through exposing power to
the sunlight and seeing it evaporate.
Sense of Law According to
Aquinas
 Law is not limited to:
 A legislative or judicial domain
 Commands, obligations, moral
imperatives
 Controlling what other people are
free to do.
 Law is a Teacher
 It is about a rational or reasonable
principle of order by which things
are directed to their ends. In this
way, law is a teacher.
 Law is a Ruler
 A measure of human acts
 A guide in drawing straight lines.
 The straightness and length of the
rule is also the measure of the line
you’ve drawn.
 The law guides us in our actions
to make sure that they are upright
and ordered to the common good.
 It also gives us a way to judge our
actions. It measures them,
whether we have conformed our
actions to the standard of the law.
Definition of Law According to
Aquinas
 Aquinas’ Definition of Law
 An ordination of reason for the
common good from him who has
care of the community, which is
promulgated or made known.
ST lallae, Q, 90, a.4
 Important Phrases:
o Ordinance of reason
o For the common good 
everyone will benefit
o Who has care of the
community  elected
people (who are
authorized/with authority)
who can implement the
law competently.
o Promulgated or made
known
 Two Elements:
1. Law is an ordination of reason
⮚ law involves some kind of
ordering and specifically an
ordering according to reason.
(clear reason to be decided upon)
⮚ Law is not a command of the will
of the superior.
⮚ Law is an expression of his
(superior) reason consisting in a
kind of reasoned plan or ordering
of things towards the common
good.
2. Law is an Ordering to the Common
Good
 Common good is the end that law
aims at and serves.
 Common good is a good of
radically different kind because it
is an end and it can be shared by
many without loss or
diminishment, e.g. truth, justice.
Goods that can be shared by
many, it is higher and nobler.
 It is not a private property of none
of them and yet it is genuinely
good for each of them because it
is a common good.
  We try to assess/evaluate to know
if it helps for the common good
 For all the members of the
community
 Abide with what’s there for you
and me
 For the common good
 The common good is the explanation
of why a law exists and what it is
doing:
 law is an ordering based on reason
for the sake of and directing the
community towards the common
good.
 Common good can be found in
the right ordering to God as the
common good and final end of all
that is.
Types of Law According to
Aquinas
4 Types of Law
1. Eternal Law – the highest type of
law. Address an eternal law using
human expression. How can we
understand eternal law if we use
human language? (ex. Humingi ka
ng sign kay God and Nakita mo
“Stop” so you think na ‘yun na yung
sign)
2. Natural Law
3. Divine Positive Law
4. Human Law – law
interpreted/expressed in human
words (ex. “Stop” identification of
speed limit or restriction and no ID,
no entry)
 These are arranged as a hierarchy
where the lower law types of law
participate in and make more specific
the higher types.
 One is easily accessible and one is
accessed by transcendental
understanding.
 Human law provide captive. Human
law accident example: Travel time.
 Human law tries to prevent death to
preserve human life.
 Do we violate eternal law when we
die? Are human and eternal law
connected?
 To interpret eternal law, it requires
faith in our human mind.
 Example: If we understand death,
death sometimes is considered eternal
law so we have to prevent it. We
preserve life, humanity, and human
person. When a person dies according
to eternal law, it is a part of the law
itself that death is not to be prevented
according to human law. But in
eternal law, it is permitted for a better
purpose.
Eternal Law
 The order of creation as it preexists
in the divine mind.
 Ultimately, that creation would
reflect and share in the glory and
splendor of God.
 Divine (blueprint of creation)
 If something happens to a human, is it
the order of creation?
 Modifications because of limitations
of human mind. Free will to
understand the divine. Freedom is to
understand the things on earth and
with God the capacity.
 Life and Death – other than human
life, God wants soul in order for
human mind to understand/appreciate
intelligently that it has to be
understood with faith.
 Being male and female, how can
sex/gender alter the divine plan?
 Liberty – the divine plan/order of
creation has been laid.
 Divine – can’t be changed.
 It is the fundamental thing the we are
to have
 Aquinas begins with the Highest
possible level: God himself, who not
only is the creator of the universe but
also its end, the source of its order,
and who governs it by his
providential plan.
 This plan of order emerges from
God’s divine reason as an idea in
God’s mind and like God himself this
plan is eternal. Thus, eternal law.
 God, its end and source of order
(propagate, create, legislate law)
 Example: Contraception/Abortion
 Law being implemented that
ends human life but that’s
not eternal law all about.
 Acknowledge God as the
creator/cause then we don’t
have the right to create law
that ends human life.
 Eternal – definite things
 Eternal life – life after death
(you can’t change death
itself)
 When we are creating other
types of laws, we consider
the Divine/Eternal Law
 Eternal law is not only in God’s mind
but is in the things that God makes.
 Because God has created all things
according to a plan as coming from
him and ordered back to him, he
imprints on their very being, in their
very nature an inclination for
creatures towards their proper acts
and ends. So they will tend to their
perfection and fulfillment precisely as
the kinds of things they are according
to the nature God has given them.
 We don’t need to decide we
understand things
 If you don’t believe in God, you don’t
have concern in violating the law but
it’s not like that we are all created by
God.
 Official distinction of Good (Divide
Plan)
 Handicap – even artist have the
difficulty to express their views.
Natural Law
 The rational creature’s
participation in the eternal law.
 The way that rational creatures, like
human beings participate in God’s
plan, i.e., in the eternal law.
 How do we see the divine plan?
 Rational creature’s
participation in the eternal
law.
 Everlasting love
 We see divine law with how
the nature works (Sunset)
 Unlike lower creatures, we human
beings are not only moved to our end
from the outside, we use our reason,
minds, to actively participate in
directing ourselves, ordering
ourselves, and ordering and directing
others towards their ultimate end and
we do this insofar as we understand
what kind of beings we are and what
is really good for us and so act
accordingly.
 We use understanding
 I have natural tendencies to
make myself beautiful.
 Doing evil is not part of our
nature
 This eternal law, this plan of God is
implanted in rational creatures in a
special way, Aquinas calls this the
natural law.
 Thus, we are capable of
understanding the world around us,
grasping with our minds, what is
good for us to do and moving
ourselves to do it according to this
rational desire called, will.
  Understanding – 
independent in nature
 A female child will not grow
naturally than adult female.
Are we suppose to
understand that one or are
we stubborn enough to think
that is it possible that the
young female child can
become male someday? Like
he’s going to change gender?
The divine plan/soul has
been there since the
beginning. Only reasonable
being can appreciate that this
is a female becoming adult
female.
 Human beings have a higher
participation in God’s providential
plan than other creatures do because
we can understand it become willing
agents in bringing it to completion for
ourselves, for others, and for our
communities.
 Endowed with the power of reason
means that we are not simply moved
by brute force or instinct. The
precepts of the natural law follow the
order of our natural inclination.
 This means that as we understand the
inclinations of our spiritual nature, we
come to grasp what God made a
human being to be and what human
life is ordered to. And so, we come to
know what a human being ought to
do and avoid.
 We are not animals (if we
are, then we are the highest
order)
 As human being, we have
moral obligation on what to
do and avoid.
 Five Principles of Natural
Inclinations:
1. To good (to what perfects us)
Why do we go to school?
Because we believe that by
learning, we perfect
ourselves to self-
preservation.
2. To self-preservation
 Killing is evil.
 Inclination – natural
tendency for sexual union,
3. To sexual union
4. To knowing the truth
 Desire to know the truth.
 We are not contented with
things we know, there’s a
desire to know the truth.
5. To Living in society (justice,
truth, fairness towards others)
 No man is an island
 Created for each other
 Obliged to perform them.
 These inclinations are features of the
kind of beings that we are.
 They give us a fundamental
orientation towards what will make
us increasingly happy and
increasingly free.
 Natural law does not impose on us, it
is rather the very design of our being.
As we come to know this with our
minds, we are able to participate
intentionally and freely in this plan.
 We order ourselves, our actions
according to this plan by the use of
our freedom. This is the purpose of
our freedom, that we be the creatures
that order ourselves freely and
knowingly to God according to his
plan.
 People accept burden
 It’s the self-inclination
 Even going to different
place, we notice something
wrong and there’s the desire
to fix the system.
Properties of the Natural Law
1. Universal. Binds all men at all times
and in all places, for it is the very
nature of men.
 Regardless of color and race.
 Applicable in our country
can be applied to others as
well.
 Human life is recognized.
2. Indispensable. Man has no authority
over natural law. God is the source of
natural law.
3. Immutable and Dynamic. Exists for
as long as human nature exists.
Changes in the condition of man
results in modified or new demands
of the Natural Law.
 Example: there are laws that
were applied before that
can’t be applied today.
Relation between Human Law and
Natural Law
 Human law is only just in accord with
the natural law and that laws that
conflict with the natural law are not
morally binding.
 The natural law is most clear with
respect to certain general and
negative precepts, e.g. decalogue:
theft, murder, adultery…these are
wrong always and everywhere
because they are contrary to what the
natural law teaches us is the good for
human beings, e.g., self-preservation,
sexual union, and the raising of
children.
 Human law is in accordance
with natural law.
 Natural law is most clear
(e.g. 10 commandmets)
 The important job of lawmakers is to
specify and apply the general
precepts of the natural law in a
particular context and for a particular
community.
 Then, always respecting what the
natural law demands in its negative
precepts, human lawmakers should
make laws that order their
communities towards its common
good.
 Senior Citizen Law (respect
for elderly)
 Persons with Disabilities
 Traffic Lights – to avoid
accidents
Divine Positive Law
 What God has revealed through
divine revelation in the OT and NT
about how human beings should live
in order to come to the supernatural
good of heaven.
 10 commandments
 These are things that we could not
have discovered on our own since
knowing and travelling on the way to
the triune God completely exceeds
what our nature is capable of by its
own power
 Grace of human experience
Human Laws
 Application or determination of the
natural law on various levels in
particular community.
 No ID, no entry
 Natural law that protects: it
is for the good of
community/institution to be
identified
 Also, an ordination of reason for the
common good, in this case the
common good of a nation, of the
state, of the city.
 More particular and specific than the
natural law.
 It does not apply everywhere like the
natural law does but only in this
jurisdiction and it aims to direct this
particular community and its
members to their proper common
good.
 Example
o Natural Law: I’ll see you
in the morning (general)
o Human Law: It’s colder.
Let’s do it at 6 o’clock or
5 in the morning.
Church Laws
 The Six Commandments of the
Church
1. To hear mass on Sundays and
Holy Days of Obligation.
2. To fast and abstain on the days
appointed.
3. To confess at least once a year.
4. To receive the Holy Eucharist
during Easter Time.
5. To contribute to the support of the
Church.
6. To never violate laws concerning
marriage.
 Church Laws (Human law
because its nature is to
enforce/can be enforced)
 Specific requirement/action
to determine the validity of
the sacrament.

Lesson 9
Lesson A: Genuine Freedom:
The Pursuit of the Good
Cristina’s mother gave her a ring when
she turned eighteen. It was indeed a
precious heirloom, having been in the
hands of many women in their family
since time immemorial. Her mother
reminded her to treasure it and keep it
with all her might. It so happened that
she lost it after having attended a study
group with her classmates. Cristina felt
terrible and confused because of this. She
cannot decide whether or not to tell her
mother, who would be very disappointed
in her. Afraid of the consequences, she is
holding back her actions. She is afraid to
do the right thing.
What is the right thing to do?
The Freudian Personality Diagram
 Id. The in born primitive portion of
the storehouse of libido, the basic
energy that continually pushes for
immediate gratification. “The
Pleasure Principle”.
 Ego. The portion of personality that
organizes, plans and keeps the person
in touch with reality. Language and
thought are both ego functions. “The
Reality Principle”.
 Superego. The ‘conscience’ part of
personality, which contains parental
and societal values and attitudes
incorporated during childhood. “The
Ought Principle”.
Definition of Conscience
Conscience and Truth
Man’s Sanctuary
The relationship between man's freedom
and God's law is most deeply lived out in
the "heart" of the person, in his moral
conscience. Vatican II observed:
In the depths of his conscience man
detects a law which he does not impose
on himself, but which holds him to
obedience. Always summoning him to
love good and avoid evil, the voice of
conscience can when necessary speak to
his heart more specifically: '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 (cf. Rom 2:14-16)" (VS, 54).
Moral conscience, present at the heart of
the person, enjoins him at the appropriate
moment to do good and to avoid evil.
It judges particular choices, approving
those that are good and denouncing those
that are evil. It bears witness to the
authority of truth in reference to the
supreme Good to which the human
person is drawn, and it welcomes the
commandments.
When he listens to his conscience, the
prudent man can hear God speaking.
CCC, 1777
Definition of Conscience
Conscience is a judgment of reason
whereby the human person recognizes
the moral quality of a concrete act that he
is going to perform, is in the process of
performing, or has already completed.
CCC, 1778
In all he says and does, man is obliged to
follow faithfully what he knows to be just
and right.
It is by the judgment of his conscience
that man perceives and recognizes the
prescriptions of the divine law. CCC,
1778
”The sanctuary of man, where he is alone
with God whose voice echoes within
him".
This voice, it is said, leads man not so
much to a meticulous observance of
universal norms as to a creative and
responsible acceptance of the personal
tasks entrusted to him by God.”
The Judgment of Conscience
The Judgment of Conscience
Biblical understanding of conscience.
"When Gentiles who have not the law do
by nature what the law requires, they are
a law unto themselves, even though they
do not have the law. They show that what
the law requires is written on their hearts,
while their conscience also bears witness
and their conflicting thoughts accuse or
perhaps excuse them" (Rom 2:14-15).
VS, 57.
The importance of this interior dialogue
of man with himself can never be
adequately appreciated. But it is also a
dialogue of man with God, the author of
the law, the primordial image and final
end of man. VS, 58.
”Conscience is like God's herald and
messenger; it does not command things
on its own authority, but commands them
as coming from God's authority, like a
herald when he proclaims the edict of the
king. This is why conscience has binding
force." Saint Bonaventure, VS, 58.
Conscience bears witness to man's own
rectitude or iniquity to man himself but,
together with this and indeed even
beforehand, conscience is the witness of
God himself, whose voice and judgment
penetrate the depths of man's soul, calling
him fortiter et suaviter to obedience. VS,
58
Moral conscience does not close man
within an insurmountable and
impenetrable solitude, but opens him to
the call, to the voice of God.
In this, and not in anything else, lies the
entire mystery and the dignity of the
moral conscience: in being the place, the
sacred place where God speaks to man.
VS, 58
Saint Paul does not merely acknowledge
that conscience acts as a "witness"; he
also reveals the way in which conscience
performs that function. He speaks of
"conflicting thoughts" which accuse or
excuse the Gentiles with regard to their
behavior (cf. Rom 2:15).
The term "conflicting thoughts" clarifies
the precise nature of conscience: it is a
moral judgment about man and his
actions, a judgment either of acquittal or
of condemnation, according as human
acts are in conformity or not with the law
of God written on the heart. VS, 59.

In the same text the Apostle clearly
speaks of the judgment of actions, the
judgment of their author and the moment
when that judgment will be definitively
rendered: "(This will take place) on that
day when, according to my Gospel, God
judges the secrets of men by Christ
Jesus" (Rom 2:16). VS, 59.
The judgment of conscience is a practical
judgment, a judgment which makes
known what man must do or not do, or
which assesses an act already performed
by him.
It is a judgment which applies to a
concrete situation the rational conviction
that one must love and do good and avoid
evil.
This first principle of practical reason is
part of the natural law; indeed it
constitutes the very foundation of the
natural law, inasmuch as it expresses that
primordial insight about good and evil,
that reflection of God's creative wisdom
which, like an imperishable spark
(scintilla animae), shines in the heart of
every man. VS, 59
But whereas the natural law discloses the
objective and universal demands of the
moral good, conscience is the application
of the law to a particular case;
This application of the law thus becomes
an inner dictate for the individual, a
summons to do what is good in this
particular situation.
Conscience thus formulates moral
obligation in the light of the natural law:
it is the obligation to do what the
individual, through the workings of his
conscience, knows to be a good he is
called to do here and now. VS, 59
The judgment of conscience has an
imperative character: man must act in
accordance with it. If man acts against
this judgment or, in a case where he lacks
certainty about the rightness and
goodness of a determined act, still
performs that act, he stands condemned
by his own conscience, the proximate
norm of personal morality. VS. 60.
The dignity of this rational forum and the
authority of its voice and judgments
derive from the truth about moral good
and evil, which it is called to listen to and
to express. This truth is indicated by the
"divine law", the universal and objective
norm of morality.
The judgment of conscience does not
establish the law; rather it bears witness
to the authority of the natural law and of
the practical reason with reference to the
supreme good, whose attractiveness the
human person perceives and whose
commandments he accepts.
"Conscience is not an independent and
exclusive capacity to decide what is good
and what is evil. Rather there is
profoundly imprinted upon it a principle
of obedience vis-à-vis the objective norm
which establishes and conditions the
correspondence of its decisions with the
commands and prohibitions which are at
the basis of human behavior" VS, 60
The truth about moral good, as that truth
is declared in the law of reason, is
practically and concretely recognized by
the judgment of conscience, which leads
one to take responsibility for the good or
the evil one has done. VS, 61
If man does evil, the just judgment of his
conscience remains within him as a
witness to the universal truth of the good,
as well as to the malice of his particular
choice.
But the verdict of conscience remains in
him also as a pledge of hope and mercy:
while bearing witness to the evil he has
done, it also reminds him of his need,
with the help of God's grace, to ask
forgiveness, to do good and to cultivate
virtue constantly. VS, 61
Consequently in the practical judgment
of conscience, which imposes on the
person the obligation to perform a given
act, the link between freedom and truth is
made manifest.
Precisely for this reason conscience
expresses itself in acts of "judgment"
which reflect the truth about the good,
and not in arbitrary "decisions". VS, 61.
Certainly, in order to have a "good
conscience" (1 Tim 1:5), man must seek
the truth and must make judgments in
accordance with that same truth. As the
Apostle Paul says:
• ”Conscience must confirmed by
the Holy Spirit" (cf. Rom 9:1);
• “It must be "clear" (2 Tim 1:3);
• “It must not "practice cunning and
tamper with God's word", but
"openly state the truth" (cf. 2 Cor
4:2).
On the other hand, the Apostle also warns
Christians: "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" (Rom 12:2).
Types of Conscience
Conscience, as the judgment of an act, is
not exempt from the possibility of error.
VS, 62
• As the Council puts it, "not
infrequently conscience can be
mistaken as a result of invincible
ignorance, although it does not on
that account forfeit its dignity;
• but this cannot be said when a
man shows little concern for
seeking what is true and good,
and conscience gradually
becomes almost blind from being
accustomed to sin".
• In these brief words the Council
sums up the doctrine which the
Church down the centuries has
developed with regard to the
erroneous conscience.
Correct and Erroneous Conscience
• It is always from the truth that the
dignity of conscience derives. In
the case of the correct conscience,
it is a question of the objective
truth received by man;
• in the case of the erroneous
conscience, it is a question of
what man, mistakenly,
subjectively considers to be true.
• It is never acceptable to confuse a
"subjective" error about moral
good with the "objective" truth
rationally proposed to man in
virtue of his end, or to make the
moral value of an act performed
with a true and correct conscience
equivalent to the moral value of
an act performed by following the
judgment of an erroneous
conscience. VS, 63
• It is possible that the evil done as
the result of invincible ignorance
or a non-culpable error of
judgment may not be imputable to
the agent; but even in this case it
does not cease to be an evil, a
disorder in relation to the truth
about the good.
• Furthermore, a good act which is
not recognized as such does not
contribute to the moral growth of
the person who performs it; it
does not perfect him and it does
not help to dispose him for the
supreme good.
• Thus, before feeling easily
justified in the name of our
conscience, we should reflect on
the words of the Psalm: "Who can
discern his errors? Clear me from
hidden faults" (Ps 19:12). There
are faults which we fail to see but
which nevertheless remain faults,
because we have refused to walk
towards the light (cf. Jn 9:39-41).
VS, 63
• Conscience, as the ultimate
concrete judgment, compromises
its dignity when it is culpably
erroneous, that is to say, "when
man shows little concern for
seeking what is true and good,
and conscience gradually
becomes almost blind from being
accustomed to sin". VS, 63
• Jesus alludes to the danger of the
conscience being deformed when
he warns: "The eye is the lamp of
the body. So if your eye is sound,
your whole body will be full of
light; but if your eye is not sound,
your whole body will be full of
darkness. If then the light in you
is darkness, how great is the
darkness!" (Mt 6:22-23).
Formation of Conscience
Formation of Conscience
We are called to form our conscience, to
make it the object of a continuous
conversion to what is true and to what is
good.
Saint Paul exhorts us not to be conformed
to the mentality of this world, but to be
transformed by the renewal of our mind
(cf. Rom 12:2). It is the "heart" converted
to the Lord and to the love of what is
good which is really the source of true
judgments of conscience.
Indeed, in order to "prove what is the will
of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect" (Rom 12:2), knowledge of God's
law in general is certainly necessary, but
it is not sufficient:
What is essential is a sort of
"connaturality" between man and the true
good. Such a connaturality is rooted in
and develops through the virtuous
attitudes of the individual himself:
Prudence and the other cardinal virtues,
and even before these the theological
virtues of faith, hope and charity. This is
the meaning of Jesus' saying: "He who
does what is true comes to the light" (Jn
3:21). VS, 64.
Christians have a great help for the
formation of conscience in the Church
and her Magisterium. As the Council
affirms: "In forming their consciences the
Christian faithful must give careful
attention to the sacred and certain
teaching of the Church.
For the Catholic Church is by the will of
Christ the teacher of truth. Her charge is
to announce and teach authentically that
truth which is Christ, and at the same
time with her authority to declare and
confirm the principles of the moral order
which derive from human nature itself ".
It follows that the authority of the
Church, when she pronounces on moral
questions, in no way undermines the
freedom of conscience of Christians.
This is so not only because freedom of
conscience is never freedom "from" the
truth but always and only freedom "in"
the truth, but also because the
Magisterium does not bring to the
Christian conscience truths which are
extraneous to it; rather it brings to light
the truths which it ought already to
possess, developing them from the
starting point of the primordial act of
faith.
The Church puts herself always and only
at the service of conscience, helping it to
avoid being tossed to and fro by every
wind of doctrine proposed by human
deceit (cf. Eph 4:14), and helping it not to
swerve from the truth about the good of
man, but rather, especially in more
difficult questions, to attain the truth with
certainty and to abide in it.
Notions of Conscience
 Is understood as the kind of inner
voice which guides us in our moral
life. This can mean our basic
tendency toward the good, the voice
“always summoning us to love the
good and avoid evil.”
 It is also called the subjective norm of
morality. This means that conscience
has the final say in the making of
moral decisions.
 Conscience – inner voice that guides
us in our moral life.
 Something we believe that is within
us that isn’t certainly a different time.
 It contradicts our decisions
 Different from our will
 Invite us to decide
 Help us follow and love the good and
avoid evil
 Example: when we don’t want to do
our tasks but conscience tell us to do
it.
 Doesn’t necessary obey rules.
Sometimes it commands us.
 Example: Conscience tells you to
cross the street for unknown reason.
Invitation that not everything that is
comprised/commanded by policy is
good.
 Subjective norm of morality.
 Tell us to do good and avoid evil.
Concept of Conscience
 The one that summons us to love the
good and avoid evil. It is the most
 secret core and sanctuary of an
individual- where one can be alone
with God.
The Moral Conscience
In the depths of a person’s 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 can, when necessary,
speak to his heart more specifically: “Do
this, shun that.” For man in his heart
detects 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 sanctuary of man. There
he is alone with God, whose voice echoes
in its depth (Gaudium et Spes, 16)
 It is not me but it demands me to
obey to it.
 Always summoning me to love good.
 Conscience is as specific command
intended to me.
Division of Conscience
True Conscience – when it deduces
correctly from the principle that the act is
lawful, or it conforms to what is
objectively right.
 Obedient to objectively right
 Conform to the rules
 Respect with law
False or erroneous conscience – when it
decides, from false principles considered
as true, that something is unlawful. The
conscience errs because of the false
principles or from incorrect reasoning.
 Alam mo na mali pero ginagawa mo
pa rin
 Example: Patronizing illegal product
(mas mura kaya tinatangkilik)
 From incorrect reasoning
 Example: We didn’t allow ourselves
to understand things further.
 Value/tradition culture
 Example: We grew up in a culture
that allows divorce. Bawal yun sa iba
pero sa atin, tama yun.
Kinds of Erroneous Conscience
1. Scrupulous Conscience – one that
for little or no reason judges an act to
be morally evil when it is not, or
exaggerates the gravity of sin or sees
sin where it does not exist.
 Example: “Ano ba ‘yan ang
iksi iksi ng damit mo”
(According to the conscience
of that person, it’s wrong)
 Exaggerate gravity of sin
 Example: “Ano ba ‘tong mga
kabataan ngayon”
2. Perplexed Conscience – judges
wrongly that sin is committed both in
the performance or omission of an
act. One fears that sin is committed
whether it was actually done or not.
 Example: “Sinumbong mo
kasi, e” / “Hindi mo kasi
sinabi, e”
3. Lax Conscience – judges on
insufficient ground that there is no sin
in the fact, or that sin is not as grave
as it is in fact, or it is insensitive to a
moral obligation in a particular area.
 Example: Bata nananakit pero
sasabihin “bata kasi ‘yan, e”
 We don’t see wrong in some
actions/situation
4. Pharisaical Conscience – minimizes
grave sins but maximizes small ones.
 Example: “Di mo kasi sinabi,
e”
5. Certain Conscience – when without
any prudent fear or error it decides
that the act is either lawful or
unlawful, or if the person has no
doubt about the correctness of one’s
judgment. A conscience can be
certain at the same time erroneous. A
certain conscience is not necessarily
right. A certain conscience excludes
all fear or error about acting rightly.
 “Alam ko na tama itong
gagawin ko kaya tatawid ako
kahit bawal dahil
nagmamadali ako”
 Sure with his/her action
 Radical person
6. Doubtful Conscience – when it fails
to pass a moral judgment in the
character of the act due to a fear or
error, or if the person is unsure about
the correctness of his judgment.
 Not sure with what the person
is doing.
Some moral principles involving
the use of conscience:
A person who follows an erroneous
conscience without causing injury to
others should not be prevented from
acting, unless the person objects
unreasonably against one’s own welfare
like in the prevention of suicide or an
injury to one’s health.
A person who follows one’s erroneous
conscience and injures other should be
prevented from performing one’s external
deeds.
One may not morally coerce or persuade
another to act versus one’s conscience.
 A person who follows one’s
erroneous conscience and
injures others should be
prevented.
 Example: Masyadong
delikado yung ginagawang
activity and it might injure
some people then tigilan
natin.
 Example: ‘Di naniniwala sa
Diyos. As long as it doesn’t
injure other people (unless
he/she hurts his/herself)
 As long as doesn’t cause
injury
Some Principles
Governing/Forming Conscience
1. One is obliged to form a right and
unerring conscience.
 Time to reassess belief.
2. Everyone is obliged to follow one’s
conscience.
 Maski mali, if it’s your
conscience, you must follow
it.
3. One is not permitted to follow an
erroneous conscience; so the error
must be corrected before one acts
upon it.
4. If the person with a perplexed
conscience finds it impossible to ask
for an advise, one should choose what
seems to be the lesser evil. The
person follow the Reflex principles.
 Example: Kelan natin
masasabi na this is lesser evil
and not?
5. Only the certain conscience is the
correct guide to moral behavior.
 True conscience/Erroneous
Conscience.
  Only Certain Conscience can
be wrong.
 Correct guide to moral
behavior
 Referring to moral
compass/understanding of a
human person
 In accordance with what the
law states
 Correctness of individual
varies (follow the
conscience)
 Correct is different from
objectively right.
 Even the law/policy is not
perfect.
 A law is enslaving – we have
this assessment na
“nakakasakal ‘tong batas na
‘to, e. (that is conscience)
 Example: Emergency,
aantayin mo pa ba mag-green
light? If you follow, you
follow the law. Pero
nagmamadali ka, e. Alam mo
sa sarili mo na you can violte
greenlight because there’s
something urgent.
Reflex principles are rules of prudence
which do not solve doubts concerning the
existence of a law, moral principle, or
fact by intrinsic or extrinsic evidence;
instead, they only indicate where, in
cases of unreasonable doubts, the greater
right is usually to be found and the lesser
evil is to be feared, and which side
therefore is favored as long as the doubt
persists.
Reflex principles wherein doubt
presumption stand:
1. In doubt, the condition of the
possessor is the better.
 May napulot akong priceless
object. We don’t know who owns
it.
 So magdududa tayo kung kanino
yun. I am in better position
because I am a possessor.
2. In doubt, favor the accused; or (which
comes to the same): Crime is not to
be presumed, it has to be proven.
 Innocent until proven guilty.
3. In doubt, presumption stands on the
side of the superior.
 Example: may event and duda sa
dapat gagawin, we look for
someone in charge/superior.
4. In doubt, stand for the validity of the
act.
 Example: Signature is a valid act.
 Naaksidente/Binangga
 It’s not easy to leave when you
are a witness of an accident.
5. In doubt, amplify the favorable and
restrict the unfavorable.
 Experiment
6. In doubt, presumption stnds for the
usual and the ordinary.
 Usual thing to do.
7. In doubt, favor the customary and
hitherto approved.
 Do what is the custom and
tradition.
8. A doubtful law does not oblige (RV)
Lesson 10
Lesson A: Following Christ as
the Primordial and Essential
Foundation of Christian
Morality
Dennis, being a perfectionist, wants to
accomplish all works meticulously. There
is only one way that he knows how to do
things: his way. Because of this, Dennis
tends to be very strict, short-tempered,
and critical of others. He always gets
angry at people who do not meet his
expectations. People are afraid to be
around him because of his attitude.
Nobody wants to be friends with him.
Realizing his excesses and shortcomings,
he turned to God in prayer to ask for the
grace that would give him the strength to
change for the better. Once in a while, he
slips into his old grumpy self. But he
recovers because he is determined to be
good for God. Thus, every day, he prays
in thanksgiving to God for those
successful daily bouts with his
imperfections.
Question:
How can I overcome sin and be a
worthy disciple of Christ?
Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in
Jerusalem, A Report on the Banality of
Evil.
For when I speak of the banality of evil, I
do so only on the strictly factual level,
pointing to a phenomenon which stared
one in the face at the trial…Except for an
extraordinary diligence in looking out for
his personal advancement, he had no
motives at all. And this diligence in itself
was in no way criminal; He merely, to
put the matter colloquially, never realized
what he was doing
 Involvement in the holocaust
 He was fully aware with what’s
going on.
 He has fully consent
(voluntariness)
 We are tasked to defend our
country to the point of killing
invaders.
 He knew they were executing the
jews.
 1940’s or 1960’s fter the World
War
 He escaped to Latin America as
different person
 He knew his participation. He
was not stupid.
 He was fully aware of what he
was doing.
 There’s no remorse for what they
did during holocaust.
 Trial was held in Jerusalem.
In principle he knew quite well what it
was all about, and in his final statement
to the court he spoke of the “revaluation
of values prescribed by the [Nazi]
government.”
He was not stupid. It was sheer
thoughtlessness – something by no means
identical with stupidity – that predisposed
him to become one of the greatest
criminals of that period.
And if this is “banal” and even funny, if
with the best will in the world one cannot
extract any diabolical or demonic
profundity from Eichmann, that is still far
from calling it commonplace. It surely
cannot be so common that a man facing
death, and, moreover, standing beneath
the gallows, should be able to think of
nothing but what he has heard at funerals
all his life, and that these “lofty words”
should completely becloud the reality –
of his own death.
That such remoteness from reality and
such thoughtlessness can wreak more
havoc than all the evil instincts taken
together which, perhaps, are inherent in
man – that was, in fact, the lesson one
could learn in Jerusalem. But it was a
lesson, neither an explanation of the
phenomenon nor a theory about it.
The trouble with Eichmann was precisely
that so many were like him, and that the
many were neither perverted nor sadistic,
that they were, and still are, terribly and
terrifyingly normal.
From the viewpoint of our legal
institutions and of our moral standards of
judgment, this normality was much more
terrifying than all the atrocities put
together, for it implied — as had been
said at Nuremberg over and over again
by the defendants and their counsels —
that this new type of criminal, who is in
actual fact hostis generis humani,
commits his crimes under circumstances
that make it well-nigh impossible for him
to know or to feel that he is doing wrong.
 Example: pagbibigay ng lagay
pag nahuli ng enforcers.
 Alam natin kasamaan ng bagay
pero it becomes a culture dahil
mahirap iwasan.
Man as Disfigured by Sin
 Disfigurement
 If God calls us to be perfect why
did he let disfigurement?
 Sin – deliberate/involves will and
reason
 Evil – not all evil is deliberated.
Even without intention of human
being (circumstances ganun
talaga resulta)
 Indirect. Example: Ayaw ko
talaga masunog yung kanin pero
dahil inattention to obligation,
pwede masunog without delibate
intention.
Vice
A settled habit caused by sinful action
which disposes to further sinful action.
 Example: Pagpupuyat sap ag-
aaral ay bisyo (caused by simple
action we don’t really desire)
 Di dapat basehan ng gagawin.
Vice happens in us when we follow the
inclination of our animal nature against
the order of our reason.
We were created to be men and women
following our reason because our reason
is to be aligned with the reality that is
created and sustained by God who is
truth, goodness, and love itself.
We become enamored with vice and
imprisoned to vice when we commit sin
routinely in one or two areas of our life.
These are the temptations we face.
Our temptations are all individualized
according to our carnal dispositions, e.g.,
others are more tempted to gluttony,
others to the sins of the flesh. etc.
 Pag palagi natin ginagawa ang
isang bagay.
Vice is the condition St. Paul is referring
to when he said. “I do not do the good
that I want to do, but I do the very evil
that I hate. Romans 7:19
The person stuck in a vice continues to
sin and justifies that sin. But when you
are living in grace, grace frees you to see
your vice clearly and to see that it must
go.
 Vice – what we are doing/acting
justifies the wrongdoing we do
 Grace – once we entertain the
grace/realization of grace “Ay
magkakasakit na pala ako”
Definition of Sin
Inordinate action that discords with
truth and goodness in its intention,
object, and circumstances.
• Every sin for Saint Thomas is an
inordinate act.
• An act that is not properly ordered
nor lined up with the reality of
truth and goodness in its
intention, object, and its
circumstances.
 Can we really realize what
sin is?
 Iba na kahahantungan ng
action, let’s try to assess
our action/decisions
• In general, sin is failure to live the
Great Commandment to love
God, others, and self.
• The Confiteor, which we pray at
the beginning of the Mass, offers
us a good description of sin:
• “I confess to Almighty God and
to you, my brothers and sisters (a
recognition that sin is not only an
offense against God but it also
wounds the Body of Christ and
our church community), that I
have sinned through my own fault
(I take responsibility for the
wrong I have done), in my
thoughts and in my words, in
what I have done (sins of
commission), and in what I have
failed to do (sins of omission).”
 Recognition that sin is not
just an offense against
God but it also wounds the
body of Christ in our
Church Community.
 We take responsibility.
• Sin is an act directed to some
lesser or merely apparent good,
falling short of the real good
which is integral human
fulfillment, that is, fulfillment in
respect to all the goods in an ideal
human community.
 Sin is an evil human act
 Sin of omission
 Bakit masama loob then a
person asked us a favor, if
we didn’t do it, there’s
feeling of unsatisfactory.
 Di natin nakikita
kasamaan ng mga bagay.
Distinctions in the ways that we
Sin
• We can sin against God, our
neighbor, and ourselves.
 • Some sins are sins of thought,
some sins are sins of word, some
are sins of deed.
Sins of Commission
Sins of action, whether in thought, word,
or deed.
 Nagawa through deeds.
Sins of Omission
Sins of inaction, whether in thought,
word, or deed, e.g. omitting to care for
someone, like a child or against an
elderly. Such sins constitute sin against
God and against our neighbor.
 Sin of inaction
 Iwas sa responsibilidad
Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial
Sin
• Not all sins are equal. Saint
Thomas agrees with the
distinction of mortal and venial
sin that the church still teaches
today.
Mortal Sins
• Those sins that turn us directly
away from God.
⮚ When we choose something
serious with full intent and
freedom in place of God as our
highest and best good.
⮚ Takes away the very principle of
order
⮚ Destroys/cuts off our relationship
with God
⮚ Brings about the death of the soul
 Direct violation of 10
commandments
 Things we should confess.
Three Conditions for a Sin to be
Mortal:
1. Grave matter:
⮚ As specified by the Ten
Commandments, “Do not kill, Do
not commit adultery, Do not steal,
do not bear false witness, Do not
defraud, Honor your father and
your mother” CCC 1858.
(Dishonoring parents)
2. Full knowledge:
⮚ It presupposes knowledge of the
sinful character of the act, of its
opposition to God’s law. (Alam
ko na masama ‘tong gagawin ko)
3. Complete consent
⮚ It implies a consent sufficiently
deliberate to be a choice, i.e., we
freely and under no duress choose
to do the evil. (Full knowledge +
Complete Consent = Morally
Responsible)
Venial Sins
• One commits venial sin when:
⮚ In a less serious matter, he does
not observe the standard
prescribed by the moral law.
⮚ He disobeys the moral law in a
grave matter but without full
knowledge or without complete
consent.
 Di siya mortal and directly
turning from God.
 If we keep on doing it.
⮚ We are not turned away from God
when we sin venially, but we are
just slightly off in some choice
that doesn’t keep us away from
God but keeps us from going
straightaway to God.
⮚ E.g., for Saint Thomas, every lie
that we speak are at least venial
sins, even if you lie because you
 are afraid to tell the truth or
because you are afraid to hurt
someone else’s feelings. You may
have good intentions there, but
the activity of lying is always
wrong for Saint Thomas.
 Activity of lying or wrong
⮚ All sins should be avoided for it
weakens our relationship with
God.
⮚ Ignoring venial sin is like
ignoring a minor cancer that can
become a serious one. “Deliberate
and unrepented venial sin
disposes us little by little to
commit mortal sin” (CCC 1863)
⮚ We know the truth of this
statement as we consider how a
gradual neglect of a relationship
can eventually lead to divorce.
 Ignoring venial sin is like
ignoring a minor cancer
The Proliferation of Sin
• Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it
engenders vice by repetition of the
same acts.
Capital Sins
• They are called “capital” because
they engender other sins, other vices.
• The list comes from the writings of
St. John Cassian and St. Gregory.
• The seven capital sins are pride,
avarice (greed), envy, wrath, sloth,
lust, gluttony.
 Capital Sins – seven
deadly sins
 Pangkaraniwan na yung
iba
Sins that Cry to Heaven (CCC, 1867):
• The blood of Abel
• The cry of the oppressed in Egypt
• The sin of the Sodomites
• The cry of the foreigner, the
widow, and the orphan
• Injustice to the wage earner
Sin is a Personal Act (CCC, 1868)
• We have a responsibility for the
sins committed by others when
we cooperate in them:
⮚ By participating directly and
voluntarily in them.
⮚ By ordering, advising, praising, or
approving them.
⮚ By not disclosing or hindering
them when we have an obligation
to do so.
⮚ By protecting evil doers.
Structures of Sin (CCC, 1869)
⮚ Sin gives rise to social situations
and institutions that are contrary
to the divine goodness.
⮚ Structures of sin are the
expression and effect of personal
sins.
⮚ They lead their victims to do evil
in their turn.
⮚ In an analogous sense, they
constitute a social sin.
 Example: Corruption,
Pagtangkilik sa gake
news, hinahayaan ang
maling ginagawa ng
gobyerno
Conversion and Holiness
Conversion
• In the Synoptics, John the Baptist
calls people to conversion and
repentance.
⮚ Actual Greek word : Metanoia
⮚ Luke 5:32: Jesus proclaims: “I
have come to call not the
righteous but sinners.”
 May pag-asa pa ba na lhat
tayo mapupunta sa langit?
  Tinatawag tayo ng Diyos,
so may pag-asa pa
 Ulitin/ibahin mindset
Metanoia
• Total change or turn of heart.
• Turning away from sin and
turning towards God.
• An experience of being in love
with God without reservations.
• Reorientation of one’s life to
Christ who is made the center and
model of one’s life.
Christ Our Model (VS 20)
• Jesus asks us to follow him and to
imitate him along the path of
love, a love which gives itself
completely to the brethren out of
love for God: "This is my
commandment, that you love one
another as I have loved you" (Jn
15:12).
⮚ The word "as" requires imitation
of Jesus and of his love, of which
the washing of feet is a sign.
Jesus' way of acting and his
words, his deeds and his precepts
constitute the moral rule of
Christian life.
 Kung may pag-asa pa, san
natin kukunin?
 Jesus Christ as our model.
 Follow and imitate Him.
 Role model
 Kaya nila, kaya rin natin
 Everything is dependent in
my capacity
 Based on God’s justice,
mercy, and love.
 God will give me grace
 If God loves me, will He
let me go to hell?
⮚ The word "as" also indicates the
degree of Jesus' love, and of the
love with which his disciples are
called to love one another.
⮚ After saying: "This is my
commandment, that you love one
another as I have loved you" (Jn
15:12), Jesus continues with
words which indicate the
sacrificial gift of his life on the
Cross, as the witness to a love "to
the end" (Jn 13:1): "Greater love
has no man than this, that a man
lay down his life for his friends"
(Jn 15:13).
 We need to change
 Our behavior towards God
is not our initiative but
reaction that we will do
better.
⮚ This is what Jesus asks of
everyone who wishes to follow
him: "If any man would come
after me, let him deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me"
(Mt 16:24).
Call to Holiness
• By asking us to follow him, Jesus
is inviting all of us to become
saints, no less.
• Holiness or Sanctity can be
achieved by following Jesus
faithfully in our daily life, in all
its trials and challenges “taking
up our crosses daily”
• Holiness is loving God and loving
our neighbor.
Conversion does not happen overnight:
⮚ It is a particular act
⮚ A lifelong process
⮚ A daily event
The Holy Spirit and Grace
 • Conversion is God’s gift .
⮚ It happens through help of the
Holy Spirit.
⮚ However, God also needs our
cooperation: “God Who created
us without us will not save us
without us” St. Augustine of
Hippo
 Conversion happens with help of
the Holy Spirit.
Conversion and Prayer
• For us to grow in grace, we need
to pray always especially to the
Holy Spirit.
• We need to train ourselves to
listen to his promptings in our
conscience and to obey his
guidance in our life.
• In every moment of life let us say,
Come, Holy Spirit!
Lesson 11-12
Called to Holiness
The Spirit Configures Us to Christ
through the Virtues
1. The holy Spirit and the
Virtues
2. Theological Virtues
3. Cardinal Virtues
Malou is in Claire’s send-off party to the
married life. All their friends from way
back college days are present. It is indeed
a great time to enjoy friendship and a
time away from work stress. Alcoholic
beverages are aplenty, and Malou finds
this as an excellent opportunity to drink
some, just for fun. However, Malou
knows that she can only drink a bottle or
two, after which she gets tipsy and would
then be sleepy. She remembered her
previous experience waking up in the
morning after drinking beyond her limits.
It was the worst hangover for her, and the
discomfort bothered her for two days.
Learning from this untoward experience,
she resolved to consume only what her
body can take. When the party was over,
Malou had such a great time with friends,
and the relaxation energized her. Not
only that, she was happy that she was
able to control herself during the party.
Question: Can virtues help us attain
holiness of Life?
For Aristotle, “virtue is a state of
character which makes a man good and
makes him do his work well.
Moral virtues allow us to feel emotions:
 At the right times
 Towards the right objects
 With the right motives
 In the right way
Courage:
Regulates fear and confidence.
Temperance:
Regulates bodily pains and pleasures.
Generosity:
Helps us give and spend money well.
 Virtue is characterized by what is
Mean or Intermediate.
 Mean depends on agents and
circumstances.
 Some actions and feelings have no
mean, they are always wrong. E.g.,
the act of murder and the emotion of
spite.
 We become virtuous through the
constant repetition or practice of good
actions.
 A truly virtuous person finds the
practice of virtue pleasant and
natural. Hence, it is a character that is
both external and internal.
 We need moral guides to help who
would help us attain an excellent life.
The Holy Spirit and the Virtues
The Holy Spirit: Source and Means of
Moral Life
 God is love and love is his primary
gift, containing all others, through the
Holy Spirit.
 In Baptism, he restores in us the
divine likeness lost due to sin and
makes us children of God.
 In our daily life, the Holy Spirit helps
us to grow in holiness and enter more
deeply in the life of the Trinity.
CCC 733-
736
Living by the Spirit
 By this power of the Spirit, God's
children can bear much fruit.
 He who has grafted us onto the true
vine will make us bear "the fruit of
the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.”
CCC 736
"We live by the Spirit"; the more we
renounce ourselves, the more we "walk
by the Spirit."
The Holy Spirit and the Virtues
 Christ's gift of salvation offers us the
grace necessary to persevere in the
pursuit of the virtues.
 Everyone should always ask for this
grace of light and strength, frequent
the sacraments, cooperate with the
Holy Spirit, and follow his calls to
love what is good and shun evil.
CCC 1811
Theological Virtues
Moral Virtues According to St.
Thomas
Moral virtue disposes us to act well and it
requires more than simply knowing what
the right thing and good thing to know is.
For instance, we need to have our
passions in line. If we know the right
thing to do but we are scared to do it, we
won’t do it. if we know the right thing to
do but do it with excessive anger, we
won’t do it morally.
Moral virtue moderates our passions so
that we can act according to reason for
the true good. Moral virtues do not
subdue our passions.
Passions are good for St. Thomas. The
more virtuous a person is, the more they
feel, and the more they feel rightly.
Because the virtuous person is not afraid
of his or her feelings. The more perfect
the virtue is the more passionate the
person becomes.
Definition of Virtue
 Virtue is a good quality of the mind
by which we live righteously of
which no one can make bad use,
which God works in us and without
us.
St. Thomas Aquinas (from
Saint Augustine)
ST, IlaIIae, Q. 55, a.4
 Virtue lives in the human soul, it lives
in the mind and the will, in our
thinking, and in our choosing.
 Virtue confers on us, when we have
it, the ability to think rightly on what
we should do but the ability to do it.
 It is one thing to know the right thing
to do, it is another thing to do it, and
to do it well. That is what virtue
gives.
 Virtue lives in the human soul, it lives
in the mind and the will, in our
thinking, and in our choosing.
 Virtue confers on us, when we have
it, the ability to think rightly on what
we should do but the ability to do it.
 It is one thing to know the right thing
to do, it is another thing to do it, and
to do it well. That is what virtue
gives.
The Theological virtues
 The theological virtues are infused in
us by God.
 These virtues elevate our powers of
intellect and will so that by acts of
these virtues: believing, hoping, and
loving, we can, by grace, reach
beyond our natural goods, to possess
our final and supernatural good, our
theological good, God himself.
Aquinas’ Method of inquiry of
Theological virtues:
 In terms of their subject, object,
proper act.
Virtue of Faith
Definition of Faith
(Heb 11:1). The assurance of things
hoped for, the conviction of things not
seen.
Aquinas. Faith is a habit of the mind,
whereby eternal life is begun in us,
making the intellect assent to what is not
apparent. ST, IlaIIae Q, 4, a. 1
I believe whatever the son of God has
said, Adoro Te Devote
Object of Faith
 Material Object of Faith
 God himself.
Formal object of faith
 God as first truth revealing himself to
the world.
 Those truths about God himself that
he has revealed to us.
 The object of faith, therefore, is the
true God and the truths of God
(collected and summarized by the
church in the articles of faith.
 By assenting to the articles of faith,
the believer comes to possess God’s
truth and thus, God himself.
Subject of Faith
(where the virtue is infused in us)
 Faith is infused in and perfects that
human power concerned with truth:
the intellect.
 Faith elevates and perfects the
functioning of human reason so that
the human agent, without seeing or
proving their reality, can apprehend,
understand, and judge to be true, the
articles of faith.
 Choosing to assent to the articles of
faith as true, involves a graced active
belief, which brings us to Aquinas’
description of the act of faith.
The Act of Faith
 Belief is the act that is proper to faith.
 By believing, we affirm the truth of a
proposition without seeing or
demonstrating its truth.
 Belief holds confidently and firmly to
the truth of the proposition.
 This confidence arises from the
testimony of another or an expert in
the matter.
 By believing God and what he says,
the believer shares intimately in the
knowledge of God.
 In the light of faith, seeing is not
believing but believing is seeing, i.e.,
seeing God and what he sees, because
he tells us what he sees.
 In faith, therefore, the believer comes
to know what God knows. Thus, faith
marks the beginning of eternal life in
us. By participating in Gods eternal
knowing.
 Faith is only for this world, once the
believer enters heaven belief in God’s
truth gives way to vision of God’s
truth. That which was once merely
believed is now known face to face.
Interior act of faith:
 Belief
Exterior act of faith:
 Confession or profession
Sins against belief (interiorly)
 unbelief, heresy, apostasy
Sins against belief (exteriorly):
 Blasphemy
Two Gifts of the Holy Spirit that
Perfect the Act of Faith:
The gift of understanding
 Gives the believer a spirit taught
insight into the essence of the articles
of faith.
 Allows the believer to develop a
vision of God in faith purified of
 unnecessary earthly imagery and
analogies.
The gift of knowledge
 Gives the believer a spirit taught
judgment regarding the truth of
created things in view of God.
Virtue of Hope
Definition
 Hope is a graced confidence that God
will give eternal life to me and to
those whom I love because he is
omnipotent and merciful.
 Hope leans on God’s help amidst the
experience of human inability and
insufficiency.
 We believe and trust that eternal life
is made available to us because Christ
has undone the primordial sin and
unlocked the gates of heaven for us.
 The virtue of hope builds on the
passion of hope: by hope we are
moved to pursue an arduous good
which we apprehend as possible to
obtain.
 Hope in this sense is just a movement
of the irascible power. That power
which supplies the appetitive energy
for difficult goods.
 But beyond a mere bodily response
hope has spiritual dimension and so it
is appropriate to locate it in the will.
 Hope, understood as a theological
virtue, concerns our ultimate end,
eternal life with God.
 Here the moral virtues are
insufficient. We do not, of our own
power, have the wherewithal to
conceive of this good, much less to
pursue it well.
 So, God has infused the theological
virtue of hope, raising our minds and
hearts to him so that we can respond
generously to his offer of beatitude.
 Thus, hope is first the work of God
and it principally concerns the end.
Hope is the virtue of the “Already but
Not Yet”
Already
Hope has an orientation to fulfillment
won for us in Christ. It is rooted in the
revelation of God and the promise of
salvation. It imparts a kind of certitude
flowing from the certitude of faith.
Not Yet
It is given during the time of non-
fulfillment. Hope steels our nerves to
withstand temptations against the
vigilance and perseverance…
 As with faith, there is an inherent
imperfection with hope since it
approaches God from a distance and
cannot yet lay hold of its object.
 And so, hope will not endure as does
charity. In heaven, there will simply
be no need for hope as the souls of
the just will possess God without fear
of loss or diminishment.
Sins against Hope
Presumption
 The cavalier assurance that God will
save me regardless of whether or not
 I consent and cooperate with his
grace.
 The presumptuous man refuses to
make use of the means that God
appoints for salvation. E.g.,
persevering prayer or sacramental
confession.
Despair
 the denial that God’s promises apply
to me or a fear that he will deny
pardon event to the repentant.
 Sets aside the uncertainty of the way
in favor of the certainty of the
damned.
“One must cultivate a hope that is
humble enough, ready to pray and, at the
same time, magnanimous enough to wait
cooperatively for the fulfillment of its
prayer.”
Josef Pieper
Gift of the Holy Spirit with Hope:
The Fear of the Lord
 Aquinas distinguishes what is meant
by fear. The fear under consideration
is a disposition that in its initial stages
(servile fear) fears God’s punishment
and in its mature stages fears to
offend God in any way (filial or
chaste fear).
 This fear perfects hope by imparting
to the soul a supernatural sensitivity
for what aids us and what hinders us
in our pursuit of the vision of God.
 As we ascend by many movements to
the vision of God, we must be
encouraged lest we lose heart in
pursuit of this great and arduous
good. For there is nothing so difficult
to attain nor anything so worthy of
the effort as the unfailing vision of
God. For our help is in the name of
the lord.
Virtue of Charity
 The seat of charity in the human
person: the will.
 Charity Perfects the human power
concerned with loving: the will.
Two-Fold Dynamic of Love
 Love of Concupiscence. We love
some good for their own sake. The
love with which we love the goods
that keep us alive and help us to grow
in virtue. We love these goods for the
benefit that they offer us.
 Love of Benevolence (friendship).
We love some good not for our sake
but for another sake. This is the love
that constitutes friendship. It regards
the other as another self. Wills the
good of the other for his sake.
Grace elevates both love towards God
 Hope elevates the love of
concupiscence such that we can love
God himself as final end and good for
me.
 Charity elevates the love of
benevolence such that we love God
himself for his own sake as a friend,
not for our sake.
 Aquinas sees the whole reality and
work of the virtue of charity through
the lens of friendship.
 Aquinas produces a theology of
charity that reflects deeply on Christ’s
words to his disciples at the last
 supper: no, longer do I call you with God. Not only as he is our
servants…I have called you friends highest good in cause but because he
(John 15:15). is our best friend.
 That is why, unlike faith and hope
Object of Charity, Materially and which passes away when one reaches
Formally heaven, charity endures in beatitude.
 God as our best friend befriending us.
Charity is nothing other than our The Duration of the Theological
loving response to the friendship Virtues.
offered to us by God. Faith
 Every other good thing that can be  Gives way to vision
loved for God’s sake. In charity we Hope
love God as well as what he loves,  Gives way to possession
which is everything that he has made, Charity
especially other persons.  Abides in perfection.
 Thus, in charity, we love God for
God’s sake and we love neighbor for The Exercise of the Virtue of Charity
God’s sake. Internal effects of charity
 Joy, peace, and mercy
The Act of Charity External effects of charity
 The act produced by the virtue charity  Beneficence, almsgiving, fraternal
is the love of God for his sake above correction
all things.
 Charity does not introduce the Sins against Charity
preferential love of God into the In general
world but rather it elevates this  Hatred
preferential love written into the very Against joy
fabric of creation and into the very  Sloth, envy
heart of men unto a union of real Against peace
friendship with God.  Discord, contention, schism, war,
 Therefore, because everything strife, sedition.
naturally inclines to higher good Against beneficence:
more than lower goods… every  Scandal
creature, including the human
creature, naturally loves God more Wisdom is the gift of virtue that
than itself. perfects charity.
 In man, therefore, charity rescues this  Peacemaking is the work of charity
love from the perversion of sin and perfected by wisdom.
divinizes it unto a real union of love
 With wise charity, the Christian
orders himself toward peace from
which inner charitable peace, he can
work for peace with others and
among others.
Cardinal Virtues
The Cardinal Virtues
Borrowed by St. Thomas from Cicero
Prudence
 An intellectual virtue that that
perfects the practical reason. It is
right reason about things to be done
(recta ratio agibilium).
 The most important moral virtue, it’s
the charioteer of virtue. It directs all
the virtues. E.g. Prudence determines
the courageous thing to do in this
moment is or what the temperate
thing to do is and to enjoy at this
moment. It says what is the just thing
to do at this moment.
 It is prudence which tells the virtues
how to be themselves.
 We become prudent by learning from
our elders, from those who have lived
long enough to learn from their
mistakes and so more time to grow in
prudence.
 We become prudent by experience,
by living life, by being self-reflective,
by making choices and seeing how
they turn out and looking back and
trying to figure out how we could
have done that differently…
 The moral life is not something that
we engage alone, it is something we
engage in the community.
Justice
 The perpetual and constant perpetual
will to render each one his due.
 Giving what is due to God (religion)
and to fellowman.
 Justice and mercy always go together:
“The Lord is merciful and just” (Ps
116: 5)
Temperance
 The virtuous moderation of sense
pleasure: pleasures of the flesh, food,
drink, all of which can be good when
experienced in accord with reason.
 The virtue of temperance is in
between intemperance, which is
simply a pursuit of pleasure, one after
another, and insensibility or frigidity
or unwillingness to experience
pleasure.
Fortitude
The stable disposition to do the right
thing in the face of fear.
 That virtue which you need to get the
good things in your life.
 Keeps us shrinking away from great
difficulties but also keeps us from
rushing in in foolishness.
 It is Right between being a coward
and being a fool on the other.
Lesson 13
Moral Principles
The Principle of Double Effect
Principle of Totality
Stewardship (Epikeia)
The Principle of Double Effect
 Also known as the voluntary
indirect principle
 Man always act for a purpose
 Distinctions:
 Purpose or intention of the
agent (finis operantis)
 Purpose of the action (finis
operis)
 Voluntary indirect purpose (not
intended) – aware and with
consent to the act
 The intention is different with
action
 Good intention but evil act
 Distinction in purpose and
intention
 UNINTENDED OR
INVOLUNTARY CONSEQUENCES
– when an action results to more
consequences or effects than what
was originally intended or expected.
(I am going to make you happy so I
will do things that make you happy)
 Unintended but foreseen
consequences – consequences of our
action, even if we do not include
them in our deliberate planning.
(Involuntary Direct)
 I am going to do this and if
I’m going to do this, this is
not intended but I’m sure
that this will happened/this is
the consequence.
 Unintended and unforeseen
consequences – when we never know
what particular effects would follow
from our action.
 Whether Foreseen or Unforeseen,
these consequences are called
INDIRECTLY VOLUNTARY
What is ones moral responsibility over
the unintended consequences of ones
action?
 There is no moral responsibility
(unforeseen and unintended), neither
the will nor the mind are involved.
 For the unintended but foreseen, it
should be noted that it is not a
question of justifying the evil
consequences. Even if these are
unintended, by the fact that they are
evil means that they can never be
justified. The question then pertains
to the otherwise good action, and
whether it can still be morally
justified by reason with the evil
consequences that follow.
Four Conditions of the Principle of
Double Effect.
 The action itself must be morally
good or at least indifferent. (di
nagnanakaw/di gumagawa ng
masama)
 The good effect must precede the evil
effect, or at least be simultaneous
with it. (good effect happens first
before the side effect)
 The intention of the agent should be
directed towards the good effect,
never to the evil effect. (I am going to
 do this because I want to give a calm
and peaceful effect)
 Proportionality: the good effect must
be more important than or at least
equal to the bad effect.
To assure the validity of the conditions,
the person is expected to have developed
and accepted a hierarchy of values in one
s moral and personal life based on human
and Christian principles. For if this fails,
the reference to the principle of the
double effect to solve difficult moral
situations, especially in the practice of
medicine, will just be an easy way to
justify most arbitrary decisions. RV
The Principle of Totality
 Rests on the proposition that the
whole is more important than its
parts.
 Kung kailangan tanggalin
ang bahagi ng buo, that’s the
principle of totality
 If your finger makes you sin,
remove it.
 In this sense, the whole traditional
Christian moral theology justifies the
sacrifice of one part of organ as long
as it threatens the integrity of the
human organism or presents a serious
obstacle to its proper functioning.
Two controversies:
 Interpretation of whole human
organism in terms of ones physical
integrity or whether it can be
extended to include ones
psychological, emotional, and moral
wholeness or well being. – Total
Integrity.
 Justification of a person in perfect
state of health can donate an organ for
the benefit of one who needs it.
 Justification is of charity and
brotherly concern and/ or
proportionality.
 Physical Integrity: Anatomy (part of
body that can be removed yet the
body is still functioning.
 Mental: Mental Health problem, how
will you amputate?
 Used to justify integrity
 A murderer removed in the
society. This can’t be
applied.
Principle of Stewardship
Humans are at the top of the world: the
most perfect creatures in the universe.
 There is a general, universal
experience of respect and protection
for human life as the most basic and
indispensable condition for any
further development of human
potentialities, which becomes clearer
when enlightened by faith and
religion.
 Aligned with how we see thing
beautiful and perfect
 Co-create with God
 We have different preferences of what
is clean and beautiful
 Patagin ang bundok para madaanan
nang maayos
 Gumawa ng bigas and Diyos pero
hindi siya nagsaing
 God created us perfect and beautiful.

Man is the subject of a special creation.
 A reflection of beauty and perfection
of God.
 Can think, will and understand, yet.
 Not totally independent.
 If it doesn’t fit with our
sense of beauty and
perfection, we fix it.
 We clean our house para di
mapahiya.
Man is given a certain dominion over all
the created things. The relationship of
man and created things are reflected as:
 A Useful Dominion. All things
were created for the service and
use of man, to use them
reasonably and responsibly to
satisfy his needs.
 Accountable Stewardship Over
Mans Life. Man does not have
the same dominion over himself,
he is accountable to God for what
he makes of himself. To realize
himself is his mission, included in
the Divine plan. Human life, then,
is the most basic and fundamental
requirement for man to carry out
his mission. Rv
 Kailangan kong ayusin ‘to
dahil may kasama ako sa
mundo.
Principle of Epikeia
 Is an interpretation of Human Law
not according to its letter but
according to its spirit for those border
cases which have not sufficiently
been taken into consideration by
positive law.
 If the letter of the law is
doubtful, we base on the
spirit of the law.
 Interpretation of the Law
 Example:
 Letter of the law: Those
who can pass will be
admitted
 Spirit of the law: Offer
education to the deserving
student (conduct entrance
exam)
 Letter of Reconsideration:
conducting principle of
Epikeia.
 A restrictive interpretation of the law
by private authority excusing one
from the observance of the law in
some particular difficult case in
accordance with the genuine meaning
of legislation.
Inner Justifications for Epikeia
 The legislator cannot foresee all the
circumstances which may arise for
individuals and, even if one does,
often fails to cover them all with the
wordings of a general law.
 Laws are often not fast enough to
follow the developments of life and
the changes in society.
 Human legislation itself has the jural
duty to admit the right of its subjects
to resort to the law of epikeia, in
order to compensate for the
unavoidable deficiencies of the law.
Conditions and cautions in observing
Epikeia:
 It only applies to positive laws.
 No ID, No Entry (Positive
Laws)
 Spirit of the law:
Identification and Safety
 If no ID, did you lose your
identity?
 Identity reduces to plastic
card
 It must remain with the genuine
meaning of legislation. Epikeia must
be justified by the superior needs of
the common good and ultimately by
the demands of the ultimate end of
humanity.
 Ex. Passing score USTET:
70%
 Kung ‘di mo naabot, walang
ganong batas
 If we quantify, sometimes
we reduce quantitative
meaning
 We don’t know how to
express our love)
 Consultation with others is very much
urged, especially for instances with
more important exceptions.
 Recourse to a superior is required in
doubtful cases, unless one is terribly
difficult to approach.
 It cannot be applied to void acts
(Invalidating laws) or to laws that
render persons incapable of
undertaking certain legal actions
(Incapacitating laws). Rv
 Maglola pumunta sa bangko
 Kilala na sila ng lahat ng
staff doon
 One time pumunta bangko
yung apo mag-isa.
 May dalang cheque na
walang pirma
 Incapacitating Laws
(Bribery)
Moral Maxims
“Right reason is indeed a true law, in
accord with nature, diffused among all
men, unchangeable, eternal”
Let it not be forgotten, let it be
emphasized, repeated, emblazoned in the
halls of every legislative body, that
morality is a fundamental principle in
legislation; but for this principle, this law
of nature, this law of God, this law of
man… popular government would fail.
Morality cannot be disregarded by the
legislature, it must be regarded, or the
action of the body is void. Moral law was
not created by a legislative body. It was
never enacted. It was never created by the
constitution of the state or of the nation.
Neither the constitution itself nor the
legislature can disregard it and the action
be valid” (Ritter, Moral and Civil Law,
p.83).
1. One who acts through an agent is
himself responsible.
2. No one is obliged to betray himself.
(Court is bound to prove the person)
3. In doubt, one may do what is
generally done. (In a foreign country,
you look around and do what they do)
4. An object cries out for its owner.
(Can’t ask them to be the owner)
5. No one can give what he does not
have. (If you’re someone something,
if you don’t possess that something,
you can’t repay)
6. The end does not justify the means.
(End doesn’t justify the means)
7. No one is a judge in his own case.
(Can’t judge what’s good or evil)
8. Accessories belong to the principal
object. (If I decorate your house with
consent, the decorations are yours
because it’s in your house. Can I ask
for payment? Yes)
9. If one is willing to cooperate in an
act, no injustice is done. (Waiver)
10. A law giving a privilege may be
interpreted in the broadest way
possible, a law restricting our liberty
may be given the narrowest
interpretation. (Senior Citizens Act;
According to the regulation of the
bangka, it can only load 5 persons.
May batang kasama, pang anim na
pinakiusapan kung pwede pero ‘di
pumayag kasi 5 persons lang.)
Reflex principles wherein doubt
presumption stand:
 In doubt, the condition of the
possessor is the better.
 In doubt, favor the accused; or (which
comes to the same): Crime is not to
be presumed, it has to be proven.
 In doubt, presumption stands on the
side of the superior.
 In doubt, stand for the validity of the
act.
 In doubt, amplify the favorable and
restrict the unfavorable.
 In doubt, presumption stands for the
usual and the ordinary.
 In doubt, favor the customary and
hitherto approved.
 A doubtful law does not oblige.(RV)

Reflex principles are rules of prudence

which do not solve doubts concerning the
existence of a law, moral principle, or
fact by intrinsic or extrinsic evidence;
instead, they only indicate where, in
cases of unreasonable doubts, the greater
right is usually to be found and the lesser
evil is to be feared, and which side
therefore is favored as long as the doubt
persists.