The document discusses human freedom and the formation of conscience. It defines freedom as the power to act or not act, rooted in reason and will. True freedom involves freedom from restraints like ignorance, disordered passions, and sins. It also involves freedom for growing in love. Conscience is defined as the voice of God calling us to do good and avoid evil. A well-formed conscience results from prayer, reflection on scripture and church teachings, and making moral choices guided by God. The human person is defined by our creation in God's image, redemption through Christ, and destiny for eternal life with God. We are relational by nature and find meaning through relationships with others and God.

1. HUMAN FREEDOM
Is the power rooted in reason and will to act or not to act, to do this or that and to perform deliberate actions.
1. Freedom is Power
2. Freedom is rooted in reason and
3. Freedom is performing deliberate actions
FREEDOM IS NOT “Licentiousness”
- Doing anything without restraints
Deeper meaning of freedom
 Freedom is doing what is good
 Freedom is not absolute
 Freedom could be misused and abused
 Freedom attains its perfection when directed towards God
 Freedom always entails obligation
UNDER OF HUMAN FREEDOM: AUTHENTIC FREEDOM AND FREEDOM OF CHILDREN OF GOD
1. Authentic Freedom
o “Do the Good”
o “The truth will set you Free”
o The pillars of this freedom are:
* the truth about Jesus the Savior
* the truth about the Church
* the truth about man and his dignity
- AUTHENTIC FREEDOM DIVIDED INTO TWO:
1. FREEDOM FROM
2. FREEDOM FOR
FREEDOM FROM
- All restraints can often result in following selfish inclinations or blind prejudices rather than seeking what is
truly good.
 Authentic freedom, therefore, involves first of all freedom from everything that opposes our true self-
becoming with others in community.
- ignorance - fears
- disordered passions - bad habits

2. These impediments to authentic freedom are commonly traced to three sources:
 Biological
 Psychological
 Social pressures
-What is the GREATEST single obstacle to Authentic Freedom? = SIN
FREEDOM FOR
 Beyond being liberated from all the obstacles to authentic freedom is the freedom for growing as full persons
and children of God.
 It is the freedom in authentic love
Two levels of the individual person’s “freedom for” stand out:
1. freedom of choice by which I direct my moral acts
2. fundamental freedom of my very self
2. FREEDOM OF CHILDREN OF GOD
 “to be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God”
 Freedom “to attain the good” simply means to “act as Jesus did” --- to “mirror in life the Fatherhood of God
as the Father’s adopted sons and daughters in Jesus, the Son, and through Jesus” indwelling Spirit.
 “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” Cor 3:1
Exercise of responsible freedom
 As Christians, we come to know what is moral good in the light of the Gospel and human experience.
 “For faith throws a new light on everything and manifests God’s design for our total vocation, and thus directs
the mind to solutions that are fully human”
 Moral life works through conscience
CONSCIENCE
 It is present in the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil.
 enables one to assume responsibility for the acts performed
 the “most secret core and sanctuary” of the human person
 the voice of God ever calling men to love
and to do what is good and avoid what is bad

3. MEANING OF CONSCIENCE IN CCF
- the proximate norm of personal morality, our ultimate subjective norm for discerning moral good and evil, with the
feeling of being bound to follow its directive.
summoning us to love the good and avoid evil, by
applying objective moral norms to our particular acts,
And thus commanding: do this, do not do that!
Two Kinds Factor of Christian Conscience
 “Heart Factors” – include reading and prayerful reflection on Jesus’ teaching and actions, and our own prayer
and sacramental life.
 “Mind Factors” – refers to a deepening in understanding of Sacred Scripture and Church teaching, especially
Catholic Moral principles, and sound moral guidance.
Formation of Conscience
 But our conscience is not something “automatic.”
It is gradually shaped through all the many and complex factors that enter into our growth to Christian
maturity.
 Family upbringing, basic education and catechesis in the Faith, our cultural attitudes and values, the friends
we grow with in school, and the larger social environment of the community.
 Crucial to correct understanding of our conscience is its essential relational dimension.
- In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path;
 We must assimilate it in faith and prayer, and put into practice.
 We must also examine our conscience before the Lord’s Cross.
 We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by
the authoritative teaching of the Church.
PRAYER with the Word of God
“It is important for every person to be sufficiently present to himself in order to hear and follow the voice of his
conscience.”
Prayer
 To discern what is good
 To receive the grace to put it into practice!
 To learn from Christ how to love others
 To correct one’s errors

4. HOW DO WE FORM CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE?
A “Christian Conscience” is form gradually in faith and through personal and ecclesial prayer-life:
 By attending to the Word of God and the teachings of the Church,
 By responsiveness to the indwelling Holy Spirit, and
 By critical reflection on our concrete moral choices and experiences of daily life.
KINDS OF CONSCIENCE
1. Right/True conscience
2. Erroneous or false conscience
3. Certain conscience
4. Doubtful conscience
5. Reflex conscience
6. Scrupulous conscience
7. Callous conscience
HUMAN PERSON
Who is the human person according to reason and Christian Faith?
 The Answer:
Jesus Christ
“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”
Jesus reveals that our origin, meaning and destiny is grounded on God.
We are:
1. created in God’s own image and likeness (Gen. 1: 26 )
 hence, act and treat others accordingly, that is:
 treat man not as mere objects or commodity, but with great value, their
worth, with faculties, and deserves nobler treatment than animals.
2. redeemed by Christ (Eph. 1: 7; Col. 1: 14)
 saved from slavery of sin
 man has been brought back to his own nature
 hindi ka tao lamang – defense of “sapagkat ako’y tao lamang”

5. 3. sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8: 14-16; 1 Cor. 6: 19 )
 capable of doing great things – that is, within the spiritual realm
 meant to be healed if fallen from sin – his nature is one capable of rising up - not
“tao lamang”
4. called to be adopted children of God ( 1 Jn. 3: 1 ); and
 we are in a covenant
 higher calling
 duties inscribed in our hearts – our very being
 called because of our nature’s capability – not “tao lamang”
5. destined for eternal life ( CCC 1692 )
 grounded with our true end
 hence: we must not settle for the things of this world alone – but those of higher
value
 in the spiritual realm – matters of spirit
Human Persons “in Experience”
I. Human Persons are “Open and Relational by nature” ( CFC 687 )
 gregarious by nature
 a NEED, not an option to relate/socialize
 our physical set-up – always going outside – “palabas”– para sa
A. Man is TRINITARIAN by origin
 dignity of man – in relation to the Trinity: We are: 1 created …
 Hence: not “tao lamang”
not spared from responsibility and imputability
because being such: “much is expected with those who
are given much”
B. No one exists by oneself, but only in relation with others
 That is how God ordered it
 means: really created to be in relation with others
 components and dimensions of his existence:
i. social
ii. physical
iii. emotional
iv. psychological
 “No man is an island”

6. C. We realize that our being as person means:
 “being by others” (our conception,birth, upbringing) –hence, there is no such thing
as “putok sa buho” – manifested in a kid searching for his “pinagmulan”
 human existence does not precede relationship, but: “born of
relationship and nurtured by it”
from the very onset of our existence, we are in a
relationship: anak, kapatid, apo,etc…
 “being with others”
 with our family, friends, neighbors, business associates, classmates, school
 “being for others” – (through love and service)
 Active & Passive
 vs. Absolutizing – Subjectivism, Individualism
 he is capable of achieving all his needs
 The high point of human relationship is our relationship to God in faith, hope and
love
 the summit of our relational nature
 practically determined by our relationship with our fellowmen, and
as well determines the same
II. Human Persons are “Conscious Beings”( CFC 688 )
A. Man is the only animal who “knows what he knows”
 what he’s doing, everything around him, and why
 Only man can go fasting, sleep late at night for a nobler purpose
He can go beyond his instinct
 Only man can understand, expound, reflect and magnify things
 Animals – one dimensional –moved merely buy instinct
B. Man possesses self-awareness through his faculty of knowing and free-willing (CCC 1704; GS 14 –
17)  understand  value
 By his “reason,” he understands the order of things established by God
 what should be
 natural – reaction: bakit, violation
 He is able to recognize the voice of God (w/c urges man to do good and avoid evil)
 rights and obligations – justice, goodness
C. He puts up an “imagery” of the Creator’s infinite knowing and loving –in his small way  a
spark of Divinity; we are not alien to it
 we personify God’s infinite “knowing” and “loving” nature.
 We are liable to God as well – but: God expects only what is within our capabilities

7. III. Human Persons are “Embodied Spirits” ( CFC 689 )
 belongs to two dimensions
A. The “unity” between our “body and soul”
Hylemorphism - the substantial unity of man; two different substances
coming/combining together to form an individual substance – corpse and spirit
B. According to St. Thomas Aquinas: Man as soul and body
 MAN FROM ABOVE
 With regard to his relationship with God
 High point of human relationship – higher faculty
 Capable of relating to and with God – grounded, looking for
 With regard to his highest faculty – INTELLECT
 Proportionate to its function or goal
 With reference to man’s soul - - - - -  RATIONAL SOUL
 Operations of the soul are shown by body
 Because of his rational soul, man is able to know, love and serve God.
 The rational soul subsists even after the death of the body
 The higher faculty stresses that man needs to attend to the claims of his soul
 MAN FROM BELOW
 Body – seat of sin/weakness, limitations
 With reference to his being bound to nature and matter
 Keeps us related to material things of this world
 Man has rational, sensitive, vegetative soul (he possess the faculties of lower beings,
which are lower faculties)
 In the gradation of beings – on matters of the soul – the higher being possesses
those of the lower beings
 The lower faculty stresses that man as an integral being, has material needs to attend
to
OUR BODIES – essential part of being human
 Outlet of the soul
 Not merely as “INSTRUMENT” we use according to our whims and caprices – neither
“ACCESSORIES”
i. “good and honorable since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.”
(GS 14)
ii. God the Son further dignified the body through His “INCARNATION” - “The
Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14)
 “You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit”
iii. “So glorify God in your body” (1Cor. 6:19-20) – the natural sacrament of our
spiritual depth
 We are not totally free to intervene with our bodies which are subjected to the laws of the
material world.

8.  We must learn to love ourselves in the true context/meaning of love
 Everybody deserves respect and honorable use
 As body persons, we are part of the material world – but with moral responsibility
 With moral implication – order, proper place, proper perspectives
 Therefore, it is limited – not absolute – subject to abuse
 ESSENTIAL MAKE UP OF MAN:
 Man is essentially composed of body and soul
 As a rational being – stresses the proper operational quality of man
 “to think” – man’s most outstanding quality
 Priority of Man is his hierarchy of values -
attend to his rational soul; but still there’s a need
to attend to his body or natural needs – in order
to fulfill his rational needs, medium is his body
 it is not legal to sacrifice his hierarchy of values
for the sake of natural needs.
 Virtue lies in the middle
 No abuse/excess; but no insufficiency
THE SOUL IS THE FORM OF THE BODY
 the nature or essence of a thing that makes a thing what it is.
 the soul provides ONENESS for the body (lives on every part of the body). Man is an
organic unity - composed of different parts.
The soul serves as the unifying principle and forms one
unique human being
 if the soul disappears, all the other parts can no longer function according to their
nature = not only the human being, sensitive being or the living(vegetative) being
disappears = but all the others parts could no longer be what they are
 Relationship: Man as “Moral Being” & Man as “Union of Body & Soul”
 Being moral – related to man’s higher faculty
 rational soul operates in the moral acts of
man
 its operation needs the assistance of the
senses
 SENSES – because as a being in the world,
man exists in the world and experiences the
world
 Through the senses, man is able perceive
what good and evil in the world
 INTELLECT – commands the will to move the body:
“Follow Good; Avoid Evil” – through concrete bodily
actions and concrete experiences

9. IV. Human Persons are “Historical Realities” (CFC 690)
 Because we are all bounded by time – past, present, future
a. We are PILGRIMS ON-The-Way, who gradually, through time, become our FULL SELVES
 each of us is destined for something
b. In exercising freedom, we decide for ourselves and form ourselves
 our destiny lies in our hands – the choices we make
c. Our moral responsibility is proportionate to his/her capacities at each stage of development
 Wisdom, Prudence.. – as time goes by, man experiences more and more realization
 The saying: “experience is the best teacher”
 “Much is expected with those who are given much”
V. Human Persons are unique, yet fundamentally equal (CFC 691)
 individuality  the basic:
a) Each of us is created, and called to “image” God in a UNIQUE way.
 Because God respects our individuality
 different ways, capacity, skills, status,
talents…
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine”
(Is. 43:1)
b.) And yet, we are all EQUAL
 common denomination
c.)Man’s culpability – accountability in relation to the person’s capacity/culpable for failing to do
hat he is capable of doing.
 Subjectively given
 depends on you capability
 different, but: One Calling
 to be fulfilled in our own way
d.)Our equality is based on the following truths:
 The order of nature (same origin/same nature)
 The supernatural order (same faith, hope, destiny and baptism/have been redeemed by
Christ/children of God)
 The core of the redemptive mission of Jesus
 “ I came that they may have life and have it ABUNDANTLY.” (Jn. 10:10)
 The FULLNESS of life  communion with the Father (to which every human person is freely
called