2. 304. How can Christian
moral life be viewed?
• Christian moral life
can be viewed as our
free response to
God’s call involving
three essential
levels:
3. a basic moral vision;
expressed in moral
norms and precepts;
exercised in personal
moral acts guided by
conscience.
4. 305. What is the major
problem in Christian moral
living?
• Motivation is the major
problem in Christian
moral living - how we
can inspire ourselves
and others to act
consistently according
to Christian moral
norms.
5. 306. What is the basic
Christian norm for moral
living? • The basic standard by
which Christians judge
all their thoughts, words
and deeds is the person
of Jesus Christ who
reveals God as our
Father, and who we truly
are.
6. Christ is the significant
“other” in forming:
Our moral vision
(values, attitudes, and
affections),
Our moral norms, and
The actual decision-
making process of our
conscience.
7. 307. What is a norm or
law?
• A norm or law is a
decree of reason,
promulgated by
competent
authority, for the
common good.
8. • Moral norms, based
on moral vision
comprising basic
moral values,
express the
objective standard
for judging moral
good and evil.
9. 308. What are moral norms
supposed to do?
• Moral norms are
indispensable for moral
life. They
provide objective
criteria for our
conscience to judge
what is morally good
or evil
11. offer the needed
moral stability in our
lives
Challenge us to
stretch for an ideal
beyond our limited
experience, and
correct our personal
moral misconception
in the process.
12. 309. What was God’s Law in
the Old Testament?
• God’s Law in the Old
Testament was His great
gift to His chosen people,
Israel, creating with them
a Covenant which called
for obedience to His Law
as their response to His
gratuitous love.
13. • The danger inherent in
all laws is to so focus on
the “letter of the law”
and its external
observance as to ignore
the basic human values
and interior dispositions
which the law was made
to preserve.
14. 310. How did Christ in the
New Testament relate to
the Law?
• Jesus Christ fulfilled
the Law by:
inaugurating the
New Law of the
Kingdom which
15. perfected by the
Old Law by
subordinating all
its precepts to love
of God and of
neighbor
16. 311. What is Christ’s own
Law of love?
• In his own life Christ
taught and perfectly
exemplified the Old
Testaments’ two great
Commandments of
Love:
17. love God with all
your heart, with
all your soul, and
with all your mind
love your
neighbor as
yourself
18. 312. What was new about
Christ’s Commandments of love?
• In his “New”
commandment of love,
Christ:
Stressed the inner
bond between love of
God and love of
neighbor;
19. Exemplified “heart,”
“soul,” and “strength”
in his example and
teaching, especially his
response to the triple
temptations
experienced in the
desert and on the
Cross;
20. Gave a radically new
interpretation of
“neighbor” as meaning
everyone, especially
those in need
Summarized and
subordinated the whole
law and the prophets to
these two
Commandments alone.
21. 313. How is Christ’s law of
love “liberating?
• Christ’s law of love is
liberating because it not
only shows us what
makes us authentically
free, but through the Spirit
of love offers us the power
to fulfill it.
22. 314. What pictures for us
Christ’s law of love?
Christ’s Spirit of love
liberates us
a) from mere external
observance of the law,
b) for a life transformed
by radically new values,
sketched in the
Beatitudes:
24. 315. What is meant by the
“Natural Law”?
• Christian moral tradition
has developed another
type of law called the
“natural law” that is
Grounded in our very
nature as human
persons created by
God
25. Supporting universal
objective moral values
and precepts
Knowable by all
persons using their
critical reason,
independent of their
religious affiliation
26. 316. Has certain abuses of
the “natural law” be
avoided?
• To avoid the danger of
a rationalistic, legalistic
interpretation of the
“natural law,” stress
should be put on
certain characteristics:
27. Its basis in reality
Its experiential and
historical dimensions
Its dealing with the
consequence of our free
acts
Its being based on the
human person’s nature
28. 317. How is Christ related to
the “natural law”?
• The “natural law” and
God’s law are united in
Christ since:
Everything is
created in Christ
29. He is the final destiny
built into the nature of
every person
Through the
Incarnation, Christ has
become the concrete
model for every human
person, in their daily
thoughts and actions
30. 318. What is the process of
moral decision-making?
• The process of
making moral
decisions involves:
We ourselves as
the moral agent
or doer
31. Using evaluative
knowledge, i.e. personal
knowledge of the heart,
including affections and
imagination
According to our basic
moral character and the
virtues we have freely
developed.
32. 319. What are the stages in
moral decision-making?
• Among the many
proposed patterns for
moral decision
making, three stages
are essential:
33. Discerning (STOP:
Search, Think, [consult]
Others, Pray)
Relevant obligating
moral norms
Conscience’s decision
in applying the
objective norm to the
concrete situation/act
34. 320. How does the Church help
Catholics in moral decisions?
• The teaching office of the
Church (Magisterium)
offers Catholics moral
guidance and leadership
based on the Holy Spirit’s
unfailing presence, and the
Church’s long tradition and
worldwide experience.
35. • It thus supports and
strengthens the
essentially relational
and communitarian
dimensions of our
personal consciences in
the effort to achieve
moral goodness.
