Chapter 1: Morality

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Chapter 1 Morality

• Created by Michael Cheney

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Learning Outcomes

• Identify the two sources of Gods moral law
• Understand that grace is a sharing in Gods life
• Grace is both a challenge and a comfort
• Recognize that Gods grace helps us in our
  vocations

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Catholic Morality
Revealed Truth
Human reason
Natural law Gods law written in our hearts
Teachings of Jesus Church Teachings
Catholic morality the way we lead our lives in
response to Gods law of love in our souls.
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Created in Gods image likeness

• Starting point of morality is NOT
• What should we do?
• What do we do?
• Starting point is our human dignity
• We were created in Gods image likeness
• We are naturally religious beings
• We are called to know, love, and serve God
  others

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Grace Gods presence activity in and to us

• Sanctifying grace
• Gods presence in us
• Helps us live in faith, hope, and love
• Enables us to respond to Gods love
• Actual grace
• Gods presence to us
• The help God gives us for a particular need
• E.g., important decisions, periods of painful
  loss grief, times of crisis, etc.

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Case Studies in Grace
Dave Mom
Amys Dream World
What would Jesus say to Amy and Dave about their
behaviors, i.e., possessiveness exaggeration
as well as passive-aggression?
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Grace Brings Challenge

• Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

Faith in Jesus should lead us to resist actively
the inhumanity around us
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Cost of Discipleship

• Being a Christian requires that we oppose evil
• Grace helps us to have the courage to stand up
  and make a difference
• (Cf. Pentecost, p. 15)

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The Challenge of GraceSmall Group Exercise

• Do you personally experience being
  Catholic/Christian as comforting and challenging?
• Does being Catholic/Christian have a profound
  effect on how you relate to others. How?

• Should homilies be challenging? Should they
  challenge us about how we live our individual
  lives?
• Is the way in which grace is both a comfort and a
  challenge a contradiction? Explain.

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Written Reflection Assignment

• Describe 3 problems that currently exist at
  Jesuit or in your community.
• For each problem, describe a creative way that it
  could be addressed.
• Determine a role that you might play in solving
  the problem.

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Our Vocation

• To be co-workers with God
• To live Christian lives
• Ignatius of Loyola To praise, reverence, and
  love/serve God and others.
• The Principle and Foundation

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Celebrating Morality