Armando Herrera

1
Christian Morality What Does Love Look Like?

• Armando Herrera
• Confirmation Class

2
Opening Prayer

• Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your
  faithful and kindle in them the fire of your
  love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be
  created. And You shall renew the face of the
  earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy
  Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful,
  grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be
  truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations,
  Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

3
Introduction

• We will explore the concept that, for Christians,
  living a moral life requires that we respond to
  Jesus mandate to love as he loved
• We will explore how to make moral judgments

4
Group Exercise Love is

• You have 25 definitions of love in your packet
• One person reads the definitions and puts them on
  the table for all to see
• Pick top 10 that best define love (put the rest
  back in the envelope)
• From the top 10 select the best 3 that best
  define love
• From the last 3 pick the best one that defines
  love
• Have a person from each team tell the group what
  does the selected definition means from a
  practical level

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The Meaning of Christian Love

• As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you
  abide in my love (Jn 159)
• This is my commandment, that you love one
  another as I have loved you (Jn 1512) This
  statement is the foundation of Christian morality
• Love is the highest law love directed to God,
  to neighbor, to self and to all creation
• The Reign of God is love
• Love means being deeply concerned about the
  dignity and welfare of other people
• It means respecting all life because we are in
  relationship with all life this is central to
  Christian life
• Christ is the sign of Gods love for us (and our
  example)

6
Clean Joke of the week

• The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a
  Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head
  of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun
  made a note, and posted on the apple tray "Take
  only ONE. God is watching.
• Moving further along the lunch line, at the other
  end of the table was a large pile of chocolate
  chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take
  all you want. God is watching the apples."

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How do we know the Moral Law?

• Gn 126-27 tell us that man is created in the
  image of God
• Unlike all other animals, we have spiritual souls
• We have intellects and wills
• Like God, we know and love
• We are truly free, unlike the rest of creation
  that is moved by instinct
• Because we are free, we are moral beings
• We can choose to do either good or evil

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Conscience

• Through our intellect, we can discover the
  morality or goodness of an action
• This judgment of the intellect is called
  Conscience
• It is true that we must follow our conscience
  but,
• We need to first form our conscience according to
  Church teachings!
• Ask for some examples of how we can do this

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How do we know what is good and evil?

• We consult the moral law
• Which is based on the eternal law of God
• God is a God of truth, justice and love
• Therefore, we must act in truth, justice and love
• The moral law is unchanging
  because God is unchanging
  He will always be truth, justice
  and love
• The 10 commandments sum up
  the requirements of the moral law

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How do we evaluate Moral Acts?

• Morality considers the rightness and wrongness of
  human actions
• We can only evaluate those human actions
  performed freely and knowingly
• 3 elements to determine morality of an action
• The object of the act (what the act is
  objectively)
• The intention or purpose of the act (why)
• The circumstances surrounding the act
• For an act to be moral all of these 3 must be
  good!

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Morality Exercise evaluate the morality of each
of these actions

• Praying with the intention of getting human
  praise
• Robbing a bank to provide a family vacation
• The end doesnt justify the means
• Speeding to take someone the hospital
• Abortion because the mother can not afford to
  raise a kid
• Abortion in order to save the life of the mother
• Assisted suicide for a person with a terrible and
  painful terminal decease

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How can we do to get better?

• One thing we can do to make it easier is to put
  some effort into developing good habits virtues
• With God's help we can acquire and practice these
  virtues and lead the kind of moral life that
  brings us into closer communion with God
• Four Cardinal Virtues
• Prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance

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Cardinal Virtues - Definition

• Prudence is the habit of thinking before acting.
  The prudent person uses reason to figure out the
  true good in every situation and then to choose
  the right way to achieve it
• Justice is the virtue of giving to God and to our
  neighbors what they are due. The just person
  thinks about the needs to other people,
  recognizes their God-given dignity, and reaches
  out to them with love
• Fortitude is the strength to live morally even in
  difficult situations. A person with fortitude is
  able to resist temptations and make sacrifices in
  order to do good
• Temperance is the self-control that keeps one's
  appetite for pleasure from becoming extreme. It
  doesn't mean we can't have fun. The temperate
  person develops the habit of setting limits,
  however, because too much of a good thing can get
  in the way of the moral life and can separate us
  from God

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Group Exercise

• Group 1 Mathew 5 13-16 and Mt 517-26
• Group 2 Mt 538-48 and Mt 61-15
• Group 3 Mt 616-24 and Mt 25-34
• Group 4 Mt 71-11 and Mt 715-29
• In just a few words in your handbooks, identify
  the central value or teaching of Jesus reflected
  in the passage.
• Identify at least three applications that the
  content of the passage might have for young
  people today, and then list these in your
  handbooks under the statement about the value or
  teaching.
• Share your answers with the rest of the group

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Summary

• Learn and strive to love as God loves. A love
  that gives, outside of self, cares for the
  beloved
• Form your conscience based on the teachings of
  the Catholic Church
• Follow your conscience
• Practice and improve on the cardinal virtues
• Persevere and remember that the Mercy of God has
  no limits because God is Love

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Closing Prayer Suscipe

• Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my
  memory, my understanding and my whole will.
• All that I am and all that I possess, You have
  given me I surrender it all to You to be
  disposed of according to Your will.
• Give me only Your love and Your grace with these
  I will be rich enough and will desire nothing
  more. Amen

Attributed to St. Ignatius of Loyola