Life in Christ Study Review

What saves us? Is it enough to be virtuous/good?

To follow the will of God with reckless abandon is to embark on the sole path that delivers us from ourselves. It appears almost too simple, but it ends being not so easy: loving as Christ loved, suffering as He suffered. This is the only way we can be saved, for Christ is our salvation. If we truly adhere to God's will for our lives, accepting help where needed, we can become what we were created to be—"predestined," as it were, to be children of God. This is the restoration that returns us to our original state of grace. To rid ourselves of the most grueling addictions, the worst traumas, and the greatest crimes against love, we must love. Not just with mere human affection, but with Divine love. It is not enough that one has virtue, but it is enough to carry the cross of Christ in all we do so that we may become perfect as the Father is perfect.

We must deny ourselves to embrace the Cross, even if it isn't the one that seems appealing at the moment. We are called to put on the mind of Christ, to become a new Incarnation of Christ, to be another Jesus and a true child of God. This transformation happens by following His will unreservedly, desiring it more than our favorite sins. This is only possible by grace, but it is through the remnants of good left in us from the fall into sin and our communion with God that we achieve this. The nature and goal of grace are to supply our weakness, enabling us, with the Spirit, to witness to what is true with our whole self. Whence our heart wanders so thence shall the rest follow whether to Sin or Grace.

What does it mean to relate to others as Christ, to be Him to the world? Why should we want to do that? These are the questions we shall try to answer in this session.

Step 1: How do we know what is the will of God?

To discern the will of God, we can rely on several sources: Scripture, the teachings of the Church (Catechism and Magisterium), and the wisdom of saints and theologians.

Scripture:

1. Romans 12:2: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

2. 1 Thessalonians 4:3: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality."

3. Micah 6:8: "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Catechism:

1. CCC 2826: "By prayer we can discern 'what is the will of God' and obtain the endurance to do it. Jesus teaches us that one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing 'the will of my Father in heaven.'"

2. CCC 2825: "In Christ, and through his human will, the will of the Father has been perfectly fulfilled once for all. Jesus said on entering into this world: 'Lo, I have come to do your will, O God.'"

Magisterium:

1. Documents from the Second Vatican Council, such as "Gaudium et Spes," emphasize the importance of discerning and following God's will in the modern world.

2. Encyclicals like John Paul II's "Veritatis Splendor" explore how to live out God's will through moral truth.

Saints and Theologians:

1. St. Thomas Aquinas in "Summa Theologica" emphasizes the need to align our will with God's through the cultivation of virtues and the pursuit of truth.

Virtue comes from the word "vir" which means "man". Man knows himself and becomes what it truly means to be human through virtue.Love is the form of the virtues. Ultimately if you are doing something out of love you will develop virtues. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7; CCC 1822).

Step 2: Why do we do/want to do/should want to do that above all other options?

Scripture:

1. Matthew 6:33: "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

2. John 15:10-11: "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

Catechism:

1. CCC 1721: "God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us 'partakers of the divine nature' and of eternal life."

Magisterium:

1. Pope Benedict XVI in "Deus Caritas Est" explains that true happiness and fulfillment come from loving God and others as He has loved us.

Saints and Theologians:

1. St. Augustine wrote, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in You," emphasizing that our ultimate fulfillment comes from aligning our will with God's.

Step 3: How do we change how we think to not only recognize what God is inviting us into and wanting that, but also habitually doing so? Of all the things we can do, how can we know that one or several options are here and now, one is (more) the will of God and not the others?

Scripture:

1. Philippians 4:8: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

2. Romans 8:5: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit."

Catechism:

1. CCC 1804: "Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith."

2. CCC 1834: "The human virtues are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith."

Magisterium:

1. Pope Francis in "Evangelii Gaudium" encourages a daily renewal of commitment to live out the Gospel and align our lives with God's will.

Saints and Theologians:

1. St. Teresa of Avila emphasized the importance of mental prayer and regular reflection on one's actions to conform one's will to God's.

Discernment through prayer, consultation with spiritual advisors, and alignment with Scripture and Church teachings helps in understanding God’s will for specific decisions (James 1:5; CCC 1785).

What does it mean to oppose the will of God? What about habitually? Is it ok to be contrary but not contradictory to the will of God and is it ok to stay there?

Opposing the will of God means acting against His commands and desires for us, leading to sin. Habitually opposing God's will can lead to a hardened heart and estrangement from Him (Hebrews 3:12-13). Being contrary to God's will involves resistance or reluctance but not outright disobedience, which may be part of the spiritual struggle. However, we are called to strive continuously towards full alignment with God’s will.

Celebrate progress in growth, and thank God thoroughly for it that it may be truly received and built upon

Recognizing and celebrating spiritual growth encourages continued progress and deepens our gratitude towards God, fostering further development (1 Thessalonians 5:18; CCC 2638).

Review the Outline

Thesis

This study aimed to lay the groundwork for understanding Catholic moral thought by clarifying that God's moral call is an invitation to a deeper communion rather than a mere mandate, thereby addressing misunderstandings and helping participants grasp the transformative nature of divine love and the role of moral principles in the Christian life.

By Session

In Session 1, we established that moral thought is integral to faith in Christ, combining psychological significance with spiritual growth. Morality is viewed not just as a set of rules but as an invitation to thrive, as shown in CCC 1706-1715 and Matthew 11:28-30.

Session 2 addressed human susceptibility to sin, rooted in original sin and its nature. This condition impacts individuals and creation profoundly, extending beyond mere moral failings (Gen 3:6; Rom 5:12-19; CCC 1849-1869).

In Session 3, we explored the concept that sin is a direct act against God’s creation rather than an abstract offense. We are created for communion and love, which shape our moral behavior (CCC 1849-1851; 1 John 4; CCC 1878-1889).

Session 4 focused on the Kerygma, emphasizing Christ's love and salvation. The principle of losing one’s life for Christ illustrates the economy of love that defines Christian moral life (Acts 2:36-41; Mark 8:35; CCC 422-426; 2744-2745).

Session 5 highlighted the inherent beauty of a moral life, reflecting Christian principles such as dignity and freedom. Christian morality guides ethical behavior with fundamental principles (CCC 1716-1724; CCC 1700-1709).

In Session 6, we examined the Catechism’s overview of the moral law, including human dignity, freedom, moral acts, passions, conscience, virtues, and sin (CCC 1700-1845).

Session 7 discussed interpreting the commands of God, including social justice, natural law, and the Church's guidance in moral pursuits. Understanding these aspects aids in interpreting the moral law and salvation (Micah 6:8; Rom 2:14-15; John 3:16; CCC 1928-1960; 846-849).

Session 8 involved an in-depth study of the Third through Sixth Commandments, revealing their significance in guiding ethical behavior (Ex 20:12-17; CCC 2196-2257).

In Session 9, we explored John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, focusing on the body’s role in redeemed nature and its moral implications, along with Biblical sources of Catholic sexual teaching (Theology of the Body, Audience 1-5; CCC 2331-2336).

Session 10 continued with the Seventh through Tenth Commandments, examining their moral teachings and relevance to Christian living (Ex 20:18-21; CCC 2258-2317).

Session 11 focused on understanding and aligning with God’s will, exploring how to discern and follow divine guidance in moral life (Matt 7:21; CCC 2826-2828).

In this final Session 12, we discussed virtues and their role in discerning and living out God’s will, and also that living the will of God calls us beyond them in a way. The session concluded with a review of how God’s call to holiness fosters a deeper relationship with Him (CCC 1803-1829; 2044-2046).

Questions Answered

Session 1: Argument for Moral Thought

1. What did God intend?

2. How do we consider our efforts as partaking in what is expected of us?

3. What role does moral life play in the Christian life?

4. In what way does morality make psychological sense?

5. In what way does morality make philosophical sense?

6. Why does the Magisterium of the Church act in the field of morality?

7. Why is the Christian moral life indispensable for the proclamation of the Gospel?

8. How does the Church nourish the moral life of a Christian?

Session 2: Understanding Human Sinfulness

1. What did humanity do with freedom when virtue was easy?

2. What is sin?

3. Is there a variety of sins?

4. How are sins distinguished according to their gravity?

5. When does one commit a mortal sin?

6. When does one commit a venial sin?

7. How does sin proliferate?

8. What are vices?

9. Do we have any responsibility for sins committed by others?

10. What are structures of sin?

11. Why is the struggle against sin so difficult?

12. How does one avoid scandal?

13. Why is a false oath forbidden?

14. What is perjury?

Session 3: Called to Love & Communion

1. What is love and communion?

2. What does it mean to love others as Christ has loved us?

3. How much should we love our neighbor?

4. How might we react when we encounter what God has done for us?

5. In brief, what has God done for us?

6. Who does God call to communion?

7. What do we gain from authentic love?

8. What does the acceptance of God’s mercy require from us?

9. Why must human life be respected?

10. What is the relationship between the person and society?

11. How is human solidarity manifested?

12. How does the relationship between the ethos of the image and the ethos of seeing enhance our understanding of ethical responsibilities in artistic expression?

13. Session 4: The Kerygma and the Economy of Love

14. How did Jesus interpret the Law?

15. What is Redemption?

16. What does Jesus call for in poverty of spirit?

17. What is the relationship between the Beatitudes and our desire for happiness?

18. What is eternal happiness?

19. Why would we want more than just being virtuous, to do what God may ask of us at any given moment?

20. How does one determine what is God's will?

21. What is implied in the affirmation of God: “I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:2)?

Session 5: The Beauty of a Moral Life

1. Why are the Beatitudes important to us?

2. What is the greatest human desire?

3. What does it mean to follow the will of God?

4. What place does the family occupy in society?

5. How should social and economic life be pursued?

Session 6: The Catechism and the Moral Law

1. What is the moral law?

2. In what does the natural moral law consist?

3. Is such a law perceived by everyone?

4. What is the relationship between the natural law and the Old Law?

5. What place does the Old Law have in the plan of salvation?

6. What is the New Law or the Law of the Gospel?

7. Where does one find the New Law?

8. What is justification?

9. What is the grace that justifies?

10. What are the goods that we can merit?

11. What is merit?

12. What are the sources of the morality of human acts?

13. When is an act morally good?

14. Are there acts that are always illicit?

15. What are the passions?

16. Are the passions morally good or bad?

17. What is the moral conscience?

18. What does the dignity of the human person imply for the moral conscience?

19. How is a moral conscience formed to be upright and truthful?

20. What norms must the conscience always follow?

21. Can a moral conscience make erroneous judgments?

22. What is a virtue?

23. What are the human virtues?

24. What are the principal human virtues?

25. What is prudence?

26. What is justice?

27. What is fortitude?

28. What is temperance?

29. What are the theological virtues?

30. What is the virtue of faith?

31. What is hope?

32. What is charity?

33. What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

34. What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit?

35. How is the Christian moral life bound up with faith and the sacraments?

36. What is the foundation of the authority of society?

Session 7: Interpreting the Commands of God

1. What are the precepts of the Church?

2. What purpose do the precepts of the Church have?

3. “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16)

4. What does “Decalogue” mean?

5. What is the bond between the Decalogue and the Covenant?

6. What importance does the Church give to the Decalogue?

7. Why does the Decalogue constitute an organic unity?

8. Why does the Decalogue enjoin serious obligations?

9. Is it possible to keep the Decalogue?

10. What is the meaning of the words of our Lord, “Adore the Lord your God and worship Him alone” (Matthew 4:10)?

11. In what way does a person exercise his or her proper right to worship God in truth and in freedom?

12. What does God prohibit by his command, “You shall not have other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2)?

13. Does the commandment of God, “You shall not make for yourself a graven image” (Exodus 20:3), forbid the cult of images?

14. How does one respect the holiness of the Name of God?

Session 8: The Ten Commandments (Part 1)

1. What does the fourth commandment require?

2. What is the nature of the family in the plan of God?

3. What are the duties that society has toward the family?

4. What are the duties of children toward their parents?

5. What are the duties of parents toward their children?

6. How are parents to educate their children in the Christian faith?

7. Are family bonds an absolute good?

8. How should authority be exercised in the various spheres of civil society?

9. What are the duties of citizens in regard to civil authorities?

10. When is a citizen forbidden to obey civil authorities?

11. Why must human life be respected?

12. Why is the legitimate defense of persons and of society not opposed to this norm?

13. What is the purpose of punishment?

14. What kind of punishment may be imposed?

15. What is forbidden by the fifth commandment?

16. What medical procedures are permitted when death is considered imminent?

17. Why must society protect every embryo?

18. What duty do we have toward our body?

19. When are scientific, medical, or psychological experiments on human individuals or groups morally legitimate?

20. Are the transplant and donation of organs allowed before and after death?

21. What practices are contrary to respect for the bodily integrity of the human person?

22. What care must be given to the dying?

23. How are the bodies of the deceased to be treated?

24. What does the Lord ask of every person in regard to peace?

25. What is peace in this world?

26. What is required for earthly peace?

27. When is it morally permitted to use military force?

28. In danger of war, who has the responsibility for the rigorous evaluation of these conditions?

29. In case of war, what does the moral law require?

30. What must be done to avoid war?

Session 9: Theology of the Body

1. How does the theology of the body provide a framework for understanding the pronouncements of the Church on marriage and family, and why is it essential for applying Christ's teachings to modern contexts?

2. What significance does the body have in being moral?

3. What responsibility do human persons have in regard to their own sexual identity?

4. What is chastity?

5. What is involved in the virtue of chastity?

6. What are the means that aid the living of chastity?

7. In what way is everyone called to live chastity?

8. What are the principal sins against chastity?

9. Although it says only “you shall not commit adultery,” why does the sixth commandment forbid all sins against chastity?

10. What is the responsibility of civil authority in regard to chastity?

11. What are the goods of conjugal love to which sexuality is ordered?

12. What is the meaning of the conjugal act?

13. When is it moral to regulate births?

14. What are immoral means of birth control?

15. Why are artificial insemination and artificial fertilization immoral?

16. How should children be considered?

17. What can spouses do when they do not have children?

18. What are the offenses against the dignity of marriage?

19. How does Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount transform our understanding of the value and dignity of the human body and sexuality?

20. How does the discernment of internal impulses contribute to achieving a mature spontaneity in human relationships according to Christ’s teaching?

21. How does understanding Christ’s appeal in the Sermon on the Mount as a call to elevate human desires change the way we view the relationship between eros and ethos?

22. How does Christ's emphasis on the internal source of moral purity challenge the Old Testament focus on ritual ablutions and external cleanliness?

23. How does Paul's concept of life according to the Spirit challenge our understanding of worldly desires and spiritual aspirations?

24. How does Paul's articulation of the opposition between the desires of the flesh and the Spirit reshape our understanding of justification and the transformative power of Christ's redemption?

25. How does Paul's concept of freedom being subordinated to love challenge our understanding of liberty in contemporary society?

26. How does St. Paul's concept of purity, as the control of one's body in holiness and honor, deepen our understanding of the sanctity of the human body in relation to spiritual life?

27. How does St. Paul's description of the human body in First Corinthians deepen our understanding of the connection between

28. physicality, dignity, and purity in Christian teachings?

29. How does Paul's concept of purity as a virtue rooted in reverence for the body challenge contemporary notions of bodily autonomy and self-expression?

30. How does the infusion of piety, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, enhance our understanding of purity as more than abstention, but as a profound expression of divine love and reverence for the body's dignity?

31. How does Christ's teaching on purity of heart challenge our understanding of moral conduct, and how can we experience joy in mastering ourselves for the good of others?

Session 10: Virtue and Moral Life

1. How does one reach purity of heart?

2. What are the other requirements for purity?

3. How does one keep Sunday holy?

4. Why did God “bless the Sabbath day and declare it sacred” (Exodus 20:11)?

5. How did Jesus act in regard to the Sabbath?

6. For what reason has the Sabbath been changed to Sunday for Christians?

7. Why is the civil recognition of Sunday as a feast day important?

8. What does the seventh commandment require?

9. Under what conditions does the right to private property exist?

10. What is the purpose of private property?

11. What attitude should people have toward animals?

12. What is forbidden by the seventh commandment?

13. What is the content of the social doctrine of the Church?

14. When does the Church intervene in social areas?

15. What would be opposed to the social doctrine of the Church?

16. What is the meaning of work?

17. To what type of work does every person have a right?

18. What responsibility does the State have in regard to labor?

19. What is the task of business management?

20. What are the duties of workers?

21. How is justice and solidarity among nations brought about?

22. In what way do Christians participate in political and social life?

23. By what is love for the poor inspired?

24. How does one bear witness to the truth?

25. What is forbidden by the eighth commandment?

26. What is required by the eighth commandment?

27. How is one to use the means of social communication?

28. What relationship exists between truth, beauty, and sacred art?

Session 11: The Good of Human Acts

1. How does one determine what is God's will?

2. What are the principal human virtues?

3. What is prudence?

4. What is justice?

5. What is fortitude?

6. What is temperance?

7. What are the theological virtues?

8. What is the virtue of faith?

9. What is hope?

10. What is charity?

11. What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

12. What are the fruits of the Holy Spirit?

13. What is the foundation of the authority of society?

14. What is the significance of the body in being moral?

15. What does Jesus call for in poverty of spirit?

16. What is the greatest human desire?

17. What does it mean to follow the will of God?

18. What is the distinction between avoiding evil and being virtuous?

Session 12: The Call to Perfection and Christian Holiness

1. Are all called to Christian holiness?

2. What is the meaning of the conjugal act?

3. Why does the Decalogue enjoin serious obligations?

4. Is it possible to keep the Decalogue?

5. What is the role of the Church in providing guidance for moral living?

6. How can one attain Christian perfection?

7. Why is the grace that justifies significant for moral life?

8. This structure provides a comprehensive and organized framework for your Faith Study sessions, ensuring clarity and depth in each topic covered.