Week 15: The Christian in the World: Social and Moral LIfe (¶1877-2051)

The human person is a social creature who lives before God as a member of various communities: the family, the state, various voluntary associations and institutions, and most importantly, the Church. God calls us to love God and to love our neighbors. We fulfill the latter by working for the common good, which involves pursuing the virtues, following the way of charity, obeying the authorities, employing one’s talents in a spirit of generosity, rectifying any injustices and inequalities, and living in solidarity with others. We find the basic outline of this new moral life in God’s law. In order to fulfill the law in our own lives, we depend upon God’s justifying and sanctifying grace, communicated to us by the Holy Spirit.

1. Law and Grace

(a) Different forms of the Law:

a. Eternal law: the eternal Truth of God
b. Natural law: rational moral sense (conscience)
c. Revealed law: Old and New Law (Decalogue and Sermon on the Mount)
d. Civil and ecclesiastical law (institutional law): legal code, precepts, etc.

(b) Grace

a. The grace of preparation
b. The grace of faith/response
c. The grace of participation
d. The grace of sanctification/deification
e. The grace of the sacraments
f. The grace of charisms
g. The grace of state or ministerial office

(c) Justification

a. Justification is a grace of the Holy Spirit which has both a negative and positive character:

i. negatively, it separates us from sin, while
ii. positively, it communicates God’s righteousness to us, the righteousness merited for us by the Passion of Christ

b. Justification thus involves the sanctification of the human person, since justification establishes the basis for a new life in the Spirit
c. Justification is conferred in Baptism, which establishes the basis for free human cooperation with the grace of God

(d) Human works and merit

a. Human works cannot merit the initial grace of conversion, which is a free gift of the Holy Spirit—given because God has freely chosen to involve humanity in his work of grace
b. Moved by the Spirit, human works merit the graces of sanctification and eternal life
c. All merit has its source and basis in the love of Christ
d. Our spiritual progress toward holiness is grounded in our mystical and sacramental union with Christ and the Holy Trinity

2. The Precepts of the Church

(a) First precept: attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days, while resting from labor
(b) Second precept: confess your sins at least once a year
(c) Third precept: receive the Eucharist at least during the Easter season
(d) Fourth precept: observe the days of fasting and abstinence
(e) Fifth precept: provide for the needs of the Church

3. Themes associated with our social and moral life

(a) charity/love
(b) freedom
(c) common good
(d) nature and grace