Heald final

Justice

Human virtue. Give back to someone what is owed

Intellect

Know the truth/ order of the truth.One of the rational faculties of the human soul; a person’s ability to use reason in pursuit of truth.

Summa theological

Faith and reason. The masterwork of St. Thomas Aquinas, a systematic study of everything pertaining to the Catholic Faith and doctrine that draws from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, St. Augustine of Hippo, and others. It was written between 1265–1273 and is considered to be the pinnacle of scholastic Christian philosophy and theology.

Original sin

The state of human nature deprived of the original holiness and justice Adam and Even enjoyed before the fall.

Sanctifying Grace

The free and undeserved gift of a share in God’s own life. It is a stable disposition, which means we remain in a state of grace unless we lose the divine life through mortal sin. We first receive sanctifying grace at Baptism, it is strengthened through the other Sacraments, and restored through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.

Protoevangelium

First Gospel, Genesis. The name given to Genesis 3:15 in which God promises to send a Savior to crush the head of the serpent (Satan), defeating sin and death. It is the first announcement of the Gospel, the Good News of salvation won by Jesus Christ. Latin for “first Gospel.”

Incarnation

God coming down so we can go to heaven. The fact that the Son of God assumed human nature and became man in order to accomplish our salvation. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, is both true God and true man.

Beatitude

God flips the worlds reward system upside down. Supreme blessedness or happiness

Grace

The free and undeserved gift of His own divine life that God gives us to human persons.

Universal Vocation

God’s calling of all people to holiness.

Orthodox Churches

Eastern churches, not in full communion with the Catholic Church, who does separated from her as a result of the great schism of 1054, nevertheless share a deep but imperfect communion with the Catholic Church by reason of our common baptism, the procession of the creed, in the profession of true sacraments by reason of the apostle possession of their priesthood

Human rights

Those things to which we have a just claim because we need them in order to fulfill the moral responsibilities of our human nature. For example, the right to freedom of religion allows us to fulfill the duty we owe to God.

Civil law

The set of laws people make by their own powers, such as the laws of various federal, state, and local governments.

Divine Law

The law that comes to us from God’s revelation in history, begun with the Ten Commandments and the prophets, brought to fulfillment by Christ, and further elucidated by the Magisterium.

Gospel

One of the first four books of the New Testament. They are the heart of the Scriptures and proclaim the Good News of salvation won for us by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospels are our primary source of knowledge of life of Jesus Christ. The word Gospel means “Good News.”

Ten Commandments

The ten rules for a moral life given by God to His Chosen People through Moses on Mount Sinai. The first three Commandments teach us how to love God; the last seven teach us how to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Vocation

A call from God to a permanent state of life: ordained priesthood, consecrated religious life, or Marriage. All people have the vocation from God to love and to be holy.

Steward

One who has been given the duty to care for and cultivate something responsibly.

Original Innocence

The state in which God created human beings prior to the knowledge of good and evil.

Fiat

Let it be done.” Mary’s “yes” to God is her Fiat. It is her complete obedience to God, allowing His will to be done in her life.

Idol

A representation of a false god.

Heresy

The obstinate denial after Baptism of a truth which must be believed with divine and Catholic faith.

Schism

A division caused by differences in belief. Among sins against the First Commandment, schism is the refusal of submission to the pope or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.

Presumption

The sin of presuming we can save ourselves through our own efforts, or of expecting God’s forgiveness even if we do not repent of our sins and turn back to Him. Presumption breaks the First Commandment.

Indifference

The neglect or refusal of God’s love in contradiction to the First Commandment. To be indifferent is to lack concern or sympathy and not be personally invested in something one way or the other

Acedia

Spiritual sloth, or refusing the joy that comes from God and instead feeling repelled by divine goodness.

Superstition

The attribution of a kind of magical power to certain practices or objects like charms or omens. Reliance on such power, rather than on trust in God, constitutes an offense against the honor due to God alone as required by the First Commandment.

Sacrilege

The profaning or treating unworthily the Sacraments, other liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to God. Sacrilege is a grave sin especially when committed against the Eucharist.

Fortitude

A cardinal virtue that helps us persevere in the face of adversity and temptation.

Perjury

The act of giving one’s word falsely or making a promise under oath without intending to keep it. It is a violation of the Second and Eighth Commandments.

Holy day of Obligation

A day on which Catholics are expected to attend Holy Mass and rest from work. There are ten such days in the Universal Church calendar, though local bishops can suppress holy days or transfer them to Sundays; dioceses in the US typically observe five or six.

Lust

A disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure for its own sake, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.

Chastity

The true integration of sexuality within a person’s bodily and spiritual being. It includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery. Each of us is called to chastity.

Natural family Planning ( NFP)

The general title for the scientific, natural, and moral methods of family planning that can help married couples either achieve or postpone pregnancies and which respect the unitive and procreative nature of the marital embrace.

Subsidiarity

The organizing principle that matters are best handled by the smallest, lowest, or least centralized authority. A community of a higher order should not interfere with the inner life of a community of a lower order, depriving it of its functions, but should support it in case of need and help integrate it into the larger society, with a view to the common good.

Virtue

An habitual and firm disposition to do the good. Moral virtues are acquired through human effort. The infused moral virtues and the theological virtues are gifts from God.

Hypocrisy

A lack of integrity between one’s words and one’s deeds; behavior that contradicts what one professes to believe.

Third Orders

Lay members of religious orders who do not necessarily live in community, but participate in the works of the order

Calumny

The intentional damaging of someone’s reputation by saying false things about them.

Modesty

The virtue that moderates one’s external appearance (especially in dress), behavior, humility, and studiousness in order to avoid offending God or others to avoid attracting what is unnecessary, and to temper excessive desire for personal distinction. It is the refusal to unveil what should remain hidden and, especially in matters of dress, is ordered to chastity.

Great Comandments

Jesus’ summary of the Law and the prophets: Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Cf. Matt. 22:37–40).

Merit

The reward which God promises and gives to those who love Him and by His grace perform good works. One cannot “merit” justification or eternal life, which are the free gift of God; the source of any merit we have before God is due to the grace of Christ in us.

Absolution

Forgiveness of a person’s sins by a priest acting in the Person of Christ.

Fraternal correction

The loving reprimand of our neighbor with the purpose of protecting him from sin. In some circumstances fraternal correction can be a positive obligation flowing from Christ’s command to love one another.

Magisterium

The living teaching authority of the Catholic Church whose task it is to give authentic interpretation of the Word of God found in Scripture and Tradition, and to ensure the faithfulness of the Church to the teachings of the Apostles in matters of faith and morals. This authority is exercised by all of the world’s bishops in union with the pope, and by the pope alone when he defines infallibly a doctrine of faith or morals.

Infallibility

The Charism of being infallible (incapable of error) in matters of faith and morals.

Ex Cathedra

A phrase describing a pope’s definitive and infallible teaching as being given from his authority as the successor of St. Peter. Latin for “from the chair.”

Peace

The security instability of a just order. we receive peace in the sacrament of penance and reconciliation because our relationship with God in his church is reconciled or made just.

Venial Sin

Less serious sin that hurts our relationship with God, but does not destroy it.

Mortal sin

Serious sin we choose to commit even though we know it is wrong. Mortal sin completely separates us from God, destroys His divine life within us, and rejects His love for us.

Avarice

Also called greed; the capital sin of inordinate love of riches or of desiring to amass earthly goods without limit.

Amoral

Lacking a sense or quality of moral characteristics, or having to do with right and wrong.

Passions

Emotions or feelings that incline us to act or not to act. They are changes the body and soul undergo as a response to something. They are neither morally good nor morally evil until they they are commanded by the intellect and freely accepted or rejected by the will.

Freedom

The power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, and so to perform deliberate actions of one’s own. Freedom attains perfection when it is directed toward God, the sovereign Good.

Conscience

The gift God gave human beings to be able to use reason in order to judge right from wrong. Our conscience is God’s voice in our hearts. We have a responsibility to inform our conscience with prayer and God’s word about what is truly good.

Circumstances

The specific environmental factors surrounding an action, including its consequences. They are secondary qualities of a moral act and cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves (they cannot make an evil act good), but they can reduce or increase one’s culpability and can contribute to increasing or diminishing the objective moral goodness or evil of an action.

Object

That to which the will deliberately directs itself. In the determination of the morality of a human act, it is the act itself. It is either objectively good or evil.

Intention

The end or purpose one hopes to accomplish or bring about with a chosen act. The same act can be inspired by many different intentions. A good intention does not make an evil action good. The ends do not justify the means. A bad intention can make a good action evil.

Invincible ignorance

The state of a person who cannot be held responsible for lack of knowledge, such as those who have never heard the Gospel message.

Vincible Ignorance

The state of a person who is lacking knowledge they should have known. An individual displays vincible ignorance when he “takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing a sin” (CCC 1791; GS 16).

Pride

The undue self-esteem or self-love which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God. It is the capital sin that is traditionally considered the source of all other sins.

Actual Grace

Help given to us by God for the performance of good acts.

Omission vs Commission

A sin of Omission is a sin that offends God through our choice not to act virtuously or failure to do something we should have done. We are guilty of sins of omission when we should have made an act of virtue but did not. A Sin of Commission are sins that offend God through freely chosen actions of thought, word, or deed. We are guilty of sin of commission when we freely chose to do something wrong. Examples of sins of Omission would be being a bystander to watching someone get bullied, or seeing an elderly lady having trouble carrying groceries and choosing not to help.

Examples of sins of Commission would be lying or stealing.

Invincible vs vincible vs erroneous conscience

• Invincible ignorance:

  • The state of a person who cannot be held responsible for lack of knowledge, such as those who have never heard the Gospel message.

• Vincible ignorance:

  • The state of a person who is lacking knowledge they should have known. An individual displays vincible ignorance when he “takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing a sin” (CCC 1791; GS 16).

The 7 deadly sins

Title given to the vices which are the source of all other sins, called deadly because their repetition corrupts the soul. The alternate title “capital sins” comes from the Latin caput, meaning head. They are pride, avarice, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth.Also called capital sins

All 7 deadly sins

• 1.Pride:

The undue self-esteem or self-love which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God. It is the capital sin that is traditionally considered the source of all other sins

• 2, Avarice:

  Also called greed; the capital sin of inordinate love of riches or of desiring to amass earthly goods without limit

• 3, Envy:

Sadness in the face of another’s good which causes delight in another’s misfortune and eventually causing misfortune

• 4, Wrath:

The capital sin of anger directed at an innocent person, anger that is overly strong or long-lasting, or anger that desires revenge.

• 5, Lust:

The inordinate desire for sexual pleasure

• 6, Gluttony:

The capital sin of intemperate eating and drinking; eating and drinking only for the pleasure of the experience.

• 7, Sloth:

The capital sin that is a sadness or carelessness experienced when one encounters a spiritual good that requires work to achieve, as in the practice of virtue, for example. Also called acedia.

1. Explain what it means to be made in the image of God. What faculties do we as human beings possess that separate us from the rest of material creation? Be sure to reference St. Thomas Aquinas’s teaching on the image of God in your answer.

Human beings have a rational soul, which includes an intellect and a free will. This uniquely makes us the image and likeness of God, unlike all other animals in creation. The first aspect of our soul is our intellect which enables us, like God, to use reason in the pursuit of truth. We can know right from wrong, recognize good and evil. The second component is our free will. This is a gift from God which enables us to make choices based on what we know and understand. We can ignore instinct and choose to do the right thing like give up food, shelter or the chance to reproduce based on moral judgements. Animals cannot do this. In Saint Thomas Aquinas is teaching in the summer theological. He described the image of God in three ways are ability to know and love God, rational soul and our intellect.

2.Craft a paragraph that explains salvation history (Humanity's journey from before - the Fall, during the Fall, to Heaven) using the following five terms: Original Justice , Original Innocence, Original Sin, Concupiscence, and Sanctifying Grace.

Adam and Eve, when first created existed in a state of harmony with themselves, nature, and God, this is known as original justice. They also had original innocence, or freedom from knowledge of evil. During the Fall, Adam and Eve choose themselves over God. Introducing  selfishness, death, and disharmony into the world. They fell into a fallen state, deprived of Original Justice and Innocence, they could now choose themselves. This state, which humans today still find themselves in is called Original Sin.  Original sin means humans suffer from concupiscence, or the tendency or inclination to Sin, even though we know it is wrong, even after being baptized, we remain imperfect. In order to get back to heaven we need sanctifying Grace. This grace is a free and undeserved gift which allows us to share in God’s own life. Grace makes us more perfect. Eventually, human beings who participate in God’s life will be brought to heaven and be made perfect by God.

3.How does the virtue of modesty promote human dignity? In your answer be sure to reference the three truths about the human person that form the foundation of Catholic Social Teaching.

Modesty is virtue that moderates one’s external appearance (especially in dress), behavior, humility, and studiousness in order to avoid offending God or others to avoid attracting what is unnecessary, and to temper excessive desire for personal distinction.Dont cross the line. 3 Catholic social teaching truths : social creatures (good for society), image of God ( doesn't objectify yourself),

4.Connect Eternal Law, Natural Law, and Divine Law to God in an essay that demonstrates that you understand all three.

Eternal Law is the source of all law which is God Himself; it is the eternal and unchanging Truth that transcends time and space. Eternal law is also God’s wisdom and divine providence, directing all creation to fulfillment and perfection. Natural law, on the other hand, is the way that humans participate in Eternal law by reading what is written upon our heart through our reason. It is the way that humans fit into God’s plan for the universe because it helps them live in accordance with His plan for their nature and helps them to choose good over evil. Since natural law is suited to human nature, it is the foundation for basic human rights which are essential for people to flourish. Divine law is different from Eternal Law. It is the specific laws given by Divine Revelation. The Old Law came through Moses and the prophets and are based on Human Logic. The New law came through God the Son and is based on Divine Logic.

5.Are Catholics allowed to skip Mass on Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation? What is a Sabbath and why is the Sabbath important? Why is our sabbath Sunday?

Catholics are not allowed to skip Mass on Sundays or Holy Days of Obligation because it is considered a sin and a rejection of God. Sunday is the foundation of the Christian religious practice when the faithful are expected to participate in the Eucharist unless they are excused for a serious reason, it was chosen because it is the day on which Jesus resurrected from the dead. According to Jewish tradition, a Sabbath is a day of rest that was begun by God who rested on the seventh day after creation. In Genesis, God calls us to rest and by example, shows us that we need to take a break from our everyday lives to worship Him. The Sabbath is important because it was made for man to not only engage in rest and worship of God, but also, for Catholics,to participate in the Eucharist. The Eucharist makes Jesus substantially and truly present. It also fulfills the spirituals truths of the Jewish Sabbath as a day of rest, worship, and remembrance of the covenant.

6.Define Catholic Social Teaching. Explain what Structures of Sin are, and why Catholic Social Teaching believes it be so harmful. Explain what the principle of Subsidiarity is, why does Catholic Social teaching believe it is so beneficial to the human person and our society?

Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is a moral theology, which outlines the Catholic vision of a good human society. It comes from faith because it commands us to love God and our neighbor. In addition, CST proposes principles for reflection, provides criteria for judgement, and gives guidelines for other aspects of life. The Structures of Sin are the expression of personal sin in social situations and institutions that go against goodness and society by committing to destructive behavior. It manifests itself in unjust laws and institutions, which come from the personal sins of many people. The principal of Subsidiary says that matters are best managed with the least centralized authority. It respects the dignity of the human person by treating each person as an individual destined for Heaven. The Catholic Social Teaching believes that the principal of Subsidiary is beneficial to the person and society because it means that people are being governed at the most local level. This ensures that the decision makers are close to their people and would have their best interests at heart, rather than people who are hundreds of miles away who may be more concerned with national or statewide issues, rather than deciding what is best for a particular community.

7.What is Jesus trying to accomplish in his teaching of the beatitudes? What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Do poor people automatically get into heaven? What does Jesus mean by those who mourn? Is there a reward for all sad people?

In the Beatitudes Jesus is turning the typical reward structure of society on its head. In Jesus’s world, as in our world, people who choose others over themselves and present themselves with humility and kindness do not always achieve the greatest successes in finance or politics. In the Beatitudes Jesus is letting us know the reward system in heaven will not be based on power, ego, or force, but will be based on how well we live and whether or not we care for our neighbours. When Jesus says that the poor in spirit will inherit the kingdom of heaven, he is not referring to people who are financially poor. He is referring to people who lower themselves in pride, or realize that they themselves cannot get to perfection, rather need and depend on God. When Jesus says blessed are those who mourn, he does not mean all sad people. In this case, mourning refers to a deep sadness about the sin and selfishness they see in the world and in themselves.

8.What does a Venial Sin do to your relationship with God? What does a Mortal Sin do to your relationship with God? What are the circumstances that make a sin Mortal? Can a Catholic go to Church if they have committed a mortal sin? Can they receive Communion? Why or why not?

Venial sin strains our relationship with God and others but does not destroy the life of sanctifying grace within our souls. Repeated venial sin can lead to mortal sin over time. Mortal sin is deadly to sanctifying grace in our souls. It is incompatible with a living relationship with God and with love of God and neighbor.  For a sin to be mortal, three factors must be present: full knowledge, full consent, and grave matter. We must know the action is wrong. Feigned ignorance and hardness or heart can make a sin even more grave. We must choose to sin with full freedom and without coercion. The action must be serious enough that by choosing it turn ourselves away from God.

9.How do the church and the world differ in their understanding of freedom? How is the Church’s understanding of freedom more timeless and universal?

The world understands freedom in a negative sense. Freedom is being unconstrained by rules and laws in this understanding and anything that limits our options would diminish our freedom. Each person decides for themselves what is right and wrong. The Church understands freedom in a positive sense. True freedom is the ability to choose the good, and the more we choose what is good, the freer we become. According to the world, freedom is different for each person and means doing whatever one would like. Therefore, one person’s freedom can infringe upon another person’s freedom quite easily. The Church understands that the good is unchanging and fixed for each person in each generation.