Unit IV Lesson A: Called to

Holiness (Following Christ as

the Primordial and Essential
Foundation of Christian
Morality)
Created @October 5, 2022 3:08 AM

Class THY 1

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A. Following Christ as the Primordial and

Essential Foundation of Christian Morality
1. Man as Disfigured by Sin
A settled habit caused by sinful action which disposes to further sinful
Vice
action.

Vice happens in us when we follow the inclination of our animal nature

against the order of our reason.

We were created to be men and women following our reason because our
reason is to be aligned with the reality that is created and sustained by
God who is truth, goodness, and love itself.

We become enamored with vice and imprisoned to vice when we commit

sin routinely in one or two areas of our life. These are the temptations we
face.

Our temptations are all individualized according to our carnal dispositions,

Unit IV Lesson A: Called to Holiness (Following Christ as the Primordial and Essential Foundation of Christian
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Morality)
 e.g., others are more tempted to gluttony, others to the sins of the flesh,
etc.

Vice is the condition of St. Paul is referring to when he said, “I do not do

the good that I want to do, but I do the veery evil that I hate.” Romans 7:19

The person stuck in a vice continues to sin and justifies that sin. But when
you are living in grace, grace frees you to see you vice clearly and to see
that it must go.

Routine sins develop vice within us.

Definition of Sin
Inordinate action that discords with truth and goodness in its intention, object, and
circumstances.

Every sin for Saint Thomas is an inordinate act.

An act that is not properly ordered nor lined up with the reality of truth and
goodness in its intention, object, and its circumstances.

In general, sin is failure to live the Great Commandment to love God, others, and
self.

The Confiteor, which we pray at the beginning of the Mass, offers us a good
description of sin:

“I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters (a recognition

that sin is not only an offense against God but it also wounds the Body of
Christ and our church community), that I have sinned through my own fault (I
take responsibility for the wrong I have done), in my thoughts and in my
words, in what I have done (sins of commission), and in what I have failed to
do (sins of omission).”

Distinctions in the ways that we Sin

We can sin against God, our neighbor, and ourselves.

Some sins are sins of thought, some sins are sins of word, some are sins of
deed.

Sins of
Sins of action, whether in thought, word, or deed.
Commission
Sins of inaction, whether in thought, word, or deed, e.g. omitting to care for
Sins of
someone, like aa child or against an elderly. Such sins constitute sin
Omission
against God and against our neighbor.

Unit IV Lesson A: Called to Holiness (Following Christ as the Primordial and Essential Foundation of Christian
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Morality)
 Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin
Not all sins are equal. Saint Thomas agrees with the distinction of mortal and venial
sin that the church still teaches today.

Mortal Sins Those sins that turn us directly away from God.

When we choose something serious with full intent and freedom in place
of God as our highest and best good.

Takes away the very principle of order

Destroys/cuts off our relationship with God

Brings about the death of the soul

Three Conditions Grave Matter. As specified by the Ten Commandments, “Do not kill, Do
for a Sin to be not commit adultery, Do not steal, do not bear false witness, Do not
Mortal: defraud, Honor your father and your mother” CCC 1858.
Full knowledge. It presupposed knowledge of the sinful character of the
act, of its opposition to God’s law.
Complete consent. It implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a
choice, i.e., we freely and under no duress choose to do the evil.

Venial Sins One commits venial sin when:

In a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by

the moral law.
He disobeys the moral law in a grave matter but without full knowledge
or without complete consent.
We are not turned away from God when we sin venially, but we just
slightly off in some choice that doesn’t keep us away from God but keeps
us from going straightaway to God.

E.g. for Saint Thomas, every lie that we speak are at least venial sins,
even if you lie because you are afraid to hurt someone else’s feelings.
You may have a good intention there, but the activity of lying is always
wrong for Saint Thomas.
All sins should be avoided for it weakens our relationship with God.

Ignoring venial sin is like ignoring a minor cancer that can become a
serious one. “Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by
little to commit mortal sin” (CCC 1863)
We know the truth of this statement as we consider how a gradual
neglect of a relationship can eventually lead to divorcee.

The Proliferation Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same
of Sin acts.

Unit IV Lesson A: Called to Holiness (Following Christ as the Primordial and Essential Foundation of Christian
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Morality)
 Capital Sins They are called “capital” because they engender other sins, other vices.

The list comes from tehee writings of St. John Cassian and St. Gregory.

The seven capital sins are pride, avarice (greed), envy, wrath, sloth, list,
gluttony.

Sins that Cry to

Heaven (CCC, The blood of Abel
1867)

The cry of the oppressed in Egypt

The sin of the Sodomites

The cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan

Injustice to the wage earner

Sin is a Personal We have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we
Act (CCC, 1868) cooperate in them:
- By participating directly and voluntarily in them.

- By ordering. advising. praising, or approving them.

- By not disclosing or hindering them when we have an obligation to do

so.

- By protecting evil doers.

Structures of Sin Sin gives to social situations and institutions that are contrary to the
(CCC, 1869) divine goodness.

Structures of sin are the expression and effect of personal sins.

They lead their victims to do evil in their turn.

In an analogous sense, they constitute a social sin.

2. Conversion and Holiness

In the Synoptics, John the Baptist calls people to conversion and
Conversion
repentance.

Actual Greek word: Metanoia.

Luke 5:32: “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

Metanoia Total change or turn of heart.

Turning away from sin and turning towards God.

An experience of being in love with God without reservations.

Reorientation of one’s life to Christ who is made the center and model of
one’s life.

Unit IV Lesson A: Called to Holiness (Following Christ as the Primordial and Essential Foundation of Christian
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Morality)
 Christ Our Model Jesus asks us to follow him and to imitate him along the path of love, a
(VS 20) love which gives itself completely to the brethren out of love for God:
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you” (Jn 15:12).

- The word “as” requires imitation of Jesus and of his love, of which the
washing of feet is a sign. Jesus’ way of acting and his words, his deeds
and his precepts constitute the moral rule of Christian life.

- The word “as” also indicates the degree of Jesus’ love, and of the love
with which his disciples are called to love one another.

After saying: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I

have loved you” (Jn 15:12), Jesus continues with words which indicate
the sacrificial gift of his life on the Cross, as the witness to a love “to the
end” (Jn 13:1): “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).

This is what Jesus asks of everyone who wishes to follow him: “If
any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24).

By asking us to follow him, Jesus is inviting all of us to become saints, no

Call to Holiness
less.

Holiness or Sanctity can be achieved by following Jesus faithfully in our

daily life, in all its trials and challenges “taking up our crosses daily:

Holiness is loving God and loving our neighbor.

Conversion does not happen overnight: - It is a particular act - A lifelong

process - A daily event

The Holy Spirit

Conversion is God’s gift.
and Grace
It happens through help of the Holy Spirit

However, God also needs our cooperation: “God Who created us without
us will not save us without us”. St. Augustine of Hippo

Conversion and For us to grow in grace, we need to pray always especially to the Holy
Prayer Spirit.

We need to train ourselves to listen to his promptings in our conscience

and to obey his guidance in our life.
In every moment of life let us say, Come, Holy Spirit!

Unit IV Lesson A: Called to Holiness (Following Christ as the Primordial and Essential Foundation of Christian
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Morality)