CHRISTIAN LIVING 10 — 1ST QUARTER

LESSON 1 — THE CALL TO FOLLOW JESUS

WHAT IS SIN?  Venial sins cannot and should not

 Sin is essentially a rejection of God be taken lightly.
and His divine plan by  Examples of Venial sins:
transgressing God’s law and human  Fights, arguments
laws.  Ruining belongings
 Sin is always personal because it is  Minor lies, gossip
the person him or herself who
decides to stray away from God and  Cheating
from his/her calling as God’s child.
 Sin has a social dimension and can  Sin is real but the grace of God is
affect others as well, either directly greater than our sin.
or in directly. It can cause direct SENSE OF SIN AND THE
harm to another individual or COMMITMENT TO DAILY PRAYER
create an atmosphere that brings  Having the correct notion of sin and
evil conditions to others. a keen or deep awareness of its
 Sin is not something we ignore, presence in our life.
joke about, or worse  The weakening and eventual loss of
glamorize/idealize. the sense of sin can be traced to
KINDS OF SIN prevailing modern day beliefs and
 Mortal Sin practices such as the following:
 It is the act that we do something a. Secularism – a perspective that
serious, and we act with sufficient excludes God from one’s life and
knowledge and consent. activities.
 Examples of Mortal sins: b. Consumerism – transformed
 Murder people to be always on the lookout
 Theft for things that make life pleasant
 Perjury, Slander and easy.
 Adultery c. “Everybody doing it” mentality
 Receiving Eucharist – these practices lead us to believe
when you’ve committed that an act is morally acceptable as
a mortal sin. long as everyone is doing it.
 Venial Sin  We cease to feel guilty when we
 It is readily forgivable by God, even commit sinful actions because we
without the sacrament of Penance; see everyone doing them.
a genuine act of sorrow and  It will bring back the lost sense of
purpose of amendment will for sin is a commitment to daily prayer.
forgiveness.

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LESSON 2 — JESUS’ CALL TO FREEDOM

growth and maturity in truth and

MEANING OF FREEDOM goodness. It attains perfection
 Freedom is the power act or not to when directed toward God, the
act; to do this or that, and so to Sovereign God.
perform deliberate acts with a keen  Freedom makes us responsible for
sense of responsibility. our acts to the extent that they are
 By free will, we shape our own life. voluntary acts, and we are
Human freedom is a force for voluntary agent.
  Freedom recognizes that the flip  When our actions cause harm to
side of a right its responsibility. The others, whether physical,
use of freedom stops when one emotionally, socially, or spiritually,
stops on the rights of another. we are not free to do them.
THE SOURCE OF FREEDOM OUR FREEDOM IS ALSO LIMITED BY
 Freedom is natural in every OUR STATUS IN LIFE
individual. It is the absence of 1. Those who are already married do
coercion, or constraint in choice or not have the freedom to enter into
action. another relationship.
 Freedom is of divine origin; it is 2. Teachers do not have the freedom
being of God, for God, and with to be constantly absent from their
God. classes because this will harm their
 God created humans free. Hence, if students.
there is one aspect of our humanity
that God will not even interfere it is CERTAIN INSTANCES WHEN WE
our free will or freedom of choice. CANNOT PRACTICE OUR FREEDOM
 Human freedom is, and should be, 1. Disorder passions
authentic / reliable. 2. Fears
 Authentic freedom is not “the right 3. Doubts
to say and do anything,” but to “do 4. Ignorance or Negative Dispositions
the good”. 5. Habits
THE LIMITS TO FREEDOM  Freedom used with intelligence and
 The rights of other people wisdom aids us in our becoming or
 Lies in order to destroy the good growing into full persons and true
name of others. children of God.
 We are not given the freedom to  We are called to balance our use of
get what belongs to others. freedom by taking into mind that
 In other words, freedom is limited every action corresponds in
by the effects our actions will have responsibility.
on another people.

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LESSON 3 — JESUS’ LAW AND LOVE

WHAT IS LOVE? because we will do what is right

 Love causes a desire for the absent and pleasing to Him.
good and the hope of obtaining it;  Law and love are closely linked.
this movement finds completion in God’s law is the law of love. If we
the pleasure and job of the good love God, we will follow His law.
possessed.  There is no conflict between law
and love.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
 Jesus calls us to love one another WHAT IS LAW?
as He has love us. Jesus love for His  It is an ordinance of reason,
Father and for us is manifested in promulgated for the common good
His obedience to His will. The love by one who has charge of the
that we should give one another society. (St. Thomas Aquinas)
therefore is one that moves us to
obey the will of God for us. THE FOUNDATION OF ALL LAWS
 Love is the foundation of the moral
HOW DO WE KNOW GOD’S WILL FOR law. God inscribed the law in our
US? hearts because He loves us. This
 God’s will be expressed in His law love also invites us to follow His
and His law is the law of love. If we commands. The moral law is
love, there is no need for law authored by God Himself.
  Moral law is expressed in the
following terms: eternal law, natural “NEW LAW” OR THE LAW OF THE
law, revealed law, and human law. GOSPEL EXPRESSED IN TWO
 Eternal law is the source of all laws. GREATEST COMMANDMENTS:
It represents the supreme law of  You shall love the Lord your God
God. will all your heart, with all your
 Natural Law or Natural Moral Law soul, and with all your mind.
arises from the nature of man and  You shall love your neighbor as
creation, and which is recognized yourself.
by human reason.
 God has His laws revealed which  Human Laws are also expressions
refers to the Old Law or the Law of of the moral insofar as they tell us
the Covenant (OT). It is also called to do what.
divine positive law.  The foundation of all laws is love.
 Even without prior knowledge in All laws spring from and lead us to
ethics, one’s conscience, especially love, all our actions therefore
that of child, has the ability to should be based in law all our
dictate what is good and what is actions should express obedience
evil. in law.

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LESSON 4 — JESUS’ INVITATION TO FORM OUR CONSCIENCE

CONSCIENCE MATTERS is performed. Consequent

 To make “choices of conscience” conscience evaluates an act
means following the dictates of our already committed.
conscience when we are faced with  Certain or Doubtful Conscience
decisions that will affect our loving – Certain conscience passes
relationship with God and with judgement without fear or error.
others. Doubtful conscience is the
 Conscience forms part of our uncertainty about the morality of
thinking ability. an act.
 Derived from three Latin words –  Right or Erroneous conscience –
cum alia scientia, means Right conscience presents good as
applications of knowledge to a good an evil as evil. Erroneous
specific individual. conscience is a mistaken
 We Filipinos often refer to it as judgement because it judges
“little voice within” (tinig ng budhi) something good to be evil, and
which tells us whether we have something evil and good.
done right or wrong.
 The little voice tells us whether we FORMING OUR CONSCIENCE
are to do good or bad.  To form our conscience, we need to
allow Christ to lead us and the Holy
TWO IMPORTANT ACTIONS WHEN WE Spirit to guide us.
MAKE CHOICES OF CONSCIENCE  Conscience formation is also
facilitated with the help of the
1. Our conscience determines whether people around us. We therefore
the act is good or evil. seek the counsel of the people
2. Conscience is the final arbiter of our when we are faced with choices of
action. conscience.
 We constantly need to form our
TYPES OF CONSCIENCE conscience.
 Antecedent or Consequent –
Antecedent is a conscience that  The important role of conscience in
makes a judgement on the morality our maturity as sons and daughters
of actions before a particular action of God cannot be denied.
 IMPORTANT NOTES

 St. Albert Chmielowski was born  He died while he was assisting as

in Igolomia near Krakow. the Second Council of Lyons on
 He was the eldest of four July 15, 1274.
children in a wealthy family and  Sabbath – the holy day for the
was christened Adam. Jews which they have to observe
 In 1888, he took the name Albert by refraining.
when he founded the Brothers  Authentic – genuine, pure, not
of the Third Order of St. fake
Francis.
 St. Bonaventure, Bishop and  Concupiscence – the disorder
Doctor of the Church is known as of desires which, while not sin in
the Seraphic Doctor. the true and proper sense,
 His Baptismal name is John. comes from the original sin and
 St. Bonaventure entered the inclines to sin.
Franciscan Order at the age of  Social sin – refers to the
twenty-two. negative mortal attitudes and
 True freedom always comes acts or failure to act that are
with responsibility. common to a community or
particular society.