Freedom,
Morality, and
Grace
What is Freedom?
Buddy up: Work with one
or two people to develop
a working definition of
freedom
FREEDOM
True Freedom is the ability and power to use one’s
will to choose what is good and what God wills for us
AND
To act or believe accordingly
Free will – the freedom to make choices – is at the
heart of what distinguishes us from the animals
Our capacity for reason
To understand and discern good from evil
The existence of our immortal souls
FREEDOM
Freedom does not mean we can do whatever we want
as long as nobody gets hurt- this leads to moral
relativism, the false belief that there is no objective
good or evil
Freedom does not mean all options are equal; nor that
our actions do not have consequences
With freedom comes responsibility
God allows us to choose and expects that we will make
good decisions
Grounded in Truth
Grounded in eternal law, natural law, and divine law
Eternal law is the foundation of all law– the principles by
which God directs the universe
Natural law is the law “written on our hearts” which
recognizes the innate dignity of human beings and governs
morality
Violation of natural law offends God (sin)
Original Sin (and concupiscence) disobey natural law
Divine law is given to us by God in the 10 Commandments
and by Jesus in the Beatitudes
The “Old Law” and the “New Law”
FREEDOM IS…
Man’s voluntary choice to participate in God’s eternal
law, conforming to the natural law and obeying the
divine law.
Choosing good, seeking holiness and the perfection for
which we were created by God
Choosing to return God’s love for us and love others
Freedom and God’s Will
Violating the moral law restricts our freedom
Choosing to do good helps form habits that make it
easier to avoid becoming a slave to sin
The more you do good, the freer you become
We are obliged to recognize the freedom of others
within the limits of law and the common good.
Freedom, Sin, and Grace
Grace points the way, but we must freely choose to do
what is right
Cooperating with grace reduces our tendencies to sin,
but we are all still sinners
Sin has consequences, and while certain factors may
reduce our culpability, we bear some responsibility for
our actions.
Avoiding sin and seeking holiness is counter-cultural
Grace does not reduce our freedom; it provides support
for exercising it
What is morality?
The standards by which we judge actions to be good or
evil
Objective morality: universal and applies to everyone,
based on dignity of human person and sacredness of
human life
Subjective morality: also referred to as moral
relativism/situational ethics; no absolute standards of
behavior
Objective morality makes us better human beings and
leads us to true freedom and happiness
What is Conscience?
Derived from Latin words meaning “with knowledge”
A practical judgment regarding the good or evil of a
particular act in light of objective moral standards
Each person is obligated to abide by their conscience;
therefore each person’s conscience must be respected
“The souls of the soul is conscience” – Origen
Must be formed carefully
Formation of Conscience
Conscience is a gift from God designed to help us
demonstrate our love for him by doing good and
avoiding evil
We need to form our conscience using reason, the
teachings of the church, scripture, facts/background
information, etc.
Need to know the what (info) as well as the how
(application)
Formation of Conscience
Learn the principles of morality
Learn how to apply conscience
Make concrete judgments about actions
Participate in sacraments, esp. Penance
Pray
Seek spiritual direction
Avoid what is harmful to our relationship with God
Formation of Conscience
If conscience is counter to Church teaching, your
conscience is wrong (ill-formed)
A necessary and ongoing effort to correctly form
conscience
An informed conscience applies God’s objective moral
law to whether a particular action is good or evil
The Intellect, Free Will, and
the Passions
God gave us intellect and free will to discern right from
wrong
He also gave us passions: love, anger, fear, etc. which
are neither good nor evil in themselves, but can
influence our actions. If they contribute to good
actions, they are good.
Because of Original Sin, we should not merely rely on
our passions to make decisions.
We must strive to develop a conscience to help us do
what is good and avoid evil.
Obligation of Conscience
Dual obligation: develop a well-formed conscience AND
we must follow our consciences
If we strive to influence our conscience with the
teachings of the Church, receive the sacraments
regularly, and avoid temptation, then we are well-
situated to make sound decisions.
Forming our conscience is a consistent, lifelong
endeavor
Types of Conscience
Right conscience
Erroneous
conscience
Doubtful
conscience
Types of conscience
Right conscience – aka - true conscience
Correct judgments based on moral law
Erroneous conscience- aka- false conscience
Makes a false judgment
Evil acts are judged to be good
Due to vincible or invincible ignorance
Vincible ignorance can be overcome through ordinary
diligence, that is, learning the correct choice
Invincible ignorance involves a person having no way of
making the correct moral choice, therefore they are not
sinning
Types of conscience
Doubtful conscience
A conscience that is not sure of the morality of a choice
and therefore requires us to discover the truth before we
act.
Failure to seek out truth shows that we don’t care about
doing what is right
The Moral Act
There are three elements which comprise a moral act:
The objective act (OBJECT)
The intention (INTENT/END)
The circumstances (CIRCUMSTANCES)
OBJECT: for an act to be morally good, the object must
be morally good. Some actions are intrinsically evil
(always wrong). Examples include: lying, killing the
innocent, sins against marriage
The Moral Act
INTENTION/END
The motive behind a person performing an action.
Can be good or evil. In order for an action to be good, the
intention must also be good.
The intention can change the quality of an indifferent act into
a good or evil act
The intention can increase or diminish the goodness of an act
The intention can increase or diminish the evil nature of an
act
The intention can NEVER make an evil action a good one
The Moral Act
CIRCUMSTANCES: the factors that occur with the act
and that contribute to the morality of the act
Affect the morality in a lesser way than OBJECT and
INTENTION do
Stealing a car vs. blasphemy
The three-tiered system makes it clear that morality is
not subjective or relative, and that there are actions
that are always good or evil
“The end does not justify the means”
The Cardinal Virtues
A virtue is “a habit or disposition to do good”
They shape the mind to control the passions and guide
their conduct according to faith
Virtuous people imitate God’s goodness
Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance are
called Cardinal Virtues after the Latin word “cardo”
meaning “hinge”
They are the virtues on which many other virtues hinge
PRUDENCE
Enables a person to examine moral acts in terms of
whether or not it will bring them closer to God
Put on the mind of God and allows Him to guide their
decisions
We cultivate Prudence by examining our consciences
and weighing our decisions accordingly
JUSTICE
Enables a person to desire what is right in terms of what
is due to God and neighbor
Justice is true love of neighbor in action
Social Justice is based on attaining the common good
The pursuit of social justice is part of every Christian’s
vocation
FORTITUDE
Enables a person to control the passion of fear so that
he or she may perform good actions with courage
regardless of circumstances
Helps one endure challenges bravely
Helps one act uprightly in the face of evil
TEMPERANCE
Enables a person to regulate pleasure and use creation
in light of man’s ultimate good.
The opposite of “just do it” mentality
Not the avoidance of pleasure, but not the abuse of it
either.
