Study

Group Activity 1.3

How do you define yourself? By Lizzie Velasquez
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzPbY9ufnQY&t=90s

• Instructions:In a focused group session, watch the youtube video, "How

do you define yourself? by Lizzie Velasquez"
• Share with your groupmates three important lessons you learned from Ms.
Velasquez.
• As a group, come up with three major takeaways from the video and
submit your answers by creating a thread in the discussion board (1:3. On
Human Dignity)
• Follow the format (Subject: Group Number; Message: Answers in bullet
form)
• Choose a presenter who will discuss your answer to the whole class.
 Created in the Image of God
Redeemed by the Blood of Christ
Made Holy by the Presence of the Holy Spirit
 Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said:

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the
birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild
animals and all the creatures that crawl on the
ground."
God created man in his image; in the divine image he
created him; male and female he created them.

1. Created in the Image of God

Genesis 1: 26-27
• This statement is the
basis of Christian
anthropology, because it
identifies the:
• foundation of man's
dignity as a person in
his creation "in the
likeness" of God.
Image of God (Imago Dei)
CCC 1702-1711

a. The divine image

present in every man.
Image of God (Imago Dei)
CCC 1702-1711

b. Endowed with "a

spiritual and immortal"
soul
Image of God (Imago Dei)
CCC 1702-1711

c. Intellect (knowledge)
and Freewill (freedom)
CCC 356
• “Of all visible creatures only man is "able to know and love
his creator" He is "the only creature on earth that God has
willed for its own sake", and he alone is called to share, by
knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this end
that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for
his dignity.”
 Analysis

Consequences of Human’s Noble Dignity

As created in the image and likeness of God:

• Moral Being
• Irreplaceable and Non-
substitutable
• Responsible & Stewards
of Creation
• Adopted Children of God
• Destined to be in
Communion with God
1.Moral Being
God created man a rational
being, conferring on him
the dignity of a person who
can initiate and control his
own actions.
- CCC 1730

... but the exercise of

freedom does not entail the
putative right to say or do
anything.
- CCC 1747
2. Irreplaceable and Non-substitutable

• ≠ object of use or means

to an end

• to treat our fellow

human being as equals
3. Responsible & Stewards of Creation

• Both man and woman -

equally ordered to be
the “stewards of the
earth”

• Laudato Si spirituality
4. Children of God

• Conform mind and

hearts to Christ

• Called by name- “Fear

not, for I have
redeemed you; I have
called you by name:
you are mine.” (Is 43:1)
5. Destined to be in Communion with God

• Pilgrims on the way

• Human person is
destined since his
conception to the
eternal happiness
2. Redeemed by the Blood of Christ
CCC 602

"You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited

from your fathers. . .with the precious blood of Christ.
Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by
death. By sending his own Son in the form of a slave, in
the form of a fallen humanity, on account of sin, God
"made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God."
INCARNATION

• The central Christian

doctrine that God became
flesh, that God assumed
a human nature and became
a man in the form of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God and
the second person of
the Trinity.
PASCHAL MYSTERY
• Refers to the suffering/passion, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
• Christ’s
incarnation is
PERFECTED by his
paschal mystery.

• Christ’s death on
the cross affirms
the value and
dignity of human
person.
Love and the Cross
• He died the lowliest form of death to tell us that his
salvific act is encompassing it includes all, even those
who are despised and ostracized by the community.
 What is the significance of the
redemptive act of Christ?

• He brought man higher by making his Son a human being.

• God became one with men so that humanity may be
sanctified. (divinizing act of God)
• Christ embodies the LOVE of God for man.
He is telling us that the
“human person” is
worth his blood and
life.
The Redemptive act of Christ restored the
dignity of the human nature

“Respect , protect, love

and serve life, every
human life. Only in this
direction will you find
justice, development,
true freedom, peace and
happiness.”
- Evangelium Vitae #5
3. Sanctified by the Holy Spirit
CCC 1989

The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit

is conversion, effecting justification in accordance
with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning of the
Gospel: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand." Moved by grace, man turns toward God and
away from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and
righteousness from on high. "Justification is not only
the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and
renewal of the interior man.
SANCTIFIED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

1. Empowerment
- initiative belongs to God
- moved by the Holy Spirit

2. Gifts of the Holy Spirit

- Knowledge, Understanding,
Wisdom, Counsel, Piety,
Fortitude, Fear of the Lord
HUMAN PERSON IN EXPERIENCE
(CFC 687-692)
A. Open and Relational by Nature

- Social and gregarious by nature

- We are being by, with and for
others
- Trinitarian in origin
- Social well-being and Common
Good
- God - the source and
fulfillment of all human persons’
relationships
B. Conscious Beings

- possess self-awareness
through our knowing and
free willing
- we “image” in our small
way the Creator’s infinite
knowing and loving.
- Reason - understands the
order of things and
recognize the voice of God
C. Embodied Spirits

Unity between our “body and soul.”

BODY - essential part of our being

human, not merely an “instrument”
we “use” according to our whims
“good and honorable”

SOUL - the FORM (the nature or

essence of a thing
- the unifying principle and forms
one unique human being
D. Historical Realities

- Pilgrims on-the-way
- We are our own cause
- Live in the middle of “Now
and Here”
- Dynamism in moral
reflections
E. Unique yet Fundamentally Equal

- Despite differences in physical,

intellectual and moral powers,
we are all equal.
- Each of us is called to “image”
God in a unique way
- Within the fundamental
equality of all persons, we
recognize the unique identity of
each person.
Thank You! J