LESSON A.
GENUINE FREEDOM: THE Human person as the perfect and the crowning
PURSUIT OF THE GOOD (CCC 1730-1748)
Study:
Trisha hates Benjamin. Trisha made fake social
media account to spread untrue rumors about
Benjamin to embarrass him. Trisha thinks that it
is doable but was compelled to not do it.
Research:
How do the people of your age concretely express
their freedom?
Can you identify these forms of expression
(Whether these are positive or negative)?
Human Person is called to Fullness in Jesus
Christ - Authentic Freedom in Christ through
the Pursuit of the Good.
1. Freedom as Expression of Dignity: God's
Image and Likeness in Man
Freedom is anchored on man's dignity, i.e., being
made in the image and likeness of God.
Freedom towards the good can only be achieved
and perfected in God while being totally aware of
the call to be always faithful to one’s dignity.
We must think, we must act, we must decide, deal
with others, relationship with God as truly
authentic Human Person. (Social, intellect,
procreation, dignity of work, being part of
humanity, our role to manifest and uphold the
dignity of our humanity, to be another Christ or
to be like Christ
Dignity must be first be understood in Scriptural
context to better understand freedom better.
True Freedom is freedom only for the good.
Man's nature, like God is intrinsically good. This
image and likeness transcend the physical
attributes of man (biological body). So, if we
speak of God-like attributes, we are being like
God (the ability to love, to socialize, to be
merciful, to forgive, etc.)
glory of God's creation must participate in God's
creative works which are good.
Thus, man is always expected to choose the good
in all his/her undertakings. Free will and intellect
aids man to choose the good (election - the result
of discernment; can be achieved if a person is
bound to God and is faithful to one's dignity as a
man created in the image and likeness of God; the
ability to choose)
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man
remains in me and I in him, he will bear much
fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone
does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is
thrown away and withers; such branches are
picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." -
John 15:5-6
Only in God that man is able to achieve his/her
perfection. And only through Christ that man can
truly actualize what being truly human is all
about. (The mystery of Incarnation: Jesus became
man, dwelt, and lived among us.) We all belong
to God - sons and daughters of God through
Christ.
The Church teaches that there is no absolute
freedom. A person cannot do what he wishes to
do because it is an abuse of freedom. We are
called to obey God and pursue real goodness.
(Freedom equals goodness; Being slave to sin
makes man desire evil)
God's plan for the world is perfect based on the
creation story in Genesis. God provided
everything and nothing is lacking anymore. But
when sin entered the world, the original justice
was lost. Human history was characterized as a
tedious pursuit of man to make the world a better
place - the paradise that God wants for all.
However, governed by concupiscence,
inclination to pleasure, and governed by passions,
man became susceptible to do evil which made
him guilty of sin and thus led him to
condemnation/damnation.
Modern Understanding of Freedom Mother Teresa has become an icon of holiness
because she exercised the genuine freedom that
▪ to choose without constraint
Christians are all called to do: the Works of GOD.
▪ to choose between contraries
(God is alive - present in the good acts of those
▪ freedom is limited if restricted
who follow Christ)
▪ misleading according to Aquinas
2. Dignity and Freedom: The Fulfillment and
Manifestation of God's Presence in Man
Will of Man
Man's life is from God and God alone has the sole
▪ choice right to take it away. (Christ saved the world by
▪ faculty of loving dying on the Cross)
▪ always hungry to do good
Washing man's iniquities through the blood of
▪ focused on the end
Christ makes man acceptable before God. (The
▪ produces freedom
precious blood of Christ made man worthy of
Only God can satisfy man, only God can be our salvation)
final end. We have the power of free will and
By virtue of baptism, as adopted sons and
intellect so that we could know God in this life
daughters of God, man's body becomes the
and be faithful to Him. If we became addicted to
temple of the Holy Spirit. (We became the vessel
doing what is evil, we become unfree because our
of God through Christ with the help of the Holy
nature is to do good. The highest good of the
Spirit)
human person is to dwell in eternal life with God
through the power of Christ in our lives. God's presence in man makes him/her holy and
sacred. (Through the recognition of the divine in
Genuine freedom must be given emphasis in
each one of us, God is also recognized. Thus, the
order to straighten man's path toward the
respect that is extended to God must also be
awareness of one's fidelity to the dignity which
extended to each one of us. Abuse, exploitation,
was lost to sin.
mistreatment, and violence arise when people
As man strives to become like God, he/she is neglect the presence of God in their lives.
called to always be reminded that the more we
The Dignity of Man is that God is present in the
become 'like God', the more we become humans
person. It predisposes that God dwells in the
and the more we become humans, the more we
person.
should be like God.
Now freedom enters here when man treats the
The Saints tells us that to become truly human is
other with outmost respect and high regard for the
difficult, but it is not impossible. The life of the
presence of God in each person. It is by virtue of
Saints showed us that following Christ and
our dignity that we are equal before the eyes of
becoming more human is difficult due to the
God.
persecution of the world. Still, we are called to
endure and have faith always. As Christians, we Christians are called to be patient with difficult
should honestly desire to have faith in God. people for God have been patient with us as well.
The very dignity of the human person is
Jesus Christ exemplified the life that truly follows
inalienable which means that nothing and no one
God. And by imitating Him, the Saints found real
can take it away from us but God who endowed
happiness.
it. Human dignity is inviolable meaning nothing
and no one has the right to harm, denigrate, harm,
abuse, and ruin human dignity. If God treats us
well, we must treat others as such.
Creation happened because of the unconditional,
undying, and unending love of God.
Man's response to that overflowing love is
faithfulness.
Recognition of one's and other's dignity must be
the basis of a person's genuine exercise of
genuine freedom. (Love, dignity, and freedom -
Love binds them all)
Fidelity & Faithfulness - the result of the
compelling desire to Love God back due to His
unconditional Love for us.
As man navigates the ins and outs of genuine
freedom, ideally, the good must always take
precedence.
The RESPONSIBILITY in exercising freedom
entails that a person must aways bear consciously
and unconsciously that he/she is the only one
answerable and accountable for all the actions
he/she committed.
If a person is serious in his/her pursuit of
salvation, because of one's love for God, training
in virtues must be of outmost concern.
This is seen in one's relationship with others
because the fruits of freedom must manifest in
how the good is advanced within one's family,
circle of friends, and the community.
The intrinsic goodness of man is exercised
through the aid of his/her freewill and intellect.
The election toward the good is only achieved if
the person is definitively bound to God and is
totally aware of the call to be always faithful to
one’s dignity.
Through this, man is able to perfect
himself/herself and is capable of arriving at the
promised salvation of Christ.
Freedom is our ability to be faithful to our
dignity.
Doing God-like actions: loving, showing mercy,
extending compassion, forgiving, etc.
Therefore, freedom is the ability to choose good.
The more we choose the good, the freer we
become.
“To be free from crimes… such as murder,
adultery, fornication, theft, fraud, sacrilege, and
so forth. When once one is without these crimes
(and every Christian should be without them),
one begins to lift up one’s head towards freedom.
But this is only the beginning of freedom, not
perfect freedom…” VS, 13 – Saint Augustine.
GENESIS 2:15-20
15
The LORD God took the man and put him in the
garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And
the LORD God commanded the man, saying,
“You may surely eat of every tree of the
garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you
eat of it you shall surely die.”
The Catholics or the Catholic Teachings view the
Story of Genesis chapters 1 to 11 as a form of
symbolic representation of God’s design of the
world – Symbolism to reveal the Divine Will of
God. Authors of the Old Testament (whether
prophets or priests) inspired by the Holy Spirit
wrote about what God told them to write.
Through reason, they were able to story tell the
tale of creation and how everything came into
being.
3. Freedom and Law
Genesis 2:16-17
16
And the LORD God commanded the man,
saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the
garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you
eat of it you shall surely die.”
a. The Imagery of the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil
Revelation teaches that the power to decide what
is good and what is evil does not belong to man,
but to God alone
Man is certainly free, inasmuch as he can
understand and accept God’s commands. And he
possesses an extremely far-reaching freedom
since he can eat “of any fruit of every tree of the
garden.”
But his freedom is not unlimited: it must halt
before the “tree of the knowledge of good and
evil,” for it is called to accept the moral law given
by God. In fact, human freedom finds its
authentic and complete fulfillment precisely in
the acceptance of that law. (We are not ought to
do what we wanted, we are ought to do what is
good; Being man, we are capable of doing or
manifesting real goodness)
God, who alone is good, knows perfectly what is
good for man, and by virtue of His love proposes
this good to man in the commandments. (VS, 35)
God’s law does not reduce, much less do away
with human freedom rather, it protects and
promotes that freedom.
In contrast, however, some present-day cultural
tendencies have given rise to several current of
thoughts in ethics which centered upon an alleged
conflict between freedom and law.
These doctrines would grant to individuals or
social groups the right to determine what is good
or evil.
Human freedom would does be able to “create
values” and would enjoy a primacy over truth, to
the point that truth itself would be considered a
creation of freedom
belonging to the sphere, of natural moral law. (
VS, 36)
Some people, however, disregarding the
dependence of human reason on Divine Wisdom
and the need, given the present state of fallen
nature, for Divine Revelation as an effective
means for knowing moral truths, even those of the
natural order, have actually posited a complete
sovereignty of reason in the domain of moral
norms regarding the right ordering of life in this
world.
Such norms would constitute the boundaries for a
merely "human" morality; they would be the
expression of a law which man in an autonomous
manner lays down for himself and which has its
source exclusively in human reason.
In no way could God be considered the Author of
this law, except in the sense that human reason
exercises its autonomy in setting down laws by
virtue of a primordial and total mandate given to
man by God.
These trends of thought have led to a denial, in
opposition to Sacred Scripture (cf. Mt 15:3-6) and
the Church's constant teaching, of the fact that the
natural moral law has God as its author, and that
man, by the use of reason, participates in the
eternal law, which it is not for him to establish

Freedom would thus lay claim to a moral

autonomy which would actually amount to an
absolute sovereignty. (VS, 35)
In response to the encouragement of the Second
Vatican Council, there has been a desire to foster
dialogue with modern culture, emphasizing the
rational, and thus universally understandable and
communicable, character of moral norms
b. God left man in the power of his own
counsel" (Sir 15:14)
The Second Vatican Council explains the
meaning of that "genuine freedom" which is "an
outstanding manifestation of the divine image" in
man: "God willed to leave man in the power of
his own counsel, so that he would seek his
Creator of his own accord and would freely arrive
at full and blessed perfection by cleaving to God".
VS, 38
The exercise of dominion over the world
represents a great and responsible task for man,
one which involves his freedom in obedience to
the Creator's command: "Fill the earth and subdue
it" (Gen 1:28).
In view of this, a rightful autonomy is due to
every man, as well as to the human community.
This is the autonomy of earthly realities, which
means that "created things have their own laws
and values which are to be gradually discovered,
utilized and ordered by man"
Not only the world, however, but also man
himself has been entrusted to his own care and
responsibility. God left man "in the power of his
own counsel" (Sir 15:14), that he might seek his
Creator and freely attain perfection.
Attaining such perfection means personally
building up that perfection in himself. Indeed,
just as man in exercising his dominion over the
world shapes it in accordance with his own
intelligence and will, so too in performing
morally good acts, man strengthens, develops,
and consolidates within himself his likeness to
God. (VS, 39)
At the heart of the moral life, we thus find the
principle of a "rightful autonomy" of man, the
personal subject of his actions.
The moral law has its origin in God and always
finds its source in him: at the same time, by virtue
of natural reason, which derives from divine
wisdom, it is a properly human law. (VS, 40)
The rightful autonomy of the practical reason
means that man possesses in himself his own law,
received from the Creator. Nevertheless, the
autonomy of reason cannot mean that reason
itself creates values and moral norms.
Were this autonomy to imply a denial of the
participation of the practical reason in the
wisdom of the divine Creator and Lawgiver or
were it to suggest a freedom which creates moral
norms, on the basis of historical contingencies or
the diversity of societies and cultures, this sort of
alleged autonomy would contradict the Church's
teaching on the truth about man.
It would be the death of true freedom: "But of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall
not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall
die" (Gen 2:17)
Man's genuine moral autonomy in no way means
the rejection but rather the acceptance of the
moral law, of God's command: "The Lord God
gave this command to the man..." (Gen 2:16).
Human freedom and God's law meet and are
called to intersect, in the sense of man's free
obedience to God and of God's completely
gratuitous benevolence towards man.
Hence obedience to God is not, as some would
believe, a heteronomy, as if the moral life were
subject to the will of something all-powerful,
absolute, extraneous to man and intolerant of his
freedom. (VS, 41)
Don’t try to be God (It just doesn’t work).
By forbidding man to "eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil", God makes it clear
that man does not originally possess such
"knowledge" as something properly his own, but
only participates in it by the light of natural
reason and of Divine Revelation, which manifest
to him the requirements and the promptings of
eternal wisdom.
UNIT III. CALLED TO THE FULLNESS OF
LIFE
LESSON B: LAW ABIDING IN TRUTH
1. SENSE OF LAW
2. DEFINITION OF LAW
3. TYPES OF LAW
QUESTION: What is a just law?
Anarchism
According to Noam Chomsky (1928-present),
Anarchism is a kind of a tendency in human
thought and action which tries to detect structures
of authority, domination, and hierarchy and to
challenge them, ask them to demonstrate their
legitimacy, recognizing that they are not self-
justifying. They have the burden of justification.
This is true across all the spectrum of human life
from patriarchal families to imperial systems and
everything in between.
Whenever you find structure of domination,
hierarchy, somebody giving order, somebody
taking them, you have to ask: is that legitimate?
You should not assume that it is legitimate
because it’s been like that, that is not a
justification. You have to ask, if it is legitimate,
when you do, you generally find that it can’t be
justified.
Anarchism is the effort to discover such systems.
And when they can’t justify themselves, they
have to be dismantled and in order to move
towards greater freedom, justice, opportunity,
individual creativity, cooperative activity, and so
on.
e.g., Expansion of women’s rights. How did it
happen? As soon as these structures of oppression
were identified, they kind of disappeared, not
instantly, as there are still plenty of resistance.
Wage labor, or wage slavery where people are
forced into a system where they have to sell
themselves to survive. If you work for a wage,
you are selling yourself, you lose your freedom,
dignity, independence, your worth as a person.
Over the years this has been instilled into
people’s head and the intuitive understanding of
this kind of injustice has been suppressed. They
can be eliminated by enterprises that are managed
and run by their participants.
These are changes that have taken place just
through exposing power to the sunlight and
seeing it evaporate.
UNIT II. CALLED TO HAPPINESS
LESSON A: SEARCH FOR THE TRUE
HAPPINESS
1. SENSE OF LAW ACCORDING TO
AQUINAS
Law is not limited to:
▪ A legislative or judicial domain
▪ Commands, obligations, moral
imperatives
▪ Controlling what other people are free to
do.
Law is a Teacher
It is about a rational or reasonable principle of
order by which things are directed to their ends.
In this way, law is a teacher.
Law is a Ruler
▪ A measure of human acts.
▪ A guide in drawing straight lines.
▪ The straightness and length of the rule is
also the measure of the line you’ve
drawn.
▪ The law guides us in our actions to make
sure that they are upright and ordered to
the common good.
▪ It also gives us a way to judge our
actions. It measures them, whether we
have conformed our actions to the
standard of the law.
2. DEFINITION OF LAW ACCORDING TO
AQUINAS
An ordination of reason for the common good
from him who has care of the community, which
is promulgated or made known. (ST lallae, Q, 90,
a.4)
Two Elements:
1. Law is an ordination of reason
▪ Law involves some kind of ordering and
specifically an ordering according to
reason.
▪ Law is not a command of the will of the
superior.
▪ Law is an expression of his (superior)
reason consisting in a kind of reasoned
plan or ordering of things towards the
common good.
2. Law is an Ordering to the Common Good
▪ Common good is the end that law aims at
and serves.
▪ Common good is a good of radically
different kind because it is an end and it
can be shared by many without loss or
diminishment, e.g., truth, justice. Goods
that can be shared by many, it is higher
and nobler.
▪ It is not a private property of none of
them and yet it is genuinely good for each
of them because it is a common good.
▪ The common good is the explanation of
why a law exists and what it is doing:
▪ Law is an ordering based on reason for
the sake of and directing the community
towards the common good.
▪ Common good can be found in the right
ordering to God as the common good and
final end of all that is
3. TYPES OF LAW ACCORDING TO
AQUINAS
Four Types of Law
▪ Eternal Law
▪ Natural Law
▪ Divine Positive Law
▪ Human Law
These are arranged as a hierarchy where the lower
law types of law participate in and make more
specific the higher types.
Eternal Law
The order of creation as it preexists in the divine
mind. Ultimately, that creation would reflect and
share in the glory and splendor of God.
Aquinas begins with the Highest possible level:
God himself, who not only is the creator of the
universe but also its end, the source of its order,
and who governs it by his providential plan.
This plan of order emerges from God’s divine
reason as an idea in God’s mind and like God
himself this plan is eternal. Thus, eternal law.
Eternal law is not only in God’s mind but is in the
things that God makes.
Because God has created all things according to a
plan as coming from him and ordered back to
him, he imprints on their very being, in their very
nature an inclination for creatures towards their
proper acts and ends. So, they will tend to their
perfection and fulfillment precisely as the kinds
of things they are according to the nature God has
given them.
Natural Law
The rational creature’s participation in the
eternal law. The way that rational creatures, like
human beings, participate in God’s plan, i.e., in
the eternal law.
Unlike lower creatures, we human beings are not
only moved to our end from the outside, but we
also use our reason, minds, to actively participate
in directing ourselves, ordering ourselves, and
ordering and directing others towards their
ultimate end and we do this insofar as we
understand what kind of beings we are and what
is really good for us and so act accordingly.
This eternal law, this plan of God is implanted in
rational creatures in a special way, Aquinas calls
this the natural law.
Thus, we are capable of understanding the world
around us, grasping with our minds, what is good
for us to do and moving ourselves to do it
according to this rational desire called, will.
Human beings have a higher participation in
God’s providential plan than other creatures do
because we can understand it become willing
agents in bringing it to completion for ourselves,
for others, and for our communities.
Endowed with the power of reason means that we
are not simply moved by brute force or instinct.
The precepts of the natural law follow the order
of our natural inclination
This means that as we understand the inclinations
of our spiritual nature, we come to grasp what
God made a human being to be and what human
life is ordered to. And so, we come to know what
a human being ought to do and avoid.
Five Principles of Natural Inclinations:
▪ To good (to what perfects us)
▪ To self-preservation
▪ To sexual union
▪ To knowing the truth
▪ To Living in society (justice, truth,
fairness towards others)
These inclinations are features of the kind of
beings that we are.
They give us a fundamental orientation towards
what will make us increasingly happy and
increasingly free
These inclinations are features of the kind of
beings that we are. They give us a fundamental
orientation towards what will make us
increasingly happy and increasingly free.
We order ourselves, our actions according to this
plan by the use of our freedom. This is the
purpose of our freedom, that we be the creatures
that order ourselves freely and knowingly to God
according to his plan.
Properties of the Natural Law
Universal. Binds all men at all times and in all
places, for it is the very nature of men.
Indispensable. Man has no authority over natural
law. God is the source of natural law.
Immutable and Dynamic. Exists for as long as
human nature exists. Changes in the condition of
man results in modified or new demands of the
Natural Law.
Relation between Human Law and Natural
Law
Human law is only just in accord with the natural
law and that laws that conflict with the natural
law is not morally binding.
The natural law is most clear with respect to
certain general and negative precepts, e.g.,
decalogue: theft, murder, adultery…these are
wrong always and everywhere because they are
contrary to what the natural law teaches us is the
good for human beings, e.g., self-preservation,
sexual union, and the raising of children.
The important job of lawmakers is to specify and
apply the general precepts of the natural law in a
particular context and for a particular community.
Then, always respecting what the natural law
demands in its negative precepts, human
lawmakers should make laws that order their
communities towards its common good.
Divine Positive Law
What God has revealed through divine revelation
in the OT and NT about how human beings
should live in order to come to the supernatural
good of heaven.
These are things that we could not have
discovered on our own since knowing and
travelling on the way to the triune God
completely exceeds what our nature is capable of
by its own power.
Human Laws
Application or determination of the natural law
on various levels in particular community.
Also, an ordination of reason for the common
good, in this case the common good of a nation,
of the state, of the city.
More particular and specific than the natural law.
Ego. The portion of personality that organizes,
plans, and keeps the person in touch with reality.
Language and thought are both ego functions.
“The Reality Principle”.
Superego. The ‘conscience’ part of personality,
which contains parental and societal values and
attitudes incorporated during childhood. “The
Ought Principle”.

It does not apply everywhere like the natural law The importance of differentiating conscience
does but only in this jurisdiction and it aims to from superego is “awareness.”
direct this particular community and its members
to their proper common good.
Church Laws
▪ The Six Commandments of the Church
▪ To hear mass on Sundays and Holy Days
of Obligation.
▪ To fast and abstain on the days
appointed.
▪ To confess at least once a year.
▪ To receive the Holy Eucharist during
Easter Time.
▪ To contribute to the support of the
Church.
▪ To never violate laws concerning
marriage.

LESSON C. CONSCIENCE: MAN’S

SANCTUARY
Study:
Christina was given the opportunity and the
responsibility to keep their family heirloom,
which is the ring. When she lost her ring, she
became afraid of the consequences, so she kept it
with herself and did not do the right thing.
THE FREUDIAN PERSONALITY
DIAGRAM
Id. The inborn primitive portion of the
storehouse of libido, the basic energy that
continually pushes for immediate gratification.
“The Pleasure Principle”.
1. DEFINITION OF CONSCIENCE
People were taught that conscience is the voice of
the angel and the devil. It may be a controversial
idea and sometimes misunderstood, but the
Church viewed it as a great factor for the morality
of the Christians.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
The Choice of Life and Death
11 “For this commandment that I command you
today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who
will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that
we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond
the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over
the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear
it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It
is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can
do it.
CONSCIENCE AND TRUTH
Man’s Sanctuary
The relationship between man's freedom and
God's law is most deeply lived out in the "heart"
of the person, in his moral conscience. Vatican II
observed:
➢ In the depths of his conscience man
detects a law which he does not impose
on himself, but which holds him to
obedience. Always summoning him to
love good and avoid evil, the voice of
conscience can, when necessary, speak to
his heart more specifically: 'do this, shun
that'. For man has in his heart a law
written by God. To obey it is the very
dignity of man; according to it he will be
judged (cf. Rom 2:14-16)" VS, 54
Moral conscience, present at the heart of the
person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to
do good and to avoid evil.
It judges particular choices, approving those that
are good and denouncing those that are evil. It
bears witness to the authority of truth in
reference to the supreme Good to which the
human person is drawn, and it welcomes the
commandments.
When he listens to his conscience, the prudent
man can hear God speaking. CCC, 1777
Definition of Conscience
Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby
the human person recognizes the moral quality of
a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the
process of performing, or has already completed.
CCC, 1778
In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow
faithfully what he knows to be just and right.
It is by the judgment of his conscience that man
perceives and recognizes the prescriptions of the
divine law. CCC, 1778
”The sanctuary of man, where he is alone with
God whose voice echoes within him."
“This voice, it is said, leads man not so much to a
meticulous observance of universal norms as to a
creative and responsible acceptance of the
personal tasks entrusted to him by God.”
Conscience according to St. Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas played a significant role in clarifying the
concept of conscience and the theoretical
problems connected with it. Aquinas assigned to
synderesis principally a cognitive role. He
argued that human beings have a fundamental
grasp of right and wrong, which is infallible.
Aquinas connected synderesis to natural law,
identifying the first practical principles, of which
synderesis is the habit, with the general
principles of natural law. He occasionally
replaced the word synderesis by the term
understanding (intellectus), the intellectual
virtue of grasping the first principles of reason in
his Summa theologiae. Aquinas understood the
directives of synderesis as formal principles, not
as concrete moral norms. Aquinas conceived of
synderesis as habitual knowledge. According to
Aquinas, conscience is the consideration of a
specific case in light of one's moral knowledge.
Moral knowledge comprises the first principles of
synderesis, as well as more particular moral
directives. For Aquinas, the distinction of
generally good, evil, and indifferent acts does
not have any bearing on when erring conscience
binds and when it does not. Aquinas argued that
the binding character of conscience, whether
erring or not, means that acting against
conscience is always evil.
Ecclesiastes 7:23
“All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will
be wise; but it was far from me.”
2. THE JUDGMENT OF CONSCIENCE
Biblical understanding of conscience. "When
Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what
the law requires, they are a law unto themselves,
even though they do not have the law. They show
that what the law requires is written on their
hearts, while their conscience also bears witness,
and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps
excuse them" (Rom 2:14-15). VS, 57.
The importance of this interior dialogue of man
with himself can never be adequately
appreciated. But it is also a dialogue of man with
God, the author of the law, the primordial image
and final end of man. VS, 58.
”Conscience is like God's herald and messenger;
it does not command things on its own authority,
but commands them as coming from God's
authority, like a herald when he proclaims the
edict of the king. This is why conscience has
binding force." Saint Bonaventure, VS, 58
Conscience bears witness to man's own
rectitude or iniquity to man himself but, together
with this and indeed even beforehand, conscience
is the witness of God himself, whose voice and
judgment penetrate the depths of man's soul,
calling him fortiter et suaviter to obedience. VS,
58
Moral conscience does not close man within an
insurmountable and impenetrable solitude,
but opens him to the call, to the voice of God.
In this, and not in anything else, lies the entire
mystery and the dignity of the moral conscience:
in being the place, the sacred place where God
speaks to man. VS, 58
Saint Paul does not merely acknowledge that
conscience acts as a "witness"; he also reveals
the way in which conscience performs that
function. He speaks of "conflicting thoughts"
which accuse or excuse the Gentiles with regard
to their behavior (cf. Rom 2:15).
The term "conflicting thoughts" clarifies the
precise nature of conscience: it is a moral
judgment about man and his actions, a judgment
either of acquittal or of condemnation, according
as human acts are in conformity or not with the
law of God written on the heart. VS, 59.
In the same text the Apostle clearly speaks of the
judgment of actions, the judgment of their author
and the moment when that judgment will be
definitively rendered: "(This will take place) on
that day when, according to my Gospel, God
judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus" (Rom
2:16). VS, 59.
The judgment of conscience is a practical
judgment, a judgment which makes known what
man must do or not do, or which assesses an act
already performed by him
It is a judgment which applies to a concrete
situation the rational conviction that one must
love and do good and avoid evil.
This first principle of practical reason is part of
the natural law; indeed, it constitutes the very
foundation of the natural law, inasmuch as it
expresses that primordial insight about good and
evil, that reflection of God's creative wisdom
which, like an imperishable spark (scintilla
animae), shines in the heart of every man. VS, 59
But whereas the natural law discloses the
objective and universal demands of the moral
good, conscience is the application of the law to
a particular case.
This application of the law thus becomes an inner
dictate for the individual, a summons to do what
is good in this particular situation.
Conscience thus formulates moral obligation in
the light of the natural law: it is the obligation to
do what the individual, through the workings of
his conscience, knows to be a good he is called to
do here and now. VS, 59
The judgment of conscience has an imperative
character: man must act in accordance with it. If
man acts against this judgment or, in a case where
he lacks certainty about the rightness and
goodness of a determined act, still performs that
act, he stands condemned by his own conscience,
the proximate norm of personal morality. VS. 60.
The dignity of this rational forum and the
authority of its voice and judgments derive from
the truth about moral good and evil, which it is
called to listen to and to express. This truth is
indicated by the "divine law", the universal and
objective norm of morality.
The judgment of conscience does not establish
the law; rather it bears witness to the authority of
the natural law and of the practical reason with
reference to the supreme good, whose
attractiveness the human person perceives and
whose commandments he accepts.
"Conscience is not an independent and exclusive
capacity to decide what is good and what is evil.
Rather there is profoundly imprinted upon it a
principle of obedience vis-à-vis the objective
norm which establishes and conditions the
correspondence of its decisions with the
commands and prohibitions which are at the basis
of human behavior" VS, 60
The truth about moral good, as that truth is
declared in the law of reason, is practically and
concretely recognized by the judgment of
conscience, which leads one to take responsibility
for the good or the evil one has done. VS, 61
If man does evil, the just judgment of his
conscience remains within him as a witness to the
universal truth of the good, as well as to the
malice of his particular choice.
But the verdict of conscience remains in him also
as a pledge of hope and mercy: while bearing
witness to the evil he has done, it also reminds
him of his need, with the help of God's grace, to
ask forgiveness, to do good and to cultivate virtue
constantly. VS, 61
Consequently, in the practical judgment of
conscience, which imposes on the person the
obligation to perform a given act, the link
between freedom and truth is made manifest.
Precisely for this reason conscience expresses
itself in acts of "judgment" which reflect the truth
about the good, and not in arbitrary "decisions".
VS, 61.
Certainly, in order to have a "good conscience" (1
Tim 1:5), man must seek the truth and must make
judgments in accordance with that same truth. As
the Apostle Paul says:
➢ “Conscience must be confirmed by the
Holy Spirit" (cf. Rom 9:1).
➢ “It must be "clear" (2 Tim 1:3).
➢ “It must not "practice cunning and
tamper with God's word", but "openly
state the truth" (cf. 2 Cor 4:2).
On the other hand, the Apostle also warns
Christians: "Do not be conformed to this world
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may prove what is the will of God, what
is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:2).
3. TYPES OF CONSCIENCE
Conscience, as the judgment of an act, is not
exempt from the possibility of error. VS, 62
➢ As the Council puts it, "not infrequently
conscience can be mistaken as a result of
invincible ignorance, although it does not
on that account forfeit its dignity.
➢ But this cannot be said when a man
shows little concern for seeking what is
true and good, and conscience gradually
becomes almost blind from being
accustomed to sin.”
➢ In these brief words the Council sums up
the doctrine which the Church down the
centuries has developed with regard to
the erroneous conscience.
Correct and Erroneous Conscience
It is always from the truth that the dignity of
conscience derives. In the case of the correct
conscience, it is a question of the objective truth
received by man.
In the case of the erroneous conscience, it is a
question of what man, mistakenly, subjectively
considers to be true.
It is never acceptable to confuse a "subjective"
error about moral good with the "objective" truth
rationally proposed to man in virtue of his end, or
to make the moral value of an act performed with
a true and correct conscience equivalent to the
moral value of an act performed by following the
judgment of an erroneous conscience. VS, 63
It is possible that the evil done as the result of
invincible ignorance or a non-culpable error of
judgment may not be imputable to the agent; but
even in this case it does not cease to be an evil, a
disorder in relation to the truth about the good.
Furthermore, a good act which is not recognized
as such does not contribute to the moral growth
of the person who performs it; it does not perfect
him, and it does not help to dispose him for the
supreme good.
Thus, before feeling easily justified in the name
of our conscience, we should reflect on the words
of the Psalm: "Who can discern his errors? Clear
me from hidden faults" (Ps 19:12).There are
faults which we fail to see but which nevertheless
remain faults, because we have refused to walk
towards the light (cf. Jn 9:39-41). VS, 63
Conscience, as the ultimate concrete judgment,
compromises its dignity when it is culpably
erroneous, that is to say, "when man shows little
concern for seeking what is true and good, and
conscience gradually becomes almost blind from
being accustomed to sin". VS, 63
Jesus alludes to the danger of the conscience
being deformed when he warns: "The eye is the
lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your
whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is
not sound, your whole body will be full of
darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how
great is the darkness!" (Mt 6:22-23).
4. FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE
Formation of Conscience We are called to form
our conscience, to make it the object of a
continuous conversion to what is true and to what
is good.
Saint Paul exhorts us not to be conformed to the
mentality of this world, but to be transformed by
the renewal of our mind (cf. Rom 12:2). It is the
"heart" converted to the Lord and to the love of
what is good which is really the source of true
judgments of conscience.
Indeed, in order to "prove what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom
12:2), knowledge of God's law in general is
certainly necessary, but it is not sufficient:
What is essential is a sort of "connaturality"
between man and the true good. Such a
connaturality is rooted in and develops through
the virtuous attitudes of the individual himself:
Prudence and the other cardinal virtues, and
even before these the theological virtues of faith,
hope and charity. This is the meaning of Jesus'
saying: "He who does what is true comes to the
light" (Jn 3:21). VS, 64.
Christians have a great help for the formation of
conscience in the Church and her Magisterium.
As the Council affirms: "In forming their
consciences the Christian faithful must give
careful attention to the sacred and certain
teaching of the Church.
For the Catholic Church is by the will of Christ
the teacher of truth. Her charge is to announce
and teach authentically that truth, which is Christ,
and at the same time with her authority to declare
and confirm the principles of the moral order
which derive from human nature itself.”
It follows that the authority of the Church, when
she pronounces on moral questions, in no way
undermines the freedom of conscience of
Christians.
This is so not only because freedom of conscience
is never freedom "from" the truth but always and
only freedom "in" the truth, but also because the
Magisterium does not bring to the Christian
conscience truths which are extraneous to it;
rather it brings to light the truths which it ought
already to possess, developing them from the
starting point of the primordial act of faith.
The Church puts herself always and only at the
service of conscience, helping it to avoid being
tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine
proposed by human deceit (cf. Eph 4:14), and
helping it not to swerve from the truth about the
good of man, but rather, especially in more
difficult questions, to attain the truth with
certainty and to abide in it.