Fundamentals of Faith 2

Module 1: “I believe in God”

Saint Peter of Verona, Martyr

• First canonized martyr of the Dominican Order
• Born in 1205 in Verona, Italy, of parents who had embraced the heresy of Catharism
• Educated at the University of Bologna and was accepted into the Dominican Order by
Dominic himself
• Appointed inquisitor for the Milan area in 1234, and in 1251 his jurisdiction was extended
to most of northern Italy
• Attracted huge crowds with his preaching
• Made enemies as an inquisitor
• Martyred at the age of forty-seven.
• As he lay dying from the blow of a heretic’s ax, Peter dipped his finger into his blood and
attempted to write on the ground, “Credo in Deum,” (I believe in God)
• His murderer renounced heresy, became a Dominican cooperator brother, and died with a
reputation for sanctity

‘Faith’ is both an act of belief or trust and also that which is believed or confessed, fides qua and
fides quae, respectively (Theology Today #13).

FIDES QUA
§ Act of faith/Belief
§ Subjective because it is a personal act of faith
I. St. Peter Verona’s act of faith that strengthened him to die a martyr’s death.
II. The act of believing in God and the divinely revealed truths; the virtue of faith,
that makes the act of faith possible; faith that strengthened the martyrs.

FIDES QUAE
§ Content of faith
§ Objective because it is the summary of what we believed in
I. The Catholic faith preached, defended, and professed by St . Peter Verona by
his blood.
II. The faith which is believed; the articles of faith, the revealed truth; the Catholic
faith defended by the martyrs.

I BELIEVE – WE BELIEVE

Faith is… a reality profoundly personal and ecclesial. In professing our faith, we say both ‘I
believe’ and ‘We believe.’ Faith is professed within the communion of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Cor
13:13), which unites all believers with God and among themselves (Theology Today, #13).

THE CREEDS OF THE CHURCH

The Church has always summarized the object of faith in her creeds. The ultimate object of faith
is not the creed but God. The creed defines what we believe about God.

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WHAT ARE CREEDS?
These are condensed formulas of faith developed over the course of time; with their help we can
contemplate, express, learn, hand on, celebrate, and live out this reality. Creeds are brief formulas
that make it possible for all believers to have a common profession

THE APOSTLE’S CREED

The oldest authoritative doctrinal formulation of the Church’s belief in the Trinity is the Apostles’
Creed, which, in the form of the ancient Roman baptismal symbol, served as the basis of
catechumenal instruction and as a baptismal confession of faith since the 2nd century. It is based
on the Trinitarian formula of Baptism (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p. 52)
Þ Oldest creed made of 12 articles of faith.

Catechumens – people that are being prepared for baptism.

THE NICENE CREED

-Niceno-Constantonopolitan Creed
• The Nicene Creed, which arose out of the defensive struggle against Arianism, specially
stresses the true Divinity of the Son and His consubstantiality with the Father.
• It was amplified during the Council of Constantinople (381), which arose out of the
defensive struggle against Arianism and Macedonianism.
• The amplified creed stresses, side by side with the divinity of the Son, also the divinity of
the Holy Spirit.

FAITH – LOVE

• Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated
as an experience of grace and joy. It makes us fruitful because it expands our hearts in hope
and enables us to bear life-giving witness (Porta Fidei, 7).
• Faith has a social dimension because it has been handed over by the Church to the
individual believer who accepts, explores, and deepens faith. Faith is meant to be shared.
• Faith is not only a “head thing” but a “heart thing” and a “hand thing” as well. Our sharing
the content of faith is truly based on committed faith (by words and deeds).

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THE HOLY TRINITY AS THE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH
§ By his revelation, God, out of the abundance of His love speaks to us as friends and lives
among us, so that He may invite and take us into fellowship with Himself (cf. Dei Verbum,
2).
§ The adequate response to this invitation is faith (CCC 142).

Faith
the submission of our whole being (intellect and will) to God the revealer (Dei Verbum, 5).

To believe
has twofold references – to the person and to the truth: to the truth, by trust in the person who bears
witness to it (CCC 177).

THE MYSTERY OF THE BLESSED TRINITY

§ The Holy Trinity is the apex of God’s revelation to mankind. It is the most fundamental
and the most profound mystery of Faith.
§ God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit .
It is beyond reason , but not contrary to reason.

THE HOLY TRINITY IN SACRED SCRIPTURES

1) Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Genesis 1:26).
- God often speaks in the plural form of Himself. The plural form may be explained with
more probability as the plural of majesty (pluralis majestatis) which is really singular.
2) The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)
- In the Annunciation, the three Divine Persons are named: God, the Son of God, and the
Holy Spirit
3) When Jesus was baptized...the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove… a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with
whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:16-17)
- The speaker is God the Father. Jesus is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit appears under
a special symbol as an independent, personal Essence side by side with the Father and
the Son.
4) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always
(John 14:16).
- The Holy Spirit who is sent is clearly distinguished as a Person from the Father and the
Son who send Him. The appellation "Advocate" and the activities attributed to Him
(teaching, giving witness) presuppose His personal subsistence.
5) Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit (Mt 28:19).
- The Mystery of the Trinity is most clearly manifested in the mandate of Jesus. The
unity of the Three Persons is indicated in the singular form “in the name.”
6) Peter begins his epistle with the Trinitarian formula of blessing: To the... chosen and
destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ
and for sprinkling with his blood (1 Peter 1:1-2)

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 - Paul ends his second epistle to the Corinthians with the Trinitarian blessing: The grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be
with all of you. (2 Cor 13:13)

TERMINOLOGIES OF THE TRINITARIAN DOGMA

§ The Church, in her teaching concerning the Dogma of the Holy Trinity, uses philosophical
concepts.
A) Substance/ Nature/ Essence
B) Person/ Hypostasis
C) Relations

SUBSTANCE
§ Rendered also at times by “essence” or “nature”
§ Characterizes the physical essence of God common to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
that is, the totality of the Perfections of the Divine Essence (cf. Fundamentals of Catholic
Dogma, p.69).

The concept of substance answers the question “What are you?”

Holy Trinity: I AM GOD.

PERSON
§ Rendered also at times by “hypostasis”
§ Boethius defines “person” as an individual substance of a rational nature (cf. Fundamentals
of Catholic Dogma, p. 69)

The concept of person answers the question “Who are you?”

Holy Trinity: I AM THE FATHER. I AM THE SON. I AM THE HOLY SPIRIT.

EXCURSUS: SUBSTANCE AND PERSON

Hypostasis (person) and nature (substance) are related to each other in such a manner that the
hypostasis is the bearer of nature and the ultimate subject of all being and acting, while the
nature is that through which the hypostasis is and acts.

RELATIONS
• Ways in which things can stand with regard to one
another or to themselves (Oxford Companion to
Philosophy, p. 757).
• Used by the Church to designate the fact that
Divine Persons’ distinction lies in the relationship
of each to the others (cf. CCC 252).

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THE TRINITARIAN DOGMA
1. The Holy Trinity is one God in Three Divine Persons.
2. We distinguish among the persons, but we do not divide the substance.
3. The Divine Persons are distinct from one another in relations of origin.

DIVINE PROCESSIONS
By “procession,” we mean the origin of one from another. We distinguish between external and
internal processions.
I. External procession – the end of the procession goes outside the principle from which it
proceeds.
- Example: Creatures proceed by external procession from God their Primary Origin.
II. Internal procession – the origin of a Divine Person from another through the
communication of the numerically one Divine Essence.
In God, there are two internal Divine Processions: the begetting of the Son by the
Father and the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son.
1. “Jesus said to them… ‘I proceeded and came forth from God’” (Jn 8:42)
2. “When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness
to me” (Jn 15:26)

DIVINE RELATIONS
There exists in God four real relations:

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WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THE HOLY TRINITY

God is a community of love.

• The Father is Lover.
• The Son is Beloved.
• The Holy Spirit is Love.

The Holy Trinity is the basis of the Church’s synodality.

• Syn (with) + odos (path). It indicates the path along which the People of God walk together.
Theme of the forthcoming Synod on October 2023: Communion, participation, mission

A. COMMUNION:
God gathers us together as diverse peoples of one faith, through the covenant that he offers.
The communion we share finds its deepest roots in the love and unity of the Trinity.
B. PARTICIPATION: The Divine Persons are wholly in one another; all the ad extra
activities of God are common to the Three Persons. Members of the Church are thus called
to involve themselves in the community. Participation is based on the fact that all of us are
called to serve one another through the gifts we have received from God.
C. MISSION: The Father sent his Son; the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit. The
Church is also sent out by God in a mission to the whole human family to witness to His
love.

LESSON 2: THE CREATION AND FALL OF MAN

“I Believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, of All Things VISIBLE
and INVISIBLE.”

CREATIO EX NIHILO
Þ Created out of nothing

Þ Created out of love

Þ In the state of Journeying (In Statue Viae)

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THE FIVE WAYS OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (ST I.q.2.a.3) (Cosmological Argument)

MOTION
It is certain, and evident to our senses, that in the world some things are in motion. It is therefore
impossible that in the same respect and in the same way a thing should be both mover and moved,
i.e., that it should move itself. Therefore, whatever is in motion must be put in motion by another.
But this cannot go on to infinity, (ad infinitum) because then there would be no first mover, and,
consequently, no other mover. Therefore, it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, put in motion
by no other; and this everyone understands to be God.

EFFICIENT CAUSE
In the world of sense, we find there is an order of efficient causes, if there be no first cause among
efficient causes, there will be no ultimate, nor any intermediate cause. There is no case known
(neither is it, indeed, possible) in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself; for so it
would be prior to itself, which is impossible. But if in efficient causes it is possible to go on to
infinity, there will be no first efficient cause, neither will there be an ultimate effect, nor any
intermediate efficient causes; all of which is plainly false. Therefore, it is necessary to admit a first
efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God.

CONTINGENCY AND NECESSITY

We find in nature things that are possible to be and not to be, since they are found to be generated,
and to corrupt, and consequently, they are possible to be and not to be. But it is impossible for
these always to exist, for that which is possible not to be at some time is not. Therefore, not all
beings are merely possible, but there must exist something the existence of which is necessary.
But every necessary thing either has its necessity caused by another, or not. Now it is impossible
to go on to infinity in necessary things which have their necessity caused by another, as has been
already proved in regard to efficient causes. Therefore we cannot but postulate the existence of
some being having of itself its own necessity, and not receiving it from another, but rather causing
in others their necessity. This all men speak of as God.

GRADATION
Among beings there are some more and some less good, true, noble and the like. But more and
less are predicated of different things, according as they resemble in their different ways something
which is the maximum, as a thing is said to be hotter according as it more nearly resembles that
which is hottest; so that there is something which is truest, something best, something noblest and,
consequently, something which is uttermost being; for those things that are greatest in truth are
greatest in being, Now the maximum in any genus is the cause of all in that genus; as fire, which
is the maximum heat, is the cause of all hot things. Therefore there must also be something which
is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God.

GOVERNANCE
We see that things which lack intelligence, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident
from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence
it is plain that not fortuitously, but designedly, do they achieve their end. Now whatever lacks
intelligence cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with

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knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is shot to its mark by the archer. Therefore some
intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call
God.

GOD IS THAT BEING, THAN, WHICH NOTHING GREATER CAN BE CONCEIVED

OF. -St. Anselm of Canterbury

GOD EXISTS NOT ONLY WITHIN THE MIND BUT ALSO IN REALITY.
Even if you think of the most perfect Island, as long as it is fictitious, it is still not greater than
anything else because it lacks existence in reality. Whereas God is not just simply the Most Perfect
Being that one can think of, He also exists in reality. We find that reality in the incarnation of Jesus
Christ

CHALLENGING VIEWS ON GOD AS CREATOR

1. PANTHEISM
- Everything is God, that the world is God, or that the development of the world is the
development of God.
2. ATHEISM
- Total rejection of the existence of God. Even Catholics can become atheist in the sense
of praxis. You believe in God, you profess your beliefs in Him, but you practically
think and do something evil right after you go to the mass.
3. MATERIALISM
- Others reject any transcendent origin of the world, but see it as merely the interplay of
matter that has always existed. (ex. Evolutionism and Big Banh Theory)
4. DEISM
- Some admit that the world was made by God, but as by a watchmaker who, once he
has made a watch, abandons it to itself.
5. GNOTOCISM
- According to some of these conceptions, the world (at least the physical world) is evil,
the product of a fall, and is thus to be rejected or left behind.
6. DUALISM/MANICHEANISM
- Others have said that the world is a necessary emanation arising from God and
returning to Him. Still others have affirmed the existence of two eternal principles,
Good and Evil, light and Darkness, locked in permanent conflict.

THE HUMAN PERSON: IMAGO DEI (GEN. 1:26-28)

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over
all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God
created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created
them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and
subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every
living thing that moves upon the earth.”

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HYLOMORPHISM
§ Gk. Hylo: matter ; morphe: form
§ The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual.
(CCC 362)

God is the sole source of the soul of the person. As the Catechism teaches “The soul, the ‘seed of
eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material,’ can have its origin only in God.”
The body perishes while the soul remains to be immortal. Our hope that at the end of this life, we
may become worthy of the beatific vision of God and to join His heavenly banquet. (CCC 33) This
is consistent with what St. Thomas Aquinas taught about Exitus et Reditus: All things come from
God and will return to God)

BODY: material composition of the person. It is corruptible

SOUL: principle of vivification. It is immortal.

THREE ELEMENTS OF HUMAN SOUL

APPETITIVE
responsible for perception, imagination, and movement, and so is present in other animals too, but
not in plants This sort of soul lacks reason but, unlike the vegetative, can be influenced by it.

VEGETATIVE
responsible for nutrition and growth, and which is also found in plants and other animals.

RATIONAL
further divided into the scientific element, which enables us to contemplate or engage in theoretical
activity, and the calculative or deliberative element, which enables us to engage in practical or
political activity.

It is only the Human Person who possesses the rational capacity that makes him/her free.

THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis §10

“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life
is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience
it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.”

THREATS AGAINST THE DIGNITY OF THE PERSON

1. RELATIVISM

2. INDIVIDUALISM & COLLECTIVISM

3. SCIENTISM

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THREE FORMS OF INDIVIDUALISM

1. UTILITARIANISM

2. CAPITALISM

3. LIBERALISM

THREE FORMS OF COLLECTIVISM

1. NAZISM

2. FASCISM

3. MARXISM

The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modern times with
"communism" or "socialism." She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of "capitalism,"
individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor. CCC 2425

CONSCIENCE CCC 1777

§ Enjoins the person at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil (synderesis)
§ It also 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.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, ST. I q.79, a.13, resp. 1.)

1. Conscience is seen when “we recognize that we have done or not done something.” (ex.
Sin of Commission and Omission)
2. Through the conscience “we judge that something should be done or not done; and in this
sense, conscience is said to incite or to bind.”
3. Conscience works if “we judge that something done is well done or ill done, and in this
sense conscience is said to excuse, accuse, or torment.”

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TWO TYPES OF ERRONEOUS CONSCIENCE
§ CALLOUS fails to see a sin, when it is actually there.
§ SCRUPULOUS tends to see sin, when there is actually none.

FREEDOM CCC 1730

• “God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate
and control his own actions . ”
• God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own
accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him .
Man is rational and therefore like God ; he is created with free will and is master over his acts

(CCC 1731;1734)
• The power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform
deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human
freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when
directed toward God, our beatitude.
• Makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are voluntary. Progress in virtue,
knowledge of the good, and ascesis enhance the mastery of the will over its acts.

ST. JOHN PAUL II

The person can only be free if he/she subordinates his/her freedom to truth . -The Acting Person

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The book of Genesis provides us with two accounts of creation

First account: Genesis 1:1-2;3

Gives a description how God created the universe in six days and rested on the seventh day.

Second ACCOUNT: Genesis 2:4-25

Emphasizes God’s relationship to all human beings represented by Adam and Eve.

THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
1. God is the Origin of everything especially that of life
2. Creation is Orderly and good
3. Humankind is the summit of God’s creation
4. Humans are stewards over all creation
5. Human sexuality and procreation belong to the divine divine order of creation
6. Rest is Godly

THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
1. We are connected to Earth (ADAMAH: “Earth,” “Soil,” “Land”)
2. The human being is both body and soul
3. Eden is the original locale of human beings (EDEN- “pleasure”/”delight” (Hebrew) –“A
royal garden” (Persian))
4. Humans have the vocation to care and cultivate the world
5. Man and Women complement each other
6. Human love and marriage are divinely ordered.

The Fall of Man

The Human person falls out of love
- The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be
allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.

Man’s First sin

- Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his
freedom, disobeyed God’s command.
SELF IDOLATRY
- In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose
himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and
therefore against his own good.
SELF-DEIFICATION
- Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully “divinized” by God in
glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to “be like God” but “without God, before God,
and nothing in accordance with God.”

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The Mystery of Evil and Suffering
ORIGINAL SIN
- Sin by which the first human beings disobeyed the commandment of God, choosing to
follow their own will rather than God’s will.
- Consequence: they lost the grace of ORIGINAL HOLINESS, and became the subject
to the law of death, sin became universally present in the world.
- Besides the personal sin of Adam and Eve, original sin describes the fallen state of
human nature which affects every person born into the world, and from which Christ
the “new Adam”, came to redeem us.
§ Although, it is proper to each individual, original sin does not have the character of a personal
fault in any of Adam’s descendant.
§ I tis the deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally
corrupted: It is wounded in the natural powers proper to it; subject to ignorance, suffering,
and the dominion of death; and inclined to sin- an inclination to evil that is called
CONCUPISCENCE

MAN’S ORIGINAL STATE IN PARADISE

Before the Fall
- ORIGINAL JUSTICE
The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between man and woman, and
finally the harmony between the first couple and all creation, comprised the state called
original justice
- ORIGINAL HOLINESS
Sharing of the human person to the divine life

PRETERNAATURAL GIFTS
1. Integrity
- Perfect control of the passions to reason; subjection of the body to the souls
2. Immortality
- Non-subjection to the painful separation of the body and soul in death
3. Impassability
- Immunity from all suffering and misery
4. Infused Knowledge
- Understanding the natural sciences without effort

THE PROBLEM OF THE EVIL

But why did God not create a world so perfect that no evil could exist in it?

1. In Statu Viae
- With infinite power, God could always create something better. But with infinite
wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world “in a state of journeying”
toward its ultimate perfection.
2. Generation and Corruption
- In God’s plan, this process of becoming involves the appearance of certain beings and
the disappearance of others, the existence of the more perfect alongside the less perfect,

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 both constructive and destructive forces of nature. With physical good, there exists also
physical evil as long as creation has not reached perfection

IS GOD THE SOURCE EVIL?

NO, GOD IS NOT THE SOURCE OF EVIL because He cannot contradict Himself and He will
never oppose His own love. Rather, God permits evil: only for the sake of higher good, not only
of a person’s individual good, but the good of the entire creation
- God allows the defect of sin in order for Him to be able to manifest His goodness and
the reality that He is our Savior.

What is Evil?
- A privation of good and never a being because it is an absence of something.
- Evil is non-being, it cannot exist without the good since it only depends like a parasite
on the existence of Good. Without good, evil cannot corrupt something.
- God never willed evil as an end in itself; it is a concomitant of some good

GOD PERMITS EVIL IN ORDER TO DRAW SOMETHING GOOD OUT OF IT

(The book of Job)

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

TYPES OF EVIL
Evil of Penalty (Malum Poenae
- Evil suffered in response to the evil committed. Physical evil is also the consequence
of this because of the original sin that Adam and Eve committed. Natural evil or
Physical evil refers to the physical pain, disease, suffering,, injury, and the likes.

Evil of Fault (Malum Culpae)

Deliberate choosing of evil by sinning. (Human wills evil, not God) Here we find, moral evil which
is the result from the person’s free choice to sin instead of overcoming it.

CONCUPISCENCE AND PERSONAL SIN

Concupiscence
As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers; subject to ignorance ,
suffering, and the domination of death; and inclined to sin. This inclination is called
concupiscence.

Personal Sin
This type of sin arises from the free and deliberate choice of an individual to do what is morally
evil in the sight of the God. This is when a man chooses to voluntarily and willfully disobey the
law of God revealed t us.

TWO TYPES OF PERSONAL SINS

Venial sin

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 - Sin which does not destroy the divine life in the soul, as does mortal sin, though it
diminishes it and wounds it.
- Venial sin is failure to observed necessary moderation, in lesser matters of the moral
law, or in grave matters acting without full knowledge or complete consent.

Mortal sin
- A grave infraction of the law of God that destroys the divine life in in the soul of the
sinner 9sanctifying grace), constituting a turn away from God.
- For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must be present: grave matter, full knowledge
of the evil act, and full consent of the will.

Our Actions define our personhood

Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas

“Act follows being” (Agere Sequitur Esse)

St. Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II

“The person reveals himself/herself through his/her chosen actions.”

St. Clare of Assisi

“We become what we love”

Intrinsically Evil Acts

John Paul II, Veritatis splendor 78: “Intrinsic evil”: it is not licit to do evil that good may come of
it

• WHATEVER IS HOSTILE TO LIFE ITSELF

Homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, and voluntary suicide

• WHATEVER VIOLATES THE INTEGRITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON.

Mutilation, physical and mental torture and attempt to coerce the spirit

• WHATEVER IS OFFENSIVE TO HUMAN DIGNITY.

Subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, and
trafficking in women and children, degrading conditions of work which treat labors as a mere
instrument of profit, and not as free responsible persons.

SINFUL STRUCTURES /SOCIAL SIN

A sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when
we cooperate in them. (CCC 1868)

• BY PARTICIPATING DIRECTLY AND VOLUNTARILY IN THEM

• BY ORDERING, ADVISING, PRAISING, OR APPROVING THEM;
• BY NOT DISCLOSING OR NOT HINDERING THEM WHEN WE HAVE AN
OBLIGATION TO DO SO
• BY PROTECTING EVIL-DOERS.

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Thus, sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence, violence, and injustice
to reign among them. Sins give rise to social situations and institutions that are contrary to the
divine goodness. "Structures of sin" are the expression and effect of personal sins. They lead their
victims to do evil in their tum. In an analogous sense, they constitute a "social sin."

Review
1. Those who ignore the presence of social sin are not responsible for its outcome. Social sins
usually occur if the gravity of personal sins reaches the systematic level.
2. Concupiscence is one of the consequence of contracting a wounded human nature. It
heightens the attraction of the human will to choosing evil as its end.
3. Adam and Eve were informed of the consequence of consuming the forbidden fruit. Thus,
they gained more knowledge about the good and evil after partaking it in it
4. Freedom in the Christian Moral understanding refers to the power of choices. Thus, one is
responsible only if he or she is free.
5. A human person suffering from a scrupulous conscience refrains from being responsible
for moral judgments and actions that he or/she committed. While a human person suffering
from a callous conscience often sees fault even if there is none.

MYSTERY OF INCARNATION
Incarnation in + caro "flesh"
- And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).
- Begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father...and by the Holy Spirit, was incarnate
of the Virgin Mary and became man (Nicene Creed).

Why did God became man?

• To partake in God's divine nature.
- Eternal friendship with the Holy Trinity is possible through Jesus' redemptive work.
• For Jesus Christ to be humanity's model of holiness.
- He expressed in action, suffering, and prayer what it means to be "truly alive. " God is
easier to follow through Jesus.
• For our "salvation" and "reconciliation" with God.
- The Logos became part of his "work. " He shared the human condition of life and death
and healed it from the inside. If he pretended to be human, he could not represent us
before God.
• For God's love to be known to humankind
- If God did not love us, He would not give us any value. We would not know how much
we mean to God.

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THE HYPOSTATIC UNION
The mysterious personal union of divinity and humanity in one rational subject

IN THE BEGINNING
- The Son eternally exists with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
- Has infinite & unsurpassed will.
- All-knowing & ever-present.

OUR GOAL COMMUNION

- Took the form of a man in a particular time, space, and culture. He was named Jesus, meaning
"God saves."
- Has complete human intellect & will. Human will submits to the divine will.
- Has Beatific, Infused, and Experimental Knowledge.

PROPERTIES
- Unless Jesus was truly God, he could not redeem us from sin & death.
- Unless Jesus was truly man, he could not save us.
TRUE GOD TRUE MAN
- Integrity & property of each nature remain.
- United but not mixed.
- Distinct but not separated.

The Christological Councils

Homoousion
- Jesus is God. He belongs to the Father's substance and is of the "same" nature (homoousion)
as He.
Arianism Homoousion
- There was a time when he was not [divine].
- His substance is "like" or "similar" to the Father's (homoiousios) but not the same.
Nestorianism
- There human nature of Jesus must have its own subject. Hence, there are two persons of the
Christ. By extension, Mary is only Christotokos or Christ-bearer
Hypostatic Union Theotokos
- The Incarnation did not diminish the Son's divine nature. Hence, divinity & humanity are
distinct but not separated in the one divine Person of Jesus Christ. By extension, Mary is
Theotokos "God-Bearer"
Monophysitism
- A human - divine nature existed during the Incarnation
Tome of Leo the Great
• Homoousion
• Hypostatic Union --- Theotokos
- The Incarnation did not diminish the Son's human nature. Divinity & humanity are united but
unmixed in the one divine Person of Jesus Christ.

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Lessons from the nativity scene

- Cave – inhabited by livestock

- Manger- feeder for livestock
- Swaddling clothes – clothing staple for infants born in poor families
- Ass and ox – substitute for fireplace
- Nursing milk – little but sufficient
- 3 shepherds – the infant Jesus’ VIPs

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Lessons from the Holy Family of Nazareth
The Holy Family is composed of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
• God has chosen a "family" to be the training ground for his physical, mental, & spiritual
maturity*.
• The poverty of the Holy Family highlighted all the more God's mercy & justice.
• Jesus sanctified the family and made it a school of deeper humanity.
• The Holy Family takes after the Holy Trinity's "communion of love."
• God is at the center of the loving relationship, literally & figuratively.
• Although Mary and Joseph's faith is in the process of journeying (they at times do not understand
the words of the child Jesus), they provided an environment for the child Jesus to prepare for his
public ministry.

The Holy Family as a Builder of Communion

- The pride & disobedience of Adam and Eve destroyed all forms of communion.
- The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph reveals and realizes communion through humility
and obedience.
- The recorded acts of Jesus' childhood & youth are acts of obedience. The special duty of
children is to honor their parents.
- The special duty of parents as "God's vice-regents" is to mold the child in obedience.
- The human "I" is not made for the "I, alone" but for God's service
- Jesus spent 30 years preparing for his public ministry in obedience to his parents.
- By this, he counters the pride & disobedience of Adam and Eve to God, our Father.

The Holy Family as a Training Ground for Vocation & Mission

Lessons from St. Joseph during the Infancy & Early Life of Jesus
Þ An astute follower of God and His Law. - He was about to divorce Mary) until the angel
commanded not to do it.
Þ Brought his pregnant wife on a journey to Bethlehem to have the unborn child registered
under his name.
Þ He had Jesus circumcised on the 8th day of his birth. Jesus becomes part of the Jewish
community.
Þ Listened to the angel's command to stay at Egypt temporarily to escape the massacre of the
infants at Judea.
Þ Jesus was brought to the Temple as the first-born son to be consecrated. The Holy Family
went to the Temple 3x in a year.
Þ He taught Jesus how to do carpentry for 12 years.

The Holy Family as a Training Ground for Vocation & Mission

Lessons from the Blessed Virgin Mary during the Infancy & Early Life of Jesus
Þ She said her unwavering yes to divine motherhood.
Þ Although exalted by her cousin, Elizabeth, Mary sang praises to God instead: "My soul
proclaims the greatness of the Lord."
Þ Thanks to her preparedness, the infant Jesus was covered in swaddling clothes. She held
him to her bosom and nursed him even if she had little milk.
Þ Went to Egypt following the Angel's command to Joseph.

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 Þ Even if she didn't need to be purified, she chose to obey the Mosaic Law. Her offering of
two pigeons spoke of her humble status.
Þ When Jesus was 12, he was presented to the Temple as a sign that he was handed over to
God.
Þ "Do whatever he tells you." She was instrumental in the first nature miracle of Jesus. She
knew that there's no turning back in Jesus' public ministry once the miracle is performed.
Þ Bore her sorrows patiently until the end of Jesus' public ministry

The Holy Family as a Training Ground for Vocation & Mission

Jesus as Our Model to Holiness, Vocation, and Mission

Human & Experimental Knowledge

Obedience to the Law of Nature
- Went through the phases of physical & cognitive development.
- Used familiar & cultural objects/references to illustrate the Kingdom of God

Mental Maturity
Obedience to Parents
- Taught that humility makes one the greatest in the Kingdom of God. Dignified/gave value to
work

Spiritual Maturity
Obedience to the Will of the Father
- obedient to the redemptive work his Father made him do until death

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