Lesson 3

FUNDAMENTALS OF
CHRISTIAN
MORALITY
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem
said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,”
and “By the prince of demons he
drives out demons.” Summoning them, he
began to speak to them in parables, “How
can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that
kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself, that
house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself
and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the
end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man’s house
to plunder his property unless he first ties
up the strong man. Then he can plunder his
house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all
blasphemies that people utter will be
forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy
Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is
guilty of an everlasting sin.”
For they had said, “He has an unclean
spirit.”
 Reflection:

The Gospel teaches us to avoid blasphemy as the

everlasting sin against the Holy Spirit. We need to trust in
the divine power and kindness Jesus. With Him, all sins in
the world and all evil will be gone in his name. We
believe in Jesus’ sacred birth and the power of His
sacrifice. For the Holy Spirit direct us in His keeping.

Am I willing to submit myself to the promptings of the

Holy Spirit?
Lesson 3

FUNDAMENTALS OF
CHRISTIAN
MORALITY
Group Sharing (20 minutes)

1. Do you agree that man is basically good?

Support your answer.

2. From your life experiences, cite an example

of a struggle between good and evil; between
light and darkness.
 INTRODUCTION

• We believe that we are created in God’s image and that

we, and all creations are basically good.
• We recognize our own tendencies toward evil especially
due to our desires.
• In our existence as moral agent, it is important to realize
the moral value of our human acts.
 INTRODUCTION

• Christian morality is concerned not with the acts of man

but with human acts, that is to say, actions proper to the
human person.
• Freedom makes man a moral subject.
• Human acts, are those acts that are freely chosen in
consequence of a judgment of conscience, and can be
morally evaluated. They are either good or evil.
THE HUMAN PERSON:
A MORAL AGENT
 THE HUMAN PERSON: A MORAL
AGENT

• We are human because of unique traits and attributes

not shared with either animal or machine.
• The definition of human is circular – we are human by
virtue of the properties that make us human.
• The human person is “the image and likeness of God”, in
His spiritual soul, intellect, and free will.
 THE HUMAN PERSON: A MORAL
AGENT

• Our whole being is ordered to seeking truth and goodness

in accord with our destiny, which is eternal blessedness
with God.
• As human persons, we seek to reach eternal blessedness
with God by following the dictation of our conscience to
do good and avoid evil. This is lived out in out daily
efforts to love God and neighbor.
 THE HUMAN PERSON: A MORAL
AGENT

• Despite our makeup and destiny, our life is a continual struggle

because original sin wounded our nature, leaving us attracted to
sin.
• By Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, a new life for us
was merited.
• He restored to us what was lost by sin and renewed us by the
grace of the Holy Spirit.
• Thus, we too should consider ourselves dead to sin and living for
God in Christ Jesus.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN ACTS
OF MAN AND HUMAN ACTS
 DISTINCTION BETWEEN ACTS
OF MAN AND HUMAN ACTS

• The capacity of the person to do good is rooted in his

capacity to perform human acts.
• A human act is defined as the action that is with
knowledge and full consent of the will. This is the action
that makes man fully responsible for what he does.
• Acts of man is defined as the action that is done in the
absence of either knowledge or will.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
OF HUMAN ACTS
 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS

1. Knowledge
- is essentially the consciousness of an object, fact, or
principle belonging to the physical, mental, or metaphysical
order that may in any manner be reached by cognitive
faculties.
 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS

2. Voluntariness
- A thing may be voluntary in itself, as, when it is own
proper concept, it falls under efficacious determination of
the agent, or voluntary in something else.
 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS

3. Freedom
- Human freedom is our ability to initiate and control our
own actions. We choose to do or not to do each action and
are responsible for what we have chosen.
MODIFIERS OF
HUMAN ACTS
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

Modifiers of Human Acts are factors that influence man’s

inner disposition towards certain actions.
1. Ignorance
2. Passion
3. Fear
4. Habits
5. Violence
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

1. Ignorance
- is the absence of knowledge that a person ought to possess.
In the realm of morals, every person of age and reason is
experienced to know at least the general norms of good
behavior. The different types of human acts are vincible and
invincible.
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

A. Vincible Ignorance
- can be solved through ordinary diligence and reasonable
efforts. It can and should be dispelled.
i. Simple vincible ignorance
ii. Crass or supine ignorance
iii. Affected vincible ignorance
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

B. Invincible Ignorance (unconquerable)

- is a type of human act in which a person possesses
ignorance without being aware of it or having awareness of
it, and lacks the means to rectify it. It cannot be cleared up
and knowledge is lacking and cannot be acquired.
i. Invincibly ignorant of his/her violation
ii. Ignorance about the proper remedies is invincible.
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

2. Passion or Concupiscence
- is a movement of the sensitive (irrational) appetite which
is produced by good or evil as apprehended by the mind.
- are tendencies towards desirable objects or tendencies
away from undesirable or harmful things.
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

2. Passion or Concupiscence
- may be positive or negative emotions.
- Positive emotions (love, desire, delight, hope, and
bravery)
- Negative emotions (hatred, horror, sadness, despair, fear,
and anger)
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

2. Passion
- may be called good when ordered by the rational will to
help man in the practice of virtue or in the attainment of that
which is morally good.
For instance: sorrow for the death of a friend is good because it
shows sympathy for the mourning family.
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

2. Passion
- may be called bad when used by the rational will to
accomplish morally evil actions.
For instance: Making love with somebody outside matrimony.
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

3. Fear
- is the disturbance of the mind of a person who is confronted by the
impending danger or harm to himself or loved ones.
Two types of fear: grave and slight
a. Grave fear – is aroused due to the presence of a danger. Example: fear of
death
b. Slight fear – is aroused due to unalarming danger
Example: fear of losing one’s wallet or other things, when riding in a car or
plane
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

4. Habits
- is a lasting readiness and facility born of frequently
repeated acts for acting in a certain manner. It is not easy
to overcome or alter.
- it requires a strong-willed person to correct a habit
successfully within a limited period of time.
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACTS

5. Violence
- refers to any physical force exerted on a person by another
free agent for the purpose of compelling the said person to
act against his will.
- Violent acts are dominated by the emotion. However, it is
our responsibility to educate our emotions.
 SUMMARY

• It is true that each person is expected to be morally

responsible for his/her doings if and only when he/she
uses his/her fundamental freedom as a person.
• However, his/her actions cannot simply be judged as
good or bad unless the morality of the human acts,
namely, the object of the act or the act itself, the
circumstance, and the intention are considered and
investigated.
Lesson 4

ENDS OF HUMAN
ACTS
 INTRODUCTION

• A thing is desirable only in so far as it is good or perfect.

• Therefore, goodness, morality, and virtue come first than
pleasure, utility, self-interest, or public interest.
• The end of the act is the natural termination of an activity.
 INTRODUCTION

• Example: the end of recreation is relaxation; that of eating

is nourishment; and that of writing is motor development.
• A human act is always performed for an end. Human acts
are termed as such when they are proper to man.
• An end is both a termination and a goal of activity. It is
that towards which an action tends.
 CLASSIFICATION OF ENDS

A. Proximate End
B. Intermediate End
C. Absolute Last End
 CLASSIFICATION OF ENDS

A. Proximate End
- is the immediate outcome of an act. On the other hand, the
remote end is that which the agent wishes to achieve later
on, and toward the attainment of which he employs the
present act as a means.
 CLASSIFICATION OF ENDS

A. Proximate End
To illustrate: A politician gives money to the poor and
wishes his good deed to be recorded in the newspaper. His
proximate end is favorable publicity. However, he does not
desire publicity for its own sake but for the votes it will gain
him in the coming elections. Thus, while publicity is his
proximate end, votes and election to office are his remote
ends.
 CLASSIFICATION OF ENDS

B. Intermediate End
- is the subordinate end sought for the attainment of another
end. While ultimate end is on account of which the other
ends or means are sought. An end, whether proximate or
remote, is willed either for its own sake or as a means to an
end more remote.
 CLASSIFICATION OF ENDS

B. Intermediate End
If it is willed for its own sake, it is the last or ultimate end,
and if it is willed as a means to a further end, it is an
intermediate end.
 CLASSIFICATION OF ENDS

B. Intermediate End
To illustrate: A man gives money to the poor. He gives the
money to gain favorable notice in the newspapers
(proximate and intermediate end). He wills publicity as a
means to votes (remote and intermediate end); he wills votes
as a means to election (remote and intermediate end). He
wills election for the prominence, power, and wealth which
the office will give him (remote and ultimate end).
 CLASSIFICATION OF ENDS

C. Absolute Last End

- is defined by St. Thomas as “the end for the sake of which
all other things are desired, and which is not itself desired
for the sake of anything else.”
- Consequently, all that man wills and desires will indirectly
or directly be on account of the last absolute end.
 CLASSIFICATION OF ENDS

C. Absolute Last End

To illustrate: A student may study his lessons hard because he
wants to have good grades (proximate end), so he can please
his parents (intermediate end). He knows that upon seeing the
grades, his parents will continue to pay for his studies until his
graduation (ultimate end). But the Bachelor’s degree is not in
itself an ultimate end for this student but only a means to get a
job and make money which are means for making a decent
living and attaining eternal happiness (absolute last end).
 END AS SOMETHING GOOD

• The end or final cause of human acts must be apprehended as good.

• Every goal requires moral action especially in guarding the end or
final cause of human acts and must be perceived as good.
• Upholding the centrality towards the end of human actions, one
must focus on the real meaning of happiness and the attainment of
the highest quality of life that encompasses the intellectual, social,
physical, moral and spiritual aspects.
• The entire creation should acknowledge the Absolute happiness,
God.
 MEANING OF GOOD

• We call a tool or instrument good if it serves the purpose

for which it is intended.
• It is an efficient means to obtain a desired result.
• We sometimes call a thing good because it possesses
completely or in a high degree the perfections proper to its
nature.
 KINDS OF GOOD

1. Real good is something truly good in itself.

2. Apparent good, in itself, is real evil but appears under
the reality of good, as theft, revenge and suicide. Every
moral evil is an apparent good.
3. Conditional good is a good under a certain aspect.
 KINDS OF GOOD
3. Conditional good is a good under a certain aspect.
a. Simple good is something perfect according to its own
nature. Example: Medicine is something perfect according to its own
nature. It is conditionally good in relation to different individuals.’
b. Imperfect good is something that satisfies either the
inferior appetites of man, for example, sensual pleasures and all
material things of this world) or the superior powers like the
intellect and the will.
 THE GREATEST GOOD/PERFECT GOOD

 The greatest good or perfect good can satisfy

human nature completely and perfectly to the
highest degree and leaves nothing to be desired.
Such good is God Himself – the ultimate end and
happiness of man.
 NATURAL HAPPINESS

Happiness is an emotional or affective state that is

characterized by feelings of enjoyment and
satisfaction.
It is associated to well – being, delight, health,
safety, contentment and love. Contrasting states
include suffering, depression, grief, anxiety and
pain.
 SUPERNATURAL HAPPINESS

Happiness is supernatural when there is a

possession of something that surpasses all that
natural powers can achieve. Thus, man’s happiness
due to grace of God is supernatural.
Man tends towards supernatural eternal happiness.
 GRACE AND ITS EFFECTS

Grace is one of the most thrilling terms in scripture.

It derives from the Greek, charis, related to the word
chairo, which means to rejoice.
It denoted sweetness or attractiveness.
It came to signify favor, goodwill, and loving kindness
– especially as granted by a superior to inferior.
 SUMMARY

Today, more and more emphasis is placed in

helping a person to reach his/her goal in life.
Every goal requires moral action especially in
guarding the end or final cause of human acts and
must be perceived as good.
 SUMMARY

Good and evil is both present and require something that will
bring satisfaction or will lead to it.
It is judged by the agent as a greater good and forbids the sin.
To uphold the centrality towards the end of human actions, one
must focus on the real meaning of happiness and the
attainment of the highest quality of life that encompasses the
intellectual, social, physical, moral and spiritual aspects.
The entire creation should acknowledge the Absolute happiness,
God.