Journal: I am convinced that... we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing- oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring…

Journal: …A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, 'This is not just.' It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, 'This is not just.' The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, 'This way of settling differences is not just.' This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." Martin Luther King, Beyond Vietnam Speech, April 4, Riverside Church New York City

Chapter One cont… Being Human

The three parts of Catholic Faith: 1. How Catholics think (Catholic theology) 2. How Catholics live (Catholic morality) 3. How Catholics pray (Catholic worship) Corresponding to the mind, will and the heart…

The three parts of Catholic Faith: 1. How Catholics think (Catholic theology) 2. How Catholics live (Catholic morality) 3. How Catholics pray (Catholic worship) Corresponding to the mind, will and the heart…

Credo ut intelligam…I believe so that I may understand But what about the loss of faith?

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10: That one thing is Christ -(Eucharist)

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality “As Kierkegaard put is, the object of the student is not the teacher but the teaching, while the object of the Christian is not the teaching but the teacher.” Walker Percy “Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member” (CCC 1691)

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality “Nothing comparable exists in secular morality. No other basis for human dignity can rival this: that God has given us a share in his own divine nature by incorporating us into Christ’s Body…at the beginning of each day, and before each moral choice, we should take time to let this essential point sink in, to listen to the heartbeat of this heart of Catholic morality.” Kreeft, Peter ( ). Catholic Christianity (p. 157). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality “Seeing the big picture” One of the main reasons we fail to practice our morality well is that we fail to understand it well. We fail to understand that it is not just a way of behaving but a way of being; not simply “living a good life” but becoming “a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17) -Peter Kreeft, Catholic Christianity

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality The relation between religion and morality? Can we be good without God? “If God does not exist, everything is permissible” -Dostoyevsky

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality True morality without true religion? God as the first cause and the ultimate origin of the moral law. Knowledge of morality by natural reason

The Centrality of Christ in Catholic Morality So if we can live a good moral life without being a Catholic, why be one? -The difference between the true and the good.

The role of Scripture in Catholic Morality Catholic Morality (deeds) is based on Catholic Theology (beliefs). Right Morality (along with right Theology) as the main source of God’s blessings. (Moses, Deut 30; David, Psalm 1; Christ, Mt 25.) Law of Retribution

The role of Scripture in Catholic Morality Belief as a Moral Decision Faith as: (a)Intellectual Belief (b)Moral Action (c)The Indefinable Sense of Grace

The role of Scripture in Catholic Morality Our Jewish Moral Heritage Man’s Moral Instinct (conscience) Man’s Religious Instinct (to worship)

Morality Today: The Enlightenment

The supernatural character of Catholic Morality: -Nature -Origin -End

The supernatural character of Catholic Morality: 13 Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The supernatural character of Catholic Morality: Beatitude is supernatural in three ways: (1) Beyond human nature (2) Beyond human reason (3) Beyond human power

The supernatural character of Catholic Morality: “Such beatitude surpasses the understanding and powers of man. It comes from an entirely free gift of God: whence it is called supernatural” (CCC 1722).

Exit Journal: For you (in your life and personal experience) how necessary (or sufficient) is the connection between faith and morality.