BEN MISSION - Form and Inform our conscience for

guidance
PART 1: HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE SEARCH
FOR TRUTH THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE
MODERN WORLD (GAUDIUM ET SPES)
LIFE AND DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
● DIGNITY - Latin: “dignus“ (worth) PART 2: ANTI-RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT
○ Proper, fitting, honor, respect, ★ Momentum towards the denial of the
value existence of God
● HUMAN DIGNITY - self-esteem, self- ★ Desire for self-empowerment and
regard, self-worth, self-respect, faith in fulfillment
oneself, pride, dignity, morale, self- ★ Fallacious idea of “God”
confidence ★ THEODICY ISSUE - problem of evil
● Catholic Church - human life is sacred ○ Failure of Christians to live out
○ dignity - foundation of a moral the gospel
vision for society ★ REASONS FOR REJECTION
● Human is designed by our CREATOR ○ THE DESIRE FOR SELF-
with dignity EMPOWERMENT AND
● Man is created in the image of God and FULFILLMENT
is tasked with SUBDUING the earth and ■ Too much leads to
having DOMINION over it selfishness and greed
● ABUSE OF FREEDOM - set oneself
○ A FALLACIOUS IDEA OF GOD
against God (serving the creature rather
■ God as an idea vs. as a
than the creator)
real being
○ Cause of sin in the world
■ As omnipotent vs. as
○ Pursued but used wrongly as a
not omnipotent
licence to indulge sinful desires
● Practicality vs. Moral Conscience ○ THEODICY ISSUE - man
● MORAL CONSCIENCE - intuition or becomes embodiments of evil
judgment that assists in distinguishing when they abuse their freedom
right from wrong ○ THE FAILURE OF
● CCC 1776 - man discovers a law in his CHRISTIANS TO LIVE OUT
conscience THE GOSPEL - a personal call
● CONSCIENCE - judgement of reason to HOLINESS
● Formation of conscience - leads to ■ Religion enslaves man
transformation and prevents his
liberation by
HUMAN DIGNITY AND THE SEARCH FOR distractions(delusions)
TRUTH- constantly searches outward for ■ Temptation to protect
meaning and for answers. personal rights by
- Sometimes destructive. exempting man from
We will discover many things that might divine law leads to
destroy our human dignity. “annihilation” of the
 dignity of man, not its
protection. (GS 41)
PART 3: ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE
MODERN WORLD
MISSION OF THE CHURCH
❏ To carry forth the work of Christ, who
came to rescue, not to judge, and to
serve, not to be served
❏ To guard the heritage of God’s word
❏ To increase the size of God’s family
during the present history until the
Lord returns
❏ The Church is charged with “the duty of
scrutinizing the signs of the times and
interpreting them in the light of the
Gospel
HINDRANCES TO THE CHURCH
➔ Weakness/sinful humanity of her
members
➔ Temptation to worldliness – “when the
Church becomes worldly…the Church is
a weak Church, a defeated Church,
unable to transmit the Gospel…”
(Homily of Pope Francis on April 30,
2013)
➔ SIN - ultimately comes from pride and
selfishness, economic, political, and
social tensions provide opportunities
for man to sin in new ways
➔ Church was given a religious mission -
helping to apply divine truth to human
order and to work to alleviate suffering
◆ to combat atheism and
secularism (and evil), the faith
must penetrate the entirely of
PART 5: POLITICS
the human existence
◆ Christians must live lives of
faith, not just an hour each
week at Mass
PART 4: MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
➢ MARRIAGE - primary form of
interpersonal communion
➢ Marriage and conjugal love ordered to
procreation and raising of children,
sprung from the fruitfulness that comes
from conjugal union
➢ Man is invited to share in God’s creative
work through matrimony
➢ Works for sanctification of couples
➢ FAMILY - basic unit of the Church and
society
○ brings the Church and Christ to
the world
➢ Health of society and individuals is
linked to the health of marriage and
family
➢ Families and children need a father and
a mother
➢ Plagues of family life: POLYGAMY,
DIVORCE, FREE LOVE, WORSHIP OF
PLEASURE, BIRTH CONTROL
➢ Life must be protected from the
moment of conception against abortion
and infanticide
➢ SUMMARY: The Church CANNOT
support the redefinition of marriage -
the sacrament of marriage between one
man and one woman, leading to a
complementary union that leads to the
procreation and raising of children, and
ultimately towards sanctification, is the
very foundation of the Church and
society.
➢ STRONG FAMILY - foundation of a
strong society
❖ Church
➢ is not bound to any political
form, system of
government/politics
 ➢ Affects change by teaching in
faith and charity, not by
political force
➢ POLITICAL COMMUNITY -
exists for the sake of the
common good
➢ POLITICAL SYSTEMS - exist
to work towards the fulfillment
of basic needs and rights(right
to state of life, to a family, to
education and employment, to
reputation, to privacy, to
conscience, and to religion)
➢ Abuse of power and
discrimination are condemned
PART 6: ECONOMICS
● Danger of being consumed by economic
ways of thinking
● Man has a right to a sufficient share of
earthly goods – men (and Church) are
obliged to come to the aid of the poor
and not just out of comfortable surplus
● We lack: decent shelter, nutritious food,
enough food supply, safe place, clean
water, and comfortable sleep
PART 7: THE DIGNITY OF HUMAN WORK
- Work brings dignity to man – while
providing for self and family, society is
benefitted as well
- Man should work for income but also
for contribution to society or world
- Man is more precious for what he is
than what he has
- Opportunity to cultivate family life,
social involvement, and religious
devotion.
- Opportunity to “freely develop energies
and potentialities which perhaps they
cannot bring to much fruition in their
professional work.”
- A diligent and industrious businessman
or woman sells not only goods but
“goodwill”
- Our WORK is our form of WORSHIP
- Stay HONEST and true to work because
it is a way to teach, touch and transform
many lives(Mahatma gandu)
PART 8: WAR AND PEACE
PEACE - not merely the absence of war or the
balance of power between enemies, nor forced
peace through dictatorship
- comes from the pursuit of justice &
charity
- “must be built up ceaselessly”
LESSON 6: DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON
THE CHURCH (LUMEN GENTIUM)
● “The Church: the Light of the Nations”
● LUMEN GENTIUM - Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church (November
21, 1964)
● Promulgated by Pope Paul VI
1. THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH
a. God created the world and man
according to his mysterious
plan, in His wisdom and
goodness.
b. His plan was to raise man to
participation in divine life
c. After the fall of man (original
sin), he foreshadowed the
Church through his covenants
and promises
4 MARKS OF THE CHURCH
● One – unity found in her source
○ Holy Trinity
● Holy – filled with the Holy Spirit and
made one in marriage with Christ
● Catholic – universal through the
presence of Christ in her as well as in
her mission to the whole human race
● Apostolic – founded on the apostles
BIBLICAL METAPHORS OF THE CHURCH
- Christ is the Head of the Church, which
is the Mystical Body of Christ of which
we are all members
SHEEPFOLD - a low stone wall open to the sky
- people (sheep) are being protected,
nurtured, fed and taken good care by
Jesus (the good shepherd)
VINEYARD - it is a land field to be cultivated for
the crops to grow
- ( Jews) vineyard of the Lord of hosts is
the HOUSE OF ISRAEL, the people of
Judah, his cherished plant
- the church - people of God (vineyard)
are cultivated, cultured, watered, and
grown by Jesus (the landowner)
CORNERSTONE - foundation stone or
capstone of the Temple
- assurance of salvation, rejected by the
people of Judah in the prophet’s time
- “stone, rock or cornerstone” wherein
the church - people of God (building)
are founded on a strong foundation that
can withstand and stood still amidst
challenges through the history of time
BRIDE/MOTHER - seen as the virginal Bride of
Christ