1. Ch. 8: Living the Paschal Mystery: A Call to Holiness

2. Who are some people you consider to be holy?
What does it mean to be “holy”?
See next slide and pp

3. The Light of Christ
Something is holy by virtue of being related to God.
Our call to holiness (i.e. to be saints) is a vocation given to us by Jesus himself.
A mark of holiness is to let Christ’s light shine through in our lives.

4. Living a Life of Virtue
For our part, we can accept the grace of Redemption God offers us by:
repenting of our sins
believing in the Gospel
living a life of holiness
We grow in holiness in two ways:
living a life of virtue
cooperating with God’s graces

5. Virtues
The habitual and firm disposition to do good—the meaning of living a life of virtue—empowers us to perform good acts and give the best of our lives.
The opposite of a virtue is a vice, a bad habit that is acquired by repeated sin in violation of proper norms of morality.

6. The Human Virtues
Human virtues (aka moral virtues) are virtues we can acquire by human effort.
The cardinal virtues—prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance—are the source of the other virtues.

7. Prudence Helps us decide responsibly
Equated with common sense and wisdom
Use of memory, foresight, imagination, and openness to learning to discover the right course of action in every situation
While presenting the following slides, teachers might ask students to think of examples of each virtue.

8. Justice Giving due to God and neighbor The four types:
commutative: regulates relationships of exchange between individuals and social groups
distributive: seeks fair distribution of the goods of creation
legal: governs what individuals owe society as a whole
social: applies the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to the structures, systems, and laws of society

9. Fortitude
Courage to conquer fears—even the fear of death—for a worthy cause
The ultimate example of fortitude it martyrdom, dying for one’s faith

10. Temperance Virtue of self-control Three parts:
abstinence: tempers our desires for food and other pleasure-producing substances
Teachers should make it clear that chastity is not the same thing as “abstinence” from sex (refraining from sexual activity altogether. Teachers might discuss with students what constitutes chastity for different states of life (e.g. abstinence for priests and religious and appropriate sex for married couples).
sobriety: moderates our desires for alcoholic beverages
chastity: helps us control our sex drive in a way that fits our state in life

11. The Theological Virtues
Faith, hope, and charity (love)
They are infused into our souls directly by God
The Triune God is their origin, motive, and object

12. Faith Makes it possible for us to commit totally to God
Must be lived and strengthened through practices like:
prayer
reading Scripture
celebrating the sacraments
studying the faith
drawing on the faith of friends
put faith into action:
corporal works of mercy and
spiritual works of mercy
Since the term “faith” is used very often and often inconsistently, teachers might find it beneficial to discuss with students how they hear it used and what they think it means.

13. Hope
Allows us to desire the Kingdom of Heaven and happiness in eternal life
Christ’s own life is a model of hope

14. Charity
Allows us to love God for his own sake and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God
The “mother of virtues” and the only virtue that lasts into eternity
Jesus by his words and deeds teaches that charity involves:
obedience
reverence
sacrifice

15. God Helps Us Grow in Holiness
Growth in holiness is a difficult but not impossible task as long as we rely on God’s help, which includes:
grace
the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit

16. Grace
Grace is God’s favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to the call to holiness
The benefits of grace:
enables us to address God as Abba
adopts us into God’s family
enables us to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity
makes us heirs of Heaven
enables us to live as God’s sons and daughters as Jesus taught
unites us to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

17. Sanctifying grace is the free and undeserved gift that God gives to us that blesses us in many ways and helps us to grow in holiness
Distinguished from:
actual graces: God’s intervention at the beginning of conversion or in the course of sanctification
sacramental graces: specific gifts that come from particular sacraments
graces of state: help God gives to particular ministries in the Church
charisms: special gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to individual Christians to build up the Body of Christ

18. The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Help us to live Christ-like lives
Given to us at Baptism and Confirmation
The Seven Gifs of the Holy Spirit:
wisdom: looking at reality from God’s point of view
understanding: ability to uncover the deeper meaning of faith and the mysteries of God’s magnificent creation
knowledge: grace to see how God is working in our lives, especially in moral decisions

19. counsel (right judgment): ability to form our conscience in light of Church teaching
fortitude (courage): strength to follow our convictions in the face of adversity
piety (reverence): respect shown to the Lord through praise and worship
fear of the Lord (wonder and awe): concern about the reality of our sin and to avoid alienation from God

20. Essential Elements of Holiness
We are able to grow in holiness as members of Christ’s Body in three general ways:
practicing the virtue of charity
celebrating the sacraments
picking up the cross and following Jesus

21. Formation of conscience is a life-long process
Created in his own image, God gave humans the capacities needed to be holy and to share in his own life:
Human reason: power to discern with our intellects the laws God put into creation
Free will: capacity to choose among alternatives and to use God-given talents to cooperate freely with God’s grace
Conscience: capacity to distinguish between good and evil in an act that one is going to perform, in the process of performing, or has already completed
Formation of conscience is a life-long process
Teachers might walk through the steps of a moral decision with the students, noting how each capacity comes into play.

22. An upright conscience recognize three sources of morality:
the object chosen: the matter of our actions/ what we do
the end or intention: the purpose for doing something
the circumstances: secondary factors surrounding the action (e.g. time, place, method of performing the act)

23. Every person is obliged to follow his or her own conscience.
However, sometimes conscience can be mistaken, so we must always aim to strengthen it.
Following a well-formed conscience and making a moral choice based on it is an opportunity for growth in holiness.