Glossary to be read before first class:
(A Handbook of Theological Terms, (HT) by Van A. Harvey, Macmillan Pub. Co., 1964.
Also from the Catechism, Catholic Encyclopedia, and Bible.)
Virtue. According to Catholic teaching…is a habit or a disposition of right conduct.
Education and repetition may either acquire virtues or they may be infused.
a)Those Virtues aimed at the perfection of human nature without respect to its
supernatural end are called natural Virtues. The four principal natural Virtues are
prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
b) Those Virtues which have to do with man’s supernatural destiny are called
supernatural or theological Virtues. The three theological virtues are faith, hope, and
charity.
Oxford American Dictionary defines:
Prudent: showing carefulness and foresight, avoiding rashness
Justice: just treatment, fairness.
Just: giving proper consideration to the claims of everyone concerned; deserved, right in
amount.
Fortitude: courage in bearing pain or trouble.
Temperate: self-restrained in one’s behavior, moderate…without extremes.
Faith: reliance or trust in a person or thing; belief in religious doctrine or system; loyalty,
sincerity.
Hope: a feeling of expectation and desire combined; a person or thing or circumstance
that gives cause for this.
Charity: loving kindness toward others; unwillingness to think badly of people or acts;
generosity in giving to the needy.
Beatitudes are declaration of praise or congratulations for a condition or virtue.
Encyclopedia of Catholicism defines:
Moral Theology: We are all “called to discern and make responsible human judgements”
and to do the theology, this involves the critical study of our moral life.
Common Good: “the sum of those conditions of social life by which individuals,
families and groups can achieve their own fulfillment in a relatively thorough and ready
way.” Human beings are social! Culturally, politically and economically we are socially
dependent and we influence society.
Conscience: the whole self trying to make judgements about who one ought to be and
what one ought to do. It is a person’s “most secret core and sanctuary” where one is
“alone with God.” “this means that conscience is the person’s final or supreme, arbiter of
right and wrong. Its judgements must be followed because they reflect convictions and
internalized values that set the boundaries within which one acts with integrity.” (Church
in Modern World, n. 16) See Examination of Conscience, conscientious objection. (EoC)
Ethics, Christian, those moral norms that are thought to be distinctive of Christianity;
the academic discipline that reflects on morality from the perspective of Christian belief.
Praxis: (gr: doing, performing) the aspect of discipleship expressed through action.
Participation aimed at transforming persons and communities.
Responsible: Legally or morally obliged to take care of something or to carry out a duty,
liable to be blamed for loss or failure, etc. Having to account for one’s action,
Natural Law, The sum of those universally binding moral principles that can be
discerned by human reason, understood as analogous to a legal code. (Mature normal
people have an equal capacity for moral virtue. This was not always recognized; women,
racial, and various bias’ throughout history!)
Biblical
Ten Commandments:
“Then God delivered all these commandments: ‘I, the Lord, am your God, who brought
you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides
me. You shall not carve idols’ for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or
on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth: you shall not bow down before
them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting
punishment for their fathers’ wickedness on the children of those who love me and keep
my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not
leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain.
“Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your
work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God. No work may be done
then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast,
or by the alien who lives with you. In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,
the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord has
blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land
which the Lord, your God, is giving you.
“You shall not kill.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s
wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to
him.” (Exodus 20;1-17)
The Beatitudes (from the Sermon on the Mount):
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for there is the
kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil
against you [falsely] because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in
heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 6: 3-12)
The Corporal Works of Mercy:
1) Feed the hungry
2) Give drink to the thirsty
3) Welcome the stranger
4) Clothe the naked
5) Visit the sick
6) Visit the prisoner
7) Bury the dead
Six of these are found in Matthew 25: 31-46, The seventh is found in the Book of Tobit
1: 17-19.