Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 299 – Part II.

YOUCAT Question n.  299 - Part II. What is meant by a “virtue”?

(Youcat answer - repeated) A virtue is an interior disposition, a positive habit, a passion that has been placed at the service of the good.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1805) Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called "cardinal"; all the others are grouped around them. They are: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. "If anyone loves righteousness, [Wisdom's] labors are virtues; for she teaches temperance and prudence, justice, and courage" (Wis 8:7). These virtues are praised under other names in many passages of Scripture.   

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). That means that we must change on our way to God. By our human abilities we can do that only in fits and starts. With his grace God supports the human virtues and gives us, above and beyond that, the so-called supernatural virtues ( 305), which help us to come closer to God and live more securely in his light.  

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1806) Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; "the prudent man looks where he is going" (Prov 14:15). "Keep sane and sober for your prayers" (1 Pet 4:7). Prudence is "right reason in action," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 47, 2). It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.

(This question: What is meant by a “virtue”? is continued)

Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 299 – Part I.

YOUCAT Question n.  299 - Part I. What is meant by a “virtue”?

(Youcat answer) A virtue is an interior disposition, a positive habit, a passion that has been placed at the service of the good.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1833) Virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good. (CCC 1803) "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil 4:8). A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God (St. Gregory of Nyssa, De beatitudinibus, 1: PG 44, 1200D).  

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). That means that we must change on our way to God. By our human abilities we can do that only in fits and starts. With his grace God supports the human virtues and gives us, above and beyond that, the so-called supernatural virtues ( 305), which help us to come closer to God and live more securely in his light.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1804) Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life. The virtuous man is he who freely practices the good. The moral virtues are acquired by human effort. They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love. 

(This question: What is meant by a “virtue”? is continued)

Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 298 – Part II.

YOUCAT Question n. 298 - Part II. Is someone who in good conscience acts wrongly guilty in God’s sight?

(Youcat answer - repeated) No. If a person has thoroughly examined himself and arrived at a certain judgment, he must in any case follow his inner voice, even at the risk of doing something wrong.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1793) If - on the contrary - the ignorance is invincible, or the moral subject is not responsible for his erroneous judgment, the evil committed by the person cannot be imputed to him. It remains no less an evil, a privation, a disorder. One must therefore work to correct the errors of moral conscience. (CCC 1801) Conscience can remain in ignorance or make erroneous judgments. Such ignorance and errors are not always free of guilt.   

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) God does not blame us for the objective harm that results from a wrong judgment of conscience, provided that we ourselves are not responsible for having a badly formed conscience. While it is quite true that ultimately one must follow one’s conscience, it must likewise be kept in mind that people have swindled, murdered, tortured, and betrayed others on the basis of what they wrongly supposed to be their conscience.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1794) A good and pure conscience is enlightened by true faith, for charity proceeds at the same time "from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith" (1 Tim 5; cf. 3:9; 2 Tim 3; 1 Pet 3:21; Acts 24:16). The more a correct conscience prevails, the more do persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided by objective standards of moral conduct (GS 16). (CCC 1802) The Word of God is a light for our path. We must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. This is how moral conscience is formed. 

 
(The next question is: What is meant by a “virtue”?)

Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 298 – Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 298 - Part I. Is someone who in good conscience acts wrongly guilty in God’s sight?

(Youcat answer) No. If a person has thoroughly examined himself and arrived at a certain judgment, he must in any case follow his inner voice, even at the risk of doing something wrong.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1790) A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed. (CCC 1791) This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man "takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin" (GS 16). In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.  

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) God does not blame us for the objective harm that results from a wrong judgment of conscience, provided that we ourselves are not responsible for having a badly formed conscience. While it is quite true that ultimately one must follow one’s conscience, it must likewise be kept in mind that people have swindled, murdered, tortured, and betrayed others on the basis of what they wrongly supposed to be their conscience.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1792) Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience,  rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.

 
(This question: Is someone who in good conscience acts wrongly guilty in God’s sight? is continued)

Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 297 – Part III.

YOUCAT Question n. 297 - Part III. Can a person form his conscience?

(Youcat answer - repeated) Yes, in fact he must do that. The conscience, which is innate to every person endowed with reason, can be misled and deadened. That is why it must be formed into an increasingly finetuned instrument for acting rightly.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1785) In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path (cf. Ps 119:105), we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord's Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church (Cf. DH 14). 

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) The first school of conscience is self-criticism. We have the tendency to judge things to our own advantage. The second school of conscience is orientation to the good actions of others. The correct formation of conscience leads a man into the freedom to do what has been correctly identified as good. With the help of the Holy Spirit and Scripture, the Church over her long history has accumulated a vast knowledge about right action; it is part of her mission to instruct people and also to give them directions.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1799) Faced with a moral choice, conscience can make either a right judgment in accordance with reason and the divine law or, on the contrary, an erroneous judgment that departs from them. (CCC 1787) Man is sometimes confronted by situations that make moral judgments less assured and decision difficult. But he must always seriously seek what is right and good and discern the will of God expressed in divine law.     

(The next question is: Is someone who in good conscience acts wrongly guilty in God’s sight?)