1730
God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who
can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be
'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek
his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to
him."26
Man
is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master
over his acts.27
I.
Freedom and Responsibility
1731
Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do
this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility.
By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and
maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward
God, our beatitude.
1732
As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which
is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of
growing in perfection or of failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes
properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or blame, merit or reproach.
1733
The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom
except in the service of what is good and just. the choice to disobey and do
evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin."28
1734
Freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are
voluntary. Progress in virtue, knowledge of the good, and ascesis enhance the
mastery of the will over its acts.
1735
Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even
nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate
attachments, and other psychological or social factors.
1736
Every act directly willed is imputable to its author:
Thus
the Lord asked Eve after the sin in the garden: "What is this that you
have done?"29 (Gen 3:13. ) He asked Cain the same question.30 (Cf. ⇒ Gen 4:10. ) The prophet Nathan
questioned David in the same way after he committed adultery with the wife of
Uriah and had him murdered.31(Cf. ⇒ 2 Sam 12:7-15. )
An action can be indirectly voluntary when it results from negligence regarding something one should have known or done: for example, an accident arising from ignorance of traffic laws.
1737
An effect can be tolerated without being willed by its agent; for instance, a
mother's exhaustion from tending her sick child. A bad effect is not imputable
if it was not willed either as an end or as a means of an action, e.g., a death
a person incurs in aiding someone in danger. For a bad effect to be imputable
it must be foreseeable and the agent must have the possibility of avoiding it,
as in the case of manslaughter caused by a drunken driver.
1738
Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person,
created in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognized as a free
and responsible being. All owe to each other this duty of respect. the right to
the exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an
inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person. This right must be
recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common
good and public order.32
II.
Human Freedom in the Economy of Salvation
1739
Freedom and sin. Man's freedom is limited and fallible. In fact, the man failed. He
freely sinned. By refusing God's plan of love, he deceived himself and became a
slave to sin. This first alienation engendered a multitude of others. From its
outset, human history attests to the wretchedness and oppression born of the human
heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom.
1740
Threats to freedom. the exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do
everything. It is false to maintain that man, "the subject of this
freedom," is "an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose
finality is the satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly
goods."33 (CDF, instruction, Libertatis conscientia 13. ) Moreover, the economic, social, political, and cultural conditions
that are needed for a just exercise of freedom are too often disregarded or
violated. Such situations of blindness and injustice injure the moral life and
involve the strong as well as the weak in the temptation to sin against
charity. By deviating from the moral law man violates his own freedom, becomes
imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against
divine truth.
1741
Liberation and salvation. By his glorious Cross Christ has won salvation for
all men. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage. "For
freedom Christ has set us free."34 (Gal 5: 1.) In him we have communion with the
"truth that makes us free."35 (Cf. In 8:32.) The Holy Spirit has been given to us
and, as the Apostle teaches, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
freedom."36 (2 Cor 17.) Already we glory in the "liberty of the children of
God."37
1742
Freedom and grace. the grace of Christ is not in the slightest way a rival of
our freedom when this freedom accords with the sense of the true and the good
that God has put in the human heart. On the contrary, as Christian experience
attests especially in prayer, the more docile we are to the promptings of
grace, the more we grow in inner freedom and confidence during trials, such as
those we face in the pressures and constraints of the outer world. By the
working of grace the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to
make us free collaborators in his work in the Church and in the world:
Almighty
and merciful God,
in
your goodness take away from us all that is harmful,
so
that, made ready both in mind and body,
we
may freely accomplish your will.38
IN
BRIEF
1743
"God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel (cf ⇒ Sir 15:14), so that he
might of his own accord seek his creator and freely attain his full and blessed
perfection by cleaving to him" (GS 17 # 1).
1744
Freedom is the power to act or not to act, and so to perform deliberate acts of
one's own. Freedom attains perfection in its acts when directed toward God, the
sovereign Good.
1745
Freedom characterizes properly human acts. It makes the human being responsible
for acts of which he is the voluntary agent. His deliberate acts properly
belong to him.
1746
The imputability or responsibility for an action can be diminished or nullified
by ignorance, duress, fear, and other psychological or social factors.
1747
The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in religious and moral
matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of man. But the exercise
of freedom does not entail the putative right to say or do anything.
1748
"For freedom Christ has set us free" (⇒ Gal 5:1).
GO TO:
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholos (Acts 9:31)
SECTION ONE MAN'S VOCATION IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
PART THREE LIFE IN CHRIST
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
PART THREE LIFE IN CHRIST
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholos (Acts 9:31)
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher.
No comments:
Post a Comment