Sober
for Christ
S piritually O bedient B eatitude E ucharist R econciliation
I dedicate this to my 3 children – Faith, Hope,
and Peter
Peace be to you beloved in
Christ. I will be discussing Thomistic Ethics and how the teachings of our
Angelic and Common Doctor of the Catholic Church , St. Thomas of Aquinas, has
played a major role in my vocation as husband and father. The topic in this
talk will focus on our CONSCIENCE.
Today, there is a great deal
of confusion about what conscience is. It seems that everyone has their view on
what their conscience should be. This would bring conscience to some form of
individualism. In our culture today conscience is highly subjective. In other
words, this would mean that we decide for ourselves right from wrong or good
from evil and based on our personal preferences we can build a sound and moral
life. This approach to the understanding of our conscience has corrupted our
culture and is the root cause for moral confusion.
There is also a personal
history to the conscience for each of us. Moreover, our conscience is formed by
our upbringing or by the examples our parents gave us from our youngest years.
We inherit values, our language, insecurities, habits, fears, and the sins of
our parents. As small children we suffer wounds and lay down patterns that we
learn from our parents. We take on emotional direction for which we are not
responsible for that will influence our choices as adults. Another way to
describe is this is to say that our parents influence our moral point of view.
To this extent our father and mother are responsible for the fabric of our
conscience. The daily choices of our parents sets the criteria for which our
character is formed and the manners which we inherit.
My formation falls into this
category. By the time I was 10 years old I was exposed to infidelity, drugs,
immorality, sin, and the pain and suffering resulting in the divorce of my
parents. At the age of 11 my father told me I knew right from wrong. Before I
turned 18 I had dropped out of high school, started drinking, using drugs, and
having sex. One might say that I was predisposed to this type of behavior as a
result of my upbringing. A doctor of psychology or psychiatry could have said
that I suffer from a psychiatric disorder that would warrant some kind of
medication and that I needed endless therapy and treatment.
I say that the deprivation of
the Sacraments, a life in the Church, and spiritual formation was the root
cause of my misinformed conscience. As in Sacred Scripture, physical and spiritual
death entered into the world as a result of the disobedience of our first
parents Adam and Eve. Original Sin impacts our human nature in each and
everyone of us. It would be then fair to say that the sins of our biological
parents will corrupt the formation of our conscience and our understanding of
what is ethical and how to reason with moral clarity. In reality, our
conscience is either informed or misinformed.
In his SUMMA EXCURSION, St.
Thomas of Aquinas reminds us in his TREATISE ON THE LAST THINGS in QUESTION 87:
OF THE KNOWLEDGE, WHICH AFTER RISING AGAIN, MEN WILL HAVE AT THE JUDGEMENT
CONCERNING MERITS AND DEMERITS, the following:
Wherefore each man's conscience will be as a book containing
his deeds on which judgment will be pronounced, even as in the human court of
law we make use of records. Of these books it is written in the Apocalypse
(referring to Revelation 20:12): where it says "The books were opened: and
another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by
those things which were written in the books, according to their works."
What a powerful statement
regarding the judgment of our conscience. I read this treatise and relate my
conscience to that of my DMV record which lists any tickets, accidents,
misdemeanors, or felonies I may have. Saint Thomas reminds us that our
conscience will be judged and opened like a book with all of our failures and
unwillingness to listen to God in our Moral Conscience.
Saint Faustina describes in
paragraph 741 of her diary a vision of hell and the 7 tortures she saw – Saint
Faustina writes
"Today, I was led by an angel to the
Chasms of Hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and
extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw:
The First Torture that constitutes hell is:
The loss of God.
The Second is:
Perpetual remorse of conscience.
The Third is
That one's condition will never change.
The Fourth is:
The fire that will penetrate the soul without
destroying it. A terrible suffering since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by
God's anger.
The Fifth Torture is:
Continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell,
and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other
and all the evil, both of others and their own.
The Sixth Torture is:
The constant company of Satan.
The Seventh Torture is:
Horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies.
These are the Tortures
suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings.
There are special Tortures destined for particular souls. These are the
torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable
sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned.
The second torture of the
perpetual remorse of conscience is what we will suffer from if it is misinformed.
This brings me to the topic of Thomistic Ethics.
What is ethics or alternately
moral philosophy? This is the pathway to the understanding of our inner nature.
The English word ethics traces its origin to the Greek “ethos” which means
“character”. In moral philosophy, the key word is “moral” which derives from
the Latin “mos” which means “custom” and
in its plural form in Latin “mores” it means “manners”. When we speak of
character, we are referring to what that person is in terms of what he himself
is ultimately responsible for. Our character is not something given, but
something attained as a result of a pattern of FREE choices which a person
makes over an extended period of time. These choices can become habitual. These
habits will either be good – VIRTUOUS or bad – EVIL. These choices will either
deliver us from evil and restore us to God’s Grace through Jesus Christ or they
will condemn us to eternal damnation.
The first principles of
ethics can be described as those various basic rules which provide the guidance
for righteous human behavior. Those rules are given in solid concrete
expression in the 10 Commandments which are a specific set of moral guidelines
that tells us what good is to be done and the evil to be avoided. This is the
foundation of the whole moral life.
Human nature is one, moreover
we come from God and our ultimate end is to return to God. Therefore we have
one Creator and one human nature. It would seem appropriate that there should
only be one ethical system. Thomistic Philosophy provides the concrete
characteristics by which human beings can be enabled to live good lives for the
Lord, our God. There is a unified, coherent body of knowledge pertaining to the
human good which gives us guidance to all human beings as to what is entailed
in living good lives. We find this body of knowledge n Sacred Scripture and
Sacred Tradition.
There are two objective
truths we need to discuss.
The first is our understanding
of our inner nature. In other words what makes us tick? Nature – when it
relates to God is the created universe. In relation to the life of Divine
Grace, it is that to which a human person has claim, as creature to share in
God’s own life, which is the supernatural.
The second is the formation
of our conscience.
First – what is our human
nature? To understand this we must first go back to the beginning of the
creation of man – back to Genesis in the Word of God – The Holy Bible where
truth resides. In the beginning God created Adam and Eve in His likeness and in
His likeness He created man and woman. We can say then that God created us and
we are descendents of Adam and Eve who were created in the image and likeness
of God. In man’s own nature, God unites the spiritual and material worlds. Of
all God’s creations – only man is able to know and love his creator.
This reminds me of the famous
words of St. Ignatius of Loyola when he wrote in his Spiritual Exercises “Man
was created for this end: to praise, reverence, and serve the Lord our God, and
by this means to arrive at eternal salvation.”
St. Augustine said something
along those same lines “God willed us without us, and He will not save us
without us”
God created Adam with a soul
which is the innermost aspect of man, that which is our greatest value – which
he is most especially in God’s image. The soul signifies the spiritual
principal in man. The human shares in the dignity of the image of God.
God created man and woman in
perfect equality as human persons whereas they both reflected their creator’s
wisdom and goodness. God willed man and woman for each other and united them in
such a way that by forming “one flesh” they can transmit human life – Genesis
1:28 says “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. In other words by
transmitting human life – man and woman as spouses and parents cooperate in a
unique way in the creators work.
In other words – to share in
God’s providence towards other creatures Adam and Eve had the responsibility
for the world God had entrusted to them. Man was not only created good but was
in harmony with himself. Adam and Eve were created and constituted in an
original state of holiness and justice. This Grace of original holiness was to
share in the Divine Life of God.
As long as Adam and Eve did
not abuse their freedom they would have remained in the Divine intimacy with
God and man would not have to suffer or die. This is also known as
“preternatural gifts” which are favors granted by God above and beyond the
powers or capacities of the nature that receives them but not beyond those of
all created nature. Such gifts perfect nature but do not carry it beyond the
limits of created nature. They include three great privileges to which human
beings have no title – they are infused knowledge, absence of concupiscence,
and bodily immortality. Adam and Eve possessed these gifts before the Fall.
The Catechism of the Catholic
Church tells us that the "mastery" over the world that God offered
man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: This means
their sensitive appetites, intellect, reasoning, emotions, and passions were in
their proper place. The first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being
because he was free from the triple concupiscence that subjugates him to the
pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods, and self-assertion,
contrary to the dictates of reason.
This means that Adam and Eve
did not suffer from an inclination to sin or have a tendency toward evil.
Sacred Tradition calls it “Fomes Pecatti” This fallen nature called
concupiscence was declared doctrine during the Council of Trent in 1546 on the
Decree of Original Sin.
Saint John writes about it in
1 JOHN 2:16 “for all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the
eyes, and a pretentious life is not from the Father but is from the world” St
Paul describes it in Romans Chapter 7:11-19 For sin, seizing an opportunity in
the commandment, deceived me and through it put me to death. So then the law is
holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did the good, then,
become death for me? Of course not! Sin, in order that it might be shown to be
sin, worked death in me through the good, so that sin might become sinful
beyond measure through the commandment. We know that the law is spiritual; but
I am carnal, sold into slavery to sin. What I do, I do not understand. For I do
not do what I want, but I do what I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I
concur that the law is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that
dwells in me. For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh.
The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the
good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.
In order to understand the
components of this triple concupiscence I will break it down into practical
terms –
First - Pleasure of the
senses – what this means is that our first parents were not inclined for the
satisfaction that accompanies the senses in a disordered manner such as:
fornication, compulsive eating, gambling, pornography, lust, intoxication of alcohol & drugs alike,
immoral music, masturbation, homosexuality, rivalry (obsession with sports), or
any of the other sensual perversions we see in our culture today.
Second - Covetousness for
Earthly Goods – Let us look at a passage in scripture to describe this in MARK
11:15-17 “They came to Jerusalem, and on entering the temple area he began to
drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money
changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. He did not permit
anyone to carry anything through the temple area. Then he taught them saying,
"Is it not written: 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all
peoples'? But you have made it a den of thieves." Jesus warns us of the
dangers of putting material goods first. Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict 16th
(while
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) in 1984 wrote in his book The Ratzinger Report that
we live in a country where money and wealth are the measure of all things. Have
you ever heard the saying – Money is one of the roots of all evil?
Finally - Self Assertion
contrary to the dictates of reason – in other words, Adam and Eve did not
declare their own ideas or opinions according to their own human understanding
or reasoning of the Divine Providence of God. We see this self assertion in
human secularism, moral relativism, liberalism, permissivism, and secular
psychiatry and psychology. In other words - Relying on ourselves and our own
human reasoning will ultimately lead us to moral confusion and moral decay. The greatest example to describe this human
thinking is MATHEW 16:21-23 The Bible says “From that time on, Jesus began to
show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the
elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day
be raised. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid,
Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." He turned and said to
Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking
not as God does, but as human beings do." Jesus calls St. Peter, our first
Pope, the devil for thinking as humans do. Let us ask ourselves - What would
Jesus say to us today for what our country has done to the children of GOD?
This concupiscence spoken of
here is our Fallen Nature. Adam and Eve in their state of original holiness and
justice were free of this triple concupiscence until they were tempted by the
devil, the serpent of old, and yielding to the tempter they sinned. The sin of
our first parents affected the entire human race and would forever transmit
this fallen nature.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church in paragraph 407 says that the doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails "captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil". Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals.
Beloved in Christ – do you
realize what this last sentence says?
Let me repeat it - ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature
inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education,
politics, social action and morals. This is the moral confusion that is
dehumanizing our country. This lack of formation is one of the root causes for
the spiritual suffering in our lives today. The more we know about ourselves,
the better we can prepare for our future. To know that we have a fallen nature
is key to understanding the Redemption of Christ and the importance of the
Sacraments
Now that we understand our
fallen nature – let us speak on the formation of our conscience which is in the
moral order. Man is a moral subject with freedom and responsibility to obtain
the truth. This freedom makes us moral subjects. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church tells us that the moral law is the work of Divine Wisdom and can be
defined as Fatherly instruction. The moral law finds its fullness and its unity
in Jesus Christ. Jesus is in person the way to perfection. St. Paul said in the
letter to the Romans “For Christ is the end of the law that everyone who has
faith may be justified.”
We participate in the wisdom
and goodness of our creator who gives us mastery over our acts and the ability
to govern ourselves with a view to the true and good through the Natural Moral
Law – This is the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason
the good and the evil – the truth and the lie.
Pope Leo the 13th said that the
natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because
it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin . . . But
this command of human reason would not have the force of law if it were not the
voice and interpreter of a higher reason to which our spirit and our freedom
must be submitted
Saint Thomas of Aquinas said
that humility is total submission to God.
These moral principles are
expressed in the 10 commandments written in the very depths of our hearts. How
can we act according to the commandments of God if we do not know or understand
them? No knowledge of this natural moral law is the same as a misinformed
conscience.
Saint Thomas said the natural
law is nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God;
through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this
light or law at the creation.
Let us remind ourselves of
the very fact that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments that were written on
tablets. Could this be because we refused to listen to God in our moral
conscience? When Moses asked God who do I say you are and God responded to tell
them that I AM. I am immediately reminded that the first commandment is I am
the Lord your God, you shall not have no other God’s before me – the first two
words – I AM. This is why Jesus needs to be the I AM and Chief Cornerstone of
our Conscience.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines, in great detail what the 10 Commandments are. They are more than just 10 statements, they are the foundation of the moral life and our conscience is guided by them. My brothers and sisters in Christ – know them and fall in love with God who inscribed them in your hearts – know who you are for God –our creator.
In his book titled A Course
in Thomistic Ethics (which has been instrumental in the urgency of the desire
to speak on this topic), D.Q. McInerny writes:
“The great strength of St.
Thomas’ attitude toward conscience, and indeed his whole ethical system, is
that they are thoroughly realistic: they proceed from and are everywhere guided
by the assumption that the moral order is an objective order. We might say
then, speaking generally, that the principal purpose of conscience is to put
man in contact with and keep him in contact with the objective moral order. No
moral philosophy can ever hope to be right if it is posited on a wrong
understanding of the nature of man. Any system of ethics that fails to see man
as a creature of God whose final end is God is not going to prove to be a
reliable guide for human behavior. St. Thomas who knew man to be created in the
image and likeness of God, was keenly aware of all the moral implications of that
seminal truth, key among which was the fact that man, as coming from God, is a
creature who has had instilled into the depths of his consciousness, as a mark
of his origins as it were, an elemental awareness of the ways of God and the
ways to God. The name St Thomas gave to this elemental awareness is synderesis.
It is the foundation of conscience. Synderesis is the stage which the moral
drama takes place, framing the context for the drama, then conscience as such
does the acting upon that stage.”
St. Thomas describes it in
his Summa Theologica as “a law of our intellect which, as it is a habit:
contains the precepts of the natural law which are the first principles of
human action”
In other words this
synderesis establishes and sets the directions for moral reasoning. We all
possess this natural disposition which enables us to be guided by the most
general criteria of morality. It is our basic consciousness where we have the
first principles of the moral law. This is the basis for all moral reasoning.
Vatican 2 describes MORAL
CONSCIENCE in the constitution of
GAUDIUM ET SPES (paragraph 16) as this "Deep within his conscience
man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey.
Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil,
sounds in his heart at the right moment.... For man has in his heart a law
inscribed by God.... His conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary.
There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths."
The
Catechism tells us that the dignity of the human person implies and requires
uprightness of moral conscience. Conscience includes the perception of the
principles of morality (synderesis); their application in the given
circumstances by practical discernment of reasons and goods; and finally
judgment about concrete acts yet to be performed or already performed. The
truth about the moral good, stated in the law of reason, is recognized practically
and concretely by the prudent judgment of conscience. We call that man prudent
who chooses in conformity with this judgment.
This
is amazing because here we have mentioned the charioteer of the four cardinal
virtues – Prudence. So it is of no surprise that we must also practice the
virtue of prudence to assist in the judgment of our conscience. St. Thomas
following the philosopher Aristotle said that prudence is
the right reason in every action.
John Henry Cardinal Newman
said “Conscience is a law of the mind; yet Christians would not grant that it
is nothing more; I mean that it was not a dictate, nor conveyed the notion of
responsibility, of duty, of a threat and a promise.... Conscience is a
messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil,
and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal
Vicar of Christ.”
The Church teaches that conscience
enables one to assume responsibility for the acts performed. If man commits
evil, the just judgment of conscience can remain within him as the witness to
the universal truth of the good, at the same time as the evil of his particular
choice. The verdict of the judgment of conscience remains a pledge of hope and
mercy. In attesting to the fault committed, it calls to mind the forgiveness
that must be asked, the good that must still be practiced, and the virtue that
must be constantly cultivated with the grace of God:
In the 1st Letter of John
3:19-20, the Bible says this “We shall . . . reassure our hearts before him
whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he
knows everything.”
St. Augustine said “Return to
your conscience, question it.... Turn inward, brethren, and in everything you
do, see God as your witness.”
St. Thomas teaches that
conscience is simply an act of the intellect and calls attention to the
intimate way reason and conscience are associated, moreover our conscience is
embraced by our reason. Our common doctor lays out 3 basic functions of
conscience:
1.
it establishes a
given context as a peculiarly moral context
(the CCC refers to it as the object chosen)
2.
it advises before
the fact (the CCC describes it the end view or intention)
3.
it assesses after
the fact (the CCC refers to it as the circumstances of the action)
The subject to which I will
relate these three basic functions is the matter of alcohol. Let us say that I
was invited to a family New Year’s party where alcohol will be served and that
all my family will be there, including all the children. A well formed
conscience will take these three steps to determine the morality of the subject
matter.
The 1st step is to
identify the object. Having full knowledge of the dangers of intoxication and
carousing I would not want to participate or expose my children to this type of
immoral behavior as Jesus says in Luke
21:34-36 / “Beware that your hearts
do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a
trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be
vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the
tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the son of man.” In
other words, if we are intoxicated we do not inherit the kingdom of God. St Paul
writes of this as well in Galatians 5.
The 2nd function of
our conscience is to advise us as to what proper action to take. In other words
what we should or ought to do. Here we identify the act as morally good or
morally bad. Having knowledge of the 5th commandment and the
spiritual death as well as scandal that typical takes place in a carousing
environment, prudent judgment will inform us that this is not a good moral
thing to do, especially when it exposes our children to this type of behavior
that would lead them to believe that drinking in excess is permissive.
The 3rd function
is basically the examination of our conscience and whether or not we made the
correct decision in the objective moral order.
This, my beloved brothers and
sisters in Christ is the reason we must examine our conscience every night
before we lay our head down on that pillow. We must get right with God for we
not know the day that our Lord Jesus will come. Say an act of contrition after
examining your conscience daily. Frequent the Sacrament of Confession a minimum
of once a month.
It is then true to say that we are obligated to follow the dictates of our conscience; whether it is informed or misinformed. If we are burdened by an erroneous conscience; it is because our conscience has never been properly formed which is the case in most people today. As Jesus said “forgive them for they know not what they do” We must obey the dictates of our conscience because it is an act of reason and there is really no other way to behave. We act according to what we know to be true, whether good or bad. Our reason whether correct or incorrect is the basis for morality.
When I think of concupiscence,
I am reminded of that self- assertion contrary to the dictates of reason. This
is a part of our wounded nature. We are not alone my beloved in Christ. I think
of the 1st letter of Saint Peter (the 1st encyclical)
where our first Pope says in chapter 5:8-11
/ Be sober and vigilant. Your
opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone
to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers
throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. The God of all grace who called
you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm,
strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. To Him be
dominion forever. Amen
The Formation of our
Conscience must never cease or we will stop growing in holiness. The CCC
describes this in paragraphs 1783-1785 Conscience must be informed and moral
judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It
formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good
willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is
indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and
tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative
teachings. The education of the conscience is a lifelong task. From the
earliest years, it awakens the child to the knowledge and practice of the
interior law recognized by conscience. Prudent education teaches virtue; it
prevents or cures fear, selfishness and pride, resentment arising from guilt, and
feelings of complacency, born of human weakness and faults. The education of
the conscience guarantees freedom and engenders peace of heart. In the
formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path, 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.
It is no wonder to me as to
why St. Thomas is the Common Doctor of the Catholic Church. He is a hero of the
Church as is every saint in Heaven. How could anyone ever deny his teachings?
As I did not have any formation, these objective truths in the moral order have
made it so very clear as to who I am and what I am responsible for. Lack of
this knowledge has resulted in the moral decay of our country. Pope Leo the
13th in an ENCYCLICAL ON THE EDUCATION OF THE CLERGY on September 8, 1899
stated “Is it necessary to add that the book par excellence in which students
may with most profit study scholastic theology is the Summa Theologica of St.
Thomas Aquinas? It is our wish, therefore, that professors be sure to explain
to all their pupils its method, as well as the principal articles relating to
Catholic faith.”
One of the greatest teachers
of our Catholic Faith this past century, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen ( a true
Thomist), has been the most influential in my formation with his “Life is Worth
Living” Series. This is what Fulton J. Sheen says in his lesson on The
Unbearable Repartee regarding our conscience:
Behind conscience is some person, the Divine Thou. It is the standard of
our life. Most of the mental problems from which people suffer today is due to
a mental revolt against this law which is written in their own hearts. How
often just as soon as people return again to conscience, peace comes back and
happiness. Life is very, very different. That is what we are after; peace of
soul. Therefore this unbearable repartee is only one side of conscience. It is
the conscience that tells us when we do wrong so that we feel on the inside as
if we have broken a bone. The bone pains because the bone is not where it ought
to be. Our conscience troubles us because the conscience is not where it ought
to be. God respects our freedom He gave us. There is a painting by William
Holman Hunt of our Blessed Lord standing at an ivy covered door. Jesus is at a
door holding a lantern knocking. There is no latch on the outside of the door.
It was conscience; the door is opened from the inside.”
In closing, I encourage all
of you to study our beautiful Faith and fall in love with it for the sake of
our children. Read the Bible, study the Catechism, and pray for your formation
to be rooted in Jesus Christ – our King and Savior.
God love you
Bibliography
New American Bible
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Divine Mercy in My Soul – St. Faustina
Life is Worth Living (Audio) – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen
Thomistic Ethics – D.Q. McInerny
The Modern Catholic Encyclopedia