VIRGINIA CENTURIONE BRACELLI SCHOOL good and the second, freedom wrongly understood as license

DAUGHTERS OF OUR LADY ON MOUNT CALVARY for doing whatever one pleases, even if it is evil.
POCTOY, ODIONGAN, ROMBLON
A. Y.2021-2022 Perhaps, license is often what young people want to make of
freedom. It means most of them simply “doing what I want.”
They think that any limit to what they want to do violates their
 Name: Lawrence Sean Motin freedom. This is a rather self-centered view. True freedom is
CHRISTIAN MORALITY always social and relational. This means that we should always
be concerned about the effects of what we do on others. Thus,
MODULE 1
we cannot just do what we want or what we please to do. The
welfare and the good of others put the moral limit to our
TOPIC: FREEDOM/FREEDOM AND MORAL OBLIGATION freedom. Without this limit, freedom is not true freedom.
OBJECTIVES:
1. Have a correct and better understanding of what The second paragraph of the Church Teaching speaks of
freedom freedom as an exceptional sign of the divine image within a
is. person. This means that in exercising their true freedom,
2. Analyze how one exercise his or her own freedom and its persons are true image of God. Given their gifts of intellect and
effects on others. freewill, they are like God who is the supreme, free and
3. Understand the importance of exercising our moral intelligent Being. Persons achieve the true dignity of their
obligations. freedom when they choose what good and do it.

A. What is Freedom? We have seen that true freedom is related to becoming a good
Freedom is a most abused and misused word. Young person. Thus, when one does evil, one violates one’s freedom.
people use the word without really knowing what the word Young people need to take seriously the true meaning of
means. freedom and rid it of egoism or self - centeredness. As adult-in-
The experience of freedom comes with the feeling of peace, of the-making, they need to see that the way to freedom is the
a certain sense of being true to oneself. Perhaps, it is something way to becoming more loving, more other-centered, and more
like the feeling that comes after a good confession to a priest or value-directed. In other words, they need to see that freedom is
it is a feeling that accompanies us when, in an instance of self- a calling and vocation to be the good persons that they ought to
forgetfulness and generosity, we are able to respond to the become, according to God’s will.
needs of others.
Summary
The opposite experience is the experience of unfreedom.
It is an experience that leaves one dissatisfied about oneself. It A. True freedom is always social and relational. Thus, one
comes with the feeling that something is amiss, or something cannot just do what he/she pleases to do, even if it
has gone wrong. When two young people for instance, in the hurts the welfare and well-being of others.
heat of their young passions, commit the sin of premarital sex, B. True freedom means to become a good person. It is
they feel guilt, fear, and anxiety. It is an experience of realized when one is truly other-centered, loving and
unfreedom, of being not true to oneself to others, and to God. value-directed. Persons achieve the dignity of their
freedom as God’s image and likeness when they
Read John 4:4-16; 28-30: 39-42 (The Story of the Samaritan choose what is good and do it.
woman) C. If true freedom is to become one’s true self in relation
The whole account shows that the woman in her coming to to God and to others, then to be free is to be saved.
know Jesus was changed and transformed. From a despised Jesus Christ as our Savior makes us truly free.
pagan to a disciple, she brought others to Jesus, the one true
Messiah, and the Savior of the world. The story is a true story of Activities
freedom because it is the story of how the woman became the 1. The story of the Samaritan woman can be the story of any
person that she was called by God for others. other person in different time. Think of your own story or story
of someone you know or heard about which is also about one’s
B. Church Teaching journey to true freedom in Christ? Write it below.

The Church Teaching confirms and explains further the For me, “Nicodemus” story is about one’s journey to true
message of the Sculpture about the meaning and reality of freedom in Christ. The Gospel of John tells us the story of
freedom. Let us read the Pastoral Constitution in the Modern Nicodemus, the respected Pharisee who comes to Jesus at
World (Gaudium et Spes), 17. night.

Only in freedom can man direct himself toward goodness. “Nicodemus,” portrays the Pharisee as a learned scholar
Our contemporaries make much of this freedom and pursue it enthralled by a woman who, like Jesus, puts love before the
eagerly; and rightly so, to be sure. Often, however, they foster it law. Her illness spurs Nicodemus to seek out Jesus, who was
perversely as a license for doing whatever pleases them, even if gaining fame for his dramatic healings.
it is evil.
Nicodemus was one persistent fellow in his quest for the
For its part, authentic freedom is an exceptional sign of the truth. His story shows us that beginning in the dark and in
divine image within man… Man achieves such dignity when, uncertainty is actually the best place to start. From there you
emancipating himself from all captivity to passion, he pursues can be open to wherever the Spirit might lead you. I’m sure that
his goal in a spontaneous choice of what is good and procures on that first dark night Nicodemus couldn’t have imagined his
form himself, through effective and skillful action, apt means to encounter with Jesus would end with spices at a tomb. Neither
that end. can we know where our questions will lead us. But we can be
certain that opening ourselves up to new ideas and new
Let us focus our attention on the first paragraph of the Church possibilities is not a slippery slope; it’s an adventure, and one
Teaching. There seems to be two meanings of freedom referred that the Spirit leads us on.
to: the first is freedom as realized when a person does what is
2. “To grow in maturity” means to “grow in freedom.” Give connect with people, even in difficult times.
examples of how young people show signs of a growing
maturity in their families, in school, and among their friends. / 7. to protect the secrets of a friend
By keeping something secret, people can protect their their
reputation and their relationships with close others.
a. In the Family
/ 8. to return what one borrows
1. You do not shy away from responsibilities in your family. Returning what we borrow to someone is something we ought
2. Being grateful and gracious in your family and not to do.
complaining.
3. Thinking before acting and having good manners / 9. to be a a good friend
towards you family, not going off half-cocked, lashing out, or Friends prevent isolation and loneliness and give you a chance
being rude. to offer needed companionship, too.

b. In school / 10. to leave food on the table for others

For as long as I remember my parents always told us to leave
1. Becoming a more rational person for the decisions I food in the table for others whoever it may be.
make for school.
2. Started to have more practical decisions in school related
studies. Some of the items might not be considered obligation by a
3. Developing a sense of intuition due to the choices we number of students or if they are considered as such, they
make in school every day. would be regarded with negative feelings or attitudes. Most
people regard moral obligation the same as being forced or
being coerced.
c. Among friends
1. Encouraging and being supportive towards your friends Moral obligation, however, is necessary for one to be truly
2.Being aware and considerate towards your friends as free. When a person sees and recognizes good or value, he/she
opposed to being self-absorbed, self-centered, and is obliged to obey it. The person may choose, however, to reject
inconsiderate. it, but if he/she does, he/she hurts and violates hi/her true
3. Sharing your good fortune towards your friends. freedom. For example, the eighth commandment “Thou shall
not bear false witness against thy neighbor” obliges us not to
destroy the good name or reputation of others. The
commandment protects the value of respect for the dignity of
MORAL OBLIGATION persons. We are morally obliged to obey the eighth
Freedom is often understood as the opposite of moral commandment because of the basic human value that it
obligation. Thus, some think that when one is morally obliged, protects.
he/she is not free. Young people seem to reject the notion of
moral obligation, for it seems to take out much of the fun Moral obligation is necessary if we are to be good, and thus
to be truly free. When we do not do the good that we ought to
Try this. do, which means our moral obligation, we are really acting
Put a ( / ) beside those in the list which you think you are against our true freedom and that of others in the community.
morally obliged to do and put an ( x ) beside those which you Freedom and moral obligation are not opposites. To be free
think you are not morally obliged to do. Under each item, write means to do the good that one is morally obliged to do.
your feeling or attitude. Do the exercise honestly.
Church Teaching
/ 1. to go to mass on Sundays
We go to Mass not simply because it's an obligation. Rather, we John Paul II, in his Catechesis in Our Time, 69 states, “Catholic
attend Mass because it's our loving response to the God who schools have a duty to make the students understand that,
has loved us first. although God’s call to serve him in spirit and truth, in
accordance with the commandments of God and the precepts
/ 2. to study my lessons of the Church, does not apply constraint, it is nevertheless
Studying is important because it increases your knowledge. binding in conscience.
And I feel that this is something we morally obliged to do for
the sake of our future. Declaration on Religious Freedom (Dignitatis Humanae), 11

/ 3. Not to watch pornographic materials “God calls men to serve him in spirit and in truth. Hence, they
It offends the morals of some people, and not of others. For me are bound in conscience but they stand no compulsion. God has
it is something we should not watch because it contains regard for the dignity of the human person whom he himself
immoral acts. created; man is to be guided by his own judgment and he is to
enjoy freedom.”
/ 4. to be honest in exams
Finally, having academic integrity is important because it can “Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation,” 26
offer you peace of mind knowing that you believe in doing the
right thing, and always try to act consistently with those beliefs. “Freedom is not the liberty to do anything whatever. It is the
freedom to do the good… It finds its true meaning in the choice
/ 5. to keep one’s promises of moral good.”
Fulfilling promises to yourself to do better or be better is just as
important as following through on your promises to others. Developed in the Church Teaching is the reality of freedom and
obligation. We are obliged to obey and do a moral good or
/ 6. to care for others value. However, it is still left to our free will to obey or not to
Caring for others helps to develop empathy and the ability to obey. If we say no, we go against a basic good or value. Only in
saying yes to what is good are we truly free. Because it often relies on stereotypes and scapegoating, it
negatively impacts our ability to address the root causes of
Here we see that freedom has two basic aspects: freedom of social problems. Therefore hate speech can also harm
choice and the freedom to become one’s truest self. Freedom communities, even when it targets individuals.
of choice is the first meaning of freedom. Gaudium et Spes, 17
says that a person’s dignity demands that he/she acts according Hate speech is more than just harsh words. It can be any
to a knowing and free choice, which is personally motivated form of expression intended to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred
and prompted from within. It does not result from blind against a group or class of people. It can occur offline or online
internal impulse nor from mere external pressure. This means or both. It can be communicated using words, symbols, images,
that without free choice, a person is no better than a robot. In memes, emojis and video. Hate speech harms everyone in the
the story of the rich young man, we see Jesus’ loving respect for society. Expressions of hate against minority populations can be
the young man’s free choice. There was no force or coercion, used to normalize discrimination, outbreaks of hate crimes, and
just an appeal of love. targeted violence. Even for those who simply witness it, hate
speech harms our ability to effectively process information.
But there is a second meaning of freedom, which demands a Many examples of online disinformation are centered around
person to become who he/she truly is, by freely choosing what exploiting social struggles around race and ethnicity, deepening
is good. In Filipino, we call it ang paghuhubog sa ating these social rifts through use of hate speech. This is designed to
pagkatao. This basic meaning of freedom consists of our basic inflame our emotions and prevent us from evaluating the truth
call and vocation to grow into the persons that God is calling us or falsity of the claim. Although not everyone who engages in
to be. It is considered not only with what we seek to do but also hate speech commits violent crimes, many people who commit
with what we seek to become. It refers not only to doing this or hate crimes point to hate speech on the internet as their
that thing but also to becoming a certain kind of person. It asks inspiration for such acts.
the questions – Who are you? What do you want to do with
your life? In this light, we see that freedom and moral
obligation are not opposites, for if we become our truest self,
which is our truest freedom, we ought to choose and do the
good.

Summary

A. Moral obligation is an inner moral force and not a

physical external force. The inner force of moral
obligation comes from the human value or good that it
protects. In other words, the good/value is that which
we are obliged to obey freely and responsibly.
B. Moral obligation is not the opposite of freedom. It is
wrong to say that we are not free if we are morally
obliged. Rather, it is only when we obey the moral
obligation to be and do good that we are truly free.
C. Although it is still left to the free will of persons to
obey or not to obey the moral obligation to do good
(free choice), it is only when the freely choose to do
what is good that they are truly free (freedom as
becoming one’s truest self).

Activities:
1. Look for video clips may it be advertisements, or film clips
(maximum of 1 minute) which
a. shows how freedom is exercise
b. presents situation where in performance of moral
obligation is evident.

Note: You can make your own video.

2. Write an essay about how the abuse of freedom in our

society affects the life of the people concern essay (2
paragraphs 10 sentences each) Cite concrete examples.

Hate speech is a form of how we abuse freedom, people

create hate speech for a variety of reasons. Sometimes hateful
speech can reflect a person’s genuine political beliefs or distaste
for a group of people. Hate speech can also be a product of lack
of knowledge, experience, or reflection if the speakers come
from an environment where slurs are commonplace. Hate
speech can harm individuals, communities and societies. It has
been focused on the impact of racial, ethnic, religious,
gendered, and LGBTQ hate speech finds that the targets of hate
speech can experience negative emotional, mental, and
physical consequences. These can include low self-worth,
anxiety, fear for their lives, and even self-harm or suicide. Hate
speech harms our relationships with each other. It interferes
with our ability to communicate with others and to empathize.