Free
Will and The Catechism of the Catholic Church (*)
Do Not Take miguel de Portugal's Words
For It...
The Roman Catechism Clearly Confirms
That...
God Is Pro-Life (He IS Life Itself)
But Also Pro-Choice
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."
Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will
and is master over his acts. [St. Ireneus, haer. 4,4,3]
311 Angels and men, as
intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate
destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can
therefore go astray. Indeed, they have sinned. Thus has moral evil,
incommensurably more harmful than physical evil, entered the world. God
is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He
permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures
and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it:
For almighty God..., because he is supremely good, would never allow
any evil whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so
all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.
143 By faith, man completely
submits his intellect and his will to God. With his whole being man
gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human
response to God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith".
143
Spanish Por la fe, el hombre somete completamente su
inteligencia y su voluntad a Dios. Con todo su ser, el hombre da su
asentimiento a Dios que revela (cf. DV 5). La Sagrada Escritura llama
"obediencia de la fe" a esta respuesta del hombre a Dios que revela
(cf. Rom 1,5; 16,26).
155 In faith, the human
intellect and will cooperate with divine grace: "Believing is an act of
the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will
moved by God through grace."
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.
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Originating Document
NOTES
(*) From Catechism of
the Catholic Church - The Vatican On-Line as of May 21, 2004 - http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc/index.htm
The M+G+R Foundation
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