287 CHOOSING GOOD OR EVIL

YOUCAT Lesson 287

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

287  But doesn’t “freedom” consist of being able to choose evil as well?

Evil is only apparently worth striving for, and deciding in favor of evil only apparently makes us free.  Evil does not make us happy but rather deprives us of what is truly good; it chains us to something futile and in the end destroys our freedom entirely.  [1730-1733, 1743-1744]

…….Painting above:…..The Kiss of Judas  by  Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337) ……As long as freedom is not bonded to its ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil—(see CCC #1732 below). ….. 287

We see this in addiction: a person sells his freedom to something that appears good to him.  In reality he becomes a slave.  Man is freest when he is always able to say Yes to the good; when no addiction, no compulsion, no habit prevents him from choosing and doing what is right and good.  A decision in favor of the good is always a decision leading toward God.  51

1730-1733, 1743-1744

ARTICLE 3
MAN'S FREEDOM

…….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."( Gaudium et Spes 17; Sirach 15:14.)²⁶

Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.( St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4,4,3:Patrologia Graeca 7/1,983.)²⁷ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

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. –CCC

…….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. --CCC

IN BRIEF
  …….1743 "God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel (Compare Sirach 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" (Gaudemus et Spes 17 § 1). –CCC

…….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. --CCC