In-Depth Track – Just Teach Sheet
December Week 2 (2025)
Theme: Advent & Preparation
Focus: Repentance, Conscience, and the Moral Law in Catholic Theology
Audience: Catechists • Apologists • Serious adult learners
Opening Prayer
God of truth and mercy,
You search the heart and heal what You reveal.
Purify my conscience by Your light,
strengthen my will by Your grace,
and teach me to love what You command.
May this Advent be a true conversion of mind and life.
Amen.
Orientation: Why the Church Speaks Plainly About Sin in Advent
Advent is not merely a season of expectation but of moral awakening.
The Church deliberately places John the Baptist before us because his preaching exposes the false peace of complacency and prepares the soul for Christ’s mercy.
Repentance (metanoia) presupposes three non-negotiables of Catholic faith:
Objective moral truth exists
The human person is morally responsible
Grace heals, but does not bypass, moral freedom
Without these, repentance collapses into either guilt-therapy or moral relativism.
Day 1 – Repentance (Metanoia): A Change of Being, Not Mood
Scriptural Foundations
Matthew 3:2 – “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Acts 2:38 – “Repent and be baptised… for the forgiveness of your sins.”
Doctrinal Precision
CCC 1428:
“Conversion is first of all a work of the grace of God who makes our hearts return to Him.”
Key theological point:
Repentance is not emotional regret but ontological re-orientation — the turning of the whole person toward God.
Classical Theology
St Thomas Aquinas (ST III, q.84): Penance is both an interior act (contrition) and an exterior act (confession and satisfaction).
Repentance heals the will, not just the feelings.
Error to Avoid
❌ Confusing repentance with shame
❌ Reducing repentance to therapy
❌ Treating repentance as incompatible with joy
Truth: Joy follows repentance; it does not precede it.
Day 2 – Conscience: Witness to Moral Truth, Not Personal Preference
Scriptural Witness
Romans 2:15 – “They show that the demands of the law are written on their hearts.”
Doctrinal Teaching
CCC 1778:
“Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognises the moral quality of a concrete act.”
Crucial distinction:
Conscience discerns moral truth; it does not create it.
Philosophical Clarity
Catholic theology rejects:
Subjectivism (“what feels right is right”)
Positivism (“law creates morality”)
Instead it affirms Natural Law: moral truth accessible to reason, perfected by revelation.
Apologetic Application
Modern culture often appeals to “following one’s conscience” while denying objective truth.
The Church insists: a conscience must be formed, not merely followed.
CCC 1783–1785 – Formation of conscience is lifelong and obligatory.
Day 3 – Sin: Reality, Not Metaphor
Scriptural Foundation
1 John 3:4 – “Sin is lawlessness.”
Psalm 51 – David’s confession after grave sin
Doctrinal Definition
CCC 1849:
“Sin is an offence against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love.”
Theological Depth
Sin wounds:
Our relationship with God
Our relationship with others
Our relationship with self
Grave (mortal) sin destroys charity in the soul; venial sin weakens it.
CCC 1854–1864
Modern Error
❌ Treating sin as mere social conditioning
❌ Explaining guilt away psychologically
Reality: guilt persists because moral responsibility persists.
Day 4 – Moral Law: Freedom’s Structure, Not Its Enemy
Scriptural Grounding
John 8:32 – “The truth will set you free.”
Matthew 5–7 – The Sermon on the Mount
Doctrinal Teaching
CCC 1951:
“The moral law is the work of divine Wisdom.”
Key Insight:
Law does not restrict freedom; it defines it — just as grammar enables speech and rules enable sport.
Natural Law & Revelation
Natural Law: accessible to reason
Divine Law: revealed to heal sin’s blindness
Moral Law culminates in Christ Himself, not a list
CCC 1953–1954
Advent Application
John the Baptist does not invent morality — he recalls it, clarifies it, and applies it concretely.
Day 5 – Grace and Moral Effort: Neither Pelagian nor Passive
Scriptural Balance
Philippians 2:12–13 – “Work out your salvation… for God is at work in you.”
Doctrinal Balance
Catholic theology rejects:
Pelagianism: “I save myself by effort”
Quietism: “God saves me without my cooperation”
CCC 2008:
“Man’s merit… is due to God’s gracious initiative.”
Sacramental Fulfilment
Repentance reaches its fullest form in the Sacrament of Penance:
Confession restores communion
Grace strengthens virtue
Satisfaction heals disorder
CCC 1446–1470
Advent is therefore a privileged season for Confession, not optional enrichment.
Weekend Synthesis
| Theme | Catholic Teaching |
| Repentance | Ontological reorientation toward God |
| Conscience | Witness to objective moral truth |
| Sin | Real rupture in love, not metaphor |
| Moral Law | Structure of freedom |
| Grace | Heals and elevates human effort |
Advanced Apologetic Responses
“Morality evolves with culture.”
→ Human application changes; moral truth does not.
“Conscience is private.”
→ Conscience is personal, not private; it answers to truth.
“Judgment contradicts mercy.”
→ Judgment reveals truth; mercy heals it.
“The Church is obsessed with sin.”
→ The Church names sin because she believes in forgiveness.
“Repentance harms self-esteem.”
→ False self-esteem collapses; truth-based dignity endures.
Key Magisterial Sources
CCC 1427–1433 – Conversion
CCC 1776–1802 – Conscience
CCC 1846–1876 – Sin
CCC 1950–1986 – Moral Law
Veritatis Splendor – St John Paul II
Gaudium et Spes §§16–17
Recommended Advanced Reading
St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I–II qq. 90–108; III q.84
Joseph Ratzinger, Truth and Tolerance
Servais Pinckaers OP, The Sources of Christian Ethics
John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor
Romano Guardini, The Conversion of St Augustine
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ,
Light of truth and physician of souls,
purify my conscience by Your Word,
strengthen my will by Your grace,
and teach me to love what You command.
May this Advent bring not sentiment,
but real conversion —
so that when You come,
I may meet You in truth and peace.
Amen.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 