How Catholics Live

Listen to or download lessons in the Luke E. Hart Series. Lessons 21-30 explore topics like Catholic morality, human nature, virtue and vice, and the 10 Commandments. Clicking on play or the play arrow icon delivers a streaming version of each podcast. PC users may save these podcasts to their computer by mousing over the Download link, right clicking their mouse, selecting “Save Target as” and saving to their desktop or a destination file. Mac users can right-click the Download link, select “Download Linked File” and save the file to anywhere on their hard drive. If not already installed on your system, you will need an MP3 player, such as Windows Media Player or RealPlayer for Windows systems, or iTunes for Macintosh.

The Essence of Catholic Morality: Lesson 21 Nov. 15, 2007 Today, more than ever it seems, people ask questions about how to live. By nature we want to know the ethos of Christian life. In this part of the series we demonstrate how a Christian lives his or her life according to sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Church. Professor Kreeft once again shows us that our decisions, in order to be faithful to our baptism, need to be made according to the perspective of Jesus Christ. But what does that mean? Our gratitude goes to the Saint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir for providing this week’s music. Play OR Download

Human Nature as the Basis of Morality: Lesson 22 Nov. 21, 2007 How a Christian lives in this world is an important question to study. Is truth a theory or a reality? If a Christian says he or she believes in Christ and has faith that His promises are in fact true and are fulfilled, and does not live according to the gospel, then how is that person (and others) to make sense of the practice of Christianity in the reality of life? Natural law, morality’s origin, conscience, free will and freedom are among the many topics explored here. This week's music is provided by the Saint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir. Play OR Download

Some Fundamental Principles of Catholic Morality: Lesson 23 Nov. 29, 2007 Principles keep a person focused on a goal so that the opposite is true: the lack of principles in making decisions is like building a house on sand. Catholics believe that objective truth exists, that we can know what it is and that we ought to live according to objective truth. However, truth is not a thing, truth is a person: Jesus Christ. And Jesus is the principle by which our morals are built. Yes? Our gratitude goes to the Saint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir. Play OR Download

Virtues and Vices: Lesson 24 December 06, 2007 We all know that virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do good. Vice is the opposite of virtue as it darkens the conscience and removes us the experience of living in the likeness of God. Being virtuous is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of being strengthened by the Holy Spirit. Lest we forget, virtue is our rock in the hour of pain, not vice. Thanks to the Saint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir. Play OR Download

The First Three Commandments: Lesson 25 December 13, 2007 The Ten Commandments, particularly the first three, are neither mere moral absolutes nor are they directives opposed to the longings of the human heart. We are taught that the Commandments constitute a covenant and therefore are “not so much about rules to be followed, but about the full meaning of life.” The first three Commandments point out the pathway to true human happiness and fulfillment. Do you believe it? Thanks to the Saint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir. Play OR Download

The Fourth Commandment: Lesson 26 December 20, 2007 The Fourth Commandment isn’t just about honoring your parents, it is also about the responsibilities we have for building a just society. But honoring one’s parents and ordering society justly are meaningless if we don’t understand that the Commandments are a part of God’s covenant with us. Thus, the Fourth Commandment is about the relationship we have with God that is manifested in the duties and responsibilities of human relations of family and neighbor oriented toward the good. TheSaint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir provided this week's music. Thanks. Play OR Download

The Fifth Commandment: Lesson 27 December 27, 2007 Matters of life and death are very important concerns. Frequently it is said that the health of a society is understood by the way it treats the vulnerable: the elderly, children, the ill or the unborn. This lesson explores the Christian approach to the Fifth Commandment and what it means for us to believe that God alone is the author of life and that it is not permissible to take a human life. Instead of reducing "Thou shall not kill" to convenient bromides, we learn what it means to be Christian and to have this commandment as a fundamental principle of Christian living. Thanks to the Saint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir. Play OR Download

The Sixth & Ninth Commandments: Lesson 28 January 03, 2008 No doubt you will agree that we live in a sexually charged society. The advertising industry relies on sex to sell a product. In addition, there seems to be a lack of understanding that sexuality is a gift from God. Here we learn about the beauty of sexuality as taught by the Catholic Church. This lesson looks at reality and offers us some practical advice. The Saint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir provide the music this week. Play OR Download

The Seventh & Tenth Commandments: Lesson 29 January 10, 2008 Stealing and coveting the neighbor's goods are the only points of the 7th and 10th Commandments. People of conscience admit that there is a violation of these commandments which not only goes against the natural law and the rule of justice, but these violations threaten our personal security and peace. Moreover, violating these commandments is contrary to the will of God. One many questions to ask ourselves: Is justice tempered with love? Thanks to the Saint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir. Play OR Download

The Eighth Commandment: Lesson 30 January 17, 2008 The Church teaches that human truth consists in the conformity of things to the human intellect, which is necessarily relativistic, if not subjectivistic, since there are “many truths in many created intellects” because of the ways things are known. What gets twisted is the meaning of “relativism.” Avoiding a wrong notion of “relativism,” the Church teaches there is a divine intellect and argues that although there are many truths, all truths are ultimately expressions of the one Truth which, is God. So, there is objective truth as there is truth relative to the individual but in the end, the relative is corrected by the objective. Thanks to the Saint Gregory Society and The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis Choir. Play OR Download