Religious Studies 1
Lesson 1-THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:
a. discuss the basis of the dignity of the human person
b. describe how contemporary societies support and promote the dignity of
the humanperson
c. define ways and means to safeguard and promote human dignity
Opening Prayer:
INTRODUCTION:
In our world today, we have faced many issues that often violate the very dignity of
the humanperson. We are living in a world with less appreciation of human life as
what can be seen and heard in our televisions, social medias, and radio stations. In
the famous words of our beloved Pope Francis who says “Things have a price and can
be for sale, but People have a dignity that is priceless and worth far more than things.
We are reminded again that our worth as a personcannot be equal with any amount
of money one may have but that our dignity originates from God and is of God
because we are made in His own image and likeness (Gen.1:26-27). Hence this truth
poses a challenge to us, that is, to safeguard human life with whatever possible
means we can. When we do this, we are also honoring God, the creator of life.
Of all visible creatures only man is “able to know and love his creator.” He is “the only
creatureon earth that God has willed for its own sake,” and he alone is called to share,
by knowledge and love, in God’s own life. It was for this end that he was created, and
this is the fundamentalreason for his dignity.
Core-Related values and Biblical Reflection: Faith: strong faith in God
“I praise you because I am wonderfully made.”
(Psalm 139)
LEARNING CONTENT
DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
The dignity of the human person is rooted in his/her creation in the image and likeness
of God. It is fulfilled in his/her vocation to divine beatitude. It is essential to a human
being freely to direct him/herself to this fulfillment. By his/her deliberate actions, the
human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by
moral conscience. Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth;
they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth. (CCC #1700)
What is dignity-
NATURE OF HUMAN DIGNITY
Inherited – it is something given to us by God- receive from a parent or ancestor by genetic
transmission.
Intrinsic – it is an inner quality of every human person that cannot be separated from
his being.–belonging to the essential nature of a thing
Inalienable – it is an essential part of every human being that cannot be taken away.
Inalienable means something that “can't be transferred to someone else, taken away,
or denied.
SACREDNESS OF LIFE
Life is the most central and clearest manifestation of God among us. It is the
transcendentvalue and worth of every human person that comes from God.
The phrase sanctity of life refers to the idea that human life is sacred, holy, and precious.
HUMAN GIFTEDNESS
FREEDOM - It refers to the inner power that is rooted in reason and will, to act or not to
act, to
do this and that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility.
CONSCIENCE - It refers to the law written in the hearts of men that commands to do
good andavoid evil.
HUMAN DIGNITY ACCORDING TO OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH
God created man in his image, in the divine image he created him, male and female,
he createdthem (Gen. 1:27).
Implications:
Humans share in the divine image of God. We participate in God’s divine Trinitarian nature
and
called to belong in the community of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The human person is a conscious, historical, unique, relational embodied spirit with
innate dignity. The basis of human dignity and inalienable rights is the origin of the
human person in God’s creative act. The human person is created in God’s image and
likeness and is therefore called to live human life according to God’s will.
Closing Prayer
REFERENCES:
Catechism for Filipino Catholics. Manila: Pauline Publication.
Catechism of the Catholic Church. Manila: Pauline
Publication
Document of the Second Vatican Council (2020, July 15) Retrieved from
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm
[GCSE Human Dignity animation] (2020, July 14). “Catholic Social teaching on human
dignity”
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zhtPDXRthM
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (2020, July 17). “Life and Dignity of the
Human Person” Retrieved from http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-
we-believe/catholic-social- teaching/life-and-dignity-of-the-human-person.cfm
