The Church is the most important external aid because it offers sure theological guidance, provides sacramental vivification, offers models of holiness, and it allows us to participate in Christ’s mission, which is the purpose of Catholic Moral Reasoning. The Church offers sure theological guidance by providing us with Scripture and Tradition, which are the respectively the primary and secondary sources and norms of Catholic moral reasoning. The Church provides sacramental vivification or the more one participates in the sacraments instituted by Christ and His Church the more one is able to participate in friendship with Christ. The Church’s seven sacraments are baptism, confirmation, reconciliation, anointing of the sick, matrimony, holy orders, and the Eucharist. Each of the sacraments allows the possibility of life in different ways; baptism gives life, confirmation fortifies life, reconciliation and anointing of the sick restores life, matrimony creates new life, holy orders ministers life, and the Eucharist, which is the most direct and important, sustains and nourishes life.…
