Seeking
Divine Mercy
Conscience
What is
Good, just and moral, and how do we choose?
Our
conscience alone is not justification for our choices but rather the voice of
reason calling out in recognition of something within us that conflicts with what
we know to be righteous in our heart. When there is no question as to right or
wrong and no desire to choose what we know to be wrong it remains silent and
without conflict. Its voice is louder or softer as it has been nourished or
deprived offering guidance prior to our final decision. It is an urging to
abide by what we know is right according to human dignity providing us
recognition of conflict that we may further seek to determine what moral or
faithful choices we should make; but we are not forced to follow it. Our
conscience is not the final determination. If
our conscience is not properly nourished and well formed, it is weak and easier
to convince our self to push it aside.
A simple fictional example; “Susan” has a good friend “Betty” who is married
and has two children. Both women consider themselves to be Christian in faith.
“Betty” has chosen to have an extramarital affair against her better judgment
and in doing so she desperately attempts to ignore her conscience. Susan does
not wish to upset or interfere with her friend’s choice so Susan avoids
offering any guidance in opposition to Betty’s plan even though knowing Betty
to be making a serious mistake in judgment that could critically alter the
lives of many of those 
around her. Susan, although
knowing in conscience she should make an effort to offer her friend guidance,
eases her own conscience by convincing herself her silence is justified because
“it is not her business” or “Betty is not happy with her current husband”, or
some other self-determined “reason” (excuse). Perhaps Susan even finds Betty’s
affair somewhat suspenseful. Yet, if Susan were to learn of Betty abusing drugs
or about to drive while intoxicated with the children in the car she may be
more inclined to intercede even though each instance is Betty’s “business” in
relation to Susan. In each case, each choice would have a substantially harmful
affect on Betty’s life and the lives of those around her. In each case, each
instance is self destructive, one potentially no less detrimental than the
other, and each are highly personal in nature. Our conscience knows this to be
wrong but rather than follow it one may seek to convince one’s self otherwise
in order to push it aside. We must rely on our conscience if well formed in matters
of moral judgment. It is every person’s right and obligation to discern choices
based on their urging of conscience but we must not forget that our choices may
be righteous in dignity and trust in God our Creator or wrong unintentionally
or deliberately, but in all cases leading to an outcome both here and in our
eternal life.
The voice of conscience comes from that inherent moral code which we have
naturally received in our hearts in the likeness of God. The development of a well formed conscience must
continually be nourished by the teachings of our faith strengthening our
morality in order that we may be righteous in our choices. We have the free
will to choose but our choices are not free from consequences.
We have as individuals and as a society proven without doubt that the further
we get away from practicing our faith and a relationship with God, the more
decrepit our self respect and our respect for others becomes until society as a
whole has turned perverse lacking true dignity at its foundation. This is
reflected in the parallels between our society today and that of the society of
Caligula during its brief existence. There is no denying every person has a
conscience no matter how efficient or poorly formed, tainted or dormant it may
become during life. Where there is no conscience there can be no soul and where
there is no soul there is no life, hence each living person has a soul and a
conscience...
In relying on a good
or a well formed
conscience, those issues we are not absolutely certain of in regard to our
relationship in faith and each other dictate the absolute necessity to seek the appropriate answers
in order to properly decide what is of good judgment before making our choices.
We may question an issue conflicting within us lacking the existence of a
specific code to be guided by or we may question the validity of a code itself.
Either way, a well formed
conscience will urge us to seek the truthful answer to what is questioned and
decide accordingly even though that decision may not be what we prefer (see
1 Timothy CH1; 18-19).
To further distinguish the difference between a good or well formed conscience
and a conscience stifled or ignored, let us consider the receiving of the
Eucharist. The same Holy Bible that tells us the Eucharist is the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ provided us for our salvation tells us that without
exception we are NOT
to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ unworthily, 
lest we “…will answer for the
body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians CH11; 27-29). Disregarding due
attendance at Mass (worshipping on “the Day of the Lord”) or selectively
defying the teachings of Christ through the Church He established to guide and
teach us most certainly remands one to a state of unworthiness. Of course even if
in an unworthy state we are required to attend Mass and this is by far better
than disregarding Mass completely. But it is through the Sacrament of
Reconciliation (see John CH20; 22-23) that one may return to that worthiness
and rightfully approach and receive the Eucharist.
In some cases the same can be said of those who do know their faith and Canon Law. There are some
who know and practice their faith but to a point; that point being where they
assume they know better than the teaching Church of 2000 years as it has been
established and empowered by the Word of Christ. Although they may mean well in
their decisions, they do not always follow good
conscience in all their decisions of faith. For instance, those who may attend
Protestant services occasionally with friends or perhaps another family member
and adopt this as a fulfillment of their weekly obligation to attend Mass; or
perhaps they receive the communion as offered by the Protestant congregation
while attending a Protestant service knowing it to be against canon law.
Attending Protestant services in it self is not wrong but it is not a
substitution for attending the Mass of obligation. Receiving Protestant
communion is also defiance of faith as dictated by canon law in that we are
displaying an acknowledgement of and receiving a communion unconsecrated by an
ordained priest and offered in denial as the true Body and Blood of Christ as
He proclaimed it to be in the Eucharistic meal (see Article on “Interdenominational Communion”). Some
may go so far as to promote their own judgment misleading others to believe it
is OK to defy certain teachings of the faith suggesting their conscience is
clear (see 1 Timothy CH4; 16). But a clear conscience is not in itself a good
or well formed conscience.
Although some may quote article CCC
#1782 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to justify the right
and obligation to follow one’s conscience, they take this far out of context
and disregarding all accompanying articles of explanation that complete what a
well formed conscience consists of. For example;
CCC #1783. Conscience must be informed and moral
judgment enlightened. A well-formed conscience is upright and truthful. It
formulates its judgments according to reason, in conformity with the true good
willed by the wisdom of the Creator. The education of conscience is
indispensable for human beings who are subjected to negative influences and
tempted by sin to prefer their own judgment and to reject authoritative
teachings.
CCC #1786. Faced with a moral choice, conscience can make either a right judgment in accordance with reason and the divine law or on the contrary, an erroneous judgment that departs from them.
CCC #1790. A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed.
CCC #1791. Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.
CCC
#1802 The Word of God is a light for our path. We must assimilate it in faith
and prayer and put it into practice. This is how moral conscience is formed.
Equally as serious is our disregard of good conscience in matters of abortion,
birth control, casual divorce and sexual liberties in abandonment of marital
commitment, supporting or participating in same-sex relationships, euthanasia,
valuating human life and limiting medical attention based on monetary worth
according to age, and so on.
These examples are serious
errors in judgment in opposition to Christ and His teaching Church. Each are
choices made either denying one’s conscience while knowing the truth to seek
the more convenient choice or refusal to seek what the Faith teaches rather
than be faced with the obligation to reject one’s preference. A Catholic
attempting to justify his or her conscience in such choices especially knowing canon
law is practicing self deception and assuming they know better than the Church
and have the authority to disregard the responsibilities of Faith. Yet, in
looking at these past examples, how many crises would never have confronted one
if their faith had been true and their conscience followed?
When one’s conscience has been alerted there is an issue involving an inner
conflict to some degree guiding us to conscious
reasoning before making our choices. This conflict no matter how small reflects
the need for truthful consideration that should strengthen our ability to rely
on our conscience throughout our lives. When
we avoid properly seeking those answers for the sake of choosing what is most
personally acceptable or desirable, our decision has not been based upon a good
or well formed conscience but one that has been suppressed through self
deception. When one
deceives oneself often enough he or she stands the risk of their conscience
becoming distorted or even dormant. Certainly, without knowing for
certain what choice is most morally acceptable, mistakes may be made in our
decisions of conscience. But it is no mistake when our conscience tells us
there is a need to seek advice or better understanding and we refuse to do so
that we may reason the more attractive choice.
Each of us is one person, body, soul and intellect. There is no separation between the person we profess to be and
the choices we act upon in our daily lives. If we are Christian, we
are called to live accordingly, by the teachings of Jesus Christ striving
toward His righteousness. Faith in Christ is not just believing He exists or
that He is the Son of God, faith is believing in His word and that belief is
only evident in our faithfully abiding by His teachings. One cannot be selective
in what they will follow and what they choose to ignore and expect to be judged
only on that which is rightfully justifiable. As Scripture attests, there is no
conflict between the teachings of the Church and the teachings of Christ. The
Church must be recognized for what it is in truth; the messenger of Christ’s
Word and the provider of the sacraments commissioned by Jesus Himself to offer
the means by which all may attain salvation and eternal life. That person who
claims to be Christian yet supports immorality and defiance of those teachings,
socially or politically, is one in the same person and accordingly directly
defies the Word of God.
We are not expected to understand all the mysteries of faith and teachings of
the Church; we are after all physical beings that by our nature relate more
readily to that which our senses can confirm. But where there is confirmation
or proof, faith is diminished. So it is in faith we are to trust and abide by
Jesus Christ in the teachings and principles determined virtuous by His One
Body, the Church. It is not by any state of conscience but by a well formed conscience we are
to entrust our free will. It is a significant error in judgment to defy a
guiding principle of the Church believing it is only that; a principle of the
Church. The guidance of the Church in faith and morality is established in
direct correlation with the teachings of Christ. To defy the Church is to defy
Jesus. It is His institution.
"He that heareth you, Heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me." (Luke CH10; v16)
