Mar 2 Sun
Should I follow my conscience?
“Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?”
Everyone follows someone or something.
Who or what we follow can lead us to life or death, goodness or evil, truth or falsehood, beauty or ugliness, communion or isolation.
Christ claimed he is the Truth, the teacher, and the exemplar we should follow. We believe He is.
Our conscience should be fully based on Christ so we can be like him, be in the Truth, and bear good fruit.
Conscience is one’s reason when judging one’s actions. Conscience reads the moral law and judges one’s actions accordingly. Reason does not invent the moral law; rather it discovers it by looking at human nature to learn what is good and evil for a human being. The Christian also receives the knowledge of the moral law through the Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, authoritatively taught by the Church.
Conscience depends on truth. Right conscience is the judgment of a person who—based on true principles—decides, in conformity with the truth, that a particular action is licit or illicit.
Erroneous conscience is the judgment of a person who—based on false principles that are thought to be true—mistakenly determines that a particular action is licit or illicit.
Since we are born knowing nothing, the conscience must be properly formed. This is difficult because even though everyone knows one must do good and avoid evil, one also is inclined to sin. So how is the conscience properly formed?
This formation requires faith, prayer, and practice. It can even require suffering.
In this task, we are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the good example or advice of others and the guidance of the Church.
How do you know if your choice or judgment is correct?
There are some pointers:
- One must always seek what is right and good and detect the will of God expressed in divine law.
- One may never do evil so that good may result from it.
- Whatever you wish they do to you, do so to them.
- You must not do anything that makes your brother stumble.
Thus, we must form first, and obey our conscience.
The dignity of the human person implies and demands that our moral conscience should be based on truth. One must seriously seek a right conscience to make right one’s moral judgment. This can be achieved by:
- Diligently learning the laws of the moral life (through spiritual formation), just as the referee must be interested in knowing well the rules of the game,
- Seeking expert advice in difficult cases (spiritual direction), just as doctors hold consultations when the diagnosis of a serious illness is not clear.
- Asking God for light (prayer).
- Removing the obstacles to right judgment, such as habitual bad habits (spiritual struggle).
- Daily personal examination of conscience.
Among the above-listed conditions, two summarize the formation of conscience: the intellect’s knowledge of moral laws, and the will’s removal of obstacles.
Video: