What is the conscience?
[The conscience is not an oracle but an organ. It is part of our essence and it requires growth, training, and practice.
Man has this organ of internal knowledge about good and evil; but for it to become what it is, it needs the help of others. It requires formation and education.
Just like we cannot learn to speak on our own without the help of those who understand language lest we are unable to communicate so we need help in choosing right from wrong.
If not trained properly our conscience like our language ability can be stunted, stamped out, falsified, and distorted. It can be silenced, which becomes a deadly sickness for ourselves and civilization.
We should never act on our conscience without embracing the obligation to care for it, form it,and educate it by exposing it to the truth not of our own making or discovery but the truth that has been revealed and withstands the test of time.
What is in us that contradicts the word of Truth revealed by Christ and taught by the Church must then be rooted out. We must always seek to better inform our conscience so that we truly become fully human and embrace the gift offered in Christ, the fullness of life and joy that is complete.
Part of forming our conscience is having a guilty conscience. A guilty conscience is not a bad thing. Not being able to have a guilt conscience is a sickness; it is like not being able to feel pain. It can be potentially damaging if not eternally dangerous. ](Paraphrased and summarized from On Conscience by Cardinal Ratzinger
Herod in the gospel today was greatly perplexed. His conscience was bothering him. He thought that John the Baptist had risen from dead; this was a concern since it was Herod who ordered his execution.
He had a guilty conscience. Of all the things that are said bad about Herod; of all his vices he chose to carry with him through life; the fact he had a guilty conscience means that there was hope for change within him.
And what did he do with such a guilt ridden conscience, he sought to inform it by seeking to see Christ. He was seeking the truth in the face of Christ.
Herod was trying to fulfill the obligation to care for, form, and educate his conscience.
The glimmer of hope shines forth in the power of Christ to speak to even the darkest conscience, to grab the attention of the one who seemed closed and tempt it with light.
And the gospel tells us Herod "kept trying to see him."
Should we all be so daring in forming our conscience with truth revealed by Christ given to the Church to assist us all in training ourselves to recognize and embrace the truth so that we might become more fully human, more fully alive.
No comments:
Post a Comment