THE CATECHISM of the Catholic Church teaches us that conscience is, “Present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil. It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments.
When he listens to his
conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking.” (CCC 1777) Stephen Covey,
the author of the famous book, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”
defines it as “the universal standard within us of what is right and
wrong.” St. Cardinal John Henry Newman calls it “the rule of ethical
truth, the standard of right and wrong, a sovereign, irreversible, absolute
authority in the presence of men and Angels.”
Simply said conscience is
God’s voice within us. It’s God’s homing device for each person inspiring
him or her to do good and avoid evil. Here's what Dr. Peter Kreeft would
say about guilt and conscience, “When we make mistakes in math or learning a
musical instrument, we don’t feel ashamed. We might feel stupid but not
ashamed. However, if we make a mistake in objective moral values we feel
remorse, shame and guilt. Because you offended someone. Who is that
someone? Well it comes from inside us. It is called conscience. And
conscience is the voice of God.
When we go against
objective moral values, we offend God that’s why our conscience reprimands
us. We can also do the opposite. If we support and take action
against racism, slavery and human trafficking we feel good.” Our conscience
will accuse us if we do something bad but it cannot forgive us since the
offended party is not our conscience but God. We will have to settle that
guilt with God.
Conscience is our accuser
if we do wrong, but if we have good dispositions, we will listen to it and
correct our wrongdoing. If we have offended our neighbor, such as
backbiting against that neighbor, that means we will have to ask for
forgiveness both to that person, and to God. For Catholics asking for
forgiveness from God means going to the Sacrament of Confession.
Oftentimes our conscience
tells us what should not be done rather than what specific good we should
do. Its purpose is like a fence or guardrails telling us not to go beyond
it. But if we stay within the fence, our conscience will not bother
us. Our conscience does not dictate to us what particular action we
should undertake to do good because virtue has no limits. It’s up to us
how generous we are in practicing virtues. And once we practice those
virtues our conscience rewards us with peace and satisfaction.
The rule the Catholic
Church gives us with regard to following our conscience especially when we are
in doubt, or when we are not sure if the action we will carry out is either
good or bad, is to always follow our conscience. “Return to your
conscience, question it... Turn inward, brethren, and in everything you do, see
God as your witness.” (CCC 1779)
But at the same time we are
obliged to educate our conscience through the knowledge of the Ten Commandments
and the Word of God because a sincere conscience can still make mistakes.
Other forms of educating our conscience would be asking advice from a priest or
religious person when we are in doubt, attending retreats, recollections and
other spiritual activities, and studying the Catechism of the Catholic
Church. And finally, our conscience will be our judge, and jury when we
face the judgment seat of God right after we die. It becomes a prosecuting
lawyer if we have done bad things in life and a defense attorney if we have
done good things towards God and neighbor. (ECC)
(The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper, The Zamboanga Post and the Radyo Mindanao or its editorial board.)
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