CONSCIENCE FORMATION May you fight a good fight

CONSCIENCE FORMATION May you fight a good fight by having faith and a good conscience. Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith – 1 Timothy 1: 18 -19

With and Without Conscience • Negative view: “Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking. ” • “My conscience is like a three-cornered thing in here that stands still when I am good. But when I’m bad, it turns around, and the corners hurt a lot. But if I keep on doing bad, eventually the corners wear off and it doesn’t hurt much anymore. ”

Definition • “The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one’s conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong. ” • A secular, non-Christian definition.

What Conscience Is Not • To fully understand what conscience is, we must understand what it is not. • 1) Conscience as a majority opinion: Not what everyone is doing; surrenders personal responsibility to the group. • 2) Conscience as a feeling: What feels right isn’t necessarily right. This holds that we create our own moral rules

. . . Is Not Con’t • 3) Conscience as Superego: “left-over rules from childhood that we carry. Freud. Authority figures told us and we followed because we wanted to be loved. • 4) Conscience as gut instinct: Does not involve intellect • 5). . . as Jiminy Cricket: it’s not a supernatural line to God

. . . Is Not Con’t • 6) Conscience is a myth: It does exist. • Not created to control us; the denial of conscience leads to the death of morality.

What Conscience Is • Definition by the CCC and the Second Vatican Council on pages 132 of text. • Three interlocking aspects of conscience: • 1)Conscience is awareness of God’s call to be: – Where we are alone with the Triune God, and hear His invitation to be who He calls us to be.

. . . Is Con’t • 2) Conscience is awareness of God’s call to know and to do the good, that is, to love: – As persons with dignity we reflect our God, who is love. – Done when we respond to the good; when we love. – Obey the law written in our hearts, that of love, love of God and neighbour.

. . . Is Con’t • 3) Conscience is a practical judgment of the intellect: – Helps to discover the loving path and to avoid the path that is evil – Judges the act we are about to perform. – Mixed with the desire to love helps us to choose love and shun evil in the here and now

. . . Is Con’t • 3 points stress the personal nature of conscience to be a loving person, search for moral truth and do good. • Must come together to apply the objective norms of morality to issues that affect the common good.