How’s Your Conscience Doing?

“At Eternity’s Gate”, an 1890 painting by Vincent van Gogh
We have heard many times that “God will judge us by our conscience”, but we also know that in our human situation, many people firmly trust their own opinions. The might say: “I am a mature adult who’s able to decide for myself on what is right or wrong for me.”
However, a good Catholic conscience is far more than just an opinion. A good person cannot base their judgment on the voice of modern society, which we know is self-centred and self-seeking. It must be based on the law of Nature, the law of God. This could mean the inner voice instilled into our very nature by a God who is all goodness; that quiet voice which simply prompts us to “do good and avoid evil”.
Pope John Paul II reminds us that “in desiring a good Catholic conscience, a person must first seek the truth and then make judgments in accordance with that same truth”. Truth is another issue worth pursuing for it confused the mighty Pontius Pilate who cried, “What is truth?”, when before him stood Eternal Truth (John 18:38).
We can all be easily confused because conscience is not infallible, simply because we are gifted with free will. But we exercise this free will in an increasingly godless society, with its own standards of morality, in which so many people hunger for self-gratification, pleasure and material possession, without reference to God’s law.
The erroneous conscience
When we are guided by these influences, we end up with an erroneous conscience and find ourselves living on this level even in our church and sacramental lives. St Paul warns us about this conflict with our sacramental life, showing also that our problems today were present even among the early Christians: “Everyone is to examine himself and only then eat of the bread or drink from the cup; because a person who eats and drinks without recognising the body is eating and drinking his own condemnation… If we were critical of ourselves we would not be condemned” (1 Corinthians 11:28-32).
Many of us live with an erroneous conscience, and for many reasons. It could be sheer ignorance, or living in an environment that mirrors only bad examples, or we believe fake news in the media, or are influenced by the wilful rejection of Church teachings and the authority of the Bible. It seems so much easier to flow with the tide.
Yet, as Catholics, we are instructed to form a correct conscience by an honest assessment of ourselves in the light of the Church’s teachings — not an assessment viewed through the eyes of humans but by the eyes of God, who is the creator of our minds and conscience.
When we fail in this, where do we start to correct ourselves? Well, in our day by day decisions, we must rely on a prayer life, the power of the Holy Spirit, the sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus tells us to heed the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the teachings of the Gospel, and, above all, the example of Jesus himself in his life of love and service. That would indeed give us a correct conscience, for we know from Jesus that living the truth will set us free (John 8:32).
God will be the judge
God, in his mercy and pure understanding, will judge us in accordance with our conscience. But God will judge severely those who fall into error because of wilful neglect in seeking the truth due to laziness, pride or self-righteousness, and those who choose an immoral way of life.
A clear and innocent conscience fears nothing and nobody. We should also be aware that certain sins are intrinsically evil and can never be justified, but what is absolutely certain is that a conscience without God is like a court without a judge.
We are thus obligated to take the necessary steps to form a correct conscience. It may be a rocky road with many ups and downs, because our self-interests will always get in the way. Maybe one should begin the trip with this solid resolution: “This is what I want, what I will seek — to live freely by the truth.”
We will not get far on that journey without sincere prayer, for nothing really good is achieved without the Power from on high, the Holy Spirit, “who will lead us to the complete truth” (John 16:13). A well-informed conscience is ever sensitive to this inner sanctuary and is always in accordance with human reason and the divine law.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us: “His conscience is man’s most secret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths” (1776).
Fr Ralph de Hahn is a priest of the archdiocese of Cape Town.
Published in the November 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine
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