Transcript Conscience

&
Conscience
- Is the inner sense of right and
wrong that enables individuals to
discern moral choices freely.
- It is understood as a kind of inner
voice (tinig ng budhi) which
guides us in our moral life.
“In the depth of your conscience,
you detect a law which you did
not impose upon yourself, but
which holds you to obedience.
Always summoning you to love
good and avoid evil, the voice of
conscience
when
necessary
speaks to your heart; do this,
shun that.
Conscience is the most
secret core and sanctuary
of your self. There you are
alone with God, whose
voice echoes in your
depths.”
- Conscience acts as our
personal moral norm for
discerning good and evil.
Does your conscience talk to
you?
What does it say?
What you want to hear or what
you need to hear?
How can I be free if I am
“bound,” morally
obliged, to follow the
moral law and dictates of
conscience?
In young children conscience
works on an instinctive level
dominated by fear of
punishment and desire for
approval.
…the youth have developed to
the properly moral or ethical
stage…
Christian or religious stage of
conscience is reached when
Faith actively illumines the
moral life of the disciple of
Christ…
Forming A
Christian
Conscience
The key to form the
conscience of a disciple of
Christ is Christ Himself
and His Spirit, experienced
within Christ’s community,
and the church.
The process takes place as
we exercise and live the
Word of God.
Two Types of Formative
Factors
1. “heart” factors
2. “mind” factors
“heart” factors
- reading and reflecting on
Jesus’ teaching and actions
& our affective prayer and
sacramental life
“mind” factors
- attending to the sacred and
certain doctrine of the
Church
“the hypocrisy of liars with
branded consciences” (1
Tim 4:2)
“those defiled unbelievers
[whose] minds and
consciences are tainted” (1
Tim 1:5)
Conscience ate times, can be
erroneous – we mistakenly
judge something that is
really evil to good, or
something good to evil.
“The
more
correct
conscience prevails, the
more
do
persons
and
groups turn aside from
blind choice and try to be
guided by the objective
standards
of
moral
conduct.” (GS, 16)
Guilt?
Authentic Christian
Conscience
or
Result merely of shame
over breaking some
social or cultural “taboo”
true moral guilt
- a true “guilty conscience”
psychological guilt feelings
- which do not necessarily
involve any moral fault