My dear parishioners,
Peace! In other bulletins (4 December, 2016-11 June, 2017) we have considered the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on “conscience.” Now we turn to Saint John Paul II’s encyclical letter Veritatis splendor (6 August, 1993) which addresses fundamental moral issues, including “conscience.” Here we consider a second passage from Veritatis splendor, 4.
The role of the “individual subjective conscience” is not passed over by Saint John Paul II (+2005). While some may attempt to divorce the proper relationship between faith and morality, the saintly pontiff reminds us that the divine power to bind and loose includes both what we are to believe and how we are to act (cf. Matthew 18:18). There are objective aspects to the faith: there is One God, the One God is Triune, the Second Person of the Trinity became man, … There are also objective aspects to our moral life: we are not to kill, we are not to steal, we are not to lie, we are not to be promiscuous… When these objective aspects of faith and morals, what we are to believe and what we are to do (or not do) are internalized then they are subjectively present in the one who has internalized them.
While there is a plurality of Divine Persons in the Trinity and of human persons in the Church there is not a plurality when it comes to faith and morals. Saint Paul, inspired by God reminds us there is “one faith” (cf. Ephesians 4:5-6). The Lord Jesus self-identifies as “the truth” (cf. John 14:6). It is the truth that will set us free, not “truths” (cf. John 8:32). There is no plurality when it comes to morality “Go and sin no more” (John 5:14; 8:11). Our yes is to God and to His call to live faithful lives and moral lives. Our no is to sin, Satan and the glamour of evil (cf. Matthew 5:37).
The world may say there is no such thing as sin, but the Lord Jesus came, suffered, died and rose, to save us from our sins (cf. Matthew 1:21; Romans 5:8). “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). While scrupulosity (seeing sin where there is none) itself may be a sin, it is not widespread in our day. Laxity, sadly, appears to be widespread. Moral laxity seeks to tolerate all sorts of wicked behaviors using all sorts of justifications and rationalizations. That is just the american way, we’ve always done it this way…
When there is a divergence between a “personal subjective conscience” and the sure and certain moral teaching of Jesus Christ, His Gospel, His Church we ought to tread very lightly, lest we follow blind guides (cf. Matthew 15:14; 23:24). A well-formed “personal subjective conscience” would correspond to the requirements of the Natural Law, the Gospel, the Commandments and the authentic teaching of the Church (Magisterium).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr