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.” We then turned to Saint John Paul II’s encyclical letter Veritatis splendor (6 August, 1993) which addresses fundamental moral issues, including “conscience” more than one hundred times. These reflections were begun earlier (6 April, 2018-30 May, 2018). Here we now consider a passage from Veritatis splendor, 63.2.
Saint John Paul II (+2005) when considering the “seeking what is true and good” reminds us citing Gaudium et spes, 16, that conscience is “the ultimate concrete judgment” but “compromises its dignity when it is culpably erroneous, that is to say, ‘when man shows little concern for seeking what is true and good and conscience gradually becomes almost blind from being accustomed to sin.’”
The dignity of a well-formed conscience is that through it we are united to the Almighty, with an understanding in harmony with the Divine Will as related in the Commandments and the Natural Law. When our conscience is not well-formed it becomes compromised in a blow to it’s dignity. This sort of degradation is not encouraged in Sacred Scripture (cf. Mark 8:33; 1 Corinthians 14:20).
The dignity of conscience is compromised and wounded specifically by a culpably erroneous conscience. The Holy Father had previously addressed the erroneous conscience (cf. VS, 62, 63). What is different here is it is one thing to be mistaken, it is another altogether to be willfully in error. To intentionally disregard Divine Revelation found in Sacred Scripture, the moral wisdom of the ages represented in the Natural Law is to tread close to the edge if not over the edge of culpability. It is one thing to have a mental defect which may hinder our understanding, it is altogether another to obstinately insist that deeds and desires which are murderous, greedy, lustful and dishonest (and the like) are just fine and dandy. There is a difference between virtue and vice (cf. St Augustine, City of God, bk I, ch. 9). Interestingly enough, one need not have all the virtues in order to speak about or understand or encourage them. Our witness to the truth of the virtues and of the importance of a well-formed conscience and it’s dignity are all the more powerful when accompanied by an authentic living out of the same. Some years ago William J. Bennett wrote The Book of Virtues (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993) which gave a more modern take in ten chapters including self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, friendship, work, courage, perseverance, honesty, loyalty, and faith. This enumeration differs from those of St. Gregory the Great (Moralia) St Thomas Aquinas, OP (Disputed Questions on Virtue; Summa Theologiae II-II Q. 47-170).
There are some sad consequence of being accustomed to sin. If we become accustomed to sin we might not repent our sins and we might die in them, which has eternal consequences (cf. John 8:21, 24).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr