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, 61.
Saint John Paul II (+2005) when considering the “judgment of conscience” reminds us that if we do “evil, the just judgment of conscience remains within” us “as a witness to the universal truth of the good, as well as to the malice” of our “particular choice.”
Here the Holy Father reminds us that there is a difference between good and evil, virtue and vice. These are not concepts only for fairy tales. While the legend of Robin Hood may glamorize theft for the last six hundred years, stealing is wrong, whether in Sherwood Forest or on Wall Street. Extortion is no less evil than exorbitant taxes, even if one is done under the cloak of law. Greed is evil as are sloth and envy. Generosity presupposes diligence, both of which are good. Saint Paul exhorts us to truth and goodness, honesty and excellence (cf. Philippians 4:8).
A well-formed conscience is able to render a just judgment concerning the goodness or evilness of an act, an intention and the like. We well form our conscience in the light of reason, the Natural Law, and thanks to grace, and faith and revelation we have the Decalogue, the beatitudes and the Cross to further hone our moral and ethical vision of things (cf. Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:7-21; Matthew 5:3-12). If we are epicurians (named for Epicurus +270 BC) or hedonists we will not necessarily do or seek what is good, right or true, but only what is exotic or pleasurable. If we are utilitarians (e.g. Jeremy Bentham (+132), John Stuart Mill (+1873), Peter Singer (b. 1946)) or pragmatists (e.g. Charles Sanders Peirce (+1914), William James (+1910), John Dewey (+1952)) we will only do what is efficient even at the expense of doing what is good, right or true. In Sacred Scripture Almighty God exhorts us through Saint Paul to examine ourselves, lest we be condemned (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:28). The Lord Jesus Christ warns us that unrepented malice, that is evil, surely leads to eternal condemnation (cf. Matthew 23:14, 33; Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47; John 3:18-19; 5:24).
A well-formed conscience provides an internal witness to the universal truth. Not only does truth exist, but we can know the truth and the truth will set us free from slavery to sin and Satan and evil (cf. John 8:31-32; 14:6). The Eighth Commandment, to not bear false witness, also requires us to bear witness to the truth, about God, about ourselves, about morality… even as have countless martyrs (cf. Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 5:20; Matthew 10:27).
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr