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, 60.
Saint John Paul II (+2005) when considering the “judgment of conscience” reminds us that “the judgment of conscience does not establish the law; rather it bears witness to the authority of the natural law and of the practical reason with reference to the supreme good, whose attractiveness the human person perceives and whose commandments he accepts.”
The Holy Father highlights here the relationship between conscience and the Natural Law. There may be some who would deny the existence of either or both conscience and the Natural Law. How we approach this will depend on the authenticity of our understanding of what (or who) the human person is, what has been called “theological anthropology.” If there is no soul, spiritual component of our being, we are only so much matter, without any moral responsibility, no better than beasts. If there is a soul and we are in part spiritual beings, there is more than meets the eye. It is not only Genesis 1:26-27 which helps us grasp our being in the image and likeness of God, but even John 4:24 where we read that “God is Spirit.” Buddhists may not recognize the existence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let alone the divinity of Jesus Christ, but they do recognize the Natural Law (but not it’s Author; see Lantigua, David Natural Law Ethics: A Comparison of Theravada and Thomistic Traditions (2007) University of South Florida, Master’s Thesis; Suzuki, Daisetz T. “Natural Law in the Buddhist Tradition” Natural Law Institute Proceedings 5 (1953) 91-115.).
By drawing attention to the relationship between conscience and the practical reason the Holy Father is highlighting questions of what and why and how something ought to be done or not. If something is good it should be done, this is a judgment of theoretical reasoning. A well-formed conscience will recognize diligence and generosity as good traits, ever virtues, to be sought and exercised. The practical reason would implement getting up and going to work and sharing the fruits of our labor as ways of realizing both diligence and generosity on the one hand and spurning sloth and greed on the other hand.
A well-formed conscience and the supreme good are related not only to each other but also to the Natural Law. God is the Supreme Good and the source and goal of all good. A well-formed conscience recognizes and pursues the good, remote and proximate. The Natural Law has God as it’s Author written on our hearts and in the Commandments of Sinai.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr