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, 59.2.
Saint John Paul II (+2005) when considering the “judgment of conscience” reminds us that conscience “formulates moral obligation in the light of the Natural Law: it is the obligation to do what the individual, through the workings of his conscience, knows o be a good he is called to do here and now.”
None of us like being told what to do. This is clear even from the first pages of the Sacred Scripture, relating the Fall or Original Sin (cf. Genesis 3:1-7). The fallen world in which we live relishes in denying that there are any moral obligations at all.
Nevertheless, the Holy Father reminds us that there are such things as moral obligations, good that we should do and evil we should not do or repent while we still have life and breath in this world. Another way of approaching moral obligations is to consider duty or responsibility. There are twelve references to “duty” and thirteen to “responsibility” in Veritatis splendor. Some eighteen years beforeMale and Female He Created Them: A Theology of the Body appeared (Boston, MA: Pauline, 2006:: originally finished in 1984), the Holy Father wrote Love and Responsibility (Boston: Pauline, 2013 :: first Polish edition 1960). Of course, the Holy Father has in mind the both the Golden Rule to do unto others as we would have them do unto us (cf. Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31) and the summary of all the Law and the Prophets, to love the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul and our neighbor as ourselves (cf. Mark 12:30-31;Matthew 22:37-38 ). There are some eleven uses of “responsibility” and twelve uses of “duty” and another twelve of “obligation” in the Theology of the Body. The philosophy of Immanuel Kant (+1804) is replete with references to “duty” (e.g. one hundred uses in The Metaphysics of Morals; more than fifty uses in the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals). Kant also uses “obligation” frequently (one hundred uses in The Metaphysics of Morals and more than twenty in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals). Kant does not use “responsibility” in these texts.
The Holy Father invokes here the Natural Law, highlighting it’s importance. New here is the use of the Latin phrase hic et nunc (here and now) which is very practical. It only appears twice in Veritatis splendor (59.2 and 32.2) both of which deal with conscience. The clear voice of conscience tells us this is good, do it; this is evil avoid or repent it, here and now.
God bless you!
Father John Arthur Orr