Fr. Michael Williams

Today’s second reading talks about ‘conscience’. So, perhaps we might spend a few minutes now thinking about ‘conscience’; thinking about the voice of conscience deep within us which helps us to judge between right and wrong.

These days when we have to face some kind of moral choice in our lives, people often say to us, “Oh, just follow your conscience. Do whatever your conscience tells you to do”.

And that’s good advice. As Christians, we all have a duty to follow our conscience.

But, when it comes to our conscience, we have another duty as well, and these days this second duty is sometimes neglected.

We have a duty not only to follow our conscience, but we also have a duty to form it.

That’s our second duty.

But what does that mean? How do we form our conscience?

Well, that’s where the Church comes in. God has given us the Church to help us to form our consciences. Church teaching really is the greatest resource we have for forming our consciences well.

But then there’s a problem. Sometimes the Church has things to say about moral issues that can be very difficult to accept. Sometimes it seems like the Church is saying ‘no’ to everything; that the Church is harsh; that the Church is out of touch.

But the things is, it’s all too easy to dismiss Church teaching without taking the trouble to look at why the Church says what it says.

You see, underneath every single strand of Church teaching, there’s always a good value; there’s always compassion; there’s always something positive.

And the more we try to understand the value behind the Church’s teaching, then the easier it is to use that teaching as we struggle with the really difficult and important decisions of life.

And, at the end of the day, we really do need the Church to help us to form our consciences because history teaches us that when we try to do it under our own steam then things can go wrong.

To take an extreme example, Adolf Hitler formed his conscience by developing his own system of values. He certainly didn’t use the Church as his guide. He did it all by himself and he ended up committing the most dreadful atrocities the world has ever seen.

And Hitler justified every one of his terrible acts. He followed his conscience – certainly - but he didn’t form his conscience well, and the results were devastating.

As I say, it’s an extreme example but it does remind us that it’s all too easy for our consciences to be wrong. That’s why we need help in forming them.

So, do you study Church teaching and try to understand the truth behind it? Do you give priority to what the Church has to say on moral issues? Or do you find yourself dismissing Church teaching as harsh and unrealistic?

When it comes to our consciences, we Christians have a double duty: we must follow our consciences but we must also form them.

How are you doing on the second part of that double duty?