I WATCH TOO MUCH NEWS! It drives me crazy when I hear someone say something about ‘their own truth,’ or ‘I’ve made my own ‘conscience’ decision, therefore I am right and you must believe it’ What they don’t seem to understand is that making a decision with an ill formed conscience always leads to making bad decisions because they are never rooted in Christ.
Conscience is not an isolated, personal or individual thing. Consciences are formed by experience, by authority, by what is human, and by what is divine. They involve the soul, our most human element which seeks after the truth in all things.
The Truth is Jesus Christ. His teaching is infallible is not stupid or unenlightened. And so, when I come to ask myself what is right and wrong, I have to ask what Jesus actually teaches. I cannot come to understand His teaching alone: I can only discover truth through the Scripture and equally the Tradition of the Church that is a two thousand years old reflection on the Word of God. Through them, listen prayerfully for the Holy Spirit and to people we trust to be in communion with Christ.
Obedience is not an easy thing to practice. Look at Abraham and his son Isaac. Our interpretation of what is right or what the state says is a ‘right,’ without some basis in God, is wrong because all human rights come from God alone. What is important is admitting to yourself that God alone is the master of your life; that only Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Light. Without Him we are not enlightened.
For pilgrims of faith, Christ becomes the door, opening wide the mystery of divine providence which calls us to obey the commandments and the will of Christ.
As we begin this Second Week of the Lent, our response to the call of the Transfiguration must be authentic as it embraces the response of Jesus, who suffered on Calvary and rose to the heavens in resurrection. Our response must be one of selfless love that is strong enough to withstand the pressures and the stress of a world captured in a life of sin.
Each of us who bear the Cross of Jesus becomes today-a beloved son or daughter on Whom God’s favor rests. Study the Sacred Scriptures; study the mind of Christ in the writings of the Bishops throughout the centuries. Make sure your conscience is well formed in truth not ill formed in the lies and shadows of a self-absorbed and materialistic culture that further alienates itself from God.
Pray for those who believe their enlightenment comes from self-awareness alone and not from Christ, our only true Light. Pray that our parish will always be faithful to the Church’s teaching with unity and charity. It is our hope and our real joy in life-that the sacrifices we make for the love of Jesus does indeed makes a difference in the eternal plan of the Father.