Conscience and the repentant heart

Conscience is a moral navigation system

By ARCHBISHOP THOMAS COLLINS

Sorrow for sin based on something less than love (such as fear of punishment by God) is called "imperfect contrition," and that seems, at first at least, to be the situation of the prodigal son. He is sorry because he is hungry.

Sorrow for sin based upon love of God is called "perfect contrition," and we may see that in the attitude of the tax collector who prays: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18: 9-14). We need to start with at least imperfect contrition and pray that by God's grace it may be transformed into perfect contrition.

To be sorry, we need to know we have done wrong and so we need to examine our consciences. Conscience is our moral navigation system. When we reflect beforehand on the morality of an action, we rely on conscience, as we do also after the fact, when we assess our behaviour.

Each day we should make a very brief examination of conscience.

We all know we should follow our conscience. Sometimes people think that means we should simply do what we feel is right. That is not really true. We also need to be sure that our conscience is well formed, and gives us accurate guidance.

To get us from where we are to where we want to go, a navigator must be sure both that the navigation instruments are functioning properly, and that they are supplied with accurate information about our present location, and the path to our destination. It is the same conscience, our moral navigation system.

Our conscience, as an instrument, can be too lax or too scrupulous. In this sense it is something like a smoke detector. We want it to ring the alarm (which, for conscience, is a feeling of guilt) when we are in danger.

We do not want it to be so sensitive that it rings when we burn the toast. The equivalent morally would be a scrupulous conscience that causes us to feel guilty when, in fact, we have not done anything wrong. On the other hand, we do not want a smoke detector that remains silent when the house is burning down. That would be a lax conscience, in which we commit a serious sin, but feel no guilt.

To be sure the instrument of our conscience is properly adjusted we need the advice of others, such as a friend, spiritual director or confessor. In fact, that is one of the benefits of confessing our sins. The confessor can assist us and might perhaps say "I think you are being a little scrupulous about that," or "Perhaps you should take that more seriously."

Like any navigation system, our conscience needs accurate information if it is to do its work. By being attentive to the moral norms of Scripture and of the living faith of the Church, we are able to develop a well-formed conscience, which will give us true guidance on the journey of life.

When we make an examination of conscience we become aware of our sins, and this should lead us to self-understanding, to sorrow for sin and to a resolution to try to avoid sin in the future.

It is clear that our moral behaviour is complex and that our sins are sometimes more or less serious. Traditionally, Catholic teaching has distinguished "venial sin" (less serious offences) from "mortal sin" (spiritually fatal offences).

As we reflect on the seriousness of our sins, and our personal accountability, we need to take into account several factors. First, some actions are in themselves objectively more serious, and, in fact, some actions (for example, adultery, or intentionally taking an innocent life) are intrinsically evil.

Our responsibility is also affected by our knowledge and our freedom. Our personal guilt, even in the case of objectively evil behaviour, is limited if we do not know any better, or of we are less than free in our actions. The worst sin is a seriously objectively evil act that I freely and knowingly perform.

Each day we should make a very brief examination of conscience, and a more thorough one from time to time, especially when preparing to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation. By doing so, we can more fully experience perfect contrition for our sins, but also a joyful appreciation of the love of God who sees us in all of our weakness and showers us with mercy, like the father who so lovingly embraced the prodigal son.

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