Download Conscience Formation

Conscience Formation
Chapter 5 YLIC
Lecture
“May you fight a good fight by having
faith and a good conscience. Some, by
rejecting conscience, have made a
shipwreck of their faith.” 1 Timothy 1:18-19
How can a person make a “shipwreck” of their
life/faith because they do not use their “good”
conscience?
Not only what conscience is but HOW
and WHY we must form and inform our
conscience in order to live moral lives.
The payoff to a good conscience is not only
living a moral life, but a happy one as well.
Conscience (dictionary definition)
•Awareness of a moral or ethical aspect
to one’s conduct together with the
urge to prefer right over wrong.
Yet, we need a
more religious
(Christian) answer
to
“What is
Conscience?”
What Conscience Is Not!
• Majority opinion
• Just because the group thinks something is
okay/good does not mean that it is.
• The Walking Dead = Carol or Morgan
• Just a feeling
• Feelings may not be based on reality.
• It’s possible to not know the whole story of a
situation.
• Superego
• Following rules because we want approval as
opposed to following because it is the right
(moral) thing to do.
• Gut-instinct
• The hunch … basing decisions
solely on this may be faulty
• Jiminy Cricket
• The internal voice dictating
what is right or wrong.
• Myth
• Control through guilt
What is CONSCIENCE??
• A practical judgement of REASON
• Helps a person decide the goodness or sinfulness of an
ACTION or ATTITUDE
• The subjective norm of morality that we must form
PROPERLY and then FOLLOW
• Subjective = existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking
subject rather than to the object of thought
Vatican II
• Humanity (Man – Person) detects a law which holds him to
obedience.
• This is the Law of God that inclines us to goodness
• In which we are summoned to love Good and avoid Evil.
• The voice of conscience speaks to the heart.
• To obey the Law of God is what true dignity is.
• This Law is fulfilled by love of God and neighbor.
As Christians we believe Conscience is …
• Awareness of God’s call for us to be what he created us to be.
• To Love
• To build the Kingdom
• To witness to your experiences
• Awareness of God’s call to know and do the good, that is, to love.
• Can you? Do you? Recognize who you are called to be?
• Practical judgement of the intellect.
• Putting this to work in the here and now of our lives in order to make good
decisions.
How Conscience Works
Good Habit (virtue)
Honesty (the
virtue of Integrity)
How would a person
cultivate this good
habit?
An honest person does not…
• Cheat
• Lie
• Steal
We are NOT taking about situations in which the circumstances
may force a person to do this.
So if you practice HONESTY you will
usually resist the temptation to
cheat, lie or steal.
Almost instinctively you will choose
the good, proper, and moral course
of action without being explicitly
aware of it.
Developing our virtues takes …
PRACTICE!!!!!
What are your vices?
How can you work to correct them?
Vice
The bad habit, that inclines us to
choose the evil rather than the good.
The bad habit (vice) of Laziness
•Do bad habits take “practice”?
•What might laziness lead to???
2 Important Principles regarding Conscience
• You must always form and keep informing your
conscience.
• You must follow your well-formed conscience.
WHY? HOW? WHEN?
Instead of just going with your gut…
1. Study
1.
2.
3.
4.
Seek advice
Pro/Con List
Gather Info
Use your brain!
2. Elect
1.
2.
Choose the right course of action!
Pray and Listen
3. Execute (hardest part)
1.
2.
Put into action what you have decided
Take control of your own actions
4. Review
1.
2.
If we have done what is right we can reflect and it will help us the next time.
If we have not followed our conscience we can repent and hopefully reform.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Cowardice asks the
question ‘Is it safe?’
Expedience asks the
question, ‘Is it politic?’
Vanity asks the question,
‘Is it popular?’ but
conscience asks the
question, ‘Is it right?’”
What are some BIG
decisions that you
will have to make
in the near future?
Remember –
Conscience asks the
question
“Is it right?”
What is the right thing to do?
• You find a wallet with $500 in it. The license is inside the
wallet and you know the person to whom it belongs.
• There is a big party planned for Saturday night and there will
be no adult supervision.
• Some of your friends are using gross language as they discuss
their relationships with their girlfriends.
• Your math test is 6th period and your friend from 3rd period is
willing to give you a heads-up as to what is on the test.
Pop Quiz (DO NOT COPY THE QUESTIONS)
Complete Heading on your own piece of paper.
1. What 3 things should we be aware of in God’s call to us
and what he created us to be?
2.