The news is filled with conscience discussions where religious freedom and conscience clauses are concerned. The fathers of the Second Vatican Council give us one of the most profound definitions of conscience, and from that we discern the reason we must defend its preciousness. My
latest column at Patheos addresses the subject. Here's an excerpt:
The conscience is hidden deep, yet it defines us; it is our
interior sanctuary where we meet God. The interior defines everything we are
exteriorly.
We find out how deeply we know this God when we are in the
crucible: when our conscience, seared by the heat of painful circumstances, is
tried for all we are worth.
There comes a point when you must reach into the deepest
part of you and make a decision for
or against… or you have to survey the
landscape and say this is as far as I go
and no further.
These are the moments when you admit that life isn’t just a
random freefall or that everything is unrelated or of no consequence. But
rather, it is more about connections and integrity and things holding together
in an abundant web of life and time in eternity.
These are the places where we ascend or descend to… where the boundaries of truth, beauty,
and goodness leave off… and falsehood, ugliness, and evil begin. Our conscience
helps us find and run our fingers along the outer edges of precarious ledges.
Otherwise we might slip and fall, hurtling into danger. Or worse.
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