Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket is chosen by the Blue Fairy to be Pinocchio's "official" conscience. He agrees to his post as, "Lord High Keeper of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong, Counselor in Moments of Temptation, and Guide along the Straight and Narrow Path." Do each of us have a Jiminy Cricket as our conscience to tell us right from wrong? NO!! Conscience is NOT an inner voice within us that is separate from who we areRather, it is a reflection of our being: Conscience is not what we have, it It is the operation of is something we are. the intellect. Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment.For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.His conscience is mans most secret core and sanctuary. There he is alone with God voice echoes in his depth. Vatican II, Gadium et Spes To define and clarify It is NOT an inner voice that Conscience: a judgment goes untouched, unexamined and undeveloped. of reason whereby the human person recognizes Conscience IS molded by our the moral quality of a environment, but must be concrete act that he is evaluated against TRUTH when making a decision. going to perform, is in the process of performing, or Conscience IS NOT a feeling, it is an act has already Conscience refers to ourcompleted. entire being as of the intellect and will that must be creatures who desire to turn towards examined against truth before final goodness and truth. judgment can be made.
The Latin root for the word conscience means to
know. It deals with our acts of judging based on our KNOWledge of right and wrong, Conscience vs. Consciousness: Consciousness refers to a general awareness of ourselves, other people and our surroundings.
Conscience refers to our awareness
(consciousness) of right and wrong, Again, Conscience is not a feeling; it is a practical The job of the judgment; an operation of the conscience is to intellect that must be examined evaluate whether or not against TRUTH. a particular act is good or evil, and to advise Conscience enables one to assume accordingly. responsibility for the acts performed. Review of the Moral Act:
There are three basic components for determining
whether an action is moral or immoral:
1.The object chosen
2.The intention (the end) 3.The circumstances surrounding the action A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the circumstances together. An evil end corrupts the action, even if the object is good in itself (such as praying and fasting in order to be seen by men). The object of choice can by itself vitiate [corrupt] an act in its entirety. There are some concrete acts such as fornication that it is always wrong to choose, because choosing them entails a disorder of the will, that is, a moral evil. CCC 1755 Conditions that Lessen Violence is an external force applied by one person on Guilt another to compel that person to perform an action against his or her will. Fear is a disturbance of mind resulting from some present or imminent danger.
Concupiscence is the rebellion of passions [emotions]
against reason. It is the tendency of human nature toward evil. Ignorance is lack of knowledge in a person capable of possessing such knowledge. There are two types of ignorance: - Vincible Ignorance is that which can and should be dispelled. For example, if someone thinks it might be wrong not to eat meat on Fridays in Lent, but purposely never asks a priest or a friend about it, then he still commits sin if he eats meat on those days. - Invincible Ignorance is that which cannot be dispelled. In other words, someone is ignorant of his own ignorance. We can sum up by saying that invincible ignorance eliminates the moral responsibility for a human act; vincible ignorance does not eliminate moral responsibility, but may lessen it. Divisions of Conscience Certain vs. Doubtful Certain: one which True (correct) vs. dictates a course of True (correct): one which action in clear terms Erroneous without fear of error indicates correctly the Doubtful: one which goodness or badness of a leaves a person Erroneous: moral one which falsely conduct undecided as to the indicates that a good action is proper course of action evil, or an evil action is good **We must always follow a certain A person with a false conscience may/may conscience! not be guilty of an evil act depending on Lax vs. Scrupulous whether his ignorance was vincible or Lax: forms moral invincible. judgments on insufficient Did he try to know the truth and yet grounds; may be persuaded remained in error?- invincible; he is that great sins are innocent. permissible Scrupulous: when OR Was he negligent in seeking the truth or tried NOT to seek the truth?- vincible; not someone sees evil where innocent there is none When our conscience is honestly and correctly formed, we MUST follow it in every circumstance! But, in order to follow our conscience, we must always seek to FORM our conscience Steps to help our conscience grow and be attuned to Gods will. 1. Find the facts. 2. Examine your motives. 3. Think of the possible effects. 4. Consider alternatives. 5. What does the law have to say? 6. What is the reasonable thing to do? 7. What does your own experience and that of other people say about the issue? 8. What would Jesus have done? 9. What is the teaching of the Church? 10. Pray for guidance. 11. Admit that you sometimes sin and might be wrong. 12. After all of this, follow your conscience. Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and does not do