MITCH T.

MINGLANA
BSA 301

Module Four
Our Conscience Summons us to do Good
Lesson 1: Our Experience of Conscience

Lesson Objectives - The lesson is ordered to enable the students to:

Morals: determine the very role of conscience in relation to freedom, moral

law and sin;

Doctrine: respond to the call of conscience as the voice of God;

Worship: listen to the voice of God, in conversation with Him, in their daily
prayer and life’s encounter.

Opening Prayer Psalm 29:1-11

The Voice of God in a Great Storm

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,     

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
    Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;     
worship the LORD in holy splendor.
    The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders,  
   the LORD, over mighty waters.
    The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
    The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
    He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,  and Sirion like a young wild ox.
    The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
    The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
    The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl,  and strips the forest bare;    
 and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
    The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;  
    the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
    May the LORD give strength to his people!     
May the LORD bless his people with peace!

Context Cooperative Group Learning (CGL) - Word Web / Concept Map

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 In a CLG, create a word web or a concept map illustrating the relationship of conscience,
freedom, moral law and sin. Reporting will follow using a manila paper or cartolina.

Exposition

A. Sacred Scripture

John 10:27

My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them and they follow me.

1 Tim. 1:19

Through them may you fight a good fight by having faith and a good
conscience. Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their
faith,...

Rom 2:15

They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their
conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even
defend them.

A priest once gave a homily differentiating the characteristics of a sheep from a

goat. The sheep is characterized as a meek animal while the goat is wild. The sheep listens to
the voice of the shepherd while the goat doesn’t.
Our conscience is characterized like a sheep which listens to the inner voice (tinig
ng budhi) if it habitually judges the good as right and the evil as wrong. However, our
conscience assumes the characteristic of a goat which doesn’t listen to the shepherd if it
constantly denies and rejects the inner voice (tinig ng budhi) and often rationalizes the evil to
be good. Hence, the Gospel of John reminds us that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, says, “My
sheep listen to my voice, and I know them and they follow me.”
St. Paul affirms that constant negation of our conscience turns our faith into
shipwreck hence we need to fight a good fight by having and forming a good conscience.
Cormac Burke, in his Conscience and Freedom (p. 25)1, commented:

[Conscience is a precious but delicate guide]. Its voice is easily distorted or

obscured. To dictate to conscience is to silence and, eventually, to destroy it.
[Conscience must be listened to and listened to sensitively]. It needs to be
interrogated, even to be cross-examined. And only those who habitually interrogate

1
cf. Our Moral Life in Christ: The Complete Course, p. 74.
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 their conscience and are ready to pay heed even to its awkward answers, will not
cheat their conscience or be cheated by it.

Reflective Activity / Dyad / Random Big Group Sharing

 In your day-to-day life, cite an instance wherein you know what is good in a particular
moral situation but simply ignore the thought or judgment and consequently, do what is
evil and keeps repeating it. Until such time that the evil act becomes natural or even as
others would say it ‘normal’ to you since it becomes automatic. What then is your course
of action?
 Recall an instance wherein you search and discern a tough yet good judgement in a
particular dilemma. The next time you have encountered this or any similar situation, it
becomes easier and automatic for you to make a good judgment.

B. Church Teaching

VS 54

The relationship between man’s freedom and God’s law is most deeply lived out in the
“heart” of the person, in his moral conscience.

VS 63 (cf. GS 16)

Conscience, as the ultimate concrete judgment, compromises its dignity when it is

culpably erroneous, that is to say, “when man shows little concern for seeking what is
true and good, and conscience gradually becomes almost blind from being accustomed
to sin”.

CFC 708 – Types of Conscience

St. Paul distinguishes good people from the bad, according to their faith and good or
bad consciences. He admonishes Timothy: “Hold fast to faith and a good conscience.
Some, by rejecting the guidance of conscience, have made shipwreck of their faith” (1
Tim 1:19). He warns against “the hypocrisy of liars with branded consciences” (1 Tim
4;2), and “those defiled unbelievers…[whose] minds and consciences are tainted” (Ti
1:15). This manifests the critical importance of conscience for becoming an authentic
person and disciple of Jesus Christ.

GS 16

In the depths of his conscience, man detects a law which he does not impose upon
himself, but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and
avoid evil, the voice of conscience can, when necessary, speak to his heart more
specifically: “Do this,” “Shun that.” For man has in his heart a law written by God. To
obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged.

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 Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God,
whose voice echoes in his depths...”

In our basic experience of conscience, we somehow take for granted or lack proper
discernment for its growth from childhood to its maturity. There are actually three levels
of conscience as enumerated and explained by Louis Monden, S. J. whom Fr. Joseph
Roche, S.J. cited in his article “Introduction to Conscience”.

First, fear conscience operates on the instinctive level. It focuses on the

command, on the material breaking of the command, on “escaping
punishment,” and on being restored to the good graces of the authority figure.
This is natural for young children and its roots always remain in us to some
degree. But IF it is still predominant in the moral life of the adult, it
constitutes a serious moral defect, a major obstacle to personal growth and
well-being.

Second, philosophic-ethical conscience operates on the moral-ethical level,

which looks beneath the command of the authority to the inner moral good or
evil of the act. This inner good/evil is judged in terms of the value of the
human person in community – being true to self and others as human
persons.

Third, Christian (religious) conscience operates on the religious level, i.e.,

NOT separated area but the whole of our daily lives, using our ethical reason
but now strengthened and illumined by Christ’s revelation and grace. In
revealing God as our Creator-Redeemer-Final goal, Christ immeasurably
raised our own self-image, and in sending the Spirit He healed our
powerlessness to overcome temptation and sin. He calls us to daily metanoia,
an inner conversion of heart, supported by his constant graceful presence in
the Holy Spirit.

These three levels of conscience are NOT exclusive – we all retain a good
measure of the first and second levels even after we have reached the third.
This is actually needed in our human condition. But the task of every
Christian is to grow toward a dominantly Christian level of conscience in all
moral decision-making and activity.

Exercise

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 The following are examples which you will discern namely; fear or instinctive
conscience, philosophic-ethical or moral-ethical conscience and Christian-religious conscience.
Determine what level of conscience is involved in the following cases:

Write: F —for Fear conscience ME—for moral conscience C—for Christian conscience

__F__Ricky is a college student who carefully does his schoolwork because that’s what his mother wants.
__F__Elvies’ barkadas mocked him when he does not join them. So he makes it a point to be with them.
_ME_Joan donates faithfully to Gawad Kalinga in order to help the poorest of the poor.
_ME_Fatima arranges her desk before leaving the room because she cares and loves her school.
__F_George eventually stops smoking because he is beginning to feel some pains on his body.
__C__Jessica is careful with her relationship with her boyfriend for she believes in the sanctity of
marriage.
_ME__John believes that respect and trust are the foundations of true friendship.
__C__Mario recognizes cheating as an act against the personal loving call of God.
__C_Jose realizes that smoking and drinking with his peers is a violation of the Fifth Commandment.
__ME__Karding hates when his friend bribes him of not telling the whole story to their teacher.

Write your insight for each level of conscience.

ANSWER:

Fear conscience for me is rather always applicable in day to day encounter in our life and it
somehow always partners with moral conscience because it is in par with the latter in how it
slangs us during our times of trials. However, Christian conscience goes deeper for me because
it relates to our creator and the truth of our existence.

Integration

Knowing Jesus means being committed to follow him, being his disciple, by constantly listening
to the voice of our well-formed conscience. Jesus constantly calls us to our daily conversion geared
towards forming our conscience in accordance to his two love commands: love of God and love of
neighbour. Therefore, our respective conscience should always ask in its judgment, “Is this a loving thing
to do?”
Authentic prayer is always rooted in the heart, and related to the neighbour in loving compassion
and service which can enhance the formation of our well-formed conscience. Prayer greatly helps in the
gradual and on-going formation of our respective conscience. Whatever problems, tribulations and
dilemma that we may encounter in life should be offered to our daily prayer, our conversation with God,
by constantly listening to his voice.

Assignment: Research Activity

In the three levels of conscience, where can you find “grace”? Why?
What does conscience do that has to be done and nothing else does it?
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ANSWER:
For me, we can find grace in Christian conscience because no matter what our
obstacles may be in life, we can never be wrong in trusting that the Lord our saviour will always
be with us to guide and bless us with his grace.

Lesson 2: Our Conscience as the Proximate Norm of Personal Morality

Lesson Objectives - The lesson is ordered to enable the students to:

Morals: apply conscience in their actual moral circumstances;

Doctrine: identify themselves with Jesus who experienced temptation;

Worship: celebrate the Sacramentality of Marriage by forming one’s

conscience in accordance to the teachings of Christ and of the
Church.

Opening Prayer

Reading Romans 2: 12-15

All who sin outside the law will also perish without reference to it,
and all who sin under the law will be judged in accordance with it. 
For it is not those who hear the law who are just in the sight of God;
rather, those who observe the law will be justified. 
For when the Gentiles who do not have the law
by nature observe the prescriptions of the law,
they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. 

They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts,
while their conscience also bears witness
and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them 
on the day when, according to my gospel,
God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ Jesus.

Context

Higher Order Questioning / Research / Case Analysis

What does conscience do, that has to be done and nothing else does it?

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 There is an extreme case2. There was a man who wanted to have a decent living
in this consumeristic world. He was looking for a job but to no avail, until such time that
he lost all he had and went begging. He did all the means in order to live by applying for
a job, by begging for food and other ways but nobody helped him.

It was already a matter of life and death that he fell at a burger machine. The
man, at that moment, could no longer recognize the burger because of extreme hunger.
Suddenly, he “got the burger”.

Critical Questions:

 When the man “got the burger”, was it stealing? Why? Why not?

ANSWER:

No, it was not stealing because he just stumbled upon a burger machine and
somehow it had a burger unattended. It was an opportunity for him to ease his starvation
which is nothing but a natural survival situation.

 Did he violate the Seventh Commandment? Why? Why not?

ANSWER:

No, because there was no indication that the burger machine had an attendant
but it was just merely there. The situation could somehow tell us that some people left a
burger near that burger machine.

 Did he commit sin? Why? Why not?

ANSWER:

No, because he was not stealing or anything. No indications tells us that the man
was doing anything wrong by taking someone’s goods or possession.

 How does this moral dilemma relate to this Church Teaching, “Conscience applies the
universal moral norm to our particular act”?

ANSWER:

Is relates that somehow our conscience does not always spungs us in time of
need or desperation but rather after the act or sin is committed.

 In a parallel situation, create a moral dilemma and a concrete moral situation. For
instance, “Does the policeman violate the Fifth Commandment when in pursuit of a bank
robber who is heavily armed shot him dead?”

2
This was a typical example given by Fr. Joseph Roche, S.J. in one of our classes in Christian Morality.
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 ANSWER:

A train with broken brakes is speeding towards a fork in the tracks. On the left,
there is a woman crossing with her two children; on the right, there is a man doing
routine maintenance on the tracks. The engineer must decide which side to aim the
speeding train towards.

N.B. Group brainstorming and reporting will follow after individual activity.

Exposition

A. Sacred Scripture

B. Church Teaching

CFC 700

This “new light” regarding our moral life works through our conscience, “the most secret
core and sanctuary of a man, where he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in his
depths” (GS 16). Moral conscience is the expression of the divine law, defining what is
good and what is evil. It impels us to do the good and to avoid evil. It judges our
behavior, approving what is good, condemning what is evil” (cf. Rom 1:32; CCC 1778).
Thus, it is our conscience that indicates for us how, in our daily thoughts, words and
deeds, we are to love God and our neighbor.

CCC 1796

Conscience is a judgment of reason by which the human person recognizes the moral
quality of a concrete act.

CFC 701

More concretely [conscience] refers to applying objective moral norms to our particular
acts: “the voice of conscience can, when necessary, speak to our hearts more
specifically: do this, shun that.” As such, conscience acts as “the proximate norm of
personal morality” (VS 60) for discerning good and evil (cf. CCC 1796).

Sister Felicidad Lipio, O.P. stresses what conscience alone does in her book “Conscience”.

Conscience therefore, is our subjective moral norm for each of us, the faculty by which we
“apply” general objective moral laws to our particular free acts. Our conscience is that by
which we decide what is right and what is wrong at the moment.
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 For instance, we may decide not to tell the facts or truth to someone who has no right to
know them, or when we are morally obliged to keep a secret, or we could decide not to
attend the Sunday Mass because of the responsibility to take care of a sick member of
the family. There can be no automatic application of the objective universal moral law or
rule in these situations. (Lowery, p12) Rather there is always the need for a practical
moral judgment in applying the norm.

Sr. Lipio also presented the difference between super-ego and conscience by clearly delineating
that, “The superego’s main concern is to seek the love and approval of others, especially those in
authority. On the other hand, conscience is the call to love God precisely in loving others. Hence its main
concern is the love in moral acts, which we feel impelled to do from the moral impulse/obligation: to do
what is right/good and avoid what is wrong/evil.”
Sr. Lipio cited Conway’s (p.28) assertion that “Conscience is our immediate moral guide, telling
us whether a particular act is good and is to be done and whether it is bad and is to be avoided.”
Conscience as the proximate norm of morality is also the ultimate subjective norm of morality.
Conscience is the moral basis of the dignity of an invincibly erroneous conscience. Though limited and
even in error, this conscience is the final arbiter of what is right and it is only this that the person obeys
lest a person sins. It is the final norm of morality and by it a man is judged (GS 16). Hence, our salvation
is dependent on the exercise of our conscience.

Group Activity:

1. Ponder on a situation/dilemma wherein your conscience tells you “to do this and shun that”.

ANSWER:

I am certainly right that all of us have already put in a situation where we always thought if what we
do is right or wrong, or will it bring neither good nor bad. However, because of our eagerness that
pushes us to do something even if it bothers our conscience—and that is where sin started. We
tend to do something even if our conscience is whispering us that it is bad yet we still commit.

I remember so many things, experiences or dilemma in my life where my conscience is telling me

whether this thing is right or wrong, good or bad. One experience (which I did this multiple times)
like telling lies to my parents. For instance, I want to hang out with my friends but they won’t allow
me to go out, so what I did is that, I think of a scenario where I will tell them that I need to go to my
friends house to do school project but the truth is, we were doing something out of school like
going to the beach for recreational. Whenever that situation comes, I always felt that something is
telling me inside (within myself) that this is wrong so therefore I should not have done this. There
are also instances where I can get hold to not commit or do something if my conscience is telling
me not to do this thing, like for instance when I asked my parents for my tuition, I have this
intention to ask more than the required amount but still, I know that this is wrong so I would not do
this. You know, God is really amazing, he made sure that before we do something we reminded by
Him through our conscience if that “something” will bring us good or bad.
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 Through our individual conscience, we become aware of our deeply held moral principles, we are
motivated to act upon them, and we assess our character, our behavior and ultimately our self
against those principles

2. Think of a particular commandment which is related or relevant to the work of your conscience in
that particular situation.

ANSWER:

The situation I stated in question 1 regarding the conscience that tells me/you “to do this and shun
that”, the commandment that I can relate to is the 5 th one, which is to honor your father and your
mother.

“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days
may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is
giving you.”
- Deuteronomy 5:16

3. Manifest its pros and cons and then make a deliberate decision or action.

ANSWER:

Given the situation I stated or illustrated in question number 1, it has pros and cons at which will
depend whether you do it or not to do it.

Telling lies to your parents just to satisfy your desire is for me, not bad at all depending on the
circumstances. Like for instance you forced yourself to lie because you are doing somewhat really
necessary but they forbid you- let’s put this way to better understand, let’s say you had a friend
who got into accident and they really need your help yet your parents will not allow you so the
tendency, you make decision or action to give you the permission. Other circumstances are that,
you just lied to do your recreational activities that are not somewhat relevant to your future. As
what the saying goes, “enjoy your life but do not destroy your future”. You know, I see many youths
today who are into drinking too much alcohol or going with friends that bought nothing but negative
influence to your life. Think before you commit because you’re not just ruining your life, you are
also ruining the relationship to you parents and to the Lord.

4. What is the judgment of your conscience in your decision or action? Why?

ANSWER:

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 If I neglect the fact to honor my parents, then probably I would consider myself not a human. They
are the one who bought me into this world and gave me with everything so it is just right to honor
them but we are not perfect (I /we admit that) we make mistakes, lie to them and dishonor them but
always remember to repent your sin and never take away the respect we have for our parents.

Integration

Jesus, as truly human, also experienced temptation. (Mt. 4:1-11) The Sacrament of
Marriage calls us to unity and fidelity which does not simply avoid adultery but grow in faith from
each other. (cf. CFC 1912)

Assignment

How will you be able to form your conscience in relation to the Ten Commandments?

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Lesson 3: The Formation and Operation of Our Conscience

Lesson Objectives - The lesson is ordered to enable the students to:

Morals: gradually form and shape one’s conscience through all the complex
factors that enter into their growth to Christian maturity;

Doctrine: abide to the Spirit of truth who will guide them to all truth;

Worship: celebrate the Eucharist which has a great role in the formation
and operation of our Christian conscience. (cf. PCP II 181)

Opening Prayer

Reading - Romans 12:1-3, 9-21

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by
the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and
perfect. For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than
one ought to think, but to think soberly, each according to the measure of faith that God has
apportioned.[...]

Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; 

°love one another with mutual affection; anticipate one another in showing honor. 
°Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 
°Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer. 
°Contribute to the needs of the holy ones, exercise hospitality. 
°Bless those who persecute (you), bless and do not curse them. 
°Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 
°Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise
in your own estimation. 
°Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all. 
°If possible, on your part, live at peace with all. 
°Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I
will repay, says the Lord.” 
°Rather, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing
you will heap burning coals upon his head.” 
Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.

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Context – Higher Order Thinking Skills

“If we build high walls and fences in order to protect ourselves from thieves and
kidnappers, I would rather go to the breeding area of thieves and kidnappers and help
transform their lives”. Dylan Wilk

What kind of help would Dylan Wilk do to transform the lives of these potential thieves and
kidnappers?

ANSWER:

Dylan wants to bring good influence to those individuals through words of wisdom or any
encouragement to touch their heart and change their lifestyle. I believe that no one wants to
become a thieves and kidnappers; they just do it for a reason, maybe because they do not have
a choice. Mostly, there are thieves just to meet their needs such as in financial involvement and
there were kidnappers to have money. This kind of individuals need special attention and in
need of someone who can change their mind that there are better ways to live a life rather than
living miserable full of sins.

What do you think is the formation of conscience on the part of the rich and on the part of the
less fortunate in life represented by the thieves and kidnappers?

ANSWER:

Stealing something that is not yours is already a sin. But there are instances where you only do
that because you badly need it. In the eyes of less fortunate, when it is between life and death,
they will commit something illegal like stealing food to fight their hunger—in their perspective,
their conscience will not tell them that it is wrong because what’s in their mind is to feed their
empty stomach. Probably, when they are in the act of stealing, their conscience won’t let them
bother maybe after the act perhaps that’s the time they will realize that what they did is wrong.

In the eyes of the fortunate people, their conscience will tell them that what someone do (like
stealing) is considered wrong. But if they put their life on their shoe, they will realize that they
just do that out of hunger.

Do you think one’s formation of conscience is affected by his/her surrounding circumstances?

ANSWER:

I think no. Every one of us knows how to classify between right or wrong, good and bad. Our
formation of conscience does not affect by our surroundings because our mind can determine
without the influence of others.

If a person continues to think and choose the good and do good actions, does this help the
person’s formation of conscience?

ANSWER:

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Yes.

How does the content of the Opening Prayer remind the people of today especially the young to
responsibly form their respective conscience?

ANSWER:

Social media flat form bought big impact to us especially to the young ones. They conform to
what is trend even when they know that it is wrong. Based on the opening prayer it reminds us
to “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.  Do not
conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern
what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” Let us not be influence by our
surroundings and choose always the right and good path to lead you to a brighter future.

Exposition

A. Sacred Scripture

B. Church Teaching

VS 64

The words of Jesus [in Mt. 6:22-23] also represent a call to form our conscience, to
make it the object of a continuous conversion to what is true and to what is good. In the
same vein, Saint Paul exhorts us not to be conformed to the mentality of this world, but
to be transformed by the renewal of our mind (cf. Rom 12:2). It is the “heart” converted
to the Lord and to the love of what is good which is really the source of true judgments of
conscience.

CCC 1802

The Word of God is a light for our path. We must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put
it into practice. This is how moral conscience is formed.

CFC 705

When the circumstances of life challenge us with difficult choices, we become more
aware of the need to form a right conscience. In complex modern conditions, with new
sensitivities (e.g., solidarity, social justice, peace), new demands and hopes (equal
rights, liberation movements, feminism), moral judgments are more difficult and less
certain. In such cases, where there are often legitimate differences among Catholics, we
must be careful not to identify our opinion with the authority of the Church (GS 43).
Rather, our conscience therefore needs to be both enlightened and informed (cf. CCC
1783-85).

DH, 14
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 Christians have a great help for the formation of conscience in the Church and her
Magisterium. As the Council affirms: “In forming their consciences the Christian faithful
must give careful attention to the sacred and certain teaching of the Church[...]

CCC 1792

Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to
one’s passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of
the Church’s authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be
at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.

Operation of Conscience3

We all have the difficulty in deciding what to say and do. We feel guilty even more when
our conscience makes us aware of some evil we have done. In falling to do good, to love, we
discover the painful process of growing morally. Our moral failures can be “stepping stones” for
our growth. We are called to wholeness, to become in word and deed what we could be. “What
we are” and “what we will be” depend upon the moral acts that we make. These acts shape our
very person, define our character and constitute our whole life. This is decision making and
doing!

Most of our instant decisions are colored by our personal preferences and pleasure. On
such occasions, we can hardly hear the voice of conscience because we keep on rationalizing.

For example:

Upon going out of the supermarket, Rico discovered an extra one-hundred peso
bill in the change he received from the cashier. Nobody knows it and the money
looks attractive to him. Something like this goes on in his mind, “Perhaps I can
keep the money – anyway it is not my fault, besides, most of their prices are
unreasonably high. But this money is not mine… Hmm, the owner can recover
such a small amount so easily… anyway, this is just a small amount compared to
the big profit that the store makes each day. Furthermore, who knows, the owner
may also be cheating the shoppers.” So Rico goes ahead and keeps the money.
Later his conscience bothers him: “The money is not mine. I should have
returned it.” He realizes that what he did was wrong and he feels guilty.

This is one way our conscience operates. It judges the goodness and the badness of the
moral acts we have done. Although we often rationalize, that is, we cover up the warnings of our
conscience and do what is pleasing and convenient to us, still the voice of conscience comes
back to judge what we have done, and makes us aware of the morality of our actions.

Most of the time, perhaps, we are not conscious of the ordinary judgments that we
make. We simply go ahead and act because we think that what is morally good is already clear
3
Excerpts from Sr. Felicidad Lipio’s “Conscience” pp.
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to us, and we know what we should do. This is why many of our ordinary decisions are made “in
a flash.” (Cass, p.17). For example, a friend approaches us to ask our help, we automatically
say, “Of course, what can I do?”

There are certain occasions, however, when making moral decisions seems to be heavy
and difficult. We need to pause and reflect.

Activity: Liar, Liar Pants on Fire!

Introduction:

There is a plague that is grieving the heart of God because it is preventable and can be
stopped. It has spread among all churches and is particularly rampant in society. No one is
immune to it and many are infected with it.

What is this evil plague? You may be surprised as it appears rather harmless at first glance. It is
now so commonplace that people are deceived into just accepting it as normal, instead of
recognizing and resisting it. This epidemic is the practice of lying and dishonesty.

We hurt ourselves by lying. Lying is a habit that grows and grows. Even if some lies seem
harmless and do not appear to really hurt anyone else, they are harmful to our own souls. Lying
is also being deceitful which is misleading someone by not telling the whole truth or cheating.
The more we practice telling untruths of any kind, the duller our conscience becomes.

The truth is important. Truth keeps life simple because if you lie you must make up more lies to
cover up the old ones. Truth always comes out in the end in the long run. Remember that
truthful people are respected and God does not want us to lie and to be deceitful.

How does the activity “Liar, Liar Pants on Fire!” enhance your understanding regarding how
your conscience operates and forms?

What will you do then to responsibly form your conscience? Give at least five concrete
instances or action plans.

Integration

The Spirit of truth guides us to all truth to conform to God’s holy will. The Eucharistic
celebration has a great role in the formation and operation of our Christian conscience.

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