formation of christian conscience
The wisdom of a great theologian of our time.
A
theological reflection on the formation of Christian conscience in Evangelization
–Rt Rev. Dr. Msgnor Michael Ifeanyichuku Mozia of Issele-Uku Diocese
Formation of Christian conscience
This topic
calls for a theological reflection on the true nature of conscience. It will also
involves formation of Christian conscience and the role it plays in helping the
faithful to experience God and express God and communicate God in their everyday
life .this will assist the faithful in their work of evangelization.
In discussing this topic, the first question that
comes to mind is this: “what is conscience?” Some people say it is the “voice
of God” in the human person. It is not, because if it were, how does one
explain erroneous conscience or scrupulous conscience or perplex conscience?
Can God be wrong? Surely, conscience is not the “voice of God in man” but what
individual understands to be “the voice of God”. If there is a wrong
understanding of what God id really saying, that conscience becomes erroneous, and
not actually what God is saying that is erroneous.
So
primarily, conscience is a special gift
from. It is a God-given capacity to distinguish between what is morally right or
wrong. Sometimes one may sincerely make moral judgment but erroneously one
may think that what he or she is deciding to do is right but in reality is not right.
But Moral theology has a principle that if one is sincerely convinced that it
is right to take certain action according to his or her conscience, he or she
should follow it. Thus, in moral theology we can conclude that “erroneous but
sincere conscience should be obeyed”. Therefore, conscience is the capacity to
make moral judgment and should be generally followed.
The Fathers
of the second Vatican council call conscience the “sanctuary where God meets
with man” (cf. “the church in the modern
world,”Gaudium Et Spes, No.16).so the conscience is an individual “secret”
where God is at home with him or her. That is why no one is allowed to violate
the conscience of another person. It is a sanctuary where the individual spirit
and the spirit of God come to meet. It is there that the individual comes to
discover what God is telling him or her to do or not to do. What conscience
discovers is not necessarily the will of God, but what an individual perceives
or understands the will of God to be.
Therefore,
the mystery of the human person is reflected in this capacity God has given him
in his conscience. But there is a danger at times of following the individual’s
conscience if such a conscience is individualistic. How often do we hear some
people say: “oh! My conscience tells me to do this and I am going to follow it”;
this is said without considering whether the conscience is individualistic or
not. Conscience is not just something given to an individual to use in any way
the individual likes. No. It is given for the building up of the community of
Gods people. This is why; in moral theology, one can talk about “reciprocity of conscience”. This
means the conscience of the individual is called upon to enter into the stream
of “common search for the will of God” and
for the common solution to the moral problem facing the human family.
For example,
each person has an individual conscience but there is also what is called “conscience of the community” which determines
what the community should do. There is also what is called the “ecclesial conscience”: which reflects
the magisterrium of the church-the power of “binding and losing”. The second
Vatican council also talks about this “reciprocity
of conscience”: “All the people of
God are invited to a common search for the truth and the will of God”. Nobody has monopoly of truth, about God, about Christ, and about who
the human person is. Everybody must work together in common search in
prayer, humility, in discussion to be able to discover a common search for what
the will of God is in a given situation. For instance the conscience of each
community will consist in the ability of each member, through prayerful
reflection, to consider a situation and come up with a solution, “Yes, this is
what God wants us to do”. No one individual member has monopoly of the truth that
should guide the life of the community. Again, considering the etymological
meaning of the term, conscience coming from two Latin words; “Cum” and
“Sciencia”; “Cum” means “together with” whereas “sciencia” means knowledge. So
conscience means knowledge together”. This negates all individualistic
understanding. It is a common search for what God is asking of each person or human community. This
is so, because God gives one an individual conscience to enable man work
together to build up human family. It is not an individualistic conscience that
could divide the human family but the individual conscience that seeks
to collaborate with other consciences in the common search in understanding the
will of God. Therefore, every human being, whether Christian or an
atheist, has a conscience. Everyone is able to make moral judgment. Everyone is
able to say: “This is what God wants me to do”. For the atheist, they are able
to say: “This is what I think is right”. God has given each person this
capacity to judge according to his or her conscience. This understanding is
very important for evangelization today in our pluralistic society.
Formation of Christian conscience
To be more
specific, our consideration here has to do with the formation of Christian conscience.
It is important to note that the Christian conscience differs from the
conscience of other people who are not Christians. This is because of the
nature of who the Christian is, and what the Christian should believe in. Every
individual’s conscience should be able to reflect what he or she believes in and
that helps to form his or her personality. It identifies who the individual is
and what he or she believes in.
The following are the elements that
distinguish Christian conscience from a non-Christian conscience.
1. Trinitarian element: The Christian is a person who is born again in baptism. He or she was
baptized in the name of the Father and of the son and the Holy Spirit. From
that moment he or she became a home for the three persons of the Blessed Trinity.
So the Christian conscience should reflect who he or she is as a temple of the trinity-a home for the
three persons in one God. The faithful who have entered into covenant with three persons of the Blessed Trinity are
given the guidelines that reflect the divine life of the blessed trinity. Therefore,
they act no longer alone.
They ought to act in consonance with the life and action of the blessed
trinity. Thus,
they behave, act and take decision in accordance with what the trinity expects
of them. For example, the decision that one is a child of God and wants to behave
as one. So what a person wants to do must be in consonant with what pleases God
the father who created him or her in love, with Jesus who redeems him or her with
the Holy Spirit who sanctified the person. The Christian conscience then should
lead them to become co-creators with God the father who creates the world anew in love
co-redeemers with Jesus Christ liberating people from sin. Finally, their
consciences should lead the faithful to become co-sanctifiers with the Holy
Spirit. Their conscience, as co-sanctifier Christians, should help them
to act in a holy way; they should be able to ask themselves: Is this a holy
act, a loving act? They are thus able to make moral judgments in accordance
with who they are, in union with the Blessed Trinity. That is the identity of the
Christian conscience. Thus, Christian conscience should be influenced by the
three persons of the Blessed Trinity.
2 Christ: Christo-centric
We specify
Christ in a special way because of the role he plays as God-made-man. The
Christian has to study Christ in his
person. He or she has to know what the “person is Christ” is saying to him
or her “in his words” as you read the
scriptures, and “in his actions”. The person,
the words and actions of Christ continue to be revealed in, with, and through
the church and the sacrament. They become guiding Principles for the formation
of conscience as a Christian conscience because Christ comes to give himself to
the faithful so that they become one with him. Therefore, they will be acting
together, working together, thinking together, and making judgments together in
Christ. So the faithful need Christ in their lives to be able to guide them in
making moral judgment. Thus Christ becomes the yard stick for
determining what is good and bad in making moral judgment.
3.
The church:
Every Christian is a member of the church by virtue of Baptism. Since the
church plays an essential role in the life of the faithful, it forms a very
important element in making moral judgment in determining what is immorally
right and wrong. In making such moral judgment, every member of the church
ought to ask some question such as these: am I a faithful of the church? Is
this action I am about to take in keeping with the teachings of the church? Is
this given action in consonance with who I am as a member of the church? This
is why the magisterrium of the church is an important factor in the formation
of conscience. So the magisterrium has great influence in the formation
of conscience. It is really essential in helping the faithful to determine what
is right and what is wrong. This is very important, especially, in our time and
age when people do what they like when many people go astray by doing what I
call “morality of convenience”. In this type of morality they feel
that it is convenient “it is morally right if it is not convenient, it is wrong.
This is what is called “ethics of
relativism” Everything is relative, and there is no absolute moral norm. They
feel that an action is right or wrong depending on the situation. This is “Situation
Ethics” .It is this dangerous way of thinking that makes the church an
important element in the formation of conscience. This calls for the guidance
of the Holy Spirit working in the church as leads the faithful in their search
for truth and the will of God. Christ gave the church the guarantee of the knowledge
of truth. He said “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”.
Truth found in the church. The head of the church St Peter and his successors
were given the “key of the kingdom of heaven”. He says: “and I say to you, you
are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gate of
netherworld will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bond in heaven loosed on earth will
be loosed in heaven”. (Cf. Mtt. 16:18-19)
4.
SACRAMENT
The next
element for the formation of conscience will be the sacraments. The Disciples
of Christ are sacramental persons. Through the sacrament of Baptism, they
entered into a covenant with Jesus who is the “Great sacrament”. They share in the
sacramental life of Christ by becoming “the visible manifestation of Christ’s
saving presence in the world”. So as sacramental persons; the Christians
actions must reflect Christ who is the sacrament. It is in that light that the
Christian consciences ought to be formed to reflect the visible manifestation
of the love of God. The invisible reality is the covenantal bond Christians
have with God the father, with Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. So the Christians are visible expression of
God’s saving presence. Their actions should reflect and express
Christ’s
redeeming presence and actions in the world. This is where the Christians’
consciences should be trained to be a visible expression of God’s saving will
within and outside the church. This is why the formation of Christian
conscience has to express the church and the sacraments to able the Christian’s
faithful to determine what is right and wrong.
5. Community as a Family the next element necessary for the formation of the Christian
conscience is recognizing the “church as
a family”. Apart from seeing the church as a family one has to consider
“inner family” within the family of the church. For example, the individual cannot
depend solely on his or her conscience without reference to the conscience of
the “inner family” and the with the “conscience
of the church as a family”. When the individual conscience is in conflict with
the conscience of the church as a community, the principle of the “reciprocity
if conscience” should be applied.
Vocation to love in relation to the
sacraments and the churches’ mission of evangelization:
Christian’s vocation to love involves our vocation to discover God’s love
for humanity. This calls for serious study. This means that Christians have
serious obligation to study daily and not just reading books. It requires a
real studying of God’s love through the Christians’ life experiences. It becomes a challenge to them to experience God’s
love to express God’s love and to communicate God’s love. This is precisely
an important goal of evangelization. The greatest place to discover God’s love
is in the “Body of Christ”, and that is the church. It is
important to recall there that the church is described as the “sacrament of salvation”. The fathers of the
||Vatican council call the church “the
church is the sign and instrument of salvation”. (Lumen Gentium 1). It is a sign that tells people of God’s love and
salvation. It is not sign but it is
also an Instrument that communicates salvation. It is not like a sign post that point to people where to go and
what to do. In the same way Christians should not just be a sign, but a sign
that has the power to communicates what the sign signifies,
and that is Christ himself. The Christian does not only point Christ to the
people but accompanies them to meet Christ and stay with Him. Thus the Christian
who are members of the church, becomes a sign of God’s love to the world. It
must be recalled that the church is a “mother”. As a mother she shows she shows
she is the greatest place where one can find love. She should reveal that
loving mother who carried her children for nine months in her womb. In such a
mother finds a sign of God’s love, a sign of salvation. In this context one is
able appreciate the church as “sacramental tool” for communicating Christ’s
love to the world
The seven sacraments the sacrament are vehicles or
channels of grace for communicating God’s
love. These seven sacraments are individually and collectively visible and effective instrument for communicating God’s love. God mercy and
forgiveness to the whole word. It is the challenge of each Christian to discover
how each sacrament reveals visibly God’s love in the world. Let us briefly show
how each sacrament reveals God love and hoe it challenges the Christian
faithful to respond to God’s love in a visible manner. For lack of space and
time only a few of the seven sacraments will be example here to show how the sacraments
in general constitute channels of God’s live and salvation.
In baptism, the disciple recognizes and
discovers how God’s loves him or her so much that He (God) invites him or her to share in His (God’s) divine life.
The followers of Christ are born again
into a Trinitarian family the church. As members of Trinitarian community; they
share in the divine life of love. By sharing in this Trinitarian life of love,
they become morally oblige to this life of love in its entire ramification. This
becomes a moral imperative to daily experience,
express and communicates this
divine love in all they do. This is how the sacrament of Baptism challenges the
Christian faithful to respond to the vocation to God’s love.
2. The sacrament of penance is, in a particular way, a very effective means of
discovering and expressing God’s love. In receiving this sacrament, the
faithful encounters Christ who forgiveness them their sins through the words of
absolution by the priest. The grateful acceptance of this forgiveness of sin by
the penitents, invites them to share this forgiveness with others. Thus they
become “ambassadors of forgiveness and
reconciliation” (cf 2 cor.5:18ff). This is why this sacrament becomes a privilege
opportunity to respond to God’s vocation to love. The sacrament makes the
penitent a “reconciled reconciler” i.e.
having been reconciled to God through the forgiveness; he or she becomes sacramental vehicle for sharing the
reconciliation with others. Again, the penitent becomes wounded
healer having been healed from
the wounds of sin and division, the penitent gratefully embraces the vocation
to bring healing to those wounded by sin. This sacrament of reconciliation is,
like any is the seven sacraments, a sacrament of faith. Those who see no need
for confession have some fundamental problems. And what is the problem? Such
people have lost faith in God’s forgiveness within and even outside the church
and some of them also lack the ability to forgive themselves or others. These
people have failed to appreciate the beauty Christ’s parable of the prodigal
son in Luke Gospel (cf Luke.15:11ff.) the father of the prodigal son said: “let
us celebrate because this son of mine was lost and now is found…” so it is a
celebration in faith celebrating God’s merciful forgiveness. So when the
Christians celebrate this sacrament, they
celebrate their faith in the forgiveness that Christ offers to all sinners.
Thus they celebrate their faith in the following ways by professing their
faith:
1.
Faith that only God can forgive sins
2.
Faith that he has given the power to Christ
so through Christ he reconciles the world to himself.
3. Faith in the church that is
now given this power to continue the mission of reconciliation.
4. Faith in the priest who is now
representing Christ and his church in bringing about God’s forgiveness. This is
the power of binding and losing.
Therefore,
in the sacrament of penance, the faithful are celebrating their faith in God’s
mercy which is communicated to humanity through Christ and through the church
and through the priest. And through this sacrament the Christian faithful
believe that when church follows the traditional procedure she is empowered to
confer forgiveness of sin to her children. And when we do that, the sacrament
of reconciliation does not only take away our sons but it heals us of the
wounds and the attraction of sin. Sin can be attractive. And it must be further
noted this sacrament does not only takes
away sin, but also gives the Christians the power of a stronger attraction to
Christ. When they get so attracted to Christ, sin has no more power over
them. This is what happens at confession. So it is a sacrament of faith, reconciliation, forgiveness and
healing since only God can forgive sin, it is only God also who can give Christ’s
followers the power to forgive and communicate the loving fogginess of God. The
wound caused by sin makes it difficult for them to forgive, but when they
receive God’s mercy and forgiveness they
are empowered to bring the same mercy and forgiveness to other people. That
is how again the faithful assume their identity as “wounded healers”. We are
redeemed to continue the work of redemption.
The sacrament of Eucharist is the
greatest of all the sacraments. In this holy Eucharist the faithful Christians encounter Christ
face to face in the covenant of his
blood . “This is the cup of my blood of a new and everlasting covenant which
has been shed for you and all for the forgiveness of sins”. So through the
sacrament of the Eucharist, Disciples of Christ enter into communion with
Christ and they are empowered by Christ to become one with him and to carry out
the work of love .You discover God’s merciful love in the sacrament. In this
sacrifice of the mass Christ said, no greater love than this that one lays down
his life for his friend. So the greatest
act if love is “this is my body, this is my blood.” That is the greatest
prayer of Christ the greatest sacrifice in which he offered his blood to take
away our sins, to purify us, to transform us, to make the faithful enter once
again into communion with him. This sacrament which is called “Holy
Communion”; it is the sacrament in which the faithful
experience, in the deepest possible way, the loving forgiveness of God. In it
we are empowered to share his loving forgiveness with other people. Because he
said “do this in remembrance of me”. In other words he commands his followers
to go and “offer” or sacrifice their bodies to one another for the forgiveness
of their sins. That involves “turning the other chick” when someone slaps you
on the chick. People may tear you to pieces as they tear me to pieces” and your
response will always be: “father, forgive them for they do not know what they
are doing”. Thus the faithful are empowered to pray for forgiveness of an
enemy. They should not only celebrate it but live it out by praying for those
who have hurt them. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do”. This
is the greatest expression of God’s love. This is the area in which the
believers continue to discover Gods love in their daily life and, in
discovering Gods love they are empowered to live out their vocation. They are
able to say in words and in actions “our vocation is to love”. So God does not
just give the law of love “just as a
commandment”, but he is also asking
his followers to “live out who they are” i.e men and women who are “created in
his image and likeness of God is “love”. He gives his followers the power to do
it. He is not just giving direction, but
he gives power to follow the
direction. He is the source of all spiritual power, spiritual nourishment,
spiritual healing. For me as person I find in the Eucharist the greatest
consolation that is why the church talks of the Eucharist as the source and
summit of our Christian faith, the summit is the highest point of our Christian
faith. Therefore the Eucharist is the highest point where one can find God’s
mercy and forgiveness. The more one meditates on this, the more one appreciates
his love, and the more one also impacts this love to others. That is why at the
end of Mass the priest says: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. In other
words: “Go and share this love with all those who come your way”. This
is indeed an injunction to continue the works of evangelization.
So the
individual Christians’ prayer and study should be aimed at discovering the love
of God as revealed in Christ, the church, in the sacrament especially the
sacrament of penance and Eucharist. The love of God as is revealed in their
day-to-day living in the daily events of their lives. Therefore, their mission
and identity can only be found in discovering this love in our journey to
heaven.
Conclusion
Christians
are responsible for one another. It is this sense of responsibility that makes
human being who he really is –a child of God. Human beings are distinguished
from other animals, by their rationality. Man is a rational being. Their
rationality makes them different from other animals. “Gaudium Et Spes” the
fathers of the second Vatican council refers here to this as : “ the new
humanism” (cf.Gaudium Et Spes no.55”) “we are now witnessing the birth of the
new humanism where man is defined above all else by his responsility to his
brother and to the course of history” .this is the “responsibility” that
Christians who reflect the “new humanism” are one another’s keepers. They are
responsible for their brothers and sisters. In this way, they continue to
respond to a call to holiness since it is an expression of love which involves
holiness and wholeness in human relationships. And this reflects precisely the
goal and focus of the evangelizing mission of the church. That is why the
formation of Christian conscience must never lose sight of this aspect of
evangelization.
Every
evangelizer is therefore called upon to consider the above points in the
evangelizing mission f the church. These are to be considered in their mission
of evangelizing, catechizing and sacramentalizing. None of these aspects can be
effectively carried out without the formation of authentic Christian conscience.
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