{"id":15566,"date":"2021-09-30T19:17:49","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T00:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=15566"},"modified":"2021-09-30T19:17:49","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T00:17:49","slug":"conscience-a-connection-to-god-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/conscience-a-connection-to-god-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Conscience. A Connection to God."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A wise and holy priest once told me that there were times when his only felt connection to God came in listening to his conscience. Prayer is dry and without feeling, the mass becomes \u201croutine\u201d with no inspiration, the Church seems terribly slow and out of touch with real life . . . . God seems so distant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At such moments the only light that shown in his darkness was the light of his conscience. Sometimes God lets this happen. So let\u2019s look at \u201cConscience\u201d to see how we might meet God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First off conscience is \u201ca judgement of reason\u201d which moves a person to do good and avoid evil. \u201cIt recognizes the authority of truth\u201d pointing to God, the Supreme Good. \u201cWhen he listens to his conscience, the prudent man hears God speaking.\u201d (Catechism of The Catholic Church. P 438<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of a lantern you carry into a dark room. The light makes visible what is real and present. \u201cReason\u201d is that light humans have in their very nature. It is our ability to swim in an ocean of truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason must be accompanied by freedom and will. Without these two an act has no responsibility (morality) attached to it. Without freedom an act is coerced. Without our will we haven\u2019t chosen or \u201cowned\u201d the act; it is merely accidental or unintentional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So how does all this connect me to God? Well . . . following my conscience is to experience the \u201cmessenger of Him, who, speaks to us behind a veil.\u201d (John Henry Cardinal Newman 1885).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem today is we lack the training to become sufficiently \u201cpresent to ourselves\u201d. There is a certain \u201cinteriority\u201d required to hear and follow the voice of our conscience. It comes from prayer, quiet time with our- selves, good reading, virtuous friendships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kids especially need help putting down their iphones to listen to their own thoughts and feelings \u0016 \u0016 their own personhood. This quiet opens the door for the Holy Spirit with his gifts to present the knowledge and practice of the interior law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parents. You have the best seat in the house when it comes to teaching conscience. You are there to help your child \u201clisten to that voice in your heart.\u201d You are there to celebrate and praise the times your child \u201cdoes the right thing\u201d (thus adding to the voice of conscience that they just heard and followed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are also there when the voice of conscience went unheeded and dishonesty or meanness came forth. Parents you need to sit and lovingly help your child \u201csee and hear\u201d that inner voice. Not every instance require this teaching moment but sometimes God just puts it on a platter for you. Use it! Share a suitable moment from your life when you listened (or didn\u2019t) to your conscience. A true life story from mom and dad!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the end you are giving your child a compass, a tool that will guide them in moments of temptation and confusion. You give them a connection to their true selves and to God. \u201cFor man has in his heart a law inscribed by God . . . it is his most secret core and sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths.\u201d (Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes #16<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s got you . . . quit squirming! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A wise and holy priest once told me that there were times when his only felt connection to God came in listening to his conscience. Prayer is dry and without feeling, the mass becomes \u201croutine\u201d with no inspiration, the Church seems terribly slow and out of touch with real life . . . . God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15568,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15566\/revisions\/15568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}