WHAT IS CONSCIENCE?

CONSCIENCE has a two-fold meaning :

1 . the practical judgment of what is good

and what is evil and

2. the feeling of being obliged to do what is

good and to avoid what is evil.
 
 TEACHINGS ABOUT
CONSCIENCE-
Gaudium et Spes # 16
“In the depths of his conscience, man
detects a law which he does not impose
on himself, but which holds him to
obedience.
Always summoning him to do good
and avoid evil, the voice of conscience
can when necessary, speak to his heart
more specifically: “Do this,” “Shun
that.”
Teachings about Conscience
-For a 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.

-Conscience is the most secret core and

sanctuary of a man. There he is alone
with God, whose voice echoes in his
depths…”
 CULTURAL VALUES
 &
 CONSCIENCE
a. “Pakikisama”
 This involves a sense of belonging and
loyalty to one’s group especially the ‘barkada’, it
can be positive when the group influences you
to do good, e.g., they invite you to be with
them, to attend Mass together, to help one
another in making projects for the community
or when through your combined talent, you
serve the parish by organizing a choir for
Sunday liturgy. In other words, the group helps
you to grow and develop yourself.
On the other hand, “pakikisama” can have a
negative influence when the group pressures
you to do things contrary to what you know
is right. For example, to give in to your
friends’ out of solidarity, to drink liquor or
take drugs or not to reveal the truth when
justice demands it because the offenders are
your friends. In other words,” all for one and
one for all,” as the saying goes, can at times
lead to injustice and sin.
 
b. “Utang na loob”
 
 This is a feeling of indebtedness to someone who
has done something good for me. For example, a
friend of mine helped me find a job. When her time
of need comes, I am expected to offer my help, even
to the point of my personal inconvenience.
 
 “Utang na loob” can be a motivation for us to do
good. For example, when it motivates us to express
our inner gratitude to our parents and to repay them
in our own little way for all they have done for us.
This same sense of gratitude can also be the best
response we can give to God. If we open wide our
eyes, we can see the manifestation of God’s
‘kagandahang loob’ to us- the gift of our life
through our parents, our good health, the talents
that we have, the friends around us, the beauty
of nature we appreciate everyday, and many
other blessings. These are all reflections of God’s
love and concern for us. Our natural response is
an expression of gratitude, a response of ‘utang
na loob’ to God’s ‘kagandahang loob .’
 
c. “Bahala na”
 
 This often is a fatalistic concept relating to success
and failure. We run away from personal responsibility
and leave everything to chance or fate. One example is
the attitude of the students who have a choice between
studying for an exam and playing computer games.
Having made up their minds to do the latter, they say
to themselves. “Why bother about studying for the
exam? Perhaps we can make up for it at the next exam.
Besides who knows, the teacher might call off the
scheduled test? “Bahala na.” This shows laziness,
irresponsibility, and withdrawal from commitment.
 
On the other hand, “bahala na” can be viewed as
an acceptance of the fact that we have limited
control over what happens to ourselves. For
example, one member of the family is very ill. The
doctors have given up all hope that medical
assistance can any longer do good. The situation
makes us realize our total dependence on God, in
Whom we place our ultimate trust. We therefore
say to ourselves, “Bahala na ang Diyos.” It means
trust in God’s Providence which gives us strength
to put up with situations where nothing more can
be done, humanly speaking.
d. “Hiya”
 
 Many consider “hiya” to be the “most
powerful influence controlling our behavior.” It
can be positive when, because we do not like to
embarrass ourselves as well as our loved ones
and those close to us, it prevents us from doing
what is undesirable – like taking drugs,
stealing, adultery, concubinage, disrespect to
authority and the like. Hence, because of “hiya”
we are moved to behave well and to do good.
 
“Hiya” is related to the need to conform
with the expectations of the authority figure
or with society. Its weakness is that when
“hiya” is our main concern, the morality of
the act is not the focus of our attention but
rather the expectations of others. “Anong
sasabihin ng iba?” it is “hiya” that makes us
conform to the wishes of our ‘barkada’,
regardless of the kind of activity our
‘barkada’ is going to undertake.
 
In conclusion, we can say that cultural values,
which act in a way like norms by which we
become “accepted” members of the community,
really influence our moral judgments. But for
each cultural value, there is always a ‘call’ from
within. This is a ‘call’ to be personally responsible
to the Lord. For “everyone of us will give an
account of himself before God.” (Rom.14:12)
 

CONSCIENCE AND
FREEDOM
Most often we think of
freedom as “to do what I want to
do, or to say what I want to say.
But freedom is not “the right to
say anything or to do anything
I want”.
Authentic freedom means to
make a choice “to do good”
 -(CCC1740)
In short,

Freedom means
 “ to do good”
 Since we live in a community, our
freedom carries with it corresponding
obligation to respect the freedom of
others. We are free as members of a
community and responsible before
them for our free actions.
Take the following examples:

- If I stay up late with my radio turned on at

a high volume, I rob others of their sleep
and deprive them of their freedom to rest.
 
- If I dispose garbage anywhere, I deprive
others of the freedom to enjoy a clean and
healthy surrounding.
- if after using a public toilet I willfully
and knowingly leave it dirty, then I
deprive the next user of her right to a
comfortable and healthful use of the
facility.
-if I smoke anywhere, the harmful
nicotine from my cigarette will affect
others who have the right to inhale
clean air.
 Freedom is a gift. I am given free will to
act according to my choice, but at the same
time, it is also a responsibility. I am
responsible for my acts before others and
before God. “For all of us must appear before
God, to be judged by Him. Each one will
receive what he deserves, according to
everything he has done, good or bad in his
bodily life.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)


CONSCIENCE AND LAW

Conscience is the subjective norm by
which we apply laws in our daily life

Law is the objective norm by which we

measure our actions as right or wrong.
 Moral law has a place in our moral life as
indicating a definite direction which
safeguards basic moral values needed
for the common good. We follow moral
laws to “do the good,” to foster the sense
of mutual respect among us, and to
cooperate with those in authority in
securing the general welfare of all and
for peace and order in the society
where we belong.
 
 “It happened that He was walking through
standing grain on the Sabbath, and His disciples
began to pull off heads of grain as they went
along. At this the Pharisees protested: “Look!
Why do they do a thing not permitted on the
Sabbath?” He said to them: “Have you ever read
what David did when he was in need and he and
his men were hungry? How he entered God’s
house and ate the holy bread which only the
priest were permitted to eat? He even gave it to
his men.
Then He said to them: “The Sabbath was made for
man, not man for the Sabbath…” ( Mk. 2: 23-27)
 Conscience is our subjective moral
norm for each of us, the faculty by
which we “apply” general objective
moral laws to our life. Our conscience
is that by which we decide what is right
and what is wrong at the moment.
 
 Finally, we can say that conscience and
moral law are inseparable. Although in
the last analysis, conscience is the final
lawgiver, it is not a law in itself; it always
refers to an objective moral norm. On the
other hand, no law applies itself to our
acts. The Ten Commandments do not
operate by themselves. They need
conscience to work, otherwise they just
remain words in a book.
 It is only through conscience that we
decide and apply the law to our moral
life situations. Hence, morality has two
dimensions: the objective moral norm
which is the law and the subjective
moral norm which is conscience.
  

My conscience obliges me to stand up for

what I believe to be true and good, and to act
according to my inner conviction of what is
right. For in doing so, I am obeying what I hold
to be morally good.
On the other hand, in disobeying, I am
deliberately choosing what I recognize as
morally bad. It is in this sense that conscience is
binding: I am obliged to obey my conscience. As
Vatican II teaches “my very human dignity lies in
obeying it” (GS16).
CONSCIENCE IN TIME
 CONSCIENCE IN TIME

 BEFORE THE ACTION - Antecedent

Conscience
 DURING THE ACTION- Concomitant

Conscience
 AFTER THE ACTION- Consequent

Conscience
CONSCIENCE IN TIME

BEFORE THE ACTION - Antecedent

Conscience- helps me to sort out data
and examine an act before I perform
it.
DURING THE ACTION
Concomitant conscience
refers to my actual awareness of
being morally responsible for
the goodness and the badness of
the particular act while I am
doing it.
CONCOMITANT CONSCIENCE
I cannot even understand my own actions. I do
not do what I want to do but what I hate . . . this
indicates that it is not I who do it but sin which
resides in me . . . the desire to do the right is
there but not the power. What happens is that I
do, not the good I will to do, but the evil I do not
intend . . . This means that even though I want
to do what is right , a law that leads to wrong
doing is always ready at hand . . .. What
wretched man I am! Who can free me from this
body under the power of death?
(Rom. 7:15-22,24-25)
AFTER THE ACTION
Consequent conscience is the
process of looking back at my
past moral acts. It serves to
review & evaluate the morality
of what I have done.
 This reflection deepens our sense of
responsibility which is manifested in our
feelings of guilt (pintig ng budhi) when our
conscience judges we have violated a moral
commandment, or satisfaction when it
judges we have obeyed a moral imperative.
It was my consequent conscience that
commanded me to ask forgiveness after I
had discovered that I have done something
wrong.
LEVELS OF CONSCIENCE
Take a look at the following example:
Mrs. Ramos scolded her class for being noisy
and disorderly that morning. A group of
students in the class retaliated and planned
to boycott the class by not attending the same
subject the next day. Three of the students in
the group, Jade, Rick and Mary, withdrew
from the plan. By examining the reasons why
they did not join the group, we can discover
the three levels of conscience.
a) For Jade, she did not join the group for
fear of being punished. Aside from this, she
does not like to displease their teacher, for it
may affect her grade. So no matter how
much she likes to join the boycott group,
these reasons stop her from doing so. Her
conscience is immature. It focuses on
escaping punishment and being accepted by
the authority figure, Mrs. Ramos. Jade’s
conscience operates on the instinctive level.
b) Unlike Jade, Rick did not join the boycott
group because he knows that it is not good.
He believes that it is unjust to Mrs. Ramos and
a sign of disrespect to legitimate authority. He
realizes it was just and fair to Mrs. Ramos to
reprimand them from misbehaving. He also
realizes that silence, order and discipline are
needed for learning. Rick’s conscience is quite
advanced over Jade’s. By focusing on the inner
good and evil of the act, it operates on the
moral ethical level.

c)Mary’s case is different. She did not join the group not
only because she believes they deserved being
reprimanded for their misbehavior, and that Mrs. Ramos
acted within her rights as a teacher. She knows full well
that it is not only a moral obligation but also a Christian
calling to love. A love that is manifested in this case,
through respect and obedience to authority. Each one of
us is not just a human being with rights, but the children
of God for whom we owe concern. Mary’s decision was a
conscious response to love Mrs. Ramos, as God loves her.
Mary’s conscience is operating on the level of Christian
conscience.

 
SIGNIFICANCE OF CONSCIENCE
Take a look at the following:
A blind man stands at a busy street-corner
awaiting help to cross the road. It is possible for me
to either lead him or just to pass him by. But there
is something in him — his helplessness, his need
— which forces itself on my awareness and urges
me to be of assistance to him. I do not help him
primarily for the sake of anticipated thanks, nor for
the feeling of satisfaction of having done good. I
can go no further to say that there is something in
him which makes a “demand” on me, and that to
deliberately ignore it would mark me as unworthy
of what I am- a person like him.
It is “what is deeply human” in me that
moves me to respond to this moral call of
love. In saying ‘yes’ to it, I extend my hand
and assist the blind man. In doing so, I am
responsible for him and to him. In saying
“yes” to the blind man and helping him, I
am freed from my selfish interests, pride,
sloth, individual whims and the like. The
blind man has stirred up a personal
awareness that leads me to grow and make
me realize my Christian responsibility to
him. This is Christian conscience.
In the final analysis,
- the command of
conscience is not only to do
good but to be good.
THINK OF THIS:
“If wealth is lost, something is
lost,
If health is lost, much is lost,
But if character is lost, all is lost.”
-Jose Batungbakal
 
THANK YOU!
There was a certain rich man, who was
clothed in purple and fine linen, eating
sumptuously everyday. There was a certain
beggar named Lazarus who was laid at his
gate, full of sores , and desiring to be fed
with the crumbs which fell from the rich
man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and
licked his sores.
But the rich man would not give him
anything to eat. One day the beggar died,
he was carried by the angels into
Abraham’s bosom.

The rich man also died and was buried. In

hell he lifted up his eyes, being in
torments, and he saw Abraham afar off,
with Lazarus in his bosom.
He cried and said, “Father
Abraham, have mercy on me,
send Lazarus that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water and
cool my tongue; for I am
tormented in this flame.
Abraham said, “ Son, remember that
you in your lifetime you received good
things; and likewise Lazarus, evil
things. But now he is comforted and
you are tormented. And beside all this,
between us and you, there is a great
wall fixed. No one can come from there
and no one can go there from here.
Then he said, “ I pray therefore, father,
that you would send him to my father’s
house. I have five brothers; that he may
testify to them, otherwise they may
also come to this place of torment. .
Abraham said, “ They have Moses and
the prophets; let them listen to them.”
He said, “No father Abraham”, If one would
go to them from the dead, they will repent”.

But Abraham said to him, “If they do not

listen to Moses and the prophets, neither
will they listen and be persuaded though
one rose from the dead.”
(Lk. 16:19-31)