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Reflection on Conscience in Veritatis Splendor, 120

My dear parishioners,

            Peace! In other bulletins (4 December, 2016-11 June, 2017) we have considered the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on “conscience.” We then turned to Saint John Paul II’s encyclical letter Veritatis splendor (6 August, 1993) which addresses fundamental moral issues, including “conscience” more than one hundred times.  These reflections were begun earlier (6 April, 2018-30 May, 2018). Here we now consider a passage from Veritatis splendor, 120

            Saint John Paul II (+2005) in the conclusion of Veritatis Splendor invokes Our Lady as “Mother of Mercy” reminding us that “No absolution offered by beguiling doctrines, even in the areas of philosophy and theology, can make man truly happy:  only the Cross and the glory of the Risen Christ can grant peace to his conscience and salvation to his life.”

            This was not the first or the last time the Holy Father raised these issues.  Fourteen years after his inaugural encyclical Redemptor Hominis (4 March, 1979), Saint John Paul II was still proclaiming redemption through the Cross of Christ (cf. RH, 7-11, 13-14, 16-18, 20-22). Saint John Paul II invokes “conscience” ten times in RH, 10, 12, 14, 16-18, 20. Thirteen years after drawing our attention to the richness of God’s mercy in Dives in Misericordia (30 November, 1980), the Holy Father was still invoking Our Lady as “Mother of Mercy” (DM, 9).  Saint John Paul II invokes “conscience” six times in DM, 11-12, 15.

            How is it that we know and experience peace in our conscience?  When we are right with God.  We lack peace in our conscience when we are steeped in our sins, tossing and turning…  The remedy the Lord has given us is sure:  turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel (cf. Matthew 3:2; 4:17 Acts 3:19; 2:38).  Repentance is another way of saying “turn away from sin.”  The forgiveness of our sins is no less at the heart of the Gospel (cf. Matthew 9:2; 18:21-35; 1 John 1:9).  The forgiveness of our sins begins in holy Baptism and for those sins we sadly commit after Baptism the Lord extends even further mercy to us, giving us peace of conscience in the Sacrament of Penance or Confession.  Neither the Sacrament of Baptism nor the Sacrament of Penance are “beguiling doctrines” in the “dodgy/devious” sense, even if they are mysterious.

            The Lord Jesus Christ came to save us from ourselves, from our sins (cf. Matthew 18:11; Luke 19:10; 1 Timothy 1:15).  This is Good News!  It is by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that peace has been established between Heaven and Earth, between us and Almighty God (cf. John 14:27; Philippians 3:10; 4:7).  The graces won for us on Calvary, by the Lord, are applied to us in the Church through the Sacraments, leading us to the eternal happiness of life on high with Christ (cf. Colossians 3:1).  May Our Lady, Mother of Mercy, intercede for us with her Son.            

            God bless you!

            Father John Arthur Orr