Readings: 2 Timothy 4:1-5; Psalm 96; John 10:11-16
Timothy today warns us: “For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.” Isn’t he talking about the present age?
Every day we are bombarded with a lot of noise in the news, internet, entertainment, social media, advertisements, etc., trying to lure us into following unbridled pursuits of pleasure, possession of material goods, power, fame, and so on without minding the means or the consequences.
We also find those who present themselves as authoritative voices proclaiming this or that to be right or wrong. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once said: “It is strange that some theologians have difficulty accepting the precise and limited doctrine of papal infallibility, but see no problem in granting de facto infallibility to everyone who has a conscience.”
St. John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote: “Conscience is a messenger of Him…. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.” Newman believed that conscience and truth must form a partnership, that they must support and enlighten each other, and that obedience to conscience leads to obedience to the truth.
Conscience requires formation and education since it can be become stunted, stamped, or falsified so that it speaks in a distorted way,or confused with personal opinion, subjective feelings, and self-will. Included in the idea of conscience is an obligation to care for it, to form it, and to educate it. The right of conscience is the obligation of the formation of conscience.
In our Cathechism we find: “In the formation of conscience, the Word of God is the light for our path, we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord's Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others, and guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church” [1785].
You and I are called to take the Word of God and the teaching office of the Church as the primary factors in the formation of our conscience, so we do not “wander away to myths,” as Timothy warns us today, but listen to the voice of Christ. God bless! Deacon John