Det 30:10-14; Col 1:15-20; Lk 10:25-37
“You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
Japan’s former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was assassinated last week while delivering a public campaign speech in the Nara region of Japan. The brutal murder of this beloved leader shocked the populace and the world and has rightly been condemned by many world leaders.
Unfortunately, his assassination has been overshadowed by the discussions on the efficiency of gun control laws. Japan has one of the strictest gun control laws in the world. The process for obtaining a gun license is long and complicated, requiring many stringent background checks and recommendations from police and shooting clubs. Japan also boasts of a very low rate of violent crimes. Most of the violent crimes in Japan are also not gun-related.
Though fatal gun violence is rare, the prime suspect in Abe’s assassination, 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, reportedly shot and killed the ex-prime minister with a concealed homemade gun he must have fabricated himself. This has left the local security authorities wondering how this could have happened despite their restrictive gun laws and long history of peaceful living.
This sad and condemnable incident also affirms what Jesus said about the source of evil in the world, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil come from within” (MK 7:21-23). Thus, we are witnessing many violent and wicked acts towards others in our world today, not because gun control laws and checks are lacking, but because consciences are not being well-formed and faithfully followed. Merely trying to restrict gun ownership or gun use cannot guarantee that our societies will be free of senseless violence and murder if we do not also begin to follow well-formed consciences.
Conscience is that interior voice whereby God speaks to our hearts, calling and moving us to do a particular good and avoid a particular evil at an appropriate moment. In the words of the Catechism, “When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking” (CCC 1778). Moses also attests that God’s words and commands found in the book of the law are also inscribed in our hearts, “It is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hears; you have only to carry it out” (Det 30:14).
We must first form our consciences well with the truth of God’s commandments because without a well-formed conscience, we cannot love God and our neighbors appropriately. A person with a poorly formed or weak conscience is one who easily resorts to violent and wicked acts towards others. These persons have no qualms taking innocent life at will. They will destroy human life with whatever they have at hand. They will shoot the innocent with homemade guns, euthanize the aged with medication, detonate bombs in churches, murder unborn infants with forceps, and fly airplanes into buildings.
When the scribe asked Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life,” he was asking about what he needed to do to have a truly joyful and hopeful life. He grasped that right action was connected with the fullness of life. After he stated the command to love God with all your being and to love neighbor as self, Jesus answered, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live” (Lk 10:28). Without a good conscience that correctly grasps practical acts of charity that must be done, authentic love for God and neighbor is impossible and the joyful hope of eternal life becomes illusive.
The Good Samaritan in the parable showed true love to the injured and dying Jew because he had a good conscience and he followed it no matter the sacrifices involved. He could not see himself walking away from the person in need, even if that person hated him and his fellow Samaritans. He knew the right thing to do there and then and he did it. He thus showed that the law of God truly inscribed in his heart was effective.
On the other hand, the priest and the Levite, though they probably knew the command to love, cannot love appropriately because of their bad or weak consciences. They had no qualms ignoring their brother Jew in dire need. They were probably overcome by their selfishness or legalism.
For us to live joyful and hopeful lives here on earth, we must take three action steps regarding our consciences all the time.
First, we must humbly form our conscience well with truth from God. Mere human opinions or ideologies, no matter their source, no matter how widely held and accepted they are, no matter how they may make us feel, cannot form our consciences. We must know, believe, and love the truth as revealed by God and authoritatively taught by His Catholic Church if we are going to have an upright conscience.
Believing one single lie can corrupt, darken, and weaken the voice of God in our conscience. Our consciences are weakened and confused when we believe that we can change moral truths. For example, we are deforming our consciences when we believe that people of the same sex can be married and raise a normal family. Whatever contradicts divine revelation corrupts conscience because “conscience bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments” (CCC 1777).
Secondly, we must faithfully follow our well-formed consciences now. The longer we resist the divine summons of conscience, the more that we lose our freedom for right action and authentic love. When it comes to choices, we must not make choices based on transitory emotions or feelings alone. Neither are we to make choices based on the latest fashions or ideologies.
Lastly, we must examine our conscience frequently. We must constantly examine our thoughts, words, and actions in the light of the word of God and the spirit of Jesus Christ that we find in the Gospels. At least once a day, preferably at the end of the day, we must pause and ask in the presence of God, “Have my thoughts, words and actions today flowed from and reflected my relationship with God in Jesus Christ?” This honest examination of conscience based on God’s words will lead to ongoing conversion that makes selfless love possible.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, because “Christ is the head of the body, the Church,”(Col 1:18) He is with us always and He is always guiding us to eternal life through our consciences. He never forces us to act or not to act. He is always saying to us, “Do this good now. Avoid this evil now. Do this and you will live!” We are to listen to Him and freely respond by His grace.
Every Eucharist is Jesus Christ coming to us to enlighten and strengthen our consciences with His truth and grace so that He can teach us and move us to love like the Good Samaritan. With our well-formed consciences, we shall hear Him and respond to Him now and always as He continuously calls us to selfless love for God and others. This is the only way that we can shun insensitivity, violence, and wickedness towards others and choose to live truly loving, hopeful, and joyful lives for God and for others, just like the Good Samaritan did.
Glory to Jesus! Honor to Mary!
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