Tag: conscience

Conscience: Bible Readings

Skim these Scripture passages. Pick one that appeals to you and

  1. summarize its main point,
  2. tell how it relates to the theme “Understanding Conscience”,
  3. list one or two thoughts that entered your mind when you read it.

Faith Reflection: Conscience

Saint Paul wrote that the difference between what we will know in heaven is as great as the difference between what we know now and what we knew when we were children:

When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child; now that I am a man, I have no more use for childish ways. What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete – as complete as God’s knowledge of me.

Meanwhile these three remain: faith hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:11-13

As a child gradually emerges into adulthood during the period of adolescence, more and more opportunities arise to form – and test – a personally validated self. Deep within our human consciousness, God has implanted a hunger for the truth, for goodness, for love – all of which are at holy war with the unevolved beast in us, the Id. Human dignity lies in conquering that beast and discovering God’s law, written right into the way God made things and people.

All creatures deserve proper treatment simply because of the way our Creator made them. According to Vatican Council II:

By conscience, in a wonderful way, the law is made known which is fulfilled in the love of God and one’s neighbour. Through loyalty to conscience, Christians are joined to other [persons] in the search for truth and for the right solution to so many moral problems which arise both in the life of individuals and from social relationships. Hence the more a correct conscience prevails, the more do persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided by the objective standards or moral conduct. The Church in the Modern World, 16.

What guides you in making important choices, such as the way you deal with your family, friends, and strangers? With animals, food, the environment? Do you treat each consistently or haphazardly: as the mood strikes you or by what you can gain or lose? Are you, honestly, more of an altruist or a utilitarian?

Freedom of Conscience, Tudor Style

Read and respond to Freedom of Conscience, Tudor Style by Sean Murphy.

Write a post in your iblog in which you

  1. demonstrate an understanding of the main point(s),
  2. relates an idea(s) from the reading to another text(s),
  3. offer your own arguments – agreeing or disagreeing with the points in the reading – with supporting evidence.

Consider the rubric:

Be Loving

Theme 1: What is love?

Outcomes
Students will

  • examine and evaluate their understanding of love
  • analyze Scripture pas- sages where Christ models love
  • explore the Christian dimensions of love within the context of popular notions of love
  • analyze ways they love others because they love themselves
  • articulate what it means to be loved and to love unconditionally
  • listen prayerfully to the call to be loving

Key Concepts

  • We are called to love as Jesus loved.(Since we have been loved, we also must love – 1 John 4.10- 12.)
  • Love that is rooted in Christ will never fail, even when it seems to be the most foolish, unreasonable or diffi- cult choice.
  • Love is not just an emotion. Love is willed. Mature love is a call to action which fosters the good of others.
  • Giving and receiving love is the most important dimension of our lives, bringing out the best in both the lover and the beloved.
  • To truly love others, we must love our- selves.

Theme 2: What is the loving thing to do?

Outcomes
Students will

  • reviewandapplythe decision-making model (see, judge, act, evaluate)
  • demonstrate an understanding of the role of the magisteri- um, Scripture and tra- dition in moral deci- sion making
  • identify times when it may be difficult to do what is loving
  • define conscience and name its role in moral decision making
  • explain the relation- ship between Christian moral deci- sion making and love

Key Concepts

  • Christian moral deci- sion making is based on love.
  • People are bound by their conscience in determining the loving thing to do.
  • The magisterium, Scripture and tradition guide Catholics in moral decision making.
  • Doing the loving thing may mean doing what is difficult or unpopular.

Theme 3: Why wait?

Outcomes
Students will

  • explain how our sexuality can help us to love
  • identify acceptable Christian expressions of love
  • explain why having sex is not the loving thing to do outside of marriage
  • define chastity and understand why it is a Christian virtue
  • analyze sexual issues in relation to the virtue of chastity

Key Concepts

  • “All Christ’s faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life” (CCC #2348).
  • “Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self- mastery which is a training in human freedom” (CCC #2339).
  • God created us as sexual beings. Our sexuality draws us out of our- selves to relate with others.
  • Genital sexual expression becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one per- son to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman. (see CCC #2337)
  • Sexual feelings are neither good nor bad in themselves; they sim- ply are.
  • There are many chaste ways of expressing our love for others.
  • The sixth commandment protects the sacred bonds of committed love.

Theme 4: How does love go wrong?

Outcomes
Students will

  • use 1 Corinthians 13.4-8a for identifying the signs of manipulative, coercive and abusive behaviour in relationships
  • value the basic dignity of every person within relationships
  • understand and demonstrate skills of appropriate assertive behaviour
  • use Scripture for developing Christian attitudes towards loving others

Key Concepts

  • “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5.9).
  • In Scripture we find direction and inspiration for healthy, lov- ing relationships. (e.g., 1 Corinthians 13.4-8a, Romans 13.10)
  • People in healthy relationships recognize the equal dignity and basic rights of all involved.
  • Love goes wrong when it becomes self- centred.
  • Not all relationships are healthy. Manipulation, coercion and abuse are signs of unhealthy relationships.
  • Assertiveness skills are necessary for developing and maintaining healthy relationships.

Conscience

Survey:

 

Bible Readings:

Skim these Scripture passages. Pick one that appeals to you and

  1. summarize its main point,
  2. tell how it relates to the theme “Understanding Conscience”,
  3. list one or two thoughts that entered your mind when you read it.

Reflect:

The reflection will take effort, but it is an effort to focus – for yourself – an ego-conscience. If that’s not worth the effort, you will always have a personality, but it is unlikely you will ever develop character.

Draw a line down the center of a piece of paper. On one side of the line, list the do’s and don’ts your parents, teachers, and media (other external forces) have taped on your Superego that you have already checked against reality and find are now wrong – or at least far too simplified. On the other side, write the elements of your Superego that you now see for yourself are valid.

Quotable Quotes:

“Faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:11-13

“The more a correct conscience prevails, the more do persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided by the objective standards of moral conduct.” – The Church in the Modern World, 16

“Return to the root and you will find the meaning.” – Sengstan

“A man’s action is only a picture book of his creed.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Rather fail with honour than succeed by fraud.” – Sophocles

“In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.” – Mohandas Gandhi

Activity:

Choose:

  1. Roughly how many of your peers do you guess cheat routinely on homework, quizzes, and tests? What are the reasons most would give for doing that? Why is “Well, everybody does it” not a legitimate excuse? If trust and honesty are the glue that holds together the web of our human ecology, what is the effect of widespread cheating on the web of society?
  2. When schools discover that a great deal of cheating is going on, the administration frequently will encourage teachers and exam supervisors to have greater vigilance and require strong punishment when someone is caught cheating. Similarly, with the increase of crime in our cities, the almost automatic response is to call for an increase in the number of police. What would be a better way to attack the problems of cheating and crime at their roots?

Confession

Confession Bible Quotes
• James 5:16
• Acts 19:18
• Matthew 3:5-6
• Mark 1:5
• 1 Timothy 6:12
• 1 John 1:9
• Numbers 5:6-7
• Nehemiah 9:2
• Sirach 4:26

Grave sins must be confessed once per year.
Venial sins are “recommended” for confession.

CHAPTER III : THE PENITENT

Can. 987 In order that the faithful may receive the saving remedy of the sacrament of penance, they must be so disposed that, repudiating the sins they have committed and having the purpose of amending their lives, they turn back to God.

Can. 988 §1 The faithful are bound to confess, in kind and in number, all grave sins committed after baptism, of which after careful examination of conscience they are aware, which have not yet been directly pardoned by the keys of the Church, and which have not been confessed in an individual confession.

§2 The faithful are recommended to confess also venial sins.

Can. 989 All the faithful who have reached the age of discretion are bound faithfully to confess their grave sins at least once a year.

Can. 990 No one is forbidden to confess through an interpreter, provided however that abuse and scandal are avoided, and without prejudice to the provision of can. 983 §2.

Can. 991 All Christ’s faithful are free to confess their sins to lawfully approved confessors of their own choice, even to one of another rite.

“Catechism of the Catholic Church”. 2000.
Grave Sin
`CCC 2272
`CCC 2480
`CCC 2380
`CCC 2148
`CCC 2434
`CCC 2181
`CCC 2117
`CCC 2384
`CCC 2385
`CCC 2386
`CCC 2290
`CCC 2291
`CCC 2539
`CCC 2277
`CCC 2302
`CCC 2152
`CCC 2476
`CCC 2353
`CCC 2303
`CCC 2357
`CCC 2388
`CCC 2482
`CCC 2352
`CCC 2268
`CCC 2163
`CCC 2354
`CCC 2355
`CCC 2356
`CCC 2439
`CCC 2120
`CCC 2284
`CCC 2281
`CCC 2297
`CCC 2413
`CCC 2434
`CCC 2268
`CCC 2400
`CCC 2434

Venial Sin
`CCC 1863

Penance
`CCC 1422

The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial
`CCC 1854-1864

Temptation

picture-2It’s midway through the semester, and you are taking the midterm  Math 30-1 or 30-2 test. You’ve been struggling all semester in this class, and you know that this test will comprise a big part of your final grade. You feel like you are doing quite well on the test until you come to the last question, which is a problem to solve. It is worth 20 marks and you just can’t remember how to solve it. As it happens, the class math whiz is sitting right in front of you and you can see he’s just finished it. You are close enough to see how he solved it, and you know that the supervising teacher cannot possibly see you if you cheat.

What do you do?

RS 35: Reflection: Is Conscience Something to Pay Attention to?

Religious Studies 35 Reflection Question

In the article Conscience and truth. it says “Catholic moral theology teaches that conscience is the highest norm and that one must always follow it, even against opposing dictates of legitimate authority”.  Pope Benedict XVI, (before he was pope) once said “Conscience is the highest norm … and one must follow it even against authority”.

Produce a  typewritten unified response to the following.

Select the page titled Temptation  and read the hypothetical situation presented along with the question it poses.   Answer the question, being mindful of the information given above as well as what you have learned about conscience in class.  Your answer must clearly explain your reasons for the decision and must reflect some things learned in class.  Upon providing your decision with its reasons, then analyze your response by explaining what your decision says about your conscience.  What is motivating you to make the decision you’ve made?  Is your decision motivated by your conscience, by your superego, or is it motivated because of selfish motives (id or ego)?  Be honest.  There is no right and wrong answer.  What is important here is your self reflection.  I’m hoping that you will discover something about yourself.  This assignment will be graded using the reflection rubric.  You can view this rubric by clicking the reflection rubric page.

 

A Matter Of Conscience

  1. Reflect n writing on a time you chose to pay attention to your conscience versus a time you chose not to. Describe your feelings in each case.
  2. Research and write about an immoral practice other than slavery that was once considered morally right by most people.
  3. Corruption in business or government usually involves laxness of conscience. Focus on one instance of such corruption from a past scandal covered in the news. Write about how lax consciences may have played a role in the corrupt practices.
  4. Give three examples of cases in which a rule or law could be broken in good conscience.
  5. What do you think about the use of nuclear weapons today?
  6. What does the phrase “listen to your conscience” mean?