The heart of morality

MORAL conscience present in the heart of a person is a judgment of reason which at the appropriate moment allows the person to do well and avoid evil.
Thanks to moral conscience, the human person perceives the moral quality of an act to be done or which has already been done, permitting him to assume the responsibility of the act.
When attentive to moral conscience, the prudent person can hear the voice of God.
In a theological point of view, moral conscience is the silent voice of God that is present in the human heart.
And so the dignity of a human person requires the uprightness of moral conscience, which is what is just and good according to the law of God.
An upright and true moral conscience is formed by education and assimilating the word of God and the teaching of the Church. It is supported by the gifts of the Holy Spirit and helped by the advice of wise people.
Prayer and the examination of conscience can also assist one’s moral formation.
There are three general norms which conscience should follow.

• One may never do evil in the hope that good may result from it;
• Whatever you wish that others do to you, so you do to them; and
• Charity always proceeds by way of respect for one’s neighbour and his or her conscience, even though he or she does not mean accepting as good something that is objectively evil.

One must therefore work to correct the error of moral conscience.

Noel. R. Baraka
Lae