Compassion v. Conscience
Chers lecteurs,
As I get older, it appears to me that when it comes to doctrine, many favor compassion over conscience. What do I mean?
Compassion is comprised of com (with or together) and pati (to suffer).
Conscience is comprised of com and scire (to know). From what I can gather, it literally means "knowing with" or "shared with."
With the above in mind, as a Christian, our conscience is knowing with Christ. A properly formed conscience is one that is conformed to His will. Nevertheless, it seems when confronted with a dogma or teaching that we do not like, we are quick to lean towards compassion, and not conform our conscience to His will.
So how do we ensure that our conscience, conformed to His will, leads our actions and decisions? This really is the struggle between the spiritual and the material. The only answer that seems to work for me is prayer. The more one prays and develops one's relationship with Christ, the more one comes to understand that a conformed conscience produces well-ordered compassion.
The issues really arise when compassion challenges and defies conscience, properly understood. We "feel" for the other and, in the moment, forgo the necessity of walking with Christ.
But here is the uncomfortable truth the Rule of St. Benedict forces us to confront: withholding the truth from someone to spare their feelings, or our own discomfort , is not compassion. Benedict points us to the judgment against Eli (1 Samuel 3:13), the priest who would not correct his sons. This serves as proof that silence in the face of sin is not kindness but abandonment.
True compassion might lead to our suffering while enduring the resistance, even the hatred of others. The Cross is where compassion and conscience were one.
The goal, then, is not conscience over compassion, but the recognition that a conscience truly conformed to Christ is compassion. It can be costly and rarely comfortable. Anything less is sentiment.
Pax - Le Pèlerin