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Introduction: Making moral judgments. What are the boundaries? Giving God time to reach us. Knowing how we are being guided properly.
The virtues: Fortitude, Obedience, and so much more.
Rediscovering the soul through prayer. The interior life. Welcoming the other that lives within us and passing the through the wall of suffering.
Encountering fear in prayer. The necessity for spiritual direction! Purification as part of the process for spiritual growth. The virtue of Obedience.
The Reality of Our Conscience. What it is and what it isn’t. The importance of proper formation…through the sacramental life, the Catechism of the Church and Sacred Scripture. “Follow the Truth” is the beginning of the conversation, not “follow your conscience” in order to make the sacred decision. Not to be passive but teachable is the goal. The Marian deposition is the the model for moral formation. Conscience is the judgement of the mind as it listens to the voice of Christ through the lives of the saints, the sacraments, the Catechism and Scripture in prayer.
The difficult stage in moral conversion, not only leaving the sin behind, but also leaving the community of people who desire to hold on to that sin. It might mean separating from family members, friends, etc, but the hope is that that may possibly follow if we hang in there in that witness of Truth. Also, life doesn’t stop in our suffering. Many will come who are attracted to the change. How we love those in need will indicate growth even in the crucifixion. The negative…we reject something, the positive…we embrace something.
Resurrection people who live out of the power of the Resurrection. Theological virtues, faith, hope and love, are given to us in the fullest sense through the sacraments and how we receive and open our hearts to that gift. Moving our affection from sin to truth. How do we prepare ourselves to receive moral truth?
When we come upon the Truth, we rest in it our journey is over. The Lord wants us to rest in Him. We rest when we receive the truth about what is good for us and what is ethical. Within us is the mind that can discern truth and receives it and then have that truth confirmed by the indwelling presence of God. It’s in the still small voice that will confirm, we have to learn how to go inward to hear it. To properly form conscience we have to 1. Know who we are, 2. Find where we learn about moral truth, 3. Discern who we go to with our questions. The fullness of Truth is taught in the Church.
The supernatural virtues provide for us the gifts to walk and respond to moral truths. We need to practice the virtues to receive the wisdom of God and to be more deliberate in the love of the good.
Practical ways of living a life of virtue prayer…one way to listen to friends and even enemies to hear the truth God may be wanting to reveal to us. The wounds that surface in the healing process. The interior healing that can occur and who should help with that process.