Light/Conscience (2012-03-18, Lent)

This is my homily for 18 March 2012 (4th Sunday Lent). I am a Catholic chaplain in Teaneck at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We celebrate Catholic Mass - during Fall and Spring semester - every Sunday Evening (7:30 p.m.) at the Interfaith Chapel, 842 River Road, Teaneck, NJ.

[_01_] Who among us will not feel moved – or motivated – or a bit guilty – during the Olympics, Tour de France, NCAA Final Four, reading about the training regimens of serious athletes and players who rise at 4:00 a.m. in the morning to swim, kick, run, or do their homework?

Dwelling in darkness, first, they later come to the light or play under the lights …and, perhaps, receive a medal.
First, however, they are in darkness without sunlight or spotlights or camera flashes.

[_02_] In the dark is where we find Nicodemus, the Pharisee, in chapter 3 of the Gospel of John.

Nicodemus, not yet ready for London and the Olympic marathon, wants to be in the hills, in the darkness. Away from the stadium and track, Nicodemus goes to our Lord and Savior. Earlier in chapter 3, we also read that Nicodemus has come to Jesus in secret and after dark. He does yet ready to put on his country’s uniform for the Gospel or go through any opening ceremonies.

[_03_] Nicodemus discovers in private conversation/prayer what we all seek, that is:
• What are our true talents?
• How should we use them?
• Should we change our practice routine? (repentance, conversion)
• Who are the other competitors? What are my challenges?

[_04_] In the Gospel, we read: “whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” (John 3:21)

[_05_] I’m suggesting that what the Olympic runner tries to overcome – an hour before sunrise – is also what we are trying to do in making informed decisions with our consciences.

Sometimes, our consciences tell us something contrary – something opposed – to the LAW, to COMMON PRACTICE, to OUR OWN COMFORT.
What is conscience? Is it the same as the voice I hear while reading in Sports
Illustrated about Olympic athletes and gymnasts?

We are often inclined to equate conscience with guilt or shame. Consider the Olympic example. My “conscience” tells me I should have been a gold medalist.

But, this is not really conscience. This is my “superego” which a psychologist would describe as the internalization of reward and punishment. My superego tells me I am
no good, when I fail and tells me I am great when I succeed.

The superego is not a conscience. The superego is more like the crowd at the London Olympics or London/Wimbledon which either gives the emotionally charged cheer or a boo.

But, this “internalization” of reward and punishment is not a conscience.

A conscience also is about boundaries, right and wrong… but my conscience is not given to me to punish me .. but to guide me.

Moreover, my conscience is not about what I should have done in the past… but is about what can I do now.

And, the presence of the Holy Spirit - in our hearts – is about the same thing.

[_06_] In the news, we read/hear about our Catholic bishops and “conscience” and health care.

This is in the news due to a new provision in the law requiring all employers to pay for services we view as morally objectionable – including Catholic charities, Catholic churches, schools and those of other faiths – [to pay for abortion, contraception, sterilization.]

I think we would all agree that conscience is important in health care. This controversy is about what conscience means for someone who carries insurance or pays for insurance.

Of course, our doctors exercise conscience all the time. We expect them, for example, to see themselves in our place. To treat us as they would want to be treated. In this way, a doctor acts in conscience.

And, in this debate about “conscience” and health insurance, we – as Catholics – are not saying that we want to restrict access to services which are already legally available and, indeed, protected by Supreme Court decisions (e.g., contraception: Griswold v. Connecticut, abortion: Roe v. Wade).

We recognize that these procedures are legal. But, in conscience, we will not pay for them.

And, conscience, has a way of keeping us up at night, in the dark. In this debate, the bishops are making a profession of faith about prenatal life, unborn life, which while also unseen to many – has an inherent value.

Can 2 different persons arrive at 2 different conclusions about inherent value, each of them acting “in conscience”, “conscientiously”? Yes. This is why we as Catholics want to protect religious liberty and conscience. In this regard, conscience is more important than law.

[_07_] Sometimes, acting in conscience, we go beyond what the “crowd” is chanting for, what the audience wants or even what the rules of the match will permit.

Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan traveler who stops – in the darkness of an isolated road – to help someone who is assaulted and abandoned.

There is nothing in it for the Samaritan. Yet, he acts and reacts for the good.

In fact, the parable hints that the “victim” being helped is someone who might despise, be prejudiced against, Samaritans.

So, in a decision about true health and well-being, we weigh not only what is possible by legal or scientific statutes. We may even have to go beyond concerns strictly medical or immediately measurable.

[_08_] We are called to discover the inherent goodness in any other person, a person for whom we are called to sacrifice.

This is true in any relationship, any friendship, and in the care not only of life at its earliest stages but also life at its latest – the terminally ill, the infirm.

Doing so, we come to the light, and try to see beyond the current situation of darkness. We may need to set our clocks ahead one hour or more.

[_09_] Olympic athletes survive and compete for so long – in the light because they have also put in their time in the darkness.

Would we not say the same of a doctor able to make a split-second decision to save you or me as the patient? The doctor is able to grasp the right thing quickly due to a well trained mind and conscience… one which developed in darkness.

We also – in prayer and action – are called to move back and forth from darkness to light, from prayer to action.

And, doing so, we are also moving ever closer to the natural and public profession of our faith, in broad daylight. [_fin_]