St. John the Baptist Catholic Church

What is the conscience?

CCC 1795 “Conscience is man’s most secret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths” (GS 16).

CCC 1796 Conscience is a judgment of reason by which the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has a good section on conscience here

How do I examine it?

When you are examining your conscience it is helpful to have a guide.  There are many good guides available.  Below are links to several.  You can pick one that works well for you.

EWTN has an examination of conscience here

Beginning Catholic.com has A Detailed Catholic Examination of Conscience

Catholic Parents online has examination of conscience for children and elementary school children

Catholic Pages has an examination of conscience

Someone might ask, “Why should I pray when God already knows what I want?”  The response to this is that prayer is not about informing God what our needs are.  God already knows our needs and does not need our prayers to keep Himself updated on what is happening in our lives.  Instead, prayer is for our sake, not for God’s sake.

Sometimes we pray for what we want and instead, God gives us what we need.  What we need is not always what we want, but God in his providential mercy gives us what we need.  What is this telling us?  Prayer in this sense summons a way of discerning God’s will and not a way of intimating with God only in time of crisis and need in order to get what we want from God.  God’s answer may not be exactly what we ask for or expect.

In the “Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus is teaching us that prayer should lead us to recognize God’s will as the determining factor in our Christian life.  Submission to the will of God is a way of life.  Thus understood in this light, prayer becomes a way of life, always seeking to discern the will of God, the way our Lord Jesus does.

Yes, we do pray for our needs in our daily life.  And we know of the willingness of God to match our requests with grace and kindness we can never measure.  But praying for our needs is only part of our relationship with God.  Our whole life is to be a way of prayer to God, because our whole life is about following Jesus, being a disciple of Jesus.  If we only pray when we are in a crisis, are we truly Christian?  Prayer is not a magic formula to be recited to bring about the desired results.  Prayer is also a way of living.  It is following Jesus on the road, constantly seeking to fit our daily exercise of life into the purpose that God wills for us.

Fr. Bart

Parochial Vicar

Dear Friends,

In this weekend’s reading, our Gospel brings us to the context of the Martha-Mary narrative.  This is a story that makes a point about attitudes and behaviors, foundational to understanding our call to discipleship.  It begins by telling us of the visit of Our Lord Jesus, to which both sisters respond differently.

The comparison and contrast between the sisters’ responses is very significant.  Both of them are hostess and they love Jesus equally as their Lord.  However, Martha, on the one hand, behaves as a hostess who is fussing around, worried, bothered and distracted by all the preparations that have to be done.  On the other hand, Mary, not engaging in the preparations to be done, sits at the feet of the Lord and listens to his story.  “Sitting at the feet of the Lord” is important to discern because it signifies a Jewish tradition of being a disciple.

Looking closely at the story, Martha’s work was certainly important.  Only she is worried about all the things that have to be made.  Her service drags her attention away from Jesus.  Our Lord did not condemn Martha for serving but admonished her for being so distracted with serving that she neglected “what is better.”  Mary, in contrast, sitting at the feet of Jesus, has chosen “what is better.”  “What is better” here simply means listening to Jesus.  Thus, the most important response of a hostess (or host) is to receive Jesus’ word.

Reckoning this from the perspective of discipleship, the Gospel in this Mary-Martha story is intimating that Mary is a disciple, and as such, her behavior is to be emulated.  To be a disciple is to determine priorities, and the highest priority must be to listen to the Word.  It is like setting a priority to our Sunday obligation to listen to the Word of God amidst the weekend’s distractions.

The gospel is a reminder that it could be very easy for us to focus on less-essential tasks, assuming that these can produce more effective results.  Yet we need to be very careful with our “busy-ness” that distracts us from the real business of hearing Christ.  It is always good to remember that through the Word, Christ renews our lives and builds our Church.  Let us be aware of our worldly concerns that divert us from the priority of the Word.  Amidst the “busy-ness” of and in this world, do we find time to “to sit at the feet of the Lord?”

Fr. Bart

Parochial Vicar

(From Fr. Ray’s homily)
Blessed are those who care:
They will let people know they are loved.
Blessed are those who are gentle:
They will help people to grow.
Blessed are those who listen:
They will lighten many a burden
Blessed are those who let go:
They will have the joy of seeing people find themselves.
Blessed are those who, when nothing can be done or said, do not walk away, but remain to provide a comforing and supportive presence:
They will help those who suffer to bear the unbearable.
Blessed are those who give without hope of return:
They will receive God’s reward.

Our Gospel this weekend tells us a story about a good Samaritan, a story which raises a question, “Who is a neighbor?”  The answer to this question is a matter of perspective, and requires a certain way of seeing.

In the story, there was a wounded man in the ditch who needed help because he was robbed.  A priest passed by.  And so did a Levite.  Both just passed by, unheeding of the need of the man who was robbed.  Then there came a Samaritan, who took care of the needs of the man.  In this situation, a question re-echoes, “Who is a neighbor?”

Simplifying the meaning of neighbor will shed light here.  The word neighbor has a basic meaning in Greek which means “to be near.”  Coming back now to the question, “Who is a neighbor?” the answer certainly has to be the third person, the Samaritan.  The other two stretched the gap between themselves and the man in the ditch.  They would not come near to him.  Definitely, they would not be a neighbor to him.

The story may have happen in our parish life, too.  Perhaps one may say, “I am willing to love my neighbor as myself.  I want to go near to everyone in need, for we are all in need when we come to the church.  But please don’t get me involved with the wrong neighbor.”  Hey, there is nothing wrong with one’s neighbor inside the church, but perhaps one gets his or her neighbor wrong because the other is seen not as of one’s same color, race, ethnic group, culture or language.  One can easily fall into this trap of seeing a neighbor in a wrong way.

The story of the good Samaritan, then, provides us a perspective of seeing a neighbor.  To see a neighbor is to look at the other in good faith.  To be a neighbor is “to go near” to the one needing help and act according to their need instead of acting with grabbing over the other.  To be a neighbor is not a matter of who and what we are in our status to others, but who and what we are on the basis of our actions, responding and doing unselfishly the good for others.  Neighbor love knows no boundaries.

Fr. Bart

Parochial Vicar

Dear Friends,

Our Gospel reading this weekend purports that the kingdom of God is an inaugurated reality.  It is unfolding upon us.  This inauguration signals the sending of 70 disciples to do the proclamation; thus, the purpose of commissioning.

In inducting his disciples to a mission, Jesus begins by employing the farming metaphor, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  By these words of commissioning, the disciples know that they, like Jesus, must be on their way.  They have a great task to do, that is, a kingdom to proclaim.

The disciples’ task is ours, too.  As Catholics, we continue the mission to actualize the Kingdom of God, especially and locally in our own parish.  This is very urgent in our parish.  Aware of the dwindling amount of attendance in Sunday Masses, we need “laborers” to bring “harvest” to our Church.  To “labor” for the “harvest” in our parish is everyone’s task because we are all commissioned to make disciples by virtue of our baptism.  It is my hope and prayer that we all act with a sense of urgency in carrying out the task toward the actualization of God’s Kingdom in our midst as our parish mission.

Fr. Bart

Parochial Vicar