The Imitation Of Christ IV

~Thomas ¬ā Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, p. 59

1a: the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good. //She had a guilty conscience.

b: a faculty, power, or principle enjoining good acts. //guided by conscience

c: the part of the superego in psychoanalysis that transmits commands and admonitions to the ego

2: conformity to what one considers to be correct, right, or morally good: CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

3: sensitive regard for fairness or justice: SCRUPLE. // a wealthy man with no conscience 

“Conscience.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster,

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conscience. Accessed 20 Feb. 2020.

Maybe I missed it, but in my Protestant, Methodist upbringing I don’t remember being taught to “examine my conscience” on a regular basis. Sure, if I did something wrong and wouldn’t ‘fess up, my mom (usually) would call on me to consider my sense of right and wrong. And there have been many times in my life when I had to look deep into my conscience in order to try to figure out the right action to take, or to wonder how I’d missed checking my conscience before committing a wrong action. My denomination is not a “confessing” church, that is, we don’t confess our sins to a priest or minister as an expected, regular duty. I vaguely remember saying prayers at night before going to bed, but I’m not at all sure how often that occurred or what might have been relayed to On High, or the response. I don’t remember my parents saying prayers on a regular basis. Not that they didn’t - I don’t know, but most public, family prayers were saved for ceremonial occasions, like just prior to diving into dinner on Thanksgiving Day. I don’t remember being taught conscience in school, either. Even though conservative values were part of the fabric of my Kansas upbringing, those were the days before programs like “Character Counts”. 

But to examine my “conscience” as a regular practice? Even daily? Proactively, preventatively, restoratively?

Not even close. My conscience was much more likely to operate on auto-pilot, set in gear as a child watching parents and teachers and farmers and and coaches and friends. I had a conscience, I felt bad when doing something ‘bad’ and good when doing something “good”, but to consciously and conscientiously continue cultivating conscience day-by-day-by-day-by-day? 

Hardly. 

Sadly.

After I began learning more about Catholicism, and was introduced to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, and happened upon my battered copy of The Imitation of Christ, I began to think more, and more thoughtfully, about virtues and how one might develop a more virtuous life. As in all matters profound, there are practices which enable folks to develop depth over time. To imitate Christ takes a lifetime of intention, never to reach perfection and not even close. 

But if one were to have a checklist of virtues like generosity, humility, and gratitude, (kind of like Benjamin Franklin did) one could self-evaluate and self-correct and self-develop over time.  These qualities would evolve, with practice.  I say evolve because these "virtues" are more than habits, they can become baked into who we are. Although our mental perspective might change in a snap of a finger, it takes the rest of one’s life to re-form who we are.

But heck, it’s worth giving it a go, eh?

In these troubled times, I wonder if it would make a positive difference if our leaders - those elected to Congress, business moguls, faith leaders, really anyone with inordinate influence - would truly practice examining their conscience about what is right and wrong on a regular basis.  Perhaps they do, but sometimes I wonder.  Often I wonder. 

Then too, all those people making the big decisions are enabled by us. I also wonder if it would make a positive difference in our society if examining one's conscience became a daily practice for many more of us.

I bet it would.

Examining our conscience on a regular basis should help us over time to make better and better decisions daily. Over the course of a day, a week, a year, and a life those decisions add up to represent the kind of person we really are. If we are intentional about examining and then doing, then we are also being deliberate about being and becoming who we wish to be. Oh, we'll still make poor decisions.  We will still make self-serving decisions. But fewer over time.  Hopefully.

And we will be less prone to blow in the winds of whim or to float, rudderless, in the waters of change.

People so often say they need to "find themselves" or to "find out who they are".  Why not create who you are and not spend so much time searching?

How about that?

à Kempis, T. (2013). The Imitation of Christ (R. Challoner, Trans.). Charlotte, N.C.: Tan Books & Pub.

St. Ignatius of Loyola (2011). The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (T. Corbishley, Trans. Dover ed.). Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications.

Photos by Michael Kroth

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Book II: OF THE JOY OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE

“Keep a good conscience and thou shalt always have joy.

A good conscience can bear very much and is very joyful in the midst of adversity.

A bad conscience is always fearful and uneasy.” (p. 59)

“The glory of good men is in their own consciences, not in the mouths of men” (p. 59).

“He will easily be content and in peace whose conscience is clean.” (60)

“If thou consider well what thou art within thyself thou wilt not care what men say of thee” (p. 60).

“Man beholds the face, but God looks upon the heart. Man considers the actions, but God weighs the intentions” (60).

Book IV: Chapter 7: OF THE EXAMINATION OF ONE’S OWN CONSCIENCE, AND OF A RESOLUTION OF AMENDMENT

“Diligently examine thy conscience, and to the best of thy power cleanse and purify it by true contrition and humble confession: so that there be nothing weighty to give thee remorse and hinder thy free access.” (p. 218)

“Repent thee of all thy sins in general, and in particular lament and grieve for thy daily offenses. And if thou hast time confess to they God, in the secret of thy heart, all the miseries of thy passions.” (p. 218). 

“So much inclined to exterior things, so negligent as to the interior…”

“Having confessed and bewailed these and thine other defects with sorrow and a great dislike of thine own weakness, make a strong resolution always to amend thy life and to advance in virtue.” (p. 219). 

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A DAILY PARTICULAR EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE (pp. 22-24)

24. The first occasion is the moment of getting up in the morning. One should then resolve to watch carefully so as not to commit the particular sin or fault which one has decided to correct.

25. The second is after the midday meal, when on asks of our Lord God what one wants, the grace to recall how often one has fallen into that particular sin or fault and to amend for the future. So the first examination is made by exacting from one’s conscience an account dealing with the particular fault it is proposed to correct, running over each hour or period of time, beginning from the moment of getting up until this present examination.…..

26. The third occasion is after supper, when the, when the second examination is made, going in the same way over the hours, beginning from the first examination until this second one…

27. Four additional practices are here given, for the quicker eradication of that particular sin or fault.

(1) Every time one falls into that particular sin or fault, the hand is laid on the breast in token of sorrow for the fall. This can be done even in company without its being noticed.

28. (2)…it can be seen at night whether there has been any improvement…between the two examinations.

29. (3). The second day should be compared with the first, that is, the two examinations of the present day with the previous day’s, so as to see whether there has been any improvement from one day to the next.

30. (4) One week should be compared with the previous one, to see if there has been any improvement between the two. 

A GENERAL EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE: FOR SELF-PURIFICATION AND FOR MAKING A BETTER CONFESSION

METHOD OF MAKING THE GENERAL EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE IN FIVE STAGES (p. 28)

43. (1) Give thanks to our Lord God for favours received.

(2) As for grace to know and to root out your sins.

(3) Demand of your conscience an hourly or periodic account, beginning with the moment of getting up until this examination, first as to thoughts, then words and then actions, in the way described in the Particular Examination.

(4) Ask pardon of our Lord God for these faults.

(5) Resolve, with the grace of God, to do better.

An Our Father.