CONSCIENCE CHECK

SABBATH

The thought of Him bothered his working days, but He disturbed his sleep as well. Herod just couldn’t dismiss this man and put Him out of his mind. He must have heard people talking about Him, or he may have heard Him himself. He couldn’t help but be drawn to Him, so he sought Him. “Who is this man?” Then he thought of something he had done in the past — about another man who gained illustriousness and renown because of his lifestyle and preaching, someone who spoke against his immoral ways, someone he silenced. Could He be the same one? “But John I myself beheaded,” he said as he dismissed the thought of the baptizer going back to life. According to John Ayto, conscience comes from the Latin prefix com, meaning “with or together” and scire, meaning “to know.” Hence, “to know something with oneself,” or “a moral awareness, a mental differentiation between right and wrong.” Herod may have escaped the rule of law by going scot-free or even guilt-free with his execution of John. But what the rule of law was not able to reach, his conscience was able to invade. It had finally caught up with him. Joseph Donders wrote, “Herod can be our example in one way: his bad conscience makes him want to see Jesus. When we are in bad conscience it would be a good thing for us to have the same desire—not for the reason Herod had, but in view of an admission of sin,  orgiveness, conversion, and also to get rid of the constant anxiety of that bad conscience.” How’s your conscience? Fr. Sandy V. Enhaynes Reflection Question: Is your conscience bothering you? Consider what it is saying to you. Is it a sin, or guilt, or a need to forgive someone?  Listen to it. Lord, speak more loudly in my conscience when I need to repair something that I have done or failed to do. Sts. Digna & Emerita, pray for us.