Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”   

The movie “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” closes with the third of the tasks of the Triwizard contest into which Harry Potter was unexpectantly placed by the Goblet. The contestants enter a maze, and in it, Harry meets for the first time a full-blown version of his nemesis Voldemort. After a miraculous escape, Harry emerges carrying the body of Cedric Diggory, a fellow contestant whom Voldemort had slain. Reflecting back on the incident, and the fact that Voldemort had controlled the Goblet to pick Harry, headmaster Dumbledore apologizes to Harry, telling him that he had placed him in terrible danger. In an ominous prediction of the future, Dumbledore tells Harry that “Dark and difficult times lie ahead; now is the time that we must choose between what is right, and what is easy.”  

The choice of what is right and what is easy is the choice of every human being. The choice is the basis for maturity as young people form their consciences to guide their adult lives. Too often consciences are formed with the “easy” in mind. Humans do not like to choose what is difficult, and what is difficult is more often than not the correct thing to do. It is significant that the one thing that protected Harry Potter from Voldemort’s wrath at the beginning of Harry’s life was the love of Harry’s mother, a love that would lead to her death. Now, Harry’s protection comes from the same love. Choosing what is right, forming our consciences correctly always involves the virtue of love and concern for others.

In general, we define conscience to be the interior voice of a human being, within whose heart the inner law of God is inscribed. It moves a person at the appropriate moment to do good and avoid evil, and when dealing with people, always involves love and concern for them. A person can study Jesus’ words at the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount to be a study of conscience. People must always have the “salt” and the “light” of guidance to direct their moral actions, especially actions that involve other people.
 
Our consciences must be formed in the light of love of God and others. It is not an easy choice. But as Dumbledore reminds Harry and all of us, we must be guided by what is right, not by what is easy.                       

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, you give us an inner voice that directs our thinking on what is right and what is wrong. Help us have the courage to form our inner thoughts by learning from your Son, especially in our love for others. Be with us, we pray. 

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America