Third Sunday after Pentecost, Tone 2; the Holy Priest-Martyr Timothy, Bishop of Prussa (361-63)
Apostles’ Fast
Read
Romans 5:1-10; Matthew 6:22-33
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Your conscience truly is an incredible thing! Our Lord has placed within us a faculty for discerning right from wrong within our very hearts, allowing us to come to Him by acting morally in the world. Conscience truly is a gift given to us men and women who are made in God’s image that we may grow in His likeness. When we say to a dog that it has been “bad” we mean something very different than when a human being has been “evil.”
And yet, our consciences are not the only factor in moral striving in the world. Our Lord warns us that our conscience unless properly formed and continually examined can become blunted. If the lamp of our body becomes darkness, we truly do find ourselves in a dangerous position. It is not enough that we follow Polonius’ advice to his son in Hamlet: “To thine own self be true” if our own selves are not constantly seeking the good. In other words, there is more to acting rightly than simply doing what we might feel is right in any situation, we must honestly be hungry for goodness and truth.
What our Lord places before us today, and in fact in His entire Sermon on the Mount, is an invitation to continually form our conscience. Like practising any skill (like a musical instrument or athletic skill etc.) repetition serves as a good teacher. Frequent confession, including preparation using an examination of conscience, will help to ensure the lamp of our bodies shine brightly for our own repentance and as a light to the world!