A Moral Compass

In today’s Gospel, Christ healed Bartimaeus with a physical gift of sight. We all need more than physical gifts. There is another kind of sight which we all truly need – it is called the light of conscious. It is that still, small voice which guides us in our choices and decisions. The greatest evil in the world is not acting against our conscious, but when a personal conscious fails to warn a person about the evil of their actions. And it is then that we are truly in trouble. This conscious is our moral guide and is enlightened by the Gospel. It helps us see right and wrong. Consider the tragedy of moral blindness…

…people who harm others

and couldn’t care less;

…the pathological liar who tells many lies

and isn’t bothered a bit;

…the person who can take another’s property or life without batting an eye;

…the person who can steal,

and not feel bad about it;

…the person who can be unfaithful to a spouse

and not lose any sleep over it;

…the person who can destroy another’s marriage

and go on as though nothing happened.

Such people have no loyalty, no truth, no guilt, no shame, and no regret because they have blinded their conscience. Imagine what it must be like to live with a person without a conscience!

The gift of conscience, a kind of moral eyesight is a magnificent gift that helps us know right from wrong. Following it is another step. It is a gift to know when we have failed, betrayed another, when we have rebelled, when our life is on the wrong track, when we are headed for destruction. It is healthy to feel shame, regret, and guilt because those are the warning signs of a working conscience, our moral radar that helps us get back on track.

Our dignity as human beings is being able to see not just trees, plants, mountains and sunsets, but to see right and wrong. Conscience is that very personal space where our Creator calls us from within to follow the light. Physical blindness endangers the body, but moral blindness endangers the soul. The gift of moral sight or conscience is what makes us human beings different from the rest of creation.