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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260317
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260318
DTSTAMP:20260413T171922
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UID:14707-1773705600-1773791999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:GUARDING OUR CONSCIENCE \nFrom the writing of St Dorotheus of Gaza \n◊◊◊ \nWhen God created man\, he implanted in us something of his own divinity\, \nin the way of a more ardent disposition\, with a shining spark of reason to \nilluminate our minds and teach us the difference between good and evil. This is \ncalled conscience\, which is the natural law. It was by submitting to this law\, that \nis\, to the conscience\, that the patriarchs and all the faithful in the days before the \nwritten Law were well-pleasing to God. But since conscience was clogged and \ntrampled on by humanity in general through successive sins\, we needed the \nwritten Law\, we needed the holy Prophets\, and we needed the coming of our \nLord Jesus Christ to uncover and awaken it\, and to bring the buried spark back \nto life through the observance of his holy commands. \nSo it is now up to us either to keep it buried\, or to allow it to shine in us and \nilluminate us if we obey it. For when our conscience tells us to do something and \nwe ignore it\, and it speaks again and we still do nothing but trample on it\, we \nfinally bury it\, and it can no longer speak clearly to us because of the weight \npressing on it. \nLet us take the greatest care\, then\, brothers\, to guard our conscience as \nlong as we live in this world\, and not allow it to convict us of any wrongdoing\, \nnor despise it even in the smallest matters for any reason at all. For\, as you \nknow\, from scorning such small and supposedly unimportant things we are led \nto despise even great things. Both living a good life and living a life of sin grow \nfrom small beginnings\, to end in either great good or great evil. \nThen we must guard our conscience in relation to God\, in relation to our \nneighbour and in relation to material things. In relation to God\, so as not to \ndespise his commands\, even if no one sees us or expects anything of us. We \nguard our conscience for God in secret\, for instance\, when we do not neglect \nprayers and\, when our mind is inflamed with passion\, we agree to calm down \nand relax; and\, when we see our neighbour talking or doing anything\, we refrain \nfrom suspecting and condemning him for appearing to be up to no good. \nGuarding our conscience in relation to our neighbour means to do \nnothing at all which we know will distress or frighten our neighbour\, either by \ndeed\, word\, gesture or look. For\, as I have often told you before\, even a gesture \ncan upset a neighbour\, and so can a look. \nGuarding our conscience in relation to material things means not to \nmisuse anything\, nor let anything be wasted or left lying about\, but if we see \nanything lying about not to ignore it\, even if it is something quite unimportant\, \nbut pick it up and return it to its right place; it also means not to neglect our \nclothes. Equally with food: you can satisfy your needs with a small amount of \nvegetables or lentils\, or a few olives; but to refuse to do so\, and to insist on \nhaving either pleasanter or more expensive food – all such things are against \nconscience.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-411/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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