麻豆约拍

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with writer and broadcaster Mark Dowd.

Good Morning.

鈥淚 shall drink to the Pope 鈥� if you please, still to Conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.鈥� Perhaps the most well-known words of one of the Church鈥檚 newest saints, John Henry Newman, canonised earlier this week by Pope Francis.

Newman said that 鈥渃onscience is the voice of God in the nature and heart of man.鈥� Most of us are nowhere near as bright and insightful as the supremely intelligent and gifted Newman, but our experience of conscience is often characterized by a lurking sense of unease, a tension between an act that we鈥檙e just about to perform and something different, what we know we should do. We often ignore that voice and conscience then speaks ever louder.

But imagine if we cast the dice differently, and look not at individual actions, but at a whole life. Imagine if we had, magically, a recording of the whole of our existence and we could speed forth to the ten seconds before we close our eyes for the last time, and looking back, which of us would not have a sense of regret? Of actions not taken, forgivenesses not sought, and peace still unmade. Can our moral imaginations occupy that space NOW, so that our sense of finite future can inform and transform the present? They say a prophet is not a crystal ball gazer, but an individual who paints a challenging picture of the future in the hope of recasting the present anew, of changing course.

Father in heaven: give us the gift of honest self-scrutiny and the grace and wisdom to avoid self-deception. Strip us of our selfish ways so that we may listen attentively to your voice: your voice talking to us through others, but also when we are alone, your still small voice of calm.

Amen