“Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he
has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him
to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the
right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His
conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with
God whose voice echoes in his depths.”
This is the Second Vatican Council’s evocative
description of the human conscience (“Gaudium
et Spes” #16). It came to mind at several points today during the World
Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
Late in the morning, I heard a presentation by Robert
George, a professor of law at Princeton university and a frequent commentator
on public matters, especially on marriage and the family, and Sherif Gergis,
the principal co-author of What Is
Marriage?, which makes a secular case for marriage as a union between one
man and one woman.
George especially exhorted his audience to have no fear
in living out and proclaiming the Church’s vision of marriage in light of the
Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage in Obergefell
v. Hodges. Given the pressure on
individuals and institutions that hold to this vision of marriage from the
government and broader culture, standing firm in it will challenge many people’s
consciences in the years to come. Many forces will try to force them to compromise
their consciences. With God’s help, we
can withstand that force.
I left the presentation a little early to see a
big-screen viewing of my favorite movie of all time—A Man for All Seasons, which won six Academy Awards in 1966. It tells the story of St. Thomas More, who
clung tenaciously to his conscience when King Henry VIII claimed authority over
the Church in England in the 16th century. More was eventually beheaded for
refusing to acknowledge Henry’s supremacy.
The showing of the movie was part of a film festival
connected to the World Meeting of Families and was shown at a beautiful theater
at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
When I returned to the World Meeting of Families, I heard
a keynote address by Cardinal Luis Tagle of Manilla. He exhorted his listeners to be families that
spread the healing of Jesus, especially the healing of wounds in the human
heart. Many consciences have been
wounded in recent years by the deception of the kingdom of this world, which
Cardinal Tagle contrasted with the kingdom of God.
He went on to say that, although all followers of Jesus
have their own wounded hearts, those are, when touched by Jesus, “the wounded
one,” “beautiful scars, scars of love.” A
conscience formed well, and formed continually over time, will be instruments
of God’s healing to others who so desparately need it. People with such
consciences will, as Cardinal Tagle said the Church should always do, never
give up on anyone.
That healing can extend to couples struggling with “the
heartbreak of infertility,” as Cardinal Willem Eijk of Utrecht described it in
a breakout session on infertility at the end of the afternoon. Also
participating in the panel discussion was Dr. Kyle Beiters of the Gianna Center
in New York, who is an expert in treating infertility in ways that are in
harmony with the Church’s moral teachings.
The panel was rounded out by Dr. Gianna Emmanuela Molla,
the daughter of St. Gianna Beretta Molla.
I had venerated second-degree relics of her (e.g., her wedding dress,
her stethoscope) the past two days at Philadelphia’s cathedral. Now, in
listening to and meeting Dr. Gianna, I was, in a sense, in the presence of a
living second-degree relic. Her witness to the life of her mother and how her
intercession has helped so many infertile couples in so many ways was
incredible.
Like St. Thomas More, St. Gianna clung to her conscience
to her death. She gave herself up in love to death so that her daughter could
live. As I noted in a previous blog post, when St. Gianna was pregnant with Dr.
Gianna, she was diagnosed with a tumor on her uterus. Doctors recommended she
have a hysterectomy. She refused and demanded that they put a priority on her
baby’s life and not hers. She died four days after giving birth to Dr. Gianna.
Families are the workshop where consciences young and old
are carefully honed and molded. With the
help of God’s grace, all families can transform the world by sending out into
the world people with consciences that lead them to stand up for the truth and
serve others in love—no matter the cost.
Tomorrow will give the archdiocesan pilgrims a blessed
later start. Since we’ll have Mass with
Archbishop Tobin at a nearby parish church at 2 p.m., we won’t have to make it
to the convention center for Mass at 8:30.
We’ll go later, though, to hear a keynote address by Cardinal Sean O’Malley
of Boston and to finish up the meeting later in the morning.
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