Video summary

Do I Have a Good Conscience?

Main summary

Key takeaways

Wellness and Self-Improvement

Key ideas & wellness/self-care/productivity strategies

  • Reframe “difficult” self-denial as an ego problem, not a diet problem

    • Fasting/abstinence during Lent (e.g., Fridays) isn’t described as physically hard—rather, it feels hard because it’s imposed (“someone else is telling us we have to do that”).
    • The message: the friction is pride/ego wanting autonomy, not the act itself being inherently painful.

  • Understand “conscience” correctly (it’s not personal preference)

    • Conscience should not be treated as:
      • personal preference
      • opinion
      • a self-made “permission slip” (“I don’t see anything wrong, so it’s fine”)
    • A well-formed conscience is described as more likely to:
      • convict you of wrongdoing
      • call you toward repentance
      • affirm you when actions align with what is right

  • Conscience needs formation through spiritual practices

    • The talk emphasizes that a well-formed conscience comes from ongoing habits, not just knowing rules:
      • prayer (listening to God)
      • reading Scripture
      • receiving guidance from the Church
      • reflection on self, God, and the world
    • A core requirement: “dying to yourself”—transforming desires and thinking so the “voice of God” can be heard clearly.

  • Practice an inner “mental reset” (renewal of mind)

    • Using the theme from Scripture: don’t just adjust behavior—be transformed by renewal of the mind.
    • This is described as painful because it requires stopping patterns of thinking inherited from the self/the world, and replacing them with God’s way of thinking.

  • Prioritize duty over rights

    • A well-formed conscience is portrayed as more concerned with:
      • “What does God want?”
      • duties/responsibilities, rather than rights (“I get to do this.”)

  • Beware “escape clauses” (exceptions)

    • The talk strongly warns against using conscience as a rationale to treat yourself as an exception to Church teaching.
    • It also cautions that authority figures (including priests) can be misleading or mistaken if they suggest you can ignore teaching because the Church will “change later.”

Presenters / sources

  • Presenter: Father Mike Schmitz (Ascension Presents)
  • Referenced sources/figures:
    • Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman
    • Saint Paul
    • G. K. Chesterton
    • The Catholic Church’s teachings (via Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and Church authority / catechism)

Original video