Before conversion, conscience seemed to be a
restraining, coercive power; God was a hostile and exacting judge; the
commandments were prohibitions; and the Church was an inhibition.
Responsibilities were identified with obligations; duty was seen as opposed to
desire; the morally right was identified with the physically unpleasant; and
love was opposed to morality. But after conversion the conscience no longer
accuses; it never seems to command, or order, or inhibit, because there are no
longer two wills in opposition. The will of the convert is the will of God.
There is no need for a conscience to tell him what ought to be done.”
Conscience is swallowed up in love and there is no duty or “must” between
lovers.
--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Peace of Soul, 1949
