The Conscience of the Corrupt

Some people believe the corrupt have no conscience, and that is why they live “happily,” squandering everything they have stolen and doing whatever they please without their conscience saying a word to them.

A few days ago I read in Saint Thomas More’s book A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation what he says about the conscience of such people: they do have one, and they try to keep it quiet and at a distance because it torments them, and quite a lot.

I share his reflection here so that we may realize that no one who does evil in this life can be happy and at peace with himself, because he knows that sooner or later he will die and that God will call him to account for everything he did.

Saint Thomas More asks us to imagine a man who abounds in worldly prosperity and is sunk in many grave sins that he takes for pleasures. God, wishing in his goodness to call him to grace, now and then puts a pang of remorse in his mind, for example when he goes to bed, and makes him lie there thinking for a while. He begins to remember his life, and from there to consider his death: how he will soon have to leave all his wealth in this world and set off alone, not knowing when or where he must make that journey, nor what company he will find there. He begins to think it would be wise to make sure of things, just in case those dark bogeymen people call devils, whose torments he used to take for fairy tales, really do exist.

More says that these thoughts, if they sink in, are a serious tribulation, and, if the man seizes the grace God offers him through them, a healthy one. It will comfort him to remember that through it God is calling him home, out of the land of sin where he has lived so long, to the promised land flowing with milk and honey. If he follows that call, as many do, his sorrow will turn to joy: he will rejoice in changing his life, giving up his dissolute desires, doing penance for his sins and spending his time on better things.

In others, More continues, this call from God causes only sadness. They are loath to give up the sinful desires that cling to their hearts, especially if they have done so much harm that following God would mean making large restitution and seriously reducing their fortune. Such people are terribly troubled, because God in his great goodness keeps prodding them, and the pain of remorse pierces their heart. So they run away from it and look for distraction. They fluff up the pillow, lay their heads down more carefully and try to sleep; when they can’t, they find something to chat about with whoever is lying beside them; and if that doesn’t work either, they lie there longing for daylight, and as soon as it comes they throw themselves back into their worldly business and into the sins that most displease God. In the end, if they persist in their bad conduct, God casts them off altogether. Then they care for neither God nor devil: when the sinner reaches the depths, shamelessness sets in, and nothing matters to them except worldly fears, the ones that may come by chance and the one that must come for certain with death.

And of the moment when death comes to such people, Saint Thomas More says that then their pain returns. The softness of the bed will be of no use; no company will cheer them. They will have to set aside the honor and comfort of their glory and lie tossing in bed as if on the rack. Then comes fear of their wicked past life and of their dreadful death, the torment of a burdened conscience and the dread of a severe judgment. The devil drives them toward despair with images of hell, and now he does not let them laugh it off, and if they do, the wretch discovers it is no fairy tale. Cursed, he says, is the time people waste without thinking about this.

All I can add is that, in light of these words of Saint Thomas More, which show how sad and tormented the life of a corrupt person is, I follow Pope Francis’s advice to us Christians: let us pray for the corrupt, that they may be converted, ask forgiveness and give back everything! they stole, because otherwise the dogs of hell will lick their blood.