Jesus today (Lk 11: 42-46) sternly criticizes the scholars of the law for imposing "on people burdens hard to carry, but you yourselves do not lift one finger to touch them." The scholars had interpreted the law in a way that fits their own interests, making things difficult for others but not for themselves. Beyong that, they had not helped others bear the burden that the scholars' interpretation created. The law has become a tool of power and oppression, not a path to God, Jesus seems to be saying. It is easy for Church laws in our times as well to become, for some at least, a source of "burdens heavy to carry." We see that in the area of sexuality, for example, although Church teaching on racism and the death penalty and immigration and the preferential option for the poor could be in that category for some as well. How do we deal with that? What are we supposed to do when some Church teaching, applied in a particular situation, seems profoundly "wrong" to us-- just suck it up and live with it? How do we deal with the knowledge that Church teaching has not remained the same over time (slavery and the death penalty are perfect examples) and is sometimes behind the common wisdom of the faithful-- the Church owned slaves in this country even after the Emancipation Proclamation? Into this difficult area the Church just introduced a new saint, St. John Henry Cardinal Newman. Cardinal Newman's great contribution to the Church was his work on conscience to which he famously said he would offer a toast ahead of toasting the pope. So how did Cardinal Newman see conscience, and what can that insight add to today's hotly-debated issues like birth control, gay marriage, and the like? I'm certainly not a Newman scholar, but the articles about him in various sources like the National Catholic Reporter make it clear that Cardinal Newman did not mean to replace the teachings of the Church with the mere subjective feelings of individual Christians. The idea that conscience should be supreme does not mean that I get to do whatever I want. Cardinal Newman was a much-more astute thinker than that. What Cardinal Newman prized was the personal connection with the Divine, a conversation with God in which there is an understanding of how to move forward and a satisfaction if that is followed, and a soreness if it is not. We've all got that inner voice, that force, that tells us what we should do, and as to which there is joy or sadness, depending on what choices we make. When I have done "Bible Study" at the Hennepin County jail, I have asked the men there about conscience, and they all have said that it exists. They feel it, especially when they don't follow its promptings. None of them say they can make it do whatever they want. It is real and independent. It is the voice of God in their hearts. As we reflect on the heavy burdens that the Church sometimes imposes, let's keep in mind this great new saint. Let's pay attention to our consciences, not to free us from all burdens but to help us understand what God truly wants, and for us to appreciate that to every concrete rule there are exceptions. And let's recall that others have consciences as well, and it is not our place to impose our judgments on them. It is a tricky business saying someone else is wrong in moral matters, and often comes close to, or even becomes, an exercise in imposing heavy burdens on people other than ourselves. Following Jesus always has an element of cross-carrying. Just because something is hard doesn't mean we don't have to do it. But when the hard thing the Church teaches conflicts with our own deeply-held moral convictions, that's where conscience comes in, and that's where we need a deep, personal connection to Jesus. No one said this Christian thing was going to be easy. Jesus was very critical of those who used the law to do that.