Page 133 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 10

never comes ? … Implicitly but not overtly, he Sense of being, setting in of love to core self
accuses God. He says his prayers, but since his
emotions are trapped within the infantile situa- distort what is true within the self, just as when
tion he can feel no sort of answering assurance
of a loving Presence” (Lake, 2005, p. 219).
The healing of the conscience
Effective pastoral care identifies the diseased
motions within the soul that are the source of
these difficulties. In the process of healing the
conscience, the moral sensitivity of the soul is
directed toward judging and modifying the dy-
namics of the conscience itself.
(insert L‘Innocence, attribution: William-Adol-
phe Bouguereau [Public domain], via Wikime-
dia Commons)
131
The neurotic conscience attempts to cover and
Adam and Eve covered themselves in fig leaves.
Lake points to the infantile roots of the neurotic
conscience. He notes that in many cases there
was “actual prolonged deprivation of accep-
tance and support,” and therefore “a good deal
of justice in the infant‘s plea that he was at one
point or another denied the necessities of being
and well-being” (2005, p. 218). Yet the one who
is still suffering with the consequences of this
deprivation in their soul will not acknowledge
the concomitant feelings of hostility, nor recei-
ve the validation of their need and pain (their
neurotic conscience won’t allow it). When such
a real deprivation is discerned, it must be com-
forted and filled for the conscience to heal.
Many of the errant activities of the neurotic
conscience are undertaken to hide this inner
emptiness, and will continue to be fueled until
that emptiness is acknowledged and filled. As
we’ve already seen, a healthy conscience is built
on love and nurture, and so the filling in of any
deprivation of that foundational love is a criti-
cal step for many in maturation.
Perhaps more in this area than any other, Chri-
stian pastoral care can offer hope far beyond the
resources of secular psychotherapy. The God of
Christian faith creates by fiat (see Genesis 1,
Psalm 33). His creative power extends to the hu-
man soul, and is able to touch even the earliest
deprivations of being (see John 1). Through the
empowering of the Holy Spirit, sensitive pasto-
ral care discerns and then counsels and prays
with sufferers so that the unbearable pain of
these early deprivations can be yielded to the
Cross as the creative life of God enters in.
The Cross, false and real guilt, and responsi-
bility
(insert Christ on the Cross, attribution: Rem-
brandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Com-
mons)
The neurotic conscience blocks an authentic
conviction of sin, and thus also deprives the
soul of knowing the reality of God’s forgiveness
and the gift of Christ’s righteousness. Lake no-