Entering the Conscience Through Prayer
The cultivation of a conscience does not require that you wake up and attempt to follow the impulses and feelings of the heart. It requires deep prayer, not for ten minutes, nor fifteen, but until the heart may rest without guilt, without pain, without shame. When the peace of God comes upon you, you may begin to follow Christ.
This time of prayer is a battle of the mind with sins of the heart from the evening, from days past, from further back, even to youth. The purification of the heart precedes confession to God, and the reception of love covers a multitude of sins, making forgiveness an accessible gift in the heights of contemplation.