Forming Conscience in a Contemporary World: Aquinas's Teaching on the Gifts of Wisdom and Counsel

Thomas Aquinas's teaching on virtue, which includes reference to conscience, offers a rich and solid moral teaching for the twenty-first century. Integral to this teaching on Christian virtue are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of counsel (paired with prudence) and wisdom (paired with charity) are particularly relevant for formation of conscience. These gifts provide a docility to the instinctum divinum necessary for proper formation of one's own conscience, particularly in the context of contemporary dialogue with the Church and the world.