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           Let us first recall a few elementary ideas about both conscience and law, and then consider some aspects of their inter-relationship.

I. FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE

The fear of being influenced

            The ecclesiology of Vatican II centers on "communio", the vital union of each member of the Church with Christ, and of all with one other in Christ. As a more concrete way of expressing this "communio", the Council dwells on the expression "People of God".

1.         The sacramental nature of the Church.

            It is common to speak of the "mystery of the Church". "Mystery" in a religious sense does not imply something closed and inaccessible, but rather a reality so deep that we can always discover more to its meaning without ever exhausting it. The Church is more than she appears, and the key to grasping her full reality is faith; "it is only 'with the eyes of faith' that one can see her in her visible reality and at the same time in her spiritual reality as bearer of divine life" (CCC 770).