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| Augustine in his monastery and with the Christ Child |
from A TREATISE CONCERNING MAN'S PERFECTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS,
BY AURELIUS AUGUSTIN, BISHOP OF HIPPO;
IN ONE BOOK,
ADDRESSED TO EUTROPIUS AND PAULUS, A.D. 415. found here and my comments are in dark red.
There are still some people who deny that we are called to perfection.
They think that we are just supposed to "get by". There is no just getting by the Lord.
CHAP. IX. (20.) WHO MAY BE SAID TO WALK WITHOUT SPOT; DAMNABLE AND VENIAL SINS.
Having premised these remarks, let us carefully attend to the passages which he whom we are answering has produced, as if we ourselves had quoted them. "In Deuteronomy, 'Thou shalt be perfect before the Lord thy God.' Again, in the same book, 'There shall be not an imperfect man among the sons of Israel.' In like manner the Saviour says in the Gospel, Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' So the apostle, in his second Epistle to the Corinthians, says: 'Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect.' Again, to the Colossians he writes: 'Warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ.' And so to the Philippians: 'Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless, and harmless, as the immaculate sons of God.' In like manner to the Ephesians he writes: 'Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.' Then again to the Colossians he says in another passage: 'And you, that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death; present yourselves holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.' In the same strain, he says to the Ephesians: 'That He might present to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish. So in his first Epistle to the Corinthians he says 'Be ye sober, and righteous, and sin not.' So again in the Epistle of St. Peter it is written 'Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace that is offered to you: . . . as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.' Whence blessed David likewise says: 'O Lord, who shall sojourn in Thy tabernacle, or who shall rest on Thy holy mountain? He that walketh without blame, and worketh righteousness.' And in another passage: 'I shall be blameless with Him.'
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| The Death of Monica |
The entire section above I have put in bold and may be considered a summary of all I have posted so far on perfection.
Christ calls us and gives us the grace. He does the work, if we merely cooperate.
And yet again: 'Blessed are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.' To the same effect it is written in Solomon: 'The Lord loveth holy hearts, and all they that are blameless are acceptable unto Him.'" Now some of these passages exhort men who are running their course that they run perfectly; others refer to the end thereof, that men may reach forward to it as they run. He, however, is not unreasonably said to walk blamelessly, not who has already reached the end of his journey, but who is pressing on towards the end in a blameless manner, free from damnable sins, and at the same time not neglecting to cleanse by almsgiving such sins as are venial.
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| The Funeral of St. Augustine. all photos from Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano |
Remember, dear readers, a long time ago last year, when I started this series, I wrote that God wanted us free not only from mortal sin, but from venial sin, and, in fact, those imperfections which hold us back.
The passage below fills us with hope.
For the way in which we walk, that is, the road by which we reach perfection, is cleansed by clean prayer. That, however, is a clean prayer in which we say in truth, "Forgive us, as we ourselves forgive." So that, as there is nothing censured when blame is not imputed, we may hold on our course to perfection without censure, in a word, blamelessly; and in this perfect state, when we arrive at it at last, we shall find that there is absolutely nothing which requires cleansing by forgiveness.
The object is not merely to avoid purgatory, (I think some people do not believe in purgatory), but to build up the Body of Christ, the Church, through the gifts and insights and graces released after those purgative states. Only those actions which are done in the states following purgative state are those of God and not of our own needs and weaknesses. At the Illuminative State, our works are those totally in the Will of God and of His planning and grace. No wonder so many projects in the Church fail-these are human and not Divine.
To be continued....
