Continuing with the great Augustine, I am going to look at one small quotation from the same source as yesterday.
II. "We must next ask," he says, "whether sin comes from will, or from necessity? If from necessity, it is not sin; if from will, it can be avoided." We answer as before; and in order that we may be healed, we pray to Him to whom it is said in the psalm: "Lead Thou me out of my necessities."
I do not need the red type here.
I want to pull apart this small idea and show how it is connected to the pursuit of perfection.
Firstly, the term necessity is one you have seen before on this blog. If we do something out of our own needs, then the thing we do is imperfect. This does not mean it is "wrong", but necessity brings with it selfishness and self-interest. If the necessity is a serious flaw, it causes serious sin.
For example, if I love someone out of my own limitations, wanting someone else to complete me, I am not loving that person freely. If I am healed, and note that Augustine uses that term, then I am freed from need.
This is possible. I think some married couples who have been married for a long time move from eros to philos then to agape, and finally,caritas, that is, pure love. I have referred to this last year when writing about Benedict, Pope Emeritus' encyclical on love.
Caritas is loving someone for the sake of God alone.
That type of love is not connected to self, but transcends the self.
Can we experience this? Yes, absolutely.
But, and this is the second big point here, only though God is this type of freedom to love purely possible.
Augustine moved from very carnal and selfish love to a sublime love of God.
For him, this happened through suffering. Perhaps that is the way for most of us.
The soul becomes ordered once necessities are both repented of and healed.
I know of a young woman who did not want to love a man and was not open to a relationship.
She had been hurt to many times. She was closed to real love. I felt sorry for her.
But, she needed to be healed and this is not a psychological game, but an interior purifying which only God can do. But, one must face the pain of loss and rejection in order to obtain the purity of heart which opens one up to God.
The purgation state cleanses us of self. The illumination which follows sheds light into our soul and shows us the habits which cause the sin and the imperfections. That is the grace of light. God wants to heal all those things.
St. Augustine fought the love of God for a long time. He kept running away. Finally, he stopped. His passion for love was purified so that he could love God not out of necessity, but out of freedom.
How wonderful it is to love someone, or Someone, freely.
Pray that God leads you out of necessity. Then, you will really know love. And, Love is a Person.
To be continued....