My comments are in blue, as usual.
St. Thomas adds that this is why the abbot Moses says (Conferences of the Fathers, Bk. I, chap. 7): "Fasts, vigils, meditation on Holy Scripture, penury, and the loss of all one's wealth are not perfection but means to perfection, since not in them does perfection consist, but by them one attains it" (6) more rapidly and more surely. (7)
This is why the contemplative orders are a short-cut to perfection.
A man can be voluntarily poor for other than a religious motive, through philosophical scorn of wealth, for example; likewise one, can be poor for love of God, as St. Francis was, but this is not indispensable to perfection. Thus a soul may reach sanctity in the married state without the effective practice of the counsels, but on condition that it have the spirit of the counsels, which is the spirit of detachment from worldly goods for love of God.
This is an important point. One may and, of course, can reach holiness in any state.
All this shows that perfection lies principally in the more and more generous fulfillment of the supreme precept, which has 'no limit. No one can find a limit in the statement in Deuteronomy: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with thy whole strength," (8) and not by halves. In other words, all Christians to whom this precept is addressed, must, unless they already have the perfection of charity, at least tend toward it, each according to his condition, whether it be in the married state or in the sacerdotal life or in the religious state.
Tending towards perfection is what we all must do according to our vocations and placing in the world. God calls each one of us to this walk.
For all, it is not only better to tend toward this perfection of charity, it is a duty identical with that of continually advancing toward heaven where the love of God will reign fully, a love which nothing will any longer be able to destroy or render tepid.
The next section is important. We do not know to what degree we are called to achieve. That is why we must trust in God and continue with God on our way.
As this heading declares, the doctrine, that the supreme precept has no limit, is greatly confirmed if we consider that the end in question here is not an intermediary end, such as health, but the last end, God Himself, who is infinite good. If a sick person desires health without limitations, with greater reason we should desire the love of God, without limiting our desire to a certain degree. We do not know the degree to which God wishes to lead us and will lead us if we are faithful and generous. St. Thomas says: "Never can we love God as much as He ought to be loved, or believe and hope in Him as much as we should." (9) In contrast to the moral virtues, the theological virtues do not consist essentially in a happy mean: their object, their formal motive, their essential measure is God Himself, His infinite truth and goodness.
This paragraph is important. There is no such thing as limited love, or the middle road. The goal is, of course, God Himself and His Love. People say there are "holy" pagans. However, if a pagan is not concentrating on loving God for Himself alone, he has not entered the way of perfection. Read the next section carefully for an understanding of why so many of the Fathers of the Church did not think that "good" pagans would go to heaven.
We are far from the aurea mediocritas of which Horace spoke. As an Epicurean, he even seriously reduced the golden mean of the moral virtues. The truly golden mean of these virtues is not only that of selfish calculation, which, without love of virtue, avoids the disadvantages of vices that are opposed to each other; the truly golden mean is already a summit, that of right reason and of virtuous good loved for itself, over and above the useful and the delectable. But this summit has not an infinite elevation; it is the reasonable rule determining the measure of our acts in the use of exterior goods and in our relations with our fellow men.
Right reason dictates that we love our fellow men, but to be perfect, we must do this for the sake of God Himself.
For example, in the presence of certain dangers we must be courageous and even not fear death if our country is in danger; but to expose ourselves to death without a just motive would not be courage but temerity. Moreover, there are some sacrifices that our country cannot rightly require of us. Our country is not God, and consequently cannot demand that we love it above all else, sacrificing to it our Christian faith, the practice of the true religion, and our eternal salvation. Such a course of action would be an excessive love of country.
There is a misunderstanding about this in some people. for example, some religious fanatics see love of a nation as the same as the love of God. This is not necessarily true.
But, over and above the moral virtues, the theological virtues, which have God immediately as their object and motive, cannot essentially consist in a golden mean.
There is no via media, as dear Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman came to know.
We cannot love God too much, believe too greatly in Him, hope too much in Him; we can never love Him as much as He should be loved.
St. Francis said that his God never said "enough." We can say "no". Let us not say "no".
Thus we see more clearly that the supreme precept has no limit. It asks us all ever to strive here on earth for a purer and stronger love of God.
This takes effort and decision making on our part daily. We must try to persevere.
If hope is the mean between despair and presumption, this is not because the presumptuous man hopes too greatly in God, but because he displaces the motive of hope by hoping for what God could not promise, such as pardon without true repentance. Likewise, credulity does not consist in believing too greatly in God, but in believing what is only human invention or imagination as if it were revealed by Him. (10)
I cannot emphasize this paragraph enough. One must not let one's imagination to go astray.
We cannot believe too strongly in God, or hope too greatly in Him, or love Him too much. To forget, as the Epicureans do, that the rational, golden mean is already a summit, and to wish to make the theological virtues consist essentially in a golden mean as the moral virtues do, is characteristic of mediocrity or tepidity, erected into a system under pretext of moderation. Mediocrity is a mean between good and evil and, indeed, nearer evil than good. The reasonable, golden mean is already a summit, that is, moral good; the object of the theological virtues is infinite truth and goodness. This truth has at times been brought into relief by the comparison between the mediocre man and the true Christian.(11)
Indeed, moderation can be evil, and avoid standing up for the good. Mediocrity was hated by Christ Himself, who said: But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16. DR
Finally, another reason why the precept of love has no limit is found in the fact that we are travelers on the way to eternity, and that we advance by growing in the love of God and of our neighbor.
This journey does not end. It keeps going until the day we die. And, as noted here, this journey is an obligation, not an option.
Some Catholics think that the search for perfection is something one can do without. No, it is not. We offend God by not pursuing perfection.
Consequently our charity ought always to grow even to the end of our journey. Not only is this a counsel, that is, something better, but an obligation. Moreover, a soul here on earth not desirous of growing in charity would offend God. The road to eternity is not made to be used as a place for rest or sleep, but rather to be traveled. For the traveler who has not yet reached the obligatory end or term of his pilgrimage, progress is commanded and not only counseled, just as a child must grow, according to the law of nature, under pain of becoming a dwarf, a deformed being.(12) Now, when it is a question of advancing toward God, it is not by the movement of our bodies that we advance, but rather spiritually, by the steps of love, as St. Gregory the Great says, by growth in charity which ought to become a purer and stronger love. This is what we ought especially to ask in prayer; this is the import of the first petitions of the Our Father.
Does it follow that a person who does not yet fulfill the precept perfectly, transgresses it? Not at all; for, as St. Thomas says, "To avoid this transgression, it is enough to fulfill the law of charity to a certain extent as beginners do.
"The perfection of divine love falls entirely (universaliter) within the object of the precept; even the perfection of heaven is not excluded from it, since it is the end toward which one must tend, as Augustine says (De perfectione justitiae, chap. 8; De Spiritu et littera, chap. 36). But a person avoids the transgression of the precept by putting into practice a little love of God.
Love God as much as you can and are able to do.
"Now, the lowest degree of the love of God consists in loving nothing more than God or contrary to God or equal with God, and he who has not this degree of perfection in no wise fulfills the commandment. There is another degree of charity which cannot be realized in this life and which consists in loving God with all our strength, in such a way that our love always tends actually toward Him. This perfection is possible only in heaven, and therefore the fact that a person does not yet possess it, entails no transgression of the commandment. And, in like manner, the fact that a person has not attained the intermediate degrees of perfection, entails no transgression, provided only that he reaches the lowest degree." (13)
But evidently he who remains in this lowest degree does not fulfill the supreme commandment in all its perfection: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind."
Do we realize that seeking perfection is not an option? This call is a "precept"
It would be an error to think that only imperfect charity is of precept, and that only the degrees of this virtue superior to the lowest degree are of counsel. They fall under the precept, if not as something to be realized immediately, at least as that toward which we must tend.(14) Thus, by virtue of the law of his development, a child must grow in order to become a man, otherwise he would not remain a child, but would become a deformed dwarf. The same is true in the spiritual life.(15) The law of growth has serious demands. If the divine seed, placed in us by baptism, does not develop, it runs the risk of dying, of being choked out by weeds, as we read in the parable of the sower. In the spiritual life these abnormal souls are certainly not the true mystics, but the retarded and the lukewarm.
Hard words, which are ignored by most teachers, spiritual directors, and priests...why?
Perfection is an end toward which all must tend, each according to his condition. This capital point of spiritual doctrine, forgotten by some modern theologians, was highlighted in 1923 by Pius XI in his encyclical Studiorum ducem, in which he presents St. Thomas to us as the undisputed master not only of dogmatic and moral theology, but also of ascetical and mystical theology. Pius XI draws particular attention to the doctrine of the Angelic Doctor, namely, that the perfection of charity falls under the supreme precept as the end toward which every Christian must tend according to his condition in life.(16)
Do we realize that seeking perfection is not an option? This call is a "precept"
It would be an error to think that only imperfect charity is of precept, and that only the degrees of this virtue superior to the lowest degree are of counsel. They fall under the precept, if not as something to be realized immediately, at least as that toward which we must tend.(14) Thus, by virtue of the law of his development, a child must grow in order to become a man, otherwise he would not remain a child, but would become a deformed dwarf. The same is true in the spiritual life.(15) The law of growth has serious demands. If the divine seed, placed in us by baptism, does not develop, it runs the risk of dying, of being choked out by weeds, as we read in the parable of the sower. In the spiritual life these abnormal souls are certainly not the true mystics, but the retarded and the lukewarm.
Hard words, which are ignored by most teachers, spiritual directors, and priests...why?
Perfection is an end toward which all must tend, each according to his condition. This capital point of spiritual doctrine, forgotten by some modern theologians, was highlighted in 1923 by Pius XI in his encyclical Studiorum ducem, in which he presents St. Thomas to us as the undisputed master not only of dogmatic and moral theology, but also of ascetical and mystical theology. Pius XI draws particular attention to the doctrine of the Angelic Doctor, namely, that the perfection of charity falls under the supreme precept as the end toward which every Christian must tend according to his condition in life.(16)
This seeking of perfection, and the desire to love God, is THE call of our life.
That same year Pius XI, in another encyclical, recalled the fact that St. Francis de Sales taught the same doctrine.(17)
I looked at Francis de Sales, earlier in the series...
I looked at Francis de Sales, earlier in the series...
Three consequences, which we shall develop farther on, result from this doctrine: (I) In the way of salvation, he who does not advance, goes back. Why is this so? Because it is a law that one must always advance, under penalty of becoming a retarded soul, just as a child who does not develop as he should, becomes abnormal.
1) If one is not progressing, one is sliding back-this is a "law" of spiritual growth.
(2) The progress of charity should indeed be more rapid in proportion as we approach nearer to God, who draws us more strongly. Thus the movement of a falling stone is so much the more rapid as the stone approaches the earth which attracts it. (3) Lastly, since such is the loftiness of the first precept, assuredly actual graces are progressively offered to us proportionate to the end to be attained, for God does not command the impossible. He loves us more than we think. In return, we must give Him our love.
As with a stone in gravity, if we start the journey towards perfection, we shall grow more and more quickly in grace.
1) If one is not progressing, one is sliding back-this is a "law" of spiritual growth.
(2) The progress of charity should indeed be more rapid in proportion as we approach nearer to God, who draws us more strongly. Thus the movement of a falling stone is so much the more rapid as the stone approaches the earth which attracts it. (3) Lastly, since such is the loftiness of the first precept, assuredly actual graces are progressively offered to us proportionate to the end to be attained, for God does not command the impossible. He loves us more than we think. In return, we must give Him our love.
As with a stone in gravity, if we start the journey towards perfection, we shall grow more and more quickly in grace.
When we have succeeded in loving Him with all our heart, even with an affective love, we must love Him with all our soul, with an effective love, with all our strength, when the hour of trial strikes for us, and finally, with all our mind, progressively freed from the fluctuations of the sensible faculties,
This movement of the spirit must break away from going forward and moving back-a sad but all too common occurrence. I go forward and I go back. Only with God's grace can I continue to go forward.
that, henceforth spiritualized, we may become truly "adorers in spirit and in truth."
And, Adoration is a sure way of becoming perfect. Take time to go forward...
All this doctrine shows that sanctification must not be too greatly separated from salvation, as is done by those who say: "I shall never become a saint; it is enough for me to be saved." This statement contains an error of perspective. Progressive sanctification is, in reality, the way of salvation. In heaven there will be only saints, and, in this sense of the word, each of us must strive for sanctity.
This movement of the spirit must break away from going forward and moving back-a sad but all too common occurrence. I go forward and I go back. Only with God's grace can I continue to go forward.
that, henceforth spiritualized, we may become truly "adorers in spirit and in truth."
And, Adoration is a sure way of becoming perfect. Take time to go forward...
All this doctrine shows that sanctification must not be too greatly separated from salvation, as is done by those who say: "I shall never become a saint; it is enough for me to be saved." This statement contains an error of perspective. Progressive sanctification is, in reality, the way of salvation. In heaven there will be only saints, and, in this sense of the word, each of us must strive for sanctity.
To be saved, or to think that one only wants to be saved is not enough.
This is the penultimate post on perfection. I shall have one more.