THE VARIETies of Religious Life I Of Differentiations in the Religious State THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE RELIGIOUS STATE CHAPTER I THE THEORY OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE I. Of Union with God through Charity as the A THING is said to be perfect when it attains perfectly the end for which it was designed. The final purpose of the human soul is union with God, and the soul is nearer to or further away from perfection according as it is more or less united to Him. The means of union with God is charity, of which all other virtues are but phases and aspects, as St. Augustine teaches: "All our good works are the one operation of charity." So every exercise of 1 St. Aug., In Psal. lxxxix., Migne, P. L. Tom. xxxvii, col. 1148. See also St. Aug. De Moribus Ecclesiae, Lib. i, cap. xv, Migne, P. L. Tom. xxxii, col. 1322. So also St. Gregory : "As the many branches of a tree proceed from the one root so the many virtues spring from the one charity."—St. Greg. Mag., Hom. in Evang., Lib. ii, 27, Migne, P. L. Tom. lxxvi, col. 1205. B virtue, of whatever kind or degree, is an advance in charity, and every advance in charity is a further perfecting of union with God, which is our final end. The other Christian virtues are, therefore, the instruments that charity develops and uses to entrench itself more surely in the soul in order to win it to perfect union with God. Charity possesses itself of the will, and by working through the will becomes the initial motive power that lies behind every exercise of the virtues, giving them both their worth and their stability. The more strongly charity possesses the soul, the more promptly, easily and sweetly is the will, as its servant, able to proceed to the exercise of the particular virtue required. For example, he who loves God will find comparatively little difficulty in putting his faith in Him Whom he loves; he will be strong in a hope based on the promises God has made him, "nothing wavering"; he will be able to perform definite acts of love for Him Whom he loves; when he offends the Beloved, penitence will spring up unbidden; and patience, meekness, and humility will mark the attitude with which he meets the dealings of divine Providence. Thus does love become the motive force that operates all life. Since, then, charity is the power by means of which we are united to God, the more perfect our charity, the more perfect that union. The whole end and aim of the Christian life, therefore, is to increase and perfect charity. Everything that operates against this increase is, in some sense, sin, in that it retards the soul in its progress towards its proper end. For anything whatever that causes the soul to deviate in any degree from its aim Godward is of the nature of sin.1 So far as salvation is concerned, even the least degree of charity is sufficient. The avoidance of mortal sin is sufficient to keep one in the state of charity necessary to salvation. God is not content, however, that His people should barely find their way into His Kingdom, and be able barely to maintain themselves in His favour. A king does not count himself as honoured whose subjects maintain only that measure of loyalty that prevents their falling into the crime of treason. He desires the wholehearted, passionate loyalty of his people. Likewise, God is not content that His people should merely maintain their union with Him. He desires a love and devotion over and above this, and He inspires the souls of men accordingly. Men have been called to use many means to increase in their souls that charity, the operation of which brings union with God; but the most perfect and all-embracing means lies in not only showing a loyal and loving obedience by doing God's expressed will in keeping His precepts, but also by keeping His counsels, i.e., doing everything that judgment and conscience may indicate as God's wish for us. Where judgment and conscience indicate it to be God's wish for one to accept the three Evangelical Counsels of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, which we discuss below, he is then called to what is known 1 "Ratio peccati constitit in deviatione ab ordine ad finem.”— St. Thomas, Summa. 1. 2, Q. 21, Art. 1 ad 3. as the Life of the Counsels, which is the highest condition of perfection under which one can live in this world. Now he who has the highest call to the Life of the Counsels will desire to give to it a quality of moral permanence. This quality is created by a vow to continue it to the end. By taking such a vow to live the Life of the Counsels, one enters upon such a permanent condition as to constitute the Religious State, or the State of Perfection or of tending to perfection. II. Of Precepts and Counsels It is necessary at this point to mark clearly the difference between precept and counsel. The distinction is one set forth by our Lord Himself, and has been interpreted for us by the tradition of the Church in all ages. Two characteristics are necessary to constitute a counsel, as distinguished from a precept: I. It should be a good work that is not prescribed under pain even of venial sin. 2. It should not only be good in itself, but it should be better than some other good work which one is free to choose as an alternative. Counsels fall into two divisions-general and particular. A general counsel is one which is not given for its own sake, but for the sake of the good that will arise from it in the practice of the virtues in general, and so lead on to a greater perfection of charity. |