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Inner Life of a Catholic

The Profession of Faith 

CHAPTER FOUR

Man's Life In Himself

I. Perfection

In the preceding chapters something has already been said of the Catholic ideal, and of the means at the Catholic's disposal by which he may hope to attain it. It is an ideal, frankly, not of this world, though not on that account does it go counter to any truly noble ideal in it; the greatest saints, rightly understood, are the greatest heroes, and conversely, in every hero that the world of men reveres there is always something akin to sanctity. A merely rich man is seldom a hero, but a merely poor man may often be. A merely successful man may be that and no more; a man submitting to failure is often a hero indeed. A man who has no cares may be one to be pitied; one whose life is full of sorrows wins most men's regard. "Blessed are the poor; Blessed are the meek; Blessed are those that mourn."

To illustrate and confirm this statement, to show that the Catholic ideal, in matter of fact, contains all that even this world in its heart most honors and reveres, whatever it may say in its thoughtless moments, it may be well to consider it apart. We may look at it and the means by which it is attained from another angle, the subjective angle of man himself; in a clear idea of the perfect man, or of a perfect life in the light of Jesus Christ our Lord, we may find a happy summary and application of all that has hitherto been said. Let us then try to describe the ideal of a man as a Catholic understands it, or rather the ideal of life as, considered along his perspective, it is to be lived upon this earth.

Man, even if he be reckoned in the order of nature only, is made for God. He comes from God; in God and from God he lives, and moves and has his being; at the end he goes back to God. There are those, a very small minority, who call this in question; perhaps they have reasons which satisfy them, we ourselves have never been able to find them. To most thinking men, to every average man who has not been deceived, the facts of life tell their own story, are their own evidence. While man lives in this world he is entirely in the hands of God, far more than he is in his own; when the end come, as his prudent foresight tells him, nothing else can matter very much but the relation that will exist at that moment between himself and God. Coming from God, the creature of God, he is of necessity created for the purpose which the all-seeing, and all-loving God has in view for him. Even as a creature, a tool from the hand of God, this would be true of man; how much more true it is, now that we know with what everlasting love God has loved us, with what bonds He has drawn us to Himself!

Moreover, even as creatures and no more, it is not hard to discover that our final goal is the attainment of God. Since God is what He is, the <Summum Bonum,> absolute perfection, the source and the content of all that is excellent and perfect, the attainment of Him or even the reaching towards Him, is the noblest end for which a creature can be made. For that is the attainment of the fullness of being, as far as a creature can attain it; and knowing God in all His magnificence, in all His magnanimity, in all His outpouring love, knowing too, the wondrous creature, man, with all his glorious possibilities, an end less noble would seem to be unworthy of them both. Nature itself proclaims that man is made for God. Super-nature echoes it, lifts it up to a higher level, proclaims man to be made, not only to reach God as a final goal, but to live His very life; to be not only a creature with an obligation but a son with a filial duty, not only a son but a friend, an intimate, whom love has lifted out of mere creaturehood into a certain equality with the God who has so loved.

Moreover, since God is infinite perfection, and since on that account He is the source from which all other perfection flows, it follows that the more nearly a man arrives at a likeness to God, and the more he shares, in whatever way, in the divine perfection, so much the more perfect will he be in himself as a man. "Be ye perfect," said Jesus Christ our Lord, "even as your heavenly Father is perfect." Indeed it is this very fact that accounts for the hunger that is in every man for ever more and more than that which he has acquired; no matter what he may attain to in this life he is never satisfied, he craves for yet more, the things that lie about him are as nothing. "Thou hast made us, O Lord, for Thyself," St. Augustine repeated to himself, after he had tried every other satisfaction and had failed to find contentment; "Thou hast made us, O Lord, for Thyself, and our hearts shall find no rest till they rest in Thee." And St. Thomas tells us the same in his own theological language. "Man's last end is the uncreated good, that is, God Himself. He alone can perfectly content the will of man, with His infinite bounty" (1-2, iii, I).

Hence, whatever else a man may be called upon to do, or may choose for himself as his aim in life, in whatever direction his life may lead him or whatever ideal he may put before his eyes, ultimately, behind all this, if he would make his life a perfect thing, and would know the true joy of living, there must be the fact of God, and of striving after God, as the crowning of it all. The knowledge of God is above all other knowledge; the love of God, received and given back, is above all other love; the service of God, loyal and devoted, is above all other service; life in God and for God and with God, is above every other life; the glory of God is the most ennobling, shedding its lustre on the man who gives it. These are the end and object of life, even of natural life, whether of man or of all creation; these are the source of true perfection, even of natural perfection. The truly perfect man is he who is most perfect in the sight of God, whatever he may be in the sight of man; and the perfect man in the sight of God is he who has known Him most clearly, has loved Him most dearly, has served Him with a perfect service and a whole heart.

If this is true of man in the natural order, of man considered only in his state as man, much more must it be true of him considered in the order of the supernatural. Let it be remembered that when we speak of the supernatural we do not by any means eliminate the natural, we only lift it to a higher plane. Jesus Christ our Lord did not come to destroy but to perfect; in Himself, in His character, life and personality, while essentially supernatural, yet did He show Himself, on that very account, essentially the perfect natural Man. In the supernatural order, as we have endeavored to explain, man has been raised by a loving God who longs for him to a state beyond that of nature, beyond natural man's own needs, or cravings, or ideals, beyond his natural possibilities or dreams; so far beyond with a vista opened before him so dear, that he may easily "forget the things that are behind" in his eager "stretching forth to the things that are before." He has been called, and he has been given the power, so to live that one day he may enjoy the beatific vision of God Himself; in a true sense, though he sees but in a glass after a dark manner, he already enjoys its foreshadowing in the life of grace. This is why the saints of God are the happiest of men on this earth; they have seen the vision, they have tasted the delight of true living, and now no suffering, no failure, no contempt, no injustice is able to separate them from the love of God, which they have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This further ideal it is that the Christian has before himself when he speaks of the perfect man; this is what is meant by the many books that are written, dealing with what is called Christian perfection. It is not that the Christian values things natural any the less, it is only that he has discovered other things that are more valuable. It is that addition to the natural ideal which has come through Jesus Christ our Lord; the light has appeared to them that sit in darkness, and in that light the whole perspective of life has been altered. Men and women who have seen it have become changed beings; they have become "fools for Christ's sake," they have given away with both hands all that others count essential to life in order that they may follow it. They have gladly given life itself and all its ambitions, freely, eagerly, counting the sacrifice nothing, that they may secure the things that are more excellent, the peace which Christ alone can give, the joy which He alone can pour out, full measure and flowing over, the truth of life, the transparency of soul, the warmth of heart, the generosity of hand, the blessedness of foot, which is the reward, even here in this life, of those who have given their all for Him.

And the result, even judged by human standards? is such that nothing can equal, whether we consider man in himself or the effect of his life upon his fellowmen; witness St. Bernard or St. Francis of Assisi, or St. Francis Xavier, or St. Theresa, or St. Francis de Sales, or St. Vincent de Paul. There were noble standards in the pagan world, though when tested in practice they seldom seemed able to endure; they never produced anything to compare with these. With all its ideals and all its philosophy, and all its art and beauty, the pagan world is a world of disappointed aspirations, and disillusionment ending in despair. There are equally noble standards and ideals in the pagan world today, but do they endure any better; It is a world of unrest, clamoring for peace and there is no peace; a world of groping in the wilderness, seeking water and finding none. It is determined to be content in spite of the evidence, to enjoy itself though the city burns, its misery is suppressed not conquered. Looked at in a true perspective, if by its fruits it may be known, then the modern paganism is condemned no less, perhaps more, than the paganism of old. Jesus Christ alone has "overcome the world." He alone has solved the problem of human unrest, and has said: "Come to me all ye that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you." He has set aside nothing of the best that the world had to offer; He has taken that best and has made it perfect. He has built a new world upon it, and the result of His labor is transcendently another thing. And to make this new world possible for man to reach, for of himself he can do nothing—"No man cometh to the Father but by me"—He has Himself become "the Way," by which it may be walked, "the Truth" by which it may be known, "the Life" by which it may be lived. This is why to the Christian the following of Christ is the way to all perfection; growth in likeness to Him, reproduction of Christ in himself, living not himself but Christ living in him, that to the Christian is the highest and noblest standard at which one can aim; it is the making of the perfect man.