CHRISTIAN MATURITY

08/10/2010

F    What is Maturity?

Maturity is a psychological term used to indicate that a person responds to the circumstances or environment in an appropriate and adaptive manner. This response is generally learned rather than instinctive, and is not determined by one's age. Maturity also encompasses being aware of the correct time and place to behave and knowing when to act appropriately, according to the situation.

To mature means to ripen. What do you mean when you speak of a mature or a ripe fruit? The image that comes to mind is that of a fruit whose shape and size and sweetness have reached their full development. In the same way, a person who is mature is one whose potentialities, physical, psychological, and spiritual, have reached their full development.

The physical potentialities of a man are his biological and physiological powers. These have no doubt a great influence on the development of the psychological powers. The psychological powers are the intellectual, volitional, and emotional. Out of the proper functioning of these, most particularly the emotional, results the mature personality with its rational attitudes and openness to all reality.

F    What is Christian Maturity?

Christian maturity is the goal of all Christian formation. A mature person is one whose potentialities have reached their full development as we have pointed out above. Growth in Christian maturity is growing into the image and likeness of Christ. Christian maturity can therefore be defined as the attempt to study Christian virtues and their universal application from Catholic tradition. Christian maturity involves intellectual, volitional, emotional, physical, spiritual and psychological maturity.

F    Intellectual Maturity.

Intellectual maturity does not mean cleverness or brilliance; nor does it mean the accumulation of a vast store of knowledge; for you can have a person who knows much and who is very clever, but who is not mature intellectually.

Intellectual maturity is the ability to make judgement consistent with one’s convictions or outlook in life. For example; suppose a Christian and a Chinese communist have to decide about a bloody revolution. The communist, if he is consistent with his principles, will vote for a bloody revolution while the Christian if he is true with his principle, will condemn it.  Here we have two judgments totally opposed to each other, but intellectually mature. We are not concerned here with whether the judgments are objectively right or wrong, but simply with the consistency of judgments made with convictions held. The man who judges in the light of his convictions is intellectually mature. Consistence, not conformity, is the true criterion of intellectual maturity.

Intellectual maturity is a maturity that is attained when one can give-up or change his /her previously held beliefs or convictions when evidence calls for their change. To keep on persisting in one’s beliefs in spite of evidence against them is intellectual cussedness, not maturity. A mature mind is open to truth, to evidence.

The image of St. Paul as it is given in the Acts of the Apostles is a significant illustration of intellectual maturity. As long as he was convinced that Christianity was something evil, he persecuted the Christians with ruthless zeal; he felt happy doing so. As soon as he became convinced that Christianity was the one and true Way, he labored with equal enthusiasm and zeal to spread it in spite of hardships and persecutions. Before his conversion he was a mature man; after his conversion a mature Christian; both before and after, a man intellectually matured.

Intellectual maturity also implies a sense of hierarchy of values. God, truth, fidelity, fairness, compassion, mercy, etc., the intellect has always placed among the finest of human values. Anyone who displaces his hierarchy or distorts these values for some personal advantage betrays an immaturity of intellect

 The ability to distinguish between the essential and the accidental is a further sign of intellectual maturity. It is the petty mind that gets worked up over trifles and loses sight of larger, more important issues.

Another trait of the intellectually mature is the capacity to distinguish fact from fancy, objective truth from subjective assumption. Many a dispute has arisen out of one person attributing to another motives which appeared sinister and hostile when in fact they were innocent and even friendly. So often two persons dislike each other, not really each other as they are but the unlovable image which each has forms of the other, unable to discern objective fact from subjective prejudice.

F    Volitional Maturity

The will directs the other powers of the mind, for example, the imagination, the feelings, towards obtaining of a goal of its own choice. A man who is able to keep an elected goal steadily in view and make straight for it with enthusiasm, in spite of difficulties, setbacks, and even failures, not flitting from attraction to attraction, not wavering in the face of adverse opinion and pressure  - this is a man of volitional maturity. His is a firm, mature will. The world will stand by to let anyone pass who knows where he is going and is determined to get there.

Perseverance, constancy, and dedication are the marks of an adult will. The immature will is governed by moods which of their nature fluctuate. A person with such a will, if he feels like working, he works; if he is not in the mood, he does not work. His interests are unsteady; they appear, they vanish, again they reappear. He goes with the wind. His choice of a thing, his response to a demand is not personal, does not come from within himself but is suggested by others, or is prompted by fear; it does not proceed from personal choice or the attraction of the inner validity or goodness of a course or an object. It is obvious fro this description of an immature will that if you want to build up volitional maturity, you must first of all be interested in a thing (sound motivation), then you must really want it (internal and personal choice), and finally spare n sacrifice in obtaining it (necessary self-discipline).

Another mark of the mature will is the ability to make independent, personal decisions without being overly dependent upon the favour or approbation of others. The training of such an adult will is a painful process. Decision-making is always hard; for when you choose one thing, you naturally have to sacrifice another. Sacrifice is the price of every choice; it is the price of maturity of will

F    Characteristics of volitional Maturity

1.                   Sound motivation: Having interest for a thing

2.                   Internal and personal choice: Really wanting to have that thing

3.                   Necessary self-discipline: Making a sacrifice in order to obtain that thing.

F    Emotional Maturity

We begin this part of our discussion by asking the question: “What are Emotions?” according to William James, “An emotion is a state of mind that manifests itself through sensible changes in the body.” Speaking plainly, emotions are feelings. In themselves, obviously emotions cannot be evil. They are only outward signs of what is going on within, e.g., the flush of anger on your face is an outward sign that something I have said has offended you deep inside. It is a sign both to you and to me of how my words affect you. As a sign it is neither good nor evil. It is just a sign. Emotions then are a part of our human equipment. They are emotive power to the soul just as steam is locomotive power to the railway engine. Jesus, the God-man, had emotions. He looked with love on the rich young man (Mark 10:21); he felt indignant at those selling in the temple at the temple; he wept for his friend Lazarus – John 11:13; he felt sadness and fear at the garden of Gethsemane. Having or showing no emotions does not make one more spiritual, it only makes him less human.

F    Emotional Immaturity

Emotional immaturity is the inability to control one’s emotions or reacting to them disproportionately. The emotionally immature person is like a puppet on the strings of his emotions. He is carried away by his feelings. He loses his temper at the slightest provocation; he is paralysed with fear at the stern face of an authority figure. He is embarrassed to show his emotions. He is ashamed of sex feelings for instance; or he cannot bear to admit that he has feelings of anger and hate. His thinking about emotions is false. He thinks it is bad to have them or wrong to express them. An emotionally mature person is one who can be said to be aware of his emotions but whose response to them is proportionate to their stimulus and consistent with his convictions. Emotional maturity is emotional control.

An example of one who posses emotional maturity is Gandhi. He was good in controlling his peace of mind, his temper and his emotional balance. He used to say; “When you are right, you can afford to keep your temper; when you are wrong, you can’t afford to lose it.” But this was no stoic, unfeeling self-control. He had deep emotions. He felt deeply hurt when he noticed his fellow Indians discriminated against in South Africans. His response to the emotion released by the experience of justice denied was both proportionate to the stimulus and consistent with his convictions regarding human dignity and equality. This emotion was the motive power behind his great freedom movement.

In conclusion, from the three fold maturities – intellectual, volitional and emotional maturities, there emerges the mature person whose attitude to situation are rational, whose responses to them are realistic, who is open to his own experiences and feelings and who uses them as far as they are helpful to his goal and who suppresses them if they are a hindrance and whose relation to other human beings are warm and out-going and leads to human feelings.

F    Christian Intellectual Maturity.

For better understanding, we shall use the same division of maturity – Intellectual, Volitional and Emotional maturity in our discussion on Christian maturity. Intellectual maturity is the capacity to make judgment consistently with ones Christian convictions. This requires that a Christian deepens his personal understanding of and convictions about his faith. Children live on borrowed convictions; they believe what their parents tell them and do what they are told is good for them. Adults go by their own convictions. They do those things which they personally believe to be good.

A Christian is intellectually mature when he knows his faith, understands the reasons for it, is personally gripped by its value, and consequently lives it out of personal conviction. He does not go merely by what the priests tell him or by what books say. His religious convictions are the fruit of his personal reflection on his faith; his judgments are consistent with them.

Illumined by Christian convictions, an intellectually mature Christian will not be fanatical. He will respect the truth and the good that there is in other people, in other religions.  He will be open to whatever is good and true in other peoples, in other communities, other faiths. Consequently he will not be clannish, interested only, example, in Catholic news, in Catholic rights, in Catholic presidents, In Catholic papers, in Catholic people, critical or indifferent about everybody else and everything else. Such narrowness of vision would be a sign that his mind has remained small, underdeveloped, and not really Catholic as his Christian convictions should make him.

F    Christian Volitional Maturity

This is the ability to keep a chosen goal steadily in view. A Christian who is volitionally mature will keep his Christian goal, that is, the law of Christ, the values of Christ, the Spirit of Christ steadily in view and try consistently to be faithful to it without deviation or deflection, notwithstanding contrary attractions and pressures. With ups and downs, of course.

F    Christian Emotional Maturity

This is the ability of making effective use of our feelings without being ruled by them. Christian emotional maturity can be said to consist in the ability to handle our emotions as Christ handled them, using them to express his love for his Father and his Father’s love for his children. Hear Him speak to His Father; “Abba”, He addresses Him affectionately; He felt love for Mary and Martha to the point of weeping with them for their brother Lazarus. Christian emotional maturity will show itself in the ability to feel love and to show it and respond as Christ responded to human emotions, being master of them, not their victim.

We have discussed briefly Christian Intellectual, Volitional and Emotional Maturity. If now we put together all these elements of Christian maturity, we shall have to admit that “mature Christian” is only another word for a saint, a Christ-like person, a true Christian. How does one become such a mature Christian? The training progamme for Christian maturity is vast. A multitude of persons and situations have a part to play in it. The whole world is in truth God’s High School for the making of saints, for the Christianization of men.

23/10/10

F     Growth in and mature use of spiritual gifts.

All the gifts we have as Christians are given by the Holy Spirit. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we have seven (7) gifts and twelve (12) fruits of the Holy Spirit. All of these gifts are from above. We need most of them so as to effectively carry out the work of Christ. That one possesses the gifts does not mean that he/she is necessarily holy. However, we know a mature Christian by his/her use of the gifts. One might have these gifts and become proud.

·                     Wisdom

·                     Teaching

·                     Preaching

·                     Healing

·                     Gift of tongue

·                     Interpretation of tongues

·                     Prophesy

·                     Working of miracles

·                     Counseling

·                     Discernment of spirit, to mention but few.

v    30/10/10

F    Scriptural Foundation of Christian Maturity

Christian maturity has a scriptural foundation in the scripture. The Bible is the prime source of our moral value or basic value, virtues and vision which give Christians and the community of faith their particular identity, notwithstanding the particularity.

Scriptures are considered the reliable guide for the early church in matters of faith and moral. The direct moral exaltation is contained in the Holy book such as the Ten Commandment, Sermon on the Mount, Pauline instructions etc. Yet it (the Bible) functions more as an exemplary guidance (2 Timothy 3: 16-17) that has comprehensive instruction. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, doing is intimately tied with being. The bible resolutely tells us that what we do is dependent on who we are called to be. Scriptures act as a shaper of character as well as of conduct. This character formation requires a long term maturity of faith and of the moral orientation.

Unless one avails himself/herself with the scriptural resources, the idea of Christian maturity is futile. If the distinctive content of faith, the values and vision of the church have not been internalized from study and meditation on the Bible resources, then it will not be possible to act upon them meaningfully in the midst of moral challenges.

St. Paul talks about sharing in Christ’s life and destiny, that is, putting on Christ, and imitating his person. The foundation for this is the new life Christians have received through faith and baptism. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it; “by our baptism, we share in Christ’s priestly, kingly and prophetic mission. Through our baptism, we have died to our old sinful nature and have been raised to newness of life – Romans 6: 3-14; 2 Corinthians 5: 17; Galatians 6: 15; Colossians 2: 12. Through our baptism, we have become children of the light. We are a new creation incorporated into Christ, living in us and we in him – Romans 8: 1-10; 2 Corinthians 13:15.

By virtue of our baptism, we become temples of the Holy Spirit – Romans 8: 9-11; 1 Corinthians 8. The new existence motivates the summons of the Apostles to a holy life worthy of a status of Christians having worked, walked, moved and mingled with the person of Christ who uses us as vessels or instruments. Because believers have died with Christ and lives in him, they ought to sin no more, but rather walking in newness of life, put on the Lord Jesus and letting him dwell in their hearts. Because we are temples of the Holy Spirit, we must live by the Holy Spirit and glorify God in our lives – Romans 8: 13ff; 1 Corinthians 3:1, Galatians 5: 25.  Consequently, when the question is asked: “what ought we to be and do?” the answer of the early Christians applied to Jesus as pattern, teacher, and example and to his continued presence in their midst as Spirit.

v    5/11/10

F    The three Evangelical Counsels (Canon 599 – 601)

·                     Obedience

·                     Chastity

·                     Poverty

These counsels are meant for those who desire to be perfect and they are not binding for all. However, since we have been called to a special mission, we are expected and encouraged by the Church to embrace these counsels.  The counsels have been described as helping the soul to focus or concentrate on the person of Jesus Christ and from being distracted by the world.

There are riches that make life easy and pleasant. There are the pleasures of the flesh which appeal to the appetites and lastly there are honours and positions of authority which delights the self-love of the individual. These three matters themselves, often innocent and not forbidden to the devout Christian may yet even no kind of sin is involved, hold back the soul from its true aim and vocation and delay it from becoming entirely conformed to the will of God.

It is therefore the object of the three counsels of perfection to free the soul from these hindrances. The Catholic encyclopedia article ending summarized it in the following word: “To sum-up, it is possible to be rich and married and held in honour by all men and yet keep the commandment and enter heaven. Christ’s advice is: “If you would make sure of everlasting life and desire to conform ourselves perfectly to the divine will, that we should sell our possessions and give the money to others who are in need. We should live a life of chastity for the sake of the Gospel and should not seek honours or commands but place ourselves under obedience”.

The vow of obedience is the chief of the three vows. By obedience, a person offers to God his will and is something more excellent that his body which he offers by the vow of chastity or external goods which he offer by the vow of poverty. The vow of obedience includes the other two vows. For the priestly or religious life imposes chastity and poverty by precept (law) but chastity and poverty do not necessarily include the vow of religious obedience. The vow of obedience more directly indicates full submission to God’s will.

v    25/11/10

F    Spiritual Formation

Spiritual formation is the bases of the religious dimension of the human person.

F    Requirements for an authentic Christian life.

1.                   Baptism

Baptism is the first criterion for a person to be a Christian. Baptism makes a person an heir of God’s Kingdom, member of the mystical body of Christ. Through baptism, both the original and personal sins of a person are cleansed. Baptism therefore makes us born-again Christians. With baptism, one becomes a spiritual person and the Blessed Trinity takes possession of such a person.

2.                   Experience of the Cross.

The spiritual formation has its root in the experience of the cross and this leads to the totality of the Paschal Mystery of Christ. Christian suffering and martyrdom are expressions of the cross. The spiritual formation leading to the priesthood must be lived in intimacy and unceasing union with God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit.

3.                   Union with God the Father is achieved through meditating on the word of God.

·                     By participating in the sacred mysteries of the Church especially the Holy Eucharist

·                     Through the Divine Office

·                     Sacramental confession

·                     By seeking Jesus in the Bishops through whom the priest is sent

·                     By seeking Jesus in the people to whom the priest is sent, especially the poor, little children, the weak, the vulnerable and the unbelievers.

4.                   With confidence in the Blessed Trinity, priests should have special love for the Blessed Virgin Mary.

5.                   Search for Christ

6.                   St. Andrew said to his brother Peter, “We have found the Messiah.” When we come to the

knowledge of Christ, like Andrew, we should spread the message and not keep it to ourselves.

7.                   Celibacy

Celibacy is the best way through which a person could be available for the service of Christ. The practice of celibacy may be difficult but it is not impossible. The love of God enables us to live out the demands of the celibate state regardless of the difficulties. Prayer and vigilance are the means of safe-guarding God’s gifts to us including celibacy

 

FURTHER NOTES

·                     What is Christian Maturity? Christian Maturity is the movement beyond the basics and moving towards a life of full devotion to God. As Christians, we need to learn and grow in our faith and understanding of God. This is what spiritual maturity is all about, taking our faith to the next level. What needs to be done to grow spiritually? Commit yourself to a life of study and learn more about God through Bible study and fellowship with other believers. Another component to maturity involves regular communication with God through prayer. Another component is adapting a lifestyle that reflects this new life that has been found. How does this apply to the Church? 2 Timothy 4:2-6 states the obvious: "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season, correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardships, do all the work of evangelists, and discharge all the duties of your ministry." Spiritual maturity certainly pertains to the Church, because we must not fall short on our jobs of encouraging one another, praying for each other, helping each other grow spiritually as we learn more about God together, and then fulfilling our job as evangelists Just like babies, Christians start out weak; learn to crawl, then walk and run. Hebrews teaches us what it means to mature as Christians and how we are to accomplish that task. Maturity should be our goal as we are more useful to God when we have grown in His teachings. He has set Jesus Christ as our model of maturity; the perfection of Jesus is what we hope to attain. Just as children have to grow into adults, so must Christians grow into their maturity; the work is a process and takes time. As we grow, our maturity is evidenced by our love for others and our understanding of the Word. While full maturity or perfection will never be attained on earth, our job is to get as far as we can in this life. Study this verse: “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,” (Hebrews 6:1) It’s not telling us that the principles of the doctrine of Christ, repentance and faith are not important. The verse means that these are foundation lessons that the baby Christian should know and we must grow beyond these lessons, not forget them, but build on them. Many Christians never get beyond these foundational teachings. They believe that understanding Christ’s purpose of salvation, repentance and faith are all that they need to know. While these things are perhaps enough for salvation, enough to let us squeak through the pearly gates, they are not enough for the maturity that truly pleases God. God sent Christ to us not only for our salvation but also to act as our teacher. If His only work on earth were to die for our sins, He would not have spent time teaching and training His disciples. Christians who seek maturity spend time learning from Christ. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;” (Hebrews 12:1-2a) Note particularly the phrase above, “let us run with patience the race that is set before us”. The race is our life. The author tells us to run, meaning that we are to always be in forward motion with our eyes on Christ, our model of perfection. Also consider the word ‘patience’. We do all things in God’s time, not our own. Waiting on God’s time is a mark of maturity. Now look at the phrase, “let us lay aside every weight”. Being able to relinquish the cares of this world to God is another mark of Christian maturity. When we get caught up in the cares of day-to-day life, we have less time and energy to spend with God and in His service. When we can consistently turn our worries over to God and press on with His work, we’ve grown considerably. Persevering will be a key to maturing. It is through our difficulties and learning to surrender that we grow. “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (Hebrews 2:10) We are being forged into new creations, a process that is painful at times. Accept these times as periods of growth and surrender the trials to God. If there is one place that we all stumble it is in learning to surrender and let God take on our burdens. Symptoms of maturity are easy to spot. Growth in our ability and desire to love other people and do work that is pleasing to God is an excellent sign that we are maturing in our faith. “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:” (Hebrews 10:24) Notice use of the word ‘provoke’ in the verse. Part of our job as Christians is to encourage, push, or prod each other along in the Christian life. Young Christians benefit from a discipleship relationship with a more mature Christian that can guide them into maturity. A good teacher will challenge us to push further into our relationship with Christ. Growth in understanding will come to the Christian that presses on to a deeper relationship with Christ. Understanding includes discernment, too. “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:14) It is from the meat of God’s Word that we learn discernment. Bible study, fellowship, discipleship and prayer will all lead to deeper understanding of the Word, the world and what God’s purpose for us is. Those who seek understanding make their walk with God top priority. Many people say that they would read the Bible, go to church, pray or help others if they had more time. The serious student makes the time for God their top priority. This is wise, because it is from God that we get our strength, wisdom and ability to do all other things. When we put Him first, He puts our needs first. Contentment will come to mature Christians. We come to an understanding that “all things work together for good to them that love God”. (Romans 8:28) “…and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5) Knowing and accepting that God’s hand is in everything and that He has control of everything brings about peace and contentment. Being able to roll with the punches is a true mark of maturity. Maturity comes with age in our physical life as well as our spiritual life. We don’t learn the important lessons overnight. True maturation takes time, learning and willingness. Growing up is not something that we do alone. We all need parents in our spiritual life as well as our physical life. If you wish to grow into a deep and lasting relationship with God, find a mature Christian to disciple you, put your time with God first, learn all you can and step out in faith. God will honor your efforts and you will mature. F    Helps to become a mature Christian ·                     Be true to God’s idea of you – “Let us make man,” God said. “to our own image and likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) Your are a thought of God made flesh and blood. What you think, what you feel, what like, what you don’t like, what you suffer, what you enjoy shows what you are, what the thought of God is that has been made incarnated and become “YOU”. Your thoughts, your feelings, your aptitudes, your attitudes – all these put together make you, your personality. To be a mature person then, is to be fully yourself; and therefore the more you become yourself, true and faithful to your personal thoughts and feelings, or ‘authentic’, as the saying goes, the more mature you become. What are your true thoughts and feelings? How do you discern those which are authentically yours from those which are borrowed, and which you wear like a mask as it were? You come by a true self-concept, through group collaboration and group review of life, and through self-disclosure to another whom you love and trust like a father or a friend. This self-discovery is progressive. You discover in yourself new depths and dimensions, new needs and aspirations as you go along. This discovery is sometimes joyful, sometimes painful. New experiences, new impacts made upon us by men and things and situations reveals to us, through pain and through joy, God’s ideas of us. To this idea of God about you be always true. Accept the good that is in you; it is God’s idea of you. Recognize the evil in you: it is God’s idea of you; He has not put it there; “an enemy has done it”, it is lodged in you but it is not true of you. Of this take cognizance. No more. Be true always to reality as it is; do not make the world over into your own image; adjust yourself to it, and not it to you – that is a sin against the truth. Briefly, ‘if this is how you truly feel about the things. Say what you truly feel’ – charity – charity is regard for reality, the reality of others’ feeling; “if this is what you truly believe to be good, act according to your belief’. To yourself be always true; by being true to yourself you become yourself, you become a “personality”, you become the idea God has of you. In this sense, each one is a unique person, a “personality”. In this process of becoming ourselves, we need very much the acceptance and permissiveness of our group. So often we are afraid to be ourselves, to express ourselves fully and freely because we are not sure we will be accepted by our peers. We are frightened to appear conservative in a group of progressive, or progressive in a group of conservatives. We do not try out our ideas for fear they should be rejected; we repress them, we stifle them, and so we don’t grow; we remain stunted. What a great act of charity it is to encourage each other, by our friendly attitude and permissiveness, to think, act, and speak according as his mind and heart prompt him to. What cruelty it is to discourage a person by open or silent non-acceptance from being himself, from expressing his thoughts, his suggestions, his feeling, in his own personal way. It is the murder of a personality. There is no experience that is happier or more self-fulfilling than the experience of feeling free to be yourself. There is no joy more pure or selfless than the joy of letting, and seeing, a person be himself.

F    Be truly free

·         What is freedom?

There are many incomplete or even false views of freedom. There is the anarchist view according to which freedom is the right and power to do as you like, to let yourself go, to be free from every control. There is another view, the liberal, which rejects any truth or law binding on all: it permits each one to be a law unto himself. There is a third, the existentialist, according to which you are free only when your action has no other goal than the demonstration of your own freedom. And a fourth, the true view, which describes freedom as the inner power of a person to put himself at the service of what is good, a power that is roused and guided by its own insight into and evaluation of the good. More simply, it is the power to seek what you see is truly good for you. It reaches its highest degree when it allows itself to be led entirely by the Spirit of God which leads only to what is absolutely god. It is the freedom of the children of God.

True freedom involves a double freedom, ‘freedom from’ and ‘freedom for’. ‘Freedom from’ means freedom from internal inhibiting factors like fear, compulsion, prejudice, inordinate passion, all of which paralyse the will, imprison it; or from external deterrents like human respect, adverse criticism, group pressures, majority opinions. ‘Freedom for’ means the power to make personal responsible choices, to say ‘I want this because I like it, because I see it is good for me.”

F    What must one do t become truly free?

Presupposing that you believe in those words of Christ, “without me, you can do nothing”, you may securely follow a line of action like this:

1.                   Refuse to be “pushed around” by egoistic forces from within; protect your freedom against them

2.                   Refuse to be coerced by fear from without; hold your head high against it, keep your mind’s eye clear so that you may –

3.                   Allow yourself to be drawn only by what you see and ‘feel’ is truly good and deeply satisfying to you as a man who is a Christian.

The ‘feel’ of what is truly good and deeply satisfying is both the fruit of grace and the result of sincerity in searching what Christ would do in your situation. Christ is God and God is love. He is inviting you in each situation to love as He loves. Exercise your mind to discover the most loving response you could make to God and to man in your present situation. To this exercise of your mind, there will be added infallibly the light and the power of the Spirit of Christ who dwells within you, enabling you to see and to ‘feel’ unmistakably the impulse to true charity. To follow firmly the impulse of truth and charity – of Christ, that is, - in each situation without being ‘pushed around, by egoistic forces from within or slavish fears from without, this is truly Christian freedom, freedom most deeply satisfying and self-fulfilling.

4.                   Be critical. This word, BE CRITICAL, has become loaded with nasty connotations of condemnatoriness, fault-finding, rebelliousness and the like. To be critical, however, has a lot more positive meaning. It means to be discerning. When you criticize, you evaluate or see the value of goodness of a thing, an action, policy, rule, etc. criticize or evaluate you must before you accept what you are told or before you believe in it. If to be free is, as we have explained above, to allow yourself to be drawn by the goodness of a thing, it is imperative that that thing be seen by you as good before you allow yourself to drawn by it, before you make a choice for it, before you consent to it.

Never therefore must you accept anything, neither rule nor command nor proposition, if you do not understand it as good for you. It would be unfreedom, for instance, to keep a rule because it is the rule, without understanding why the rule is good and why it is good for one like you to keep; or without, what amounts to the same, appreciating its value or its relevance for you. There will be times, however, when you do not understand the relevance or good or value-for-you of a rule or command or suggestion. But after you have thought and prayed and tried to understand and failed, this much at least you must understand and believe that the person who makes the proposition or suggestion or rule is good and intends only what is good for you and therefore merits your faith and confidence. Else your rule-keeping or obeying is unfree, immature, not human, not reasonable service which alone, God tells us, is pleasing to Him (1 Peter.

Occasions and opportunities there are aplenty in your seminary existence to live a life truly free. In fact in the seminary is totally a life of freedom, the freedom of the children of God. You might perhaps prefer to say that life in the seminary is rather an education to freedom. That it certainly is, provided you understand it to mean that you learn freedom by exercising freedom, just as you learned to walk by walking.