Distinction: St. Paul, St. Thomas Aquinas on Freedom for Excellence vs. Freedom to Sin

Chapter 6, lecture 3, n. 501: But the one who obeys God is made a slave of this obedience, because through the habit of obeying the mind is inclined more and more to obeying and as a result achieves holiness. Therefore, he says: or of obedience, namely, of the divine precepts, which leads to righteousness: “It is the doers of the law who will be justified” (Rom 2:13). 

Chapter 6, lecture 4, n. 508: In regard to the first it should be noted that man is by nature free because of his reason and will, which cannot be forced but can be inclined by certain things. Therefore, in regard to the freedom of the will man is always free of compulsion, although he is not free of inclinations. For the free judgment is sometimes inclined to the good through the habit of grace 

or righteousness; and then it is in slavery to righteousness but free from sin. But sometimes the free judgment is inclined to evil through the habit of sin; and then it is in slavery to sin and free from righteousness. Now, slavery to sin consists in being drawn to consent to sin against the judgment of reason: “Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (Jn 8:34). 

And in regard to this he says: When you were slaves of sin. Freedom from righteousness, on the other hand, implies that a man rushes headlong into sin without the restraint of righteousness; in regard to this he says: you were free in regard to righteousness. This happens especially in those who sin of set purpose: “Long ago you broke your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, ‘I will not serve’” (Jer 2:20); “A vain man is lifted up into pride, and thinks himself born free like a wild ass’ colt” (Jb 11:12). 

509. Yet it should be noted that this state involves true slavery and only apparent freedom. For since man should act according to reason, be is truly a slave when he is led away from what is reasonable by something alien. Furthermore, if he is not restrained by the yoke of reason from following concupiscence, he is free only in the opinion of those who suppose that the highest good is to follow one’s concupiscence.

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When we become slaves to sin, we are free from righteousness. But when we are free from sin, we are slaves to righteousness. Hence the arbitrary freedom of hedonism is diametrically opposed to the freedom for excellence although both make use of the will's profound dynamic energy behind habitus, whether virtuous or vicious.

Notice also how St. Thomas identified so clearly the false autonomy that exists in Western society today: "If he is not restrained by the yoke of reason from following concupiscence, he is free only in the opinion of those who suppose that the highest good is to follow one's concupiscence." Hence people say, for example, of a homosexual couple who "love" each other that they should be allowed to marry and follow their "love." The love itself is justification for the act. This is morality for excellence reduced to bestiality, the moral animal to the beasts.

St. Thomas also identifies the psychological indicator of slavery either to sin or righteousness: the predominant inclination to one or the other. Notice St. Thomas also says that we shall never be free of inclination itself, which is desire. If there is a predominant inclination to sin, such that we usually fall into sin by acting on that inclination, then we know we are enslaved to sin. But if the predominant inclination draws us to act righteously, then we know that we are enslaved to righteousness. 

Hence the psychological test that I have given elsewhere to demonstrate one's predominant inclination, namely, can you go at least three months without fixation on some object or action? For example, only recently I was reminded of a song I used to listen to over and over when I was younger. The fact that I haven't thought of that song in such a long time demonstrates to me that I have no attachment to it any longer. I am "free" from that song, not a slave to it. 

Then St. John of the Cross shows us that the way to freedom for excellence is to remove ourselves from that object of inclination and enter the dark nothings by which our desire can refocus on God. St. John of the Cross further shows that in the transforming union, the soul reaches such a state that although it may suffer temptations as God allows them, these are alien to its predominant desire, which is centered on God. Hence these temptations are hardly occasion for sin but rather occasions for further perfection.

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Source: St. Thomas Aquinas, Lectures on the Letter to the Romans, trans. by Fabian Larcher, ed. by Jeremy Holmes, Nova et Vetera, accessed April 23, 2014, http://nvjournal.net/files/Aquinas_on_Romans.pdf.

St. Thomas Aquinas on Freedom from Fear of Death

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. 16 For surely it is not with angels that he is concerned but with the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted. (Hebrews 2:14-18)

[...]

Christ assumed a nature without sin, but with the possibility of suffering, because He assumed a flesh similar to the sinner: ‘In the likeness of sinful flesh’ (Rom. 8:3). Therefore, like the children, He is partaker of flesh and blood, and all in the same way: for it was not imaginary flesh, as the Manicheans say, not was it assumed in the accidental way, as Nestorius said. But true flesh and blood, such as children have, were assumed into the unity of the person.

That Christ is a partaker of flesh and blood is not to be understood as referring to the vices of flesh and blood, because He did not take on sin or commit any; but as referring to the very substance of animated flesh, because He assumed flesh and soul. It also included the possibility of suffering, because He assumed our nature capable of suffering. Therefore, the sense is: Because the children, i.e., the faithful, has a nature capable of suffering, Christ Himself partook of the same, i.e., of flesh and blood. But we partake of them through our person; and Christ in like manner assumed them to His person: ‘The Word was made flesh’ (Jn. 1:14). By flesh and blood can also be understood the flesh and blood of Christ according to the statement: ‘He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood’ (Jn. 6:55), of which the children, i.e., the apostles, partook at the last supper and of which Christ partook: ‘He drank His own blood’, as Chrysostom says.

Then (v. 14b) he shows the benefits His death brought. In regard to this he does two things: first, he shows its usefulness on the part of the devil, who had the power; secondly, on our part who were held (v. 15).

He says, therefore: He partook of flesh and blood, i.e., He assumed a nature in which He could suffer and die, which he could not do in the divine nature, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, i.e., the devil. But how does the devil have the power of death? For this is God’s prerogative: ‘The Lord kills and makes alive’ (1 Sam. 2:6); ‘I will kill and I will make to live’ (Dt. 32:39). I answer that a judge has the power of death in one way, because he inflicts death, when he punishes with death; but a thief has it another way in the sense of deserving death because of demerit. God has the power of death in the first way: For in what day you shall eat of it, you shall die the death’ (Gen. 2:17). But the devil in the second way, because by persuading men to sin, he yielded him over to death: ‘by the envy of the devil, death came into the world’ (Wis. 2:24). But he says, that he might destroy him, not as to his substance, which is indestructible, nor as to his malice, so that the devil would become good at some time, but as to his power: ‘Despoiling the principalities and powers’ (Col. 2:15).

This was accomplished by the death of Christ in three ways: first, on the part of Christ, for the true nature of justice is that the victor subject the vanquished to himself [major premise]: ‘For by whom a man is overcome, of the same is he the slave’ (2 Pt. 2:19) [Scriptural justification for premise here and as follows]. But Christ overcame the devil [minor premise]: ‘The Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed’ (Rev. 5:5). Therefore, it is just that the devil be subject to Him [conclusion]: ‘When a strong man armed keeps his court, those things are in peace which he possesses (Lk. 11:21). Secondly, on the part of the devil: for justice requires that a person who unjustly uses power granted him should lose it. But the devil has been given power over the sinners he seduced, but not over the good. Therefore, because he presumed to extend this power even to Christ, Who did not sin: ‘The prince of this world comes, and in me he has nothing’ (Jn. 14:30), he deserved to lose it. The third reason is on our part: for it is just that the vanquished be the servants of the victor. But man by sin was the servant of the devil: ‘Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin’ (Jn. 8:34); consequently, he was subject to the devil and liable to sin. But Christ paid the price for our sin: ‘Then did I pay that which I took not away’ (Ps. 68:5). Therefore, when the cause of servitude was taken away, man was set free by Christ.

But it should be noted that another satisfaction was suitable. For man was in debt; but one man can satisfy for another out of charity, although no one can satisfy for the entire human race, because he does not have power over it, nor could the entire human race satisfy sufficiently, because it was entirely subject to sin; nor could an angel, because this satisfaction was unto glory, which exceeds the power of an angel. Therefore, it was necessary that the one who satisfied be man and God, Who alone has power over the whole human race. By the death of God and man, therefore, He destroyed him who had the empire of death.

Then (v. 15) another advantage on our part is mentioned. In regard to this it should be noted that a man is a servant of sin to the extent that he is induced to sin. But the most effective inducements to sin are the love of transitory goods and the fear of present punishments: ‘Things set on fire, as to the first and dug down as to the second, shall perish at the rebuke of your countenance’ (Ps. 79:17). But these two amount to the same thing, because the more a person loves something, the more he fears its evil contrary. Hence, we see that savage beasts are kept from the greatest pleasures through fear of punishment; thus fear makes cowards of us all. Hence, if a man overcomes his fears, he overcomes everything; and when fear is overcome, all disordered love of the world is overcome. Thus Christ by His death broke this fear, because He removed the fear of death, and, consequently the love of the present life. For when a person considers that the Son of God, the Lord of death, willed to die, he no longer fears death. That is why before the death of Christ, it was said: ‘O death, how bitter is the remembrance of you’ (Sir. 41:1); but after Christ’s death the Apostle expresses a desire to be dissolved and be with Christ: Hence, we are told: ‘Fear not them that kill the body’ (Mt. 10:28). He says, therefore, and deliver all those who through the fear of death were subject to lifelong service, namely, the servitude of sin.

But Christ freed us from a double servitude, namely, that of the Law and that of sin, since the law is called a yoke which neither we not our fathers were able to bear (Ac. 15:10). Now the difference between the Old and the New Law is fear and love. In the New there is love: ‘If you love me, keep my commandments’ (Jn. 14:15). But the Old was the law of fear: ‘You have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear’ (Rom. 8:15). Therefore, he sways, and deliver them who through the fear of bodily death, which the Law inflicted, were all subject to lifelong servitude.

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Source: St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Super Epistolam B. Pauli ad Hebraeos Lectura), trans. by Fabian R. Larcher, DHS Priory website, accessed March 12, 2014, 2.4.138-145.

The Shortest Way to Union with God

Some go slowly, others run, and others fly. Moreover, even among those who fly, there are differences; rapid is the dove in its flight, more rapid is the arrow, but the most rapid of all is the ray of light.

Do you wish to know which is the most excellent and the shortest way to union with God? Listen to the words of [St. Paul]: "Follow after charity" (1 Cor. 14:1). [...]

Charity is acquired by the practice of charity itself. Mark well that I am not referring here to exterior works of charity toward one's neighbor, which, according to the opinion of many, constitute charity. [...] Charity is something quite distinct from all exterior works. Charity is simply the love of God; or, in other words, inasmuch as God and love are one and the same thing, it is God Himself living within our souls. It is personal and infinite Love loving Himself within our hearts.

To exercise ourselves in charity, therefore, is to give way to God in our hearts. It is to detach ourselves from everything and to make ourselves an absolute vacuum in order that God may fill us with HImself. As the great mystic, Tauler, says, perfection does not consist in doing great things, but in letting God "be magnified, that is, made great within us" (Institutions, chap. 14). And in order to let God be magnified within us, all we have to do is give Him much space, to expand infinitely our capacity to receive Him. This we cannot do of ourselves, but neither will God do it unless we desire it ardently and ask for it day and night.

God is an infinite treasure and He wants souls rightly to esteem His value, to desire Him above all things and to plead for Him with great yearnings. God likes to make himself desired [....]

This most ardent desire for God is also what makes the soul fly and even shoot forth with the speed of a light-ray toward that supreme Center which so irresistibly attracts it to Himself. In its flight to God, the soul is divested of all that is earthly and mortal in its nature, and mundane things are definitely cast aside. In the holy exercise of charity one arrives more quickly at the summit of perfection and sanctity because in one simple act all the virtues are exercised and all vises attacked at their very root; for the root of all vices is pride or self-love and the root and soul of all the virtues is charity. [...] The soul must die in order to be united to God, and he who is dead is justified and purified of all sin; it is no longer possible for pride and self-love to reign in him.

This is the reason why St. Paul enumerates as manifestations of charity the practice of all the virtues (patience, benignity, humility, mortification, detachment, etc.) and the absence of all the vices (pride, envy, etc.) (Cf. 1 Cor. 13:4-7). Charity or the love of God, if it is real, must of necessity produce all these effects in the soul. If the effects are otherwise, then it is a pure illusion. Wherefore, if we dedicate ourselves preferably and above all things, with all the earnestness of our souls, to the acquisition of the love of God, we shall quickly and in a more simple and excellent way attain our perfection. [...]

The soul fixes its entire attention upon God and all its efforts are aimed at delighting and pleasing Him and doing His will in all things. In a word, it strives to love Him as He should be loved. As this is the soul's one and only objective, it forgets about self and is not concerned about anything except the sole object to which it aspires with all the energy of its being, which is the love of God or union with God. That is why however grievous and painful the trials God may send or however difficult the circumstances of its life, the soul's attitude in this regard is one of total indifference. It matters not whether it be in light or in darkness, in consolation or aridity; everything which may affect the soul personally is a matter of indifference to it. Its only occupation and concern is to love God, which it feels to be the only thing necessary. [...]

This is the path proper to great hearts and courageous souls who would be ashamed to bargain with God but rather abandon themselves to Him totally and without reserve. [...]

[The method of practicing the virtues and exercises of piety] is proper to beginners and also to the proficient. [...]

Souls will learn that an ardent, sincere, and profound desire to love God as He should be loved can admit of no deception, if, at the same time, it is accompanied by a desire, equally ardent and profound, to die to self and to all things. [...] In the desire not to be anything in anything whatever, to seek poverty and nudity of spirit, to desire to die in order that God may live within us, there can be no illusion. [...]

The best way of abbreviating all the spiritual paths consists in increasing charity by every means possible, especially by performing all our actions with the most pure intention of pleasing God, that is, by performing them with great zeal and with the sole desire of glorifying God and of praising His holy name.

This does not require much knowledge nor a great variety of interior acts. One act, repeated with all the fervor of our soul, would be sufficient. [...]

We should be indifferent to everything except God, who is our last end and our beatitude.

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Source: Fr. Victorino Osende, Fruits of Contemplation, trans. by a Dominican Sister (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1963), 30-39.

St. Ambrose on Being an Example of Modesty

"Let your moderation be known to all men [Phil. 4:5]. That is to say, your holiness of life must be evident, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men. It must give an example of moderation and self-control to all your contemporaries on earth and serve also as a memorial of goodness before God and men."

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Source: St. Ambrose, Office of Readings for Friday of the Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time.

Sacred Scripture on Good and Bad Language

"But now you must put them all away: anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths" (Colossians 3:8).

“No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

“Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4).