CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.

1 Background of the study The unexamined life is not worth living a famous phrase of Socrates which I consider very significant for us. As rational creature, we are not simply live rather we should give meaning to our existence. This is however a demanding task because to live a good or rather happy life we should struggle. Nevertheless to find happy life we then always pledge ourselves into a situation where we have to choose and decide. To be consecrated is a form of choice which is a manifestation of ones free will. Because in the first place it is the person himself who determines that it is good and beneficent for his life. It must be something significant because in doing so especially to be consecrated is a lifelong vocation; its value is seen in the vows made by the person himself. Furthermore this is a sign of a total giving over of ones life to God. As we reflect deeper in its content it is not our will rather it is the will of one who owns this live that is God himself. Hence, to be a religious is an open response and visible acceptance of Gods will in our lives. In the common senses view, the decision is neither the result of a purely intellectual process nor the objective state of affairs, nor a social pressure, nor of our past education but it is the product of our own personal intervention, of factor which comes from the very depths of our personality. Or in other way around, we may say that man is able to decide; he wants to do one thing or another. What he wants to do is up to him, it is not dictated to him by any exterior or interior influence. The will seeks happiness and satisfaction, but this happiness can only be found in God. The human will is free to turn to God or away from God, but at the same time the human mind must recognize the truth, not only that what it seeks, happiness, can be found only in the possession of the immutable Good, God, but also that the direction of the will to that good is implanted by God and willed by God, who is the Creator. 1.2 Statement of the Problem. The study will help the readers understand how a religious choose to live a kind of life which might be in significant to our present situation. Nevertheless, it is a choice which the chooser himself could determine for his life. The reality in our everyday life shows us

that every now and then we have to choose. Ground on this impression the researcher give some questions which we need to be considered in this study. What are the motives that make a person to choose a consecrated life? What is the significance of will and freedom in choosing? What determines something is good for a person? What is the consequence of having freedom? Would it be for something good? 1.3 Significance of Study Consecrated life is a form of choice which the person himself verified without restriction or any other influences externally. Choosing something good for the good of oneself and others is an inclination that always arises in us. Henceforth, this study is very significant to the present situation where the people are hinder to embrace consecrated life. Motivated by such predicament the researcher tries to give enlightenment to the reader that even if people see religious life something ridiculous due its value to this present age nevertheless this vocation actually a something given for all Christians that we are called to be a channel of Divines love. Hence the researcher is expecting that even if we have the will and freedom to choose a particular way of life; being consecrated is something which its value is transcend all other human motives and predicaments in life. God is its end but after all even if we acknowledge its divine intervention it is still our freedom and will that makes as fulfilling the choice. Furthermore, by acknowledging that we are created being, the researcher also wants this study to be part of every ones reflection that life is meaningful if its actualization is for the glory of the one who wills our existence here on earth. Self total giving to him is something that cannot be compared to any other gifts in live. We are made to love and acknowledging him as the source or all good, happiness and perfection in our life. 1.4 Methodology This study is a library research. The researcher gathers the facts and information about his topic through the use of library. The materials are carefully read in order to come up for a good reflection. There are many sources which are cotemporary and latest issues but because of limitedness of the gathered sources, the researcher will try to draw out points from his material.

CAPTER II CONSECRATED LIFE 2.1 What is Consecrated Life Consecrated life is a gift given by Christ who chooses a person individually to respond to His great love in a special relationship. He asks that person to leave some aspects of the world (such as marriage and following secular goals) to put themselves at the service of their brothers and sisters. Thus, a religious is a person (woman or man) whose life is consecrated to God through the profession of the evangelical counsels (of poverty, chastity and obedience), who lives in a stable form of life in which they follow Christ more closely under the action of the Holy Spirit, and are totally dedicated to God, who is supremely loved.1 Furthermore, consecrated life is a vocation. Both men and women can choose to consecrate their lives to Christ as a way to seek an intimate relationship with Him. These men and women give witness that Christ is ultimately who we are called to be united to. They live the truth that only Christ can satisfy the deepest longings in a persons heart, and witness that this union provides a deeper joy than the secular world can give. In effect they are previewing the way we will relate to Christ in heaven. Those in consecrated life generally join a religious order. There are scores of religious orders - some founded centuries ago by saints, and some founded more recently to fulfill a particular need. Consecrated life is most often shared in a community which is united to live out their common mission together. Some religious orders are considered contemplative, which means that prayer is central to their day. There are variations with a few orders living mostly in silence and removed from society, while others pray frequently but also work in secular society. Apostolic orders are more active in society and the world. Their focus may be teaching, ministering to the sick or missionary work everywhere 2.1.a Women Religious In womens religious communities some orders wear a habit which identifies them as a woman religious. Other womens orders choose to wear civilian clothes to blend in more with the society within which they work, and wear a ring to identify

Lumen Gentium, 42-43 and Canon Law 573

themselves as a spouse of Christ. Both a ring and or a habit are signs that let others know they belong to Christ. Most live in community in a monastery or convent, but some orders allow apartment living so they are closer to the people they serve. All women religious are called sister. 2.1.b Men Religious Some religious men live in a single community, while others are dispersed and live in a house. In some orders the men wear a habit, while other orders wear clerical clothes. Their leader is called the abbot or superior, and they are obedient to him and their communitys rule of life or what we call constitutions and rules, unlike a diocesan priest who serves the people of the diocese and is obedient to the bishop. Men religious are known as brother. Through discernment and conversation with their superior, the man may either continue as a brother, or ask to further his formation in a seminary and be ordained a priest. Religious orders often help a diocese by allowing some of their priests to be assigned to a parish.

2.2 The Vows Vows oblige the person to long term dedication to the specific good. They are public acts of faith in the eternal goodness and fidelity to God. The vow are normally taken for lifetime. Vows signal the total giving over of ones life to God in order to live in the image of Christ and bring the kingdom of God2. Most men and women religious take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, while some ancient orders make a monastic profession which includes these virtues. They do this to live more simply and not be attached to the things of earthly life which create stress, possessiveness, and distractions. In this way they can more easily give themselves to God and depend more on Him for their needs. 2.2.a Vow of Poverty The vow of poverty is not despise the goods of creation but to commit oneself to dependence on God and just distribution of the goods of the earth in order to be free from the burdens which come with the amassment of wealth and which may distract a

The Code of Canon Law part III; Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.no.654

person from development of the spiritual realities of live. Just as Jesus chose to be poor out of love for us, religious men and women choose a similar lifestyle in imitation of His great love. Poverty does not mean living a destitute life. Instead it means detaching from the lure of material goods and learning to share things in common with the community, for example living quarters, vehicles, and food. 2.2.b Vow of Chastity Chastity means giving yourself completely to Christ body, mind, and soul. This does not mean that sexual expression is bad but because the control of passion and total consecration to God in the spiritual life is itself good. Besides that this also allows us a great freedom to love and serve all Gods people without the obligations of a family. In return, you receive love through a deep relationship with Jesus, the love and support of others in the community, and the joy you experience in doing His will by serving others. 2.2.c Vow of Obedience This vow is not designed to curb human decision making, the supreme act of humility, but to point to the presence and demands of a law above human law. Hence, those in consecrated life surrender their will in obedience to Christ and their superior to more closely imitate Him, who came to do the will of the Father. This includes actively listening to the Holy Spirit and being open to how the Lord and the community believe your gifts and talents can best be used. They respond in faith by generously offering themselves for the common good of their community. 2.3 The End or the Purpose of Consecrated life. To be a religious is an open response and visible acceptance of Gods will in our lives. It is our Yes to the God who calls us. By fulfilling ones promise to God, any person offers to God what already is His. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that, by fulfilling his vows the person renders to God what has been promised or consecrated to Him3. Thus,

the religious while he or she lives simply in the spirit of or actual poverty, by that very act of simple life in poverty he or she adores God; and as he or she remains chaste in the life of the unmarried, by that very act he or she offers to God a precious oblation (a sacrificial offering).

Champman Geoffrey. Catechism of the Catholic Church. no. 2102

By simply living their vows the religious remains in the constant spirit and act of worship. When a promise is made by any person, he or she is expected to fulfill this promise. Fidelity to promises made to God is a sign of the respect owed to the divine majesty and of love for the faithful God, so are we reminded by the Catholic Catechism.4 The fulfilling of promises is accompanied by respect and love. Furthermore, any promise given to God must be made out of love; fulfilling that promise requires more love. If ever we speak to God in prayer, we should draw near Him only on the premise of love. And should we speak to others above Him (in private or openly with many), it must also be about the goodness we find in Him that leads us to love Him. Here chastity, for example is an expressions of love with an undivided heart. As the consecrated person offers self in this total single-heartedness for God, his or her life becomes at every moment not just a gift for God, but an act of worship, love, thanksgiving, petition and repentance, because a vow to God belongs to the virtue of religion. Thus the vows which religious persons make are not only their offering to God; they are also the special witnessing to the Kingdom of our Father that we always pray for, showing us that there are other and better ways of offering to God other than what most say they do. But like any work of love that the offering of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience makes, the gift cannot be presented as a whole without paying the price. Viewed from any angle Chastity or the gift of the undivided single-heartedness cannot be given without sacrifice. The choice to love the poor and to live the simplicity of the desires of the poor cannot be presented to God without pain. More so, the immolation of the most precious portion of the human being, the human will, is not possible without dying from ones ambition, desires and preferences. All these pains and victimhood that lead everyone to the fullness of life in a better existence is what we so lovingly call the Paschal Mystery.

Ibid. no. 2102

CHAPTER III THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN WILL AND FREEDOM 3.1 The Existence and the Nature of the Will Every act of real self control is an implicit manifestation of the will. In such an act we are conscious of the act that some tendency in us is held in check by a higher tendency. That higher tendency is the will. We can also confirm its existence by deriving from the fact that we sometimes will an object which is repugnant to our body and sense tendencies; for instance when we swallow a bitter medicine, or submit to a painful operation or perform a disagreeable duty. In these cases we are not attracted by a material sensible good but by some good represented by our intelligence. The material object of the will coincide with that of intellect, but their formal objects differ. The material object of the will is being, any being presented by the intellect. The formal object of the will is goodness in general, the good as such. Whatever the will wills is will because it is good5. Should the will ever be confronted with an object which embodied it formal object completely, with the good as such, it would necessarily embrace that object. God is the object of such and if the will should ever meet Him as He is, it would necessarily adhere to him6. But as we have understood that on this earth we have no adequate idea of God and therefore this hypothetical circumstance is never realized. Yet in the deepest nature, if we consider its natural striving as contrasted with its elicited volitions, the will consciously strive toward the infinity Good which is God. This in general, unconscious, necessary striving towards God must be translated into specific, free volitions. These volitions may advance in the direction of God or they may deviate from that direction. Later on in this we will consider as our choice which may fall on the city of Jerusalem of that of Babylon. But even when deviating from the supreme Good, they take their impetus from his attraction, while the specification of that impetus comes from a particular good presented by the intellect. The possession by the will of the good as such constitutes happiness. Objectively, therefore mans happiness consists in the possession of God, and he strives towards that
5 6

Donceel J.F., Philosophical Psychology. Sheed and Ward-New York, 1963. Peschke Karl H., Christian Ethics General Moral Theology in the Light of Vatican II. Divine Word publication:Manila, 1987

possession in every one of his volitions. But man may freely decide that his happiness consist in the possession of some finite good, and in that case, there will be cleavage between natural and the elicited striving of his will, between his fundamental general feeling and his superficial specified volitions, between his willing will and his willed will. The will may strive towards a material good, physical or a moral good, a real or apparent good. Physical good is an object which is good for man as a being in the material universe. The moral good is that which is good for man as free being. When the will strives toward the apparent good, it strives towards an apparent good. Evil cannot be the object of the will because it is not really being, but only the privation of some perfection which an object should possess. The will strives towards some good which is presented by the intellect. The will itself does not know the good, it is not cognitive faculty.7 Every one of its elicited acts must be preceded by an intellectual cognition. The relation of the will and to the intellect is analogous to the relation between the engine and the stirring wheel of the car.

3.2 Freedom of the Will a. Meaning of freedom Freedom in general means absence of restraint. There are different kinds of restraint and freedom. Physical freedom is the absence of physical restrain. When a prisoner is released from prison, he is physically free, since he is no longer restrained by the prison wall. Moral freedom is the absence moral restrain, of an obligation, of a law. Thus in this country we are morally free to criticize the government. There is also the freedom of choice. It allows the free subject to choose between different course of action. Besides that according to our Sundays visitor catholic encyclopedia freedom means capacity to determine for oneself and ones action, independent of extrinsic causes. There are various kinds of freedom. Transcendental freedom, which is fundamental property of human person to declare that they are over and above other entities and are able to judge and evaluate other entities from that vantage point. There are also freedom from things such as the freedom from poverty and ignorance. There is also freedom to develop potentialities in their various forms8.

7 8

Ibid. Philosophical Psychology Stravinskas M.J Peter., Sundays visitor catholic encyclopedia, 1991.

b. Why the human will is free The following of the deeper reason why the human will is free often presented as one more argument for the freedom of the will. It is indeed such an argument, because explanation the explanation why mans will is free implies the reason for admitting this freedom. Mans freedom does not consist merely in being able to do what he wants to do. Besides that man is able to decide that he wants to do one thing or another. What he wants to do is up to him, it is not dictated to him by any exterior or interior influence. The will is a faculty whose object is good. When a faculty meets its object, it is not free, it must embrace it. Therefore the will must necessarily embrace the good. But the will does not know its own object, it is not a cognitive faculty; it meets its object through the intellect. Hence as soon as the intellect judges this is good the will presented with its object and must necessarily embrace it. Man is free if he freely decide this is good. He possesses no freedom if he decides necessarily that something is good. Man decide necessarily that a thing is good when it conforms to his standard of goodness. The person judges the goodness of thing not arbitrarily, but according to certain norms or standard. When an object fulfills the requirement of that standard it is necessary called good. If mans standard of good is pleasure everything the pleasurable around will be good, and his will would necessarily embrace it. The goodness as of standard must be perfect good, without any restriction, imperfection or limitation. To elucidate this further it would be pleasant to take St. Augustine words; no object on earth comes up to mans standard of goodness. On earth we never meet the perfect good. Many things are good, but they are not absolute good, they all have their limitation.9

3.3 The mechanism of Free Decision In our daily life we always encounter a situation where we have to decide. But the motive to decide is depends on the attraction exercised by some good either on the will or on the some other drive. The will is a faculty whose object is good. When the faculty meets its object it must embrace it. Therefore the will must necessarily embrace the good. Nonetheless circumstances, environment, the laws association, our present state of body

Ibid. Philosophical Psychology. P.301

and mind do influence the presentation of the motives. The decision is not the result of a purely intellectual process nor the objective state of affairs, nor a social pressure, nor of our past education. It is the product of our own personal intervention, of factor which comes from the very depths of our personality. It is free decision. Everything in this material universe is determined by and its cause. The only exception to this rule is the freedom of the human will in its free decision. In and through them we share in an analogous and very lowly way, something of Gods creative power.10

3.4 Free Will and Liberty. St. Augustine provides an adequate perspective in solving this matter. He said; freedom present two problems which might be called, the problem of free will and the problem of liberty. The first is the problem of mechanism, and it concerns the power of choosing, essential to every spiritual creature, making him master of his own acts, of his own objects of his own judgments. The second is a problem meaning or purpose, and it concerns the power self realization which characterize the person and enables him to respond to his vocation and to achieve his destiny. The two problems are implied in each other as partial problem and a total, as a problem of structure and a problem of dynamism, as the problem of the means and the problem of the end. For free-will is a means to liberty, and the power of choosing is there to serve a power of self achievement. 11 According to this conception free will, or the power of choosing between opposite values, is not an end in itself, it is only a means. The end is the acquisition of perfect liberty. That liberty consist essentially in this: that the elicited, conscious act of our will shall coincide more and more with the natural, unconscious striving of our will is necessarily directed toward the absolute Good, which is God. Whenever we use our free will in right way freely choosing what is morally good and rejecting what is morally evil, our elicited, conscious activity coincides with that fundamental craving of our will. As we repeat such action, hat is morally good tends to appear, more and more, as which is good for me now. Our dominant inclination I leading us the real good; what we like to do is exactly what we must do. Our liberty is growing, whereas our power of choosing, our free will, is becoming gradually factor of less importance. All moral human
10 11

Ibid. p.303 Ibid. p.113

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beings are free, in the sense they possess the power of choosing. All human beings must become free in sense that they must acquire perfect liberty. The person who has consistently preferred God to his own egoistic pride will almost certainly confirm these previous choices in his final choice. On the other hand the individual who has regularly put his pleasure and pride above humble surrender to God runs very great risk of sealing his eternal life.

3.4 The nature of the two Cities: as the End of our Choices. One important thing that we should consider about the presence of two cities in St. Augustines point of view is that the distinction between the two cities is grounded in his religious psychology. For him men are created, finite sprit existing on a plane of reality below the immutable and unique being of God, but above the essentially mutable and transitory natures of bodies. Created spirit are capable of turning to upward to God with their wills (conversion) or downward towards bodies (aversion). Thus there are two distinct commitments of will or two loves.12 If mans will remain upright thorough leaning on Gods help he should be rewarded; but if it become wicked, by forsaking God, he should be punished.13 The two cities has been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of the self, even to the contempt of God: the heavenly love by the love of God even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. The first delights in its own strength and the other is in God.14 This struggle of two cities influencing his concept of ethics. It which states; by the will that man reaches out towards God and finally takes possession of and enjoys Him. When therefore the will, which is the intermediate good, cleaves to the immutable good man finds therein the blessed life; for if God is mans supreme goo it clearly follows, since to seek the supreme good is to live well, that to live well is nothing else but to love God with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind.

St. Augustine goes further; saying that human will is free, but free will is subject to moral obligation. The necessary basis of obligation is freedom. The will is free to turn away
12

The description of two loves in the literal commentary on Genesis, 11: 15, 20; Augustines quest of Wisdom, pp. 249-250. 13 Hutchins Robert Maynard, Great Books of the western World; on St, Augustine, no. 8, William Benton, publisher, Chicago London Toronto. 1952. 14 Ibid.

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from the immutable God and to attach itself to mutable goods, taking as its object either the goods of the soul, without reference to God, or the goods of the body. The will seeks happiness and satisfaction, but this happiness can only be found in God. Because by nature man is set towards God; but he can only fulfill the dynamism of that nature by observing and doing his will. When man tries to live justly by his own strength without the help of the liberating grace of God, he is then conquered by sins; but in free will he has it in his power to believe in the Liberator and to receive grace. The law was given that grace might be sought; grace was given that the law might be fulfilled. If moral perfection consists in loving God, in directing the will to God and bringing all other powers into harmony with this direction, evil will consist in turning the will away from God. Everything in which there is order and measure is to be ascribed to God, but in the will which turns away from God there is disorder. The will itself is good, but the absence of the right order, or rather the privation of right order, for which the human agent is responsible, is evil. Moral evil is a privation of right order in the created will. It says that the human race can be divided into two great camps: those who love God and prefer God to self and that of those who prefer self to God. Augustine sees the history of the human race as the history of the dialectic of these two principles, the one in forming the City of Jerusalem, the other is the city if Babylon.

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CHAPTER IV THE ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION

As it has been mention above that the motive of our decision depends on the attraction exercised by some good either on the will or on the some other drive. The will is a faculty whose object is good. The decision is neither the result of a purely intellectual process nor the objective state of affairs, nor a social pressure, nor of our past education but it is the product of our own personal intervention, of factor which comes from the very depths of our personality. It implies that the power of choosing good is innate in the person. Mans freedom does not consist merely in being able to do what he wants to do. Besides that, man is able to decide that he wants to do one thing or another; what he wants to do is up to him, it is not dictated to him by any exterior or interior influence. What implies here is that by nature he knows good for the good is the one we desire in life. The will seeks happiness and satisfaction, but this happiness can only be found in God. Thus, to be consecrated is a form of choice. This choice or rather we call it vocation which makes person happy. Despite the fact that not all people appreciate it for the reason that it demands a total surrender its value is still a manifestation of ones gift to God. This becomes impossible too because its end is not understandable something abstract but very demanding. Even so Consecrated life is a gift given by Christ who chooses a person individually to respond to His great love in a special relationship. He asks that person to leave some aspects of the world to put themselves at the service of their brothers and sisters. Hence it is not our initiative but the will of God. He designates for our existence. In fact Jesus himself says it is not you who chose me but I who chose you. In that case to be consecrated is a response to the one who calls. However to say that consecrated life as a guarantee to attain eternal happiness is something skeptical. Remember, in the first place, even if, one chooses it for it is good the means is still involving the person. Taking the vows for example; the consecrated must abide with it but since he has free will he or she might broke his promise. Hence, to justify whether he will be punished or not is in the hand of the Lord. But what is sure is that St. Augustine describes the two cities as the end of our choice. If we love God than the self we are belong to Gods hence necessarily belong to the city of Jerusalem and share eternal happiness. But if we prefer self to God we are belonging to the city of Babylon that is tormented place. Be happy in the Lord!

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A PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATION ON THE CHOICE OF CONSECRATED LIFE USING AUGUSTINES CONCEPT OF HUMAN WILL AND FREEDOM.

CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION... 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Statement of the Problem 1.3 Significance of Study

1 1 2 2

CHAPTER II CONSECRATED LIFE.. 2.1 What is Consecrated Life. 2.1.a Women Religious 2.1.b Men Religious.. 2.2 The Vows 2.2.a Vow of Poverty.. 2.2.b Vow of Chastity. 2.2.c Vow of Obedience. 2.3 The End or the Purpose of Consecrated life..

3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5

CHAPTER III THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN WILL AND FREEDOM 3.1 The Existence and the Nature of the Will.. 3.2 Freedom and the Will... a. meaning of freedom. b. why the human will is free. 3.3 The mechanism of Free Decision 3.4 Free Will and Liberty 3.4 The nature of the two Cities: as the End of our Choices 11

6 7 8 8 9 9 10

CHAPTER IV THE ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION..

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A PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATION ON THE CHOICE OF CONSECRATED LIFE USING AUGUSTINES CONCEPT OF HUMAN WILL AND FREEDOM

In partial Fulfillment of the requirement For the final exam In medieval Philosophy

Submitted to: Rev. Fr. Ronnie B. Rodriquez, Ms., MA

By: AMBROSIUS TURUK, CRS

UNIVERSITY OF LA SALETTE SILANG CAMPUS 2011 / 2012

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