Order, harmony, peace, perfection

Order, peace, and harmony are essential characteristics of every well-formed soul, of every well-constituted human society. In a sense, these are values that merge with the very notion of perfection.

Every being has its own end and a nature appropriate to obtaining this end. Thus a part of a watch is intended for a special purpose and is suited by its shape and composition to serve that purpose.

Order is the arrangement of things according to their nature. A watch is in order when all of its parts are arranged according to the nature and the end peculiar to them. It is said there is order in the sidereal universe because all celestial bodies are arranged according to their nature and their end.

There is harmony between two beings when their relations agree with the nature and the end of each of them. Harmony is the working of things in relation one to another according to order.

Order generates tranquility. The tranquility of order is peace. Not any tranquility deserves to be called peace, but only the one resulting from order. Peace of conscience is the tranquility of the righteous conscience; it must not be mistaken for the lethargy of the benumbed conscience. Organic well-being produces a feeling of peace that cannot be mistaken for the torpor of a coma.

When something is entirely disposed according to its nature, it is in the state of perfection. Someone with a great ability to study, a great desire to study, when placed in a university where all resources exist for the studies he wants, will be in a perfect position in regard to studies.

When activities of a being are entirely true to its nature and are wholly directed towards its purpose, these activities are in some way perfect. Thus the trajectory of the stars is perfect because it agrees fully with the nature and the end of each one.

When the conditions in which a being finds itself are perfect, its operations also are perfect and it will necessarily tend towards its end with maximum firmness, vigor, and skill. Thus if a man is in the condition to walk, that is to say, can, may, and wants to walk, he will walk impeccably.

The real knowledge of what perfection is for man and societies depends on an exact notion of man’s nature and end. The righteousness, the fruitfulness, and the splendor of human actions, either individual or social, also depend on the knowledge of our nature and of our end.

In short, the possession of religious truth is the essential condition for order, harmony, peace, and perfection.

Christian perfection

The Gospel shows us the ideal of perfection: “Be ye therefore perfect as also your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48). Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us this advice, and He Himself taught us to carry it out. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ is the absolute similitude of the heavenly Father’s perfection, the supreme model we all have to imitate.

Our Lord, His virtues, His teachings, His actions, are the defined ideal of the perfection to which man must strive.

The rules of this perfection are found in the Law of God, which Our Lord Jesus Christ did not come “to destroy but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). They are the evangelic precepts and counsels. And in order that man should not fall into error in interpreting commandments and counsels, Our Lord Jesus Christ established an infallible Church that may reckon with divine assistance never to err in matters of Faith and morals. Faithfulness in thought and deeds to the teaching of the Church is thus the way every man can know and put into practice the ideal of perfection that is Jesus Christ.

This is what the Saints did. Heroically exercising the virtues the Church teaches, they achieved the perfect imitation of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of the heavenly Father. It is so true that the Saints attained the highest moral perfection that the enemies of the Church themselves, when not blinded by the fury of impiety, proclaim it. For instance, regarding Saint Louis, King of France, Voltaire wrote, “It is not possible for man to take virtue further.” The same could be said of all the saints.

God is the author of our nature and therefore of all aptitudes and excellences found in it. In us, what does not come from God are the defects, the fruit of original sin and actual sins.

The Decalogue could not be contrary to the nature He himself created in us. Since He is God and perfect, there can be no contradiction in His works.

Therefore, the Decalogue prescribes actions for us that our own reason shows us to be in agreement with nature, such as honoring our father and mother, and forbids actions that we understand to be contrary to the natural order, such as lying. Therein consists, on the natural level, the intrinsic perfection of the Law and the personal perfection we acquire by complying with it, since all operations consonant with one’s nature are good.

As a result of original sin, man has a propensity for acts contrary to his nature, rightly understood. He is subject to error in his intelligence and to wrongdoing regarding his will. This propensity is so strong that without the aid of grace it would not be possible for man to know or to practice the precepts of the natural order consistently and completely.

God repaired this insufficiency of ours by revealing these precepts on Mount Sinai and, under the New Covenant, establishing a Church to protect men against sophisms and infringements and instituting the Sacraments to strengthen them by grace.

Grace is a supernatural aid intended to fortify the intelligence and will of men so that he can practice perfection. God does not refuse His grace to anyone, so perfection is accessible to all.

Can an infidel know the Law of God and comply with it? Does he receive God’s grace? A distinction must be made. In principle, all men in contact with the Church receive sufficient grace to know that She is the true church, to enter Her, and to obey the Commandments.

So if someone remains voluntarily outside the Church, if he is an infidel because he refuses the grace of conversion, he closes the gates of salvation against himself. The grace of conversion is the starting point of all other graces. On the other hand, if someone has no means of knowing the Holy Church – a heathen, for instance, whose country has never received the visit of missionaries – he will at least have sufficient grace to know and practice the most essential principles of the Law of God, since God refuses salvation to no one.

It must be noted here that if fidelity to the Law sometimes demands heroic sacrifices from Catholics themselves who live in the bosom of the Church, bathed in the superabundance of grace and of all means of sanctification, the difficulty is much greater for those who live far from the Church and without this superabundance. This explains why pagans practicing the Law are so rare, indeed, exceptional.

By Prof. Plinio Correa de Oliveira