New Years Approaches-Resolve To Become St. Augustine

Ab omni malo, libera nos, Domine.

From all evil, deliver us, O Lord.

That Thou wouldst pardon us, nos.

From all deadly sin,
From thine anger,
From sudden and unrepentant death, From the crafts and assaults of the devil, From anger, and hatred, and all uncharitableness,
From the spirit of fornication,
From lightning and tempest,
From the peril of earthquake, fire, and flood,
From pestilence, famine, and battle, From everlasting damnation,
By the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation

In our age of deceit and arrogance, we have been counseled that a simple “resolution” made on New Years Day is sufficient to alter our lives, ostensibly for the good of all.  But what good “to all” becomes of a resolution “to lose weight” or “quit smoking” unless that act is inspired, nay guided by the pursuit of virtue? St Thomas Aquinas pondered this very question in the Summa and counsels that ALL activities that are external, meaning to be witnessed by others, must be in pursuit of a virtue, otherwise they be sinful.

“Moral virtue consists in the things pertaining to man being directed by his reason. Now it is manifest that the outward movements of man are dirigible by reason, since the outward members are set in motion at the command of reason. Hence it is evident that there is a moral virtue concerned with the direction of these movements.”

Consider then that a New years “resolution” can be useful to the cultivation of our souls’ sanctification provided we pursue these “resolutions” as alterations of behavior in pursuit of virtue. Turning to St Thomas again, he draws on the wisdom of Sts. Augustine and Ambrose.

“As stated outward movements are indications of the inward disposition, and this regards chiefly the passions of the soul. Wherefore Ambrose says that “from these things,” i.e. the outward movements, “the man that lies hidden in our hearts is esteemed to be either frivolous, or boastful, or impure, or on the other hand sedate, steady, pure, and free from blemish.” It is moreover from our outward movements that other men form their judgment about us, according to Sirach 19:26, “A man is known by his look, and a wise man, when thou meetest him, is known by his countenance.” Hence moderation of outward movements is directed somewhat to other persons, according to the saying of Augustine in his Rule, “In all your movements, let nothing be done to offend the eye of another, but only that which is becoming to the holiness of your state.”

Consider that almost all New years “resolutions” concern mitigating things we take pleasure in such as gluttony or lust and their cure requires what we perceive to be pain.

“This regards pleasure or pain which may arise from words or deeds in reference to others with whom a man comes in contact. And, in so far as outward movements are signs of our inward disposition, their moderation belongs to the virtue of truthfulness, whereby a man, by word and deed, shows himself to be such as he is inwardly.”

Lastly, this approach to a “New Years Resolution” has a strong basis in history that is documented, the most profound example of which is the conversion of St Augustine. Father John A Hardon wrote of Augustine’s conversion as THE MODEL by which modern man SHOULD bases ours (I suggest reading Father Hardon’s entire homily, found here).

“Augustine’s problem before his conversion was not only that he was steeped in sin. It was that his mind defended his commission of sin. Therefore, in order to return to God, he had first to be convinced that he was a sinner. “My sin was all the more incurable because I thought I was not a sinner; and my iniquity was more execrable in that I would rather have you, God Almighty, vanquished in me to my destruction, than myself vanquished by you for my salvation.” (Confessions, 5, 10.)

To return to God, Augustine had to overcome two vices, the habit of wrong thinking and the habit of wrong doing. Yet both habits had a strong hold on his proud and passionate nature. He describes the power of these habits. “The law of sin (he confesses) is the fierce force of habit, by which the mind is drawn and held even against its will, and yet deservedly because it had fallen willfully into the habit.” (Confessions, 8, 5.)

In order to justify his misconduct, Augustine had become a Manichaean. This was the convenient heresy of claiming there were two gods. The evil god is responsible for all the evil that we do, and the good god is the only cause of everything good in our lives. On these premises, Augustine could attribute his life of sin to the evil deity and not feel guilty for all the wrong doing in his life.

He dates his conversion to the discovery he made that he, Augustine, had a free will. Once it dawned on him that he had the power to control his mind in what to think, and the power to control his will in what to choose, he was on his way back to the service of God.

On this level of his teaching, Augustine is a prophet for our times. There is so much learned justification of sin that whole philosophies have been created to defend man’s misconduct by shifting the blame on heredity, or environment or education. Anything, and anyone that human ingenuity can devise is said to be responsible for the evils in the world today — except the real agent of evil, which is man’s free will refusing to submit to the demanding will of God.”

This January 1st, therefore, resolve to be an Augustinian and perform a daily “examination of character” as suggested by St Alphonsus Ligouri