Dominican College of San Rafael - Firebrand Yearbook (San Rafael, CA)

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Christ died for all men without exception, and we should pray to Him to give us the peace-makers. How similar this sounds to the theories expressed by Saint Augustine in the fifth century, and how analogous is the condition of the world at that time compared to now. The social dualism in Saint Augus- tine ' s time was a violent antithesis of two opposing orders: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world, Babylon; the present age and the future age; the imperial society of the past and the Christian so- ciety to come. Although these two worlds met and intermingled physically, there was no spiritual as- sociation between them. The Christians, while ming- ling with Babylon, had to recognize the external order of the earthly state which was to the advantage of both ; yet there was no true bond of spiritual fellow- ship or common citizenship between the members of the two societies. In The City of God Saint Augustine warns the people of the fifth century, as Pope Pius XII cautions us fourteen centuries later, about a false peace: The true peace, which is complete and eter- nal, Heaven ' s perfect peace, belongs, however, to the Christians only, now in prospect, then in possession . . . and, whereas there is now but an imperfect rest for the citizen of the worldly city, there will then be a perpetual unrest and continual disquiet. . . . 124

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Unless the Lord build the city, they labor in vain that build it . The last two Popes, Pius XI and Pius XII, have repeatedly sought to inspire the lay people of the Church to help in the task of winning back the world. They have pleaded for Catholics not only to live good lives, but more: to unite in a movement which would bring many souls to the Lord. This movement is Catholic Action, which is defined by Pope Pius XI as the organized participation of the laity in the apostolate of the hierarchy . Pope Pius XII not only echoes the pleas of his predecessor for the Christianization of environments, but he also endeavors to make the peace-makers remember that there is a God, and that man was given certain natural rights by God. Until the leaders realize that man is at the basis of all their problems, and until each peace-maker ' s idea of man harmonizes with that of his fellow leader, there will be no foundation for any real peace. The leaders also must feel that the control of the atomic bomb, the jurisdiction of certain advantageous lands, and so on, must be a secondary consideration to the protection of man in the enjoyment of his God-given natural rights. We, as children of God, should not sit back while so many of our brothers are suffering at the hands of insincere or incompetent peace-makers. 123

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Saint Augustine professed that every human society finds its structural principle in a common will, a will to life, a will to enjoyment, and a will to peace . In The City of God Saint Augustine defines people as a multitude of rational creatures associated in a com- mon agreement as to the things which it loves . If one knows the objects loved, one knows the people and their society, becatise the moral life of the individual and the social life are the same. Saint Augustine ' s sociology is based on the prin- ciples of the all importance of the will and the sover- eignty of love. A striking simile was made by Augus- tine in showing the strength of love. He said that the power of love has the same importance in the spiritual world as the force of gravity possesses in the physical world: As a man ' s love moves him, so must he go . Saint Augustine also claims that all men desire happiness and all seek peace, but not all after one fashion. The only essential difference in the nature of peace and happiness is in his spiritual independence, because man has the power to choose his own good. The natural man, or man of the world, lives for him- self and wishes only a material bliss and a temporal peace. On the other hand, the spiritual man lives for God and seeks a spiritual ecstasy and a lasting peace. Since there were two kinds of men with different ten- 125