“Nature has given mankind such compulsion to do good, and such desire to defend the well-being of the community, that this force prevails over all the temptations of pleasure and ease.”
So the eminent Roman statesman and orator Cicero asserts at the beginning of his De Republica. As with much of this rich text, I find in my own life a testament to this statement’s truthfulness.
As a student of politics dedicating many of the best years of my life to the careful study of the fundamental nature and the current condition of the city and man — at a time when these conditions regularly alarm even the most pacific temperament — Cicero’s compulsion to defend the well-being of the community guides much of my own work. What’s more, it has guided me along a path that is unconventional, if not unpredictable.
As I neared the end of high school and began to map out a future in the world which would best employ my talents and be of use to my neighbor, I looked to the military as an avenue for personal growth and worthwhile service. Both of my grandfathers, as well as other family members, friends, etc., had served, and there was no doubt that this manner of defending the well-being of the community I so dearly love was one worthy of admiration and even imitation. I began the process of examining the different branches of the military, speaking to recruiters,taking the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, etc. The road ahead seemed clear and exciting.
Then, rather unexpectedly, I was inflamed with a desire for service in another field, that of the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
As a lifelong Christian at a point of maturation in my faith, the radical character of God’s intervention in human history blazed in my mind with a blinding brightness as the single greatest fact of history – one which needed to be brought to the world with urgency and dedication.
Living in an age of tumult, division, confusion, meaninglessness, and chaos — which my younger self had tasted in the process of maturation — the peace, unity, coherence, purpose, and order which Christ brings to the world beckoned as good worthy of total dedication and service. To that end, I pivoted from my approach to military life and began my undergraduate studies at seminary in the hopes of leading others to Christ through pastoral ministry.
These studies consisted of a robust philosophical education complemented by the suite of liberal arts including history, languages, literature, mathematics, science, and, of course, a dose of theology. This groundwork was intended to provide a basis for several additional years of graduate studies in theology and proximate formation for pastoral ministry. During this time, my life was transformed.
Deeply immersed in conversation with the greatest thinkers of the western tradition (Christian and pagan alike), I learned to ask the fundamental questions common to mankind throughout time. From the great luminaries of the Western intellectual and spiritual tradition I learned many lessons, principles, and above all the habit of rational inquiry and reflection in the pursuit of a profound personal contact with the truth. That is to say, wisdom.
From Plato to Hegel, Aristotle to Nietzsche, Boethius to Camus, I became acquainted with the great philosophical history which holds up the very civilization in which I was born and bred. Reading Aquinas, Locke, Rousseau, Hobbes, Marx, Machiavelli, and many of the other great political philosophers, I began to see the perpetual importance of political and social thought to the true flourishing of mankind.
One of the most impactful experiences of these days was the first encounter with Plato’s Republic, a masterpiece for the ages to which I have returned again and again, always edified anew. Here, Plato sets out to examine the fundamental question of political life: What is justice? In so doing, he simultaneously explores the nature of the virtues, especially justice, in the soul of the individual person and of the entire city. Indeed, the consideration of the good of the individual and the good of the polis are inseparable.
This fundamental connection established a link in my own mind between the political and the sphere of “values” which I desired to serve for the sake of the common good. Reading the works of Plato’s student Aristotle, the Politics, I became all the more convinced that man indeed is a “political animal” and that, therefore, his true flourishing cannot be brought about divorced from political life.
Yet, is not all of this wisdom of this world only foolishness in the eyes of God?
Christ made clear in speaking to the political power of His day that His kingdom is not of this world. Yet, this world is His. While remaining distinct, the city of God and the city of man must in some way be harmonized. This is a matter of justice and God, above all, deserves to be given His due. Render unto Caesar, and unto God.
Due to both the lamentable disintegration of the Christian worldview that excessively separates the spiritual from the temporal and a liberal conception of politics as a sphere divorced from religion by an (oft misinterpreted) “wall of separation,” the notion that a thoroughly Christian worldview is compatible with political action is roundly rejected by religious and non-religious citizens alike today.
As the Church makes clear in the declaration on religious freedom (Dignitatis Humanae,) there are substantial limits to the approach that Christians can take in wielding political power in the service of spiritual causes. All men, by virtue of human nature and the essential character of faith, have a right to freedom in matters of religion, for example. The spiritual power of the Church and the temporal power of government are essentially discrete, and while they can and ought to cooperate for man’s flourishing, they ought not be mixed together unduly. God desires integrity in the inner self and teaches wisdom deep within, where external power cannot intrude.
Nonetheless, it remains the case that those who profess Christ are called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, “a city on a hill” as the colonial preacher John Winthrop rightly taught. This calling extends beyond the bushel basket of private life to reach every corner of the world. Given man’s essentially political character, politics cannot be excluded from this calling.
After completing my undergraduate studies and discerning that my vocation was not in pastoral ministry, I once again set my sight to the horizon and began to chart a course. The deep convictions about the proper relationship between my core values and the common good of the community in which I live brought to the fore a crucial epiphany.
I realized that the chaos and tumult of modern society could be remedied by a dedication to the wisdom contained in the great tradition of human thought, and ultimately by service to Him who is the origin of all truth, He who is the way and the life.
In a pluralistic, religiously diverse society such as ours, particular ‘values’ which one holds dear are seen as equally legitimate choices to be preferred according to individual taste. In the eyes of the Christian faith, we know that there is indeed a choice which stands above the rest and is the source of truth, goodness, and beauty in our world. While this choice cannot be made for others, we may and ought to serve the common good by witness to the truth and the effort to bring about the common good accordingly.
This common good relies on the recognition of natural truths that are at times obscure to the unassisted mind, but made clear in the light of faith. Truths like the inviolable dignity of the human person; the social poison of envy; the true nature of justice; the need for solidarity and subsidiarity; the dignity of labor; the rights of the poor and those who labor; the evil of theft, murder, and adultery; the dignity of the family; and many others that form the necessary bedrock for political life at the natural level are given in divine revelation.
It is our task to translate these truths into the idiom of the age and conform the city of man to the divine plan for humanity’s flourishing while anticipating and preparing for the full manifestation of the city of God.
In sum, it is the glad duty of Christians to ardently labor for the common good as engaged citizens and true patriots. The Gospel contains truth and light, which our world desperately needs us to share, not only for the ultimate goal of salvation but also for the well-being of the temporal community. For many, this cause will not entail direct and thorough engagement with political affairs.However, for someit will.
In all cases, Christian citizens ought to be motivated by divine charity to suffuse the temporal order with that justice, truth, and goodness which Christ brings about. As Leo XIII taught,
“the Church has for her immediate and natural purpose the saving of souls and securing our happiness in heaven. Yet, in regard to things temporal, she is the source of benefits as manifold and great as if the chief end of her existence were to ensure the prospering of our earthly life. … To take no share in public matters would be as wrong as to have no concern for, or to bestow no labour upon, the common good. … It follows clearly, therefore, that Catholics [and all Christians] have just reasons for taking part in the conduct of public affairs.”
Just as our founding fathers set about their work with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we too ought to recognize the role of faith in bringing about a truly just and flourishing society in the service of which we may mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
