Last Friday I started reading The
Art of Living and covered
Chapter 1, Reverence. This week I will go over the second chapter,
entitled Faithfulness. There can be a broad sense or a narrow sense
of fidelity; in this chapter von Hildebrand focuses on the narrow
sense. This includes marital fidelity, fidelity to a friend, to one's
country, or to oneself.
“The
building up of one's personality is only possible if one holds firmly
to those truths and values which one has already discovered” (p
12).
The response to truth and value unfolds in man's life with a certain
rhythm, as new situations arise and new impressions replace one
other. Man's attention constantly shifts to new points.
This
rhythm is easy to see when looking at man's biological sphere, where
hunger is replaced by satisfaction, fatigue replaced by rest and
renewed strength. This is also true of man's spiritual life, where
von Hildebrand says “a
certain rhythmical change is proper to the course of our spiritual
life” (p 14). But this constant rhythm and change of
focus—occurring as different aspects of life catch man's
attention—does not mean that man cannot hold on to some responses
or impressions. Here fidelity enters to build on value response.
“While
we proceed to another impression and give our attention to another
mental object, the preceding impression or object does not vanish,
but will, according to its significance, be retained and will
continue to live on a deeper level” (p 14).
Fidelity, then, works to help man retain important responses and pursue growth in those areas while carrying on with daily life. A good example of this is the love that a man has for his wife. His love remains in the depth of his soul even though he goes about his work and daily tasks.
For the secular
world, Christmas is simply one day. When it's over, the decorations
come down and the radio stations stop playing the music. But the
Church has an entire season dedicated to Christmas. This gives the
faithful the opportunity to retain the significance of
Christmas and reflect.
Love, ultimately,
needs faithfulness in order to survive and, indeed, to thrive. This
Christmas season, we can all work on fidelity by keeping the meaning
of Christ's birth in our minds.
--
Von, Hildebrand Dietrich, and Hildebrand Alice. Von. The Art of Living. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute, 1994
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