Freedom and the Active Life

Extract

St Thomas puts very briefly the difference between a free-man and a slave, when he says: ‘a free-man is one who is the cause of what is his, but a slave owes everything he has to another'. (De Reg. Prin. I, i.) Thus in a sense we are all the slaves of God. Our Lord brought friendship into that relation; yet for all that, we did not cease to be God's servants. Terms like ‘military service', ‘civil service’ and ‘foreign service’ are apt to create the impression that ‘divine service’ is likewise limited to a particular kind of work, such as going to church on Sundays. It is easy to miss the real meaning of what Christ said— ‘You cannot serve two masters', or of what St Paul said— ‘All whatsoever you do in word or in work do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him'. (Col. 3.)