The first time I ever heard the word summum bonum I was too young to understand the meaning. Wondering what it was at the time, I found out it was the business name of one of my older brothers’ friends. That was all I knew about it. Then I thought, “whatever in the world made him come up with such a name for a business!” Oh well, you wouldn’t be wrong to think of me as a preteen who couldn’t grapple with the Latin word. To me it did not sound like a thing.
So recently a popular Catholic priest, who was talking about something I was interested in, threw me for a loop up as I heard him use the word summum bonum. Presently I felt the reminiscence of the word on hearing it again. The priest was being interviewed along the lines of virtue and other ethical issues. As the word hit me, I recalled that it was my brother’s friend’s company name.
Immediately, I became curious and wanted to understand the meaning. Not sure of how it was spelled and unwilling to go to the trouble of not getting the spelling right—as it can be stressful, sometimes, going back and forth with google search for misspelling key words—I decided to look up the meaning with a voice command on Google Voice Search. And pronto, “Summum bonum”popped up!
Well, I grew up to learn that this friend of my brother’s was given to philosophizing; hence, there was no wonder he had preferred such a grandiosely meaningful name for his business.
My search, however, revealed more than the meaning, which is basically the “supreme good”, from which every other thing derives. My search also revealed that great thinkers—past and present—like Cicero, St. Thomas Aquinas, Desmond Tutu, etc. had had somethings to say about the word, which reflected their convictions or beliefs or philosophies, if you like. For instance, Desmond Tutu views it as that greatest good that enhances humanity: “Thus to forgive is indeed the best form of self-interest since anger, resentment, and revenge are corrosive of that summum bonum, that greatest good, communal harmony that enhances the humanity and personhood of all in the community. They all in fact, basically, spoke to similar motif.
But reflecting on it myself, besides the viewpoint of these great thinkers, the profundity of the word hit me as if I was put on the spot to declare my deepest conviction. Like a flash, I said, “‘Christ in me’ is my Summum bonum.” Engulfed in the consciousness, I continued and muttered “For in Him the ultimate good, goal, dream consists.”
My daily contemplation on which this conviction is reinforced can be delineated through this truth: that not only is a life without Christ empty and unsavory, but that every search, too, for Meaning, Truth outside Christ is a blind alley. Therefore, I am fully immersed in this solemn truth with reckless abandon. It is a force which once possessed, no one can deny you now and hereafter.
He fills all in all—the gestalt of all powers. The Bible records that in Christ all things consist. The moment Christ indwells a man and the collective consciousness of a society, it naturally trumps all forms of wickedness. And the indwelling presence of Christ is the antidote to all political deviousness, moral cynicism, and character aberrations that the likes of Machiavelli of the Renaissance promoted, which had begun, before now, to eat deep into the entire political landscape of modern politics: the quest for power and control at all cost.
It is self-evident that the contingency of collective consciousness that informs our sense of belonging also binds our values towards all human pursuits. If so, we must through the supreme consciousness of Christ sanctify those values as the infrastructure on which that collective consciousness is fully and well expressed in readiness for the Master’s soon return.
Christ is the Ultimate “cul-de-sac.” He is the end of the search for ultimate happiness and, more important, meaning. With Him life becomes worth living, takes on a new meaning, and radiates true joy. That is the “summon bonum” that anyone could ever desire to experience eternally.
In spite of one’s family background, religious affiliations, and spiritual creed, Christ died for everyone in the world. Nothing is more sacrificial than that. The thought of His death, burial, and resurrection is gripping. It is gripping to the point where mere reason is not enough to explain it, and you break up thinking about His love. Though some scientists, not all, make various contemptible attempts to empirically see God in a lab, Salvation is still available to all by confession.
I am therefore compelled by my innermost conviction to ask you today, who or what is your Summum bonum? Let Christ be your summum bonum; let Him be in you today! The propriety of Salvation is hinged on the will to accept Him by confession. That is the necessary, sufficient, and vital stand point on which a sinner becomes a saint. The Bible book of Romans 1:7 further emphasizes this truth: “…, beloved of God, called [to be] saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
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