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Common Good

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Submitted By Pearll06
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Rule 7, 2 of the Augustinian rule states: "The degree to which you are concerned for the common good (rem communem) rather than for your own, is the criterion by which you can judge how much progress you have made."
This passage synthesizes Augustine’s conviction regarding personal growth in Christian love.
It appears in a context wherein Augustine gives the guidelines for day-to-day life in community, a life characterized by mutual service. We have already pointed out the importance of the social dimension in Augustine’s thought.
Since human life is social by nature, the development of a person cannot be separated from its social context. The same applies to the new life of the believer in Christ. The new man that is born from the waters of baptism lives the commandment of love.
This life of love is verified in one’s service to the brothers and sisters in the community. Within this context, one’s progress in love is directly proportional to the intensity of one’s concern for the common good.

The common good is "the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily."

It possesses three essential elements: (a) the respect for the person as such;
(b) the social well-being and development of the group to which the person belongs; and (c) peace which is the stability and security of the just order.

The common good is graphically illustrated in the Lucan description of the Jerusalem community:
The community of believers was of one heart and one mind and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common...
There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale and put them at the feet of the apostles and they were distributed to each according

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