Freedom of Action: Essential to Perfection 

I intend that all my acts … shall come under a vow of the most sublime perfection. [But] I will perform my actions not just by reason of the vow, but because once performed in the proper degree of perfection, they will receive the merits of a vow. (OOCC, X, p. 263; STA, 246, 5)

St. Vincent Pallotti formulated his unrelenting quest for perfection into a vow and later extended this vow of perfection to the practice of all virtues. The purpose of formulating the vow was to gain the merits of performing a virtuous action through a vow. The vow was not an obligatory one, but it was a conditional vow which gained him the merit only after the action had been successfully performed. Though St. Vincent wished to gain the merit of performing an action through a vow, he did not want to perform it under an obligation which would take away his freedom of action. In other words, though he performed the act through a vow, he did not want to perform it by reason of the vow. Instead, he would perform the act freely with the proper degree of perfection, which would bring him the merits of performing an action through a vow. Thus, St. Vincent was very particular about every good act he did, with genuine freedom of action. There was no trace of compulsive attitude in the choices he made and the actions he performed, especially in his spiritual life. He never did actions because he had to do them but always did whatever he did because he chose to do it. Thus, it was choice and not compulsion that characterized the spiritual living of St. Vincent Pallotti.

Do I recognize the significance of freedom of action in my spiritual life? Am I compulsive about my spiritual progress? Do I perform actions because I have to or because I choose to? Is it compulsion or choice that is characteristic of my behavioral pattern?

As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. (I Pet. 2:16)