Voluntarism, sentimentalism.

Voluntarism. The human will is a tremendous force. It can do a lot. Without it, we would not save ourselves. “He who created you without you…,” writes St. Augustine, “will not save you without you.”But even this power must not be overestimated as if it alone is sufficient for everything (so-called Pelagianism) or if Christian perfection should be judged only by performance, especially external performance. At the end of the last century, some said that the time had come to replace passive virtues with active ones. We should worry less about humility, contemplation, adoration, and denial but instead put all our strength into doing something properly for the Church, social justice, and the law. These counsels were often well-intentioned, and there was a piece of truth. However, their one-sidedness quickly leads to consequences contrary to Christ’s life and the teaching of the Gospel. Related to voluntarism is so-called moralism. He who loves God keeps the commandments (Jn 14:21). People with a valid will are better able to keep the laws of morality and the rules of the Church and are faithful in their duties. Can it be said that they are genuinely holier, better than others? We are sure that keeping God’s laws sanctifies a man. The life struggle of Christ against the Pharisees shows how easily
it is to go astray here, too, and how outward integrity can become a mask that covers the fundamental deficiencies of many actual values.
Sentimentalism. The presence of the Holy Spirit purifies all our faculties, hence our affections. The ear of the trained musician becomes sensitive to the harmony of tones and the flow of melody. Religious life awakens sense and feeling for what is, as St. Paul says above (Col 3:1), for the world of God, for holiness. There is an inner joy, a consolation, a peace that the world cannot give. In the words of the Apostle, such is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22).
Spiritual writers have always wondered whether such inner states are inevitable, whether they are infallible signs of grace and the presence of the Spirit. What if someone completely lacks and feels comfortless, full of contradictions, temptations, and disgust? The “consciousness of grace” question is being addressed again in theology today, even though it is aware of the difficulties. Certainly, the long-convicted need to avoid errors, e.g., Messalianism (4th century), which claimed that we have grace only when we feel it. Temptation and restlessness are said to be symptoms of sin. Even in the early modern period, there are some profound statements from the Church. Feeling and believing in our justification to be saved is not enough. Again, it was emphasized (against Baius) that “the evil lust, though it has its origin in sin, leads to it, but is not itself a sin.” Spiritual writers to this day say of consolations and consolations that often alternate.
Thus, one cannot infallibly measure life by good and bad feelings in God’s grace. Nevertheless, the presence of the Holy Spirit usually gives a person peace and tranquility, an inner contentment. They have, therefore, also right those who testify that they have found happiness and joy, such as the world cannot give in the spiritual life. This, however, every Christian gratefully receives. But he will never substitute for it the search for sentimental “sweet.” devotions, artificially induced enthusiasm, or exaltation.
Exaggerated spiritualism. We believe that Jesus Christ is the true God. But He is a God who became incarnate, was born, lived as a man died, and sanctified human activity and values. Spiritual life is in the Holy Spirit. He, however, “spiritualizes” the whole human person. He is thus given a true sense of what exaggerated spiritualism despises: daily life, its concerns, interests, feelings, and relationships. In contrast, however, compared to God, the world is nothing, not even worthy of attention. The world in God and with God, however, is the beginning of the heavenly Jerusalem, towards which the development of history is directed. Exaggerated spiritualism manifests itself in many ways. Some overestimate miracles, expect extraordinary interventions of God’s power and do not make sufficient use of the means at hand to accomplish good. It is good to think of eternal bliss, but it must be remembered that it is the reward of love. Nothing is more holy to a Christian than prayer, but to it also belongs work, as symbolically the two sisters in the Gospel, Mary and Martha (Luke 10,
38 ). Save the soul, for the rest does not matter! Nevertheless, we cannot throw up our hands in condescension over the misery and needs of our neighbor, over social injustice, over oppression. So-called Quietism (from the Latin word quies – peace) longs for God’s grace to permeate man’s heart. It forgets, however, that God is action, so God’s life promotes activity. Spiritual experiences are not for that, to be drunk with them, as it were, and to fall into passivity, inactivity.
 One-sided Christian sociologist. Love for God, however, is realized through the love of neighbor. The latter, then, is to meet the needs of modern life and be organized. Christians as a whole cannot be alienated from public life, neither from politics nor from culture. And yet, even in the heat of enthusiasm for a good cause, they must remember Christ’s words: My kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18,36). The Gospel is not just a social program.