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The Beatitudes:

Why We Pursue Them

By

Clinton R. LeFort

MelatiaeTrade Publishing 2013©

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The Beatitudes

The Beatitudes are the heart of the spiritual life. The beatitudes allow the Christian to walk in the

atmosphere of the Kingdom of God, They make possible the command of Jesus, “be perfect as

your heavenly Father is perfect.” The Prophet Isaiah referred to the gifts of the Spirit, which are

closely associated with the beatitudes, to be characteristic of the Word Incarnate, the Messiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him:

A spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

A spirit of counsel and of strength,

A spirit of knowledge and of fear of the

Lord,

And his delight shall be the fear of the

Lord.” (Isa. 11:2-3a)

Jesus lived the life of the beatitudes perfectly. In his example we see the perfect

manifestation of the beatitudes and the gifts of the Spirit.

In the following meditations we will consider each of the beatitudes in turn. We will draw upon

the sacred scripture as well as the teachings of the Church and the Saints. This is not a

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theological treatise, but it can be seen as a window opening out into the world of the Beatitudes.

There is a vast amount of literature from the Saints written about the beatitudes. In these

meditations there will only be sufficient reflection to get one started on a lifelong study.

This is a book which I hope you can pick again and again throughout your day or week and find

some sentence to carry you along on your spiritual journey. I’m hoping it will point you in the

right direction and keep you on the right path until the Holy Spirit can teach you in

“inexpressible groaning’s.” (Rom 8:26)

The last four papers are topics related to the Beatitudes from a theological standpoint. Aquinas

on the problem of Evil looks at Evil as an absence of good as opposed to the Beatitudes which

bring the “fullness of life.” St. Augustine on Knowledge introduce the idea that just as the the

Beatitudes bring us to a clearer union with God’s will, evil and ignorance or proper

understanding of true knowledge is, are a cause of infidelity to God’s will. Aquinas on the Soul

looks into the nature of the soul and what are its essential operations in the pursuit of truth; lastly,

Aquinas on the Virtues looks at the essence of virtue and what makes it a virtue; that is, why is it

a good and whether it is a habit and what kind of habit.

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Fearful of Losing You

Jesus, I can never do anything without you. I do not want to do anything that would harm

my relationship with you, but I know that I have in the past done some things that I know are

imperfect and selfish. Thank you for keeping me your child, despite these weaknesses. If I knew

the answer to the mystery of my life, I would no longer question the things I do. As it is today I

know that I can do better. It is not that I want to have a divided heart or give undue attention to

passing things, but as you told the disciples, the “cares of this world,” creep into my life, and the

balance of my love for you become unbalanced by the weight of the cares of the world I continue

to give to them. When this happens I do not feel as faithful as I should be. Deep inside myself ,

when I take time to listen, I hear your voice amplified by the Holy Spirit you have given to me,

to let go of these cares that weigh me down, so that you can guide me into the light. At moments

like this I’m grateful that I have such a compassionate and loving savior.

Still, there is a part of myself which still wants to indulge in passing pleasures. Your Spirit gently

calls me to yield to the grace of discipline and selflessness, so that I can be more like you. At

those moments everything that I believe is clear and I know what I should do. I make the right

decision, but I as time goes on and I become involved in many things, it seems I return to my

former habits. I do not give up on myself, since I remember your very own love for me. One

thing I’m sure of is that the compassion at those times I give to myself, is the gift of yourself to

me.

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To Call You Father

I want to be perfect. To be perfectly in love with you my God is my happiness. When I look

towards you in faith, I see in the mirror of your light what I am, and I humbly accept the truth

that I have not arrived at the perfection you ask of us. I know I should be perfect as our you,

Heavenly Father are perfect. That would make me very happy. I’m happy when I believe that

you have chosen me to be yours from all eternity. I’m eternally grateful for your promise of love

to us. Yes, that you have given us your very love to be with us. This is my hope when your Spirit

says, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go” (Ps. 32:8)

I want to call you Father, yet when I look at myself and see my many imperfections it is harder

to accept simple and eternal gift of spiritual adoption. When I go to prayer and call you Father, I

draw closer to you. It is true you have adopted me as your child, and baptism has made me so for

all eternity. For that I am eternally grateful. These gifts will never die, I mean, faith, hope, and

love. Grace is incomprehensible. Yes, this grace has produced an eternal bond between you and

me. I am sure of this, because the Spirit himself bears witness with my Spirit, that we are your

children. Still, I fear in sinning thru pride before you; that is, to attribute some good to myself

which I do not have. In your Son, Jesus Christ, you have given me everything. I do not want to

sin thru pride, but you, my God are infinitely great, and it is easy to mistake the reflection of

your glory in us, with what you alone are. This is true because of the sin of Adam, which I have

inherited. Because you ask me to call you Father, I do in fear and in loving obedience.

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All I need

Growing up before you in faith, I have learned to accept the hatred of the world, just as you

accepted the hatred of the world when you were here among us. But the world wants to hate

something or someone we are not. It cannot hate us in a real way, since it doesn’t see us. You told

us that the world “neither sees nor knows” the Holy Spirit. (Jn. 14:17) The world and those of the

world see the reflection of their very own separated self from you and it is their own self that

they hate, for you my God cannot be hated. It is easier to hate the darkness for not giving light

than to hat you who are light. Yet, the world is passing away, while you, my God, are eternal and

do not change. I know the world in myself, and you have overcome the world in me, so that I can

overcome the hatred that comes to me in the world, which doesn’t listen to you. Neither can I

boast of anything, since it is all your gift. I cannot comprehend that you have looked on me in

love and drawn me here to yourself. At a time when I was far away from you, you spoke to my

heart and shone your light in me, so that it would scatter the darkness that I have allowed to take

root in me. Then you came as a Good Shepherd and freed me from the darkness that I couldn’t

see was killing my soul and my life. You allowed the darkness to draw a circle around my life, so

that at the time you chose to free me, your light was more easily found and I could learn to

rejoice in the good and truth that saves rather than the evil that kills thru lies. You are all I need;

you are all that anyone needs, and you are the source of all of our everlasting joy.

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I Listen

When I come to pray to you I open myself up to you, not that you can see what is inside

of my heart, for you are the “witness of our inmost self.” (Wis. 1:6) There is nothing I can tell

you that you do not already know, but by sincerely telling you what I alone can tell you of

myself, I make known to you what I want you to know about me. In sharing everything about

me, I learn how much you are already with me, and that there is nothing inside of myself that is

good that is not already the work of your hands. I discover and reveal these tinges to you in my

time, which comes and passes and will come, but in you all is one, for you contain all time.

Before it could ere happen to me, it must already be as it is in your eternity. So I come away

from prayer as a person who finds you in all things and I marvel at all that you do. My heart

grown in thanksgiving and I learn to praise you for you are high above all my thoughts and

feelings about you. I wish to always remain with you and in you. That is the only way I can be

happy in this life and also eternally happy with you in the next life, which in you is One.

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Strength from the Lord

St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, in the early days of the Church, and tells them to “draw your

strength from the Lord and his mighty power.” (Eph. 6:10) His meaning is that the Christian can

become exceedingly capable1 to carry out his loyalty to Christ from the same strength which

gave Christ his strength to fulfill the Father’s will. St. Paul witnessed to the Last Supper and the

consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord. This is the kind of

strength we are referring to. If we consider all of the sacraments individually we will come away

with the teaching handed down to us. Baptism enables us to live as citizens of heaven,

confirmation enables us to be soldiers of Christ, the Eucharist strengthens us against all sin, even

venial.2 Sacrament of Reconciliation strengths us to avoid sin and grow in virtuous living. In

short, our lives are constantly drawing our strength from the Lord. We humbly accept ourselves

as needy servants and come begging for his grace in this time of adoration. Finally, the sacrament

of healing, strengthens the soul for the final move home.

The Christian life is the work of God. When we are faithful to God we reflect the very life of

God to others. This does not mean that others will treat us well or that we will be ell received, for

we know that all of us myst carry our Cross daily. We do obtain that confidence in Christ being

with us and to have CHrist friendship is of such great importance that everything the world can

offer seems trite in comparison. As the Second Vatican Council said we my be in the world but

not of the world. We are to draw our strength form the Lord for this journey. By his strength we

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can overcome the vicissitudes of life and arrive happily in the New Kingdom he established thru

his Life, Death and Resurrection.

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I do believe

St Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians gives the reason why we have received the

Spirit of God as “so that we can understand the things freely given us by God.” (1 Cor. 2:12)

The emphasis is on being able to understand from within the mind of God; that is, thru faith. The

gift of understanding allows us to comprehend the meaning of something so that it can be used to

do God’s will in our lives. St. Ignatius of Loyola says in the beginning of his Spiritual Exercises

that “the other things on the face of the earth are created for the human beings, to help them in

the pursuit of the end for which they are created.4”

In reference to the Blessed Sacrament we have this understanding that Jesus gave it to us to

create an eternal bond of love in each of us. St. Paul reveals the mystery of this knowledge given

us in Christ, “he has made known to us the mystery his will…to sum up all things in Christ, in

heaven and on earth.” (Eph. 1:9) We are before the Word Incarnate from whom “all things came

to be” and “without him nothing came to be.” (Jn. 1:3) St. Augustine5 commenting on “Listen,

my daughter, and understand, pay me careful heed,” (Ps. 45:1) says that first those who are to be

one Spirit in Christ must first hearken in obedient faith, before they see in vision; once they

assent in obedience in the darkness of faith, they are given the grace of a clearer understanding.

The Old Testament reveals the effect of this understanding upon human consciousness when the

Prophet Isaiah says:

“As high as the heavens are above the earth, o high are my ways above your ways

and my thoughts above your thoughts,” (Isa. 55:9)

Lastly, the man who brought his son to Jesus to be healed, said “I do believe, help my

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unbelief!” (Mk. 9:24) Jesus, help us to be patient in faith, so that we can arrive at a fuller

understanding of your will for us.

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Taste and see

The spiritual senses are the supernatural counterpart of the natural senses; just as we use the

natural sense to become knowledgeable of the natural world, so we learn to use the spiritual

sense to move about in the spiritual world of the Kingdom of God. The Psalmist referred to this

world when he said to the Jewish people, “learn to savor how good the Lord is…” (Ps. 34:9a)

Just as the natural tongue distinguishes between the sweet and the sour, the tart and the bland; the

will desires the eternal and infinitely good over the temporal and the mutable. Just as we desire

unity between our will and God’s will, so the gift of wisdom allows us to savor that union

between our wills and God’s friendship. “I no longer call you slaves… I have called you

friends.” (Jn. 15:15)

The spiritual sense can be understood by using an analogy. Just as a person who walks into a

room without lights can sense the presence of someone in the room, so the soul, thru faith, learns

to sense the presence of God in his soul. St. Thomas says that contrary to the natural way of

knowing something, sight precedes taste, in the spiritual world, taste comes before sight; in other

words, first the soul tastes God’s presence, thru a spiritual relishing. This comes about thru the

spiritual Gift of Wisdom, which is an infused gift of the Holy Spirit.6 St. Mary Magdalen

experienced this on Easter morning when she met the Risen Lord outside the tomb, at first

thinking he was the gardener, yet after he call her by name, she immediately “recognized” him

and said “Rabboni.”

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The emphasis her is on “goodness of the Lord;” that is, as St. John of the Cross says, the

difference between the goodness of creatures and God is like night and day.7 St. John of the

Cross says that faith is the most perfect means to union with God because of its likeness to God.

Just as earthly wisdom produces temporal benefits in the soul, so the infused gift of Wisdom

draws the soul closer to God in a union of love.

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The Problem Of Evil in Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas disputation De Malo, otherwise knows as On Evil was available in

1275-1280. ( Aquinas 12). The problem of Evil reaches into every aspect of the theologians

investigations; therefore, Aquinas’ disputations were relevant to his teaching career in the

Dominican order. In the first article he asks, “Is evil an entity?” (Aquinas, On Evil 55) In his

“On the Contrary,” Aquinas refers to St. Augustine’s commentary on the prologue of St. John,

Augustine’s work the City of God. He concludes by saying that Evil cannot be an entity. The

argument is characteristic of Aquinas’ tight and terse logic. According to Augustine “that evil is

not a nature, but the lack of good took on this ascription” (Aquinas, On Evil 57). Secondly,

Aquinas uses divine revelation to bolster his argument. He quotes St. John by saying, “All things

were made by him.” But the Word did not cause evil, as Augustine says. Therefore, evil is not an

entity. (Aquinas, On Evil 57) In other words because God is pure goodness and evil is a lack of

goodness, then God cannot cause a lack of goodness in his creation. If we were to accept the

argument that God can cause evil, then we would likewise have to accept that God can do evil or

that God is not absolute good. Which is heretical and is condemned by the Church. Aquinas

resolves this difficulty by resorting the argument that evil is a privation of a good residing within

something created good. In the last part his first argument he concludes:

“Therefore, everything that is a real thing needs to be a particular good and so, by reason

of what exists, cannot be contrary to good. And so we conclude that evil as such is the privation

of a particular good, a privation that is associated with a particular good, and not an

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entity” (Aquinas, On Evil 58)

The second part of Aquinas’ argument runs like this: “every real thing has an inclination and

desire for something that befits itself” (Aquinas, On Evil 58). But since everything that is was

made in the divine image and likeness, it is unreasonable for a thing to desire something other

than what befits itself. To desire something that is not an entity, is to desire a privation of a good.

But to desire a non good is to desire something not befitting itself. Therefore, evil cannot be an

entity. Here is the full argument:

“Second, the same conclusion is evident from the fact that every real thing has an

inclination and desire for something that befits itself. But everything that has the nature of being

desirable has the nature of good. Therefore, every real thing has a conformity with some good,

and evil as such is not in harmony with good but contrary to it. Therefore, evil is not an entity.

And if evil were a real thing, it would neither desire anything nor be desired by anything, and so

have no activity or movement, since nothing acts or moves except because of the desire of an

end.” (Aquinas, On Evil 58)

Aquinas offers the example of a man with a crooked leg. It is not the leg that is crooked

per se, but the form of the leg that is crooked; in other words, there is a privation in the form

from what is should be. He gives another example by stating that in the production of the species

nature acts such that children are born without defects, but nature also allows a monster to be

born from time to time. The bottom line is that God is not limited by the privations he allows in

our nature, since he is infinite in his providence in bringing good out of these privations.

Furthermore, since God is absolutely perfect and he foresaw all things before they were created

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he wouldn’t have allowed these privations to take place if he didn’t know how to reveal his

perfect love thru them.

The third and final part of Aquinas argument proves that existing has the nature of the

desirable. He made mention earlier in this argument that if evil was an entity nothing could

desire it nor could it desire anything:

“And if evil were a real thing, it would neither desire anything nor be desired by

anything, and so have no activity or movement, since nothing acts or moves except because of

the desire of an end.” (Aquinas, On Evil 58)

Every thing desires that which benefits itself, but since evil is a privation of good, that

which is not good doesn’t benefit good; therefore, evil doesn’t benefit itself. If it doesn’t benefit

itself, neither could anything else benefit from it. Furthermore, since God is absolute being, good

and existence, He cannot desire anything that can benefit Himself, since He is infinite perfection.

Infinite perfection cannot lack anything, it cannot have a privation. Some being that is mutable

can have a privation because it has the nature of the mutable.

Aquinas continues and says:

“existing itself chiefly has the nature of being desirable, and so we perceive that

everything by nature desires to conserve its existing and avoids things destructive of its existing

and resists them as far as possible” (Aquinas, On Evil 58-59 )

In other words, existing could not exist if it didn’t desire it’s existing. What desires non-

existence is not existence, per se, but it is a privation of existence. Only the coalescence of

potency and act, which is mutable being, could have a privation, since that is the nature of a

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mutable good. Mutable good can change toward being or away from being, whereas, infinite

being simply is. Aquinas is arguing that if there is a movement away from being, then it is a

mutation of what is made by God to exist and to desire the preservation of itself; hence, to

preserve its existence and to resists the privation of its being. In short, evil cannot be an entity.

“Therefore, evil, which is universally contrary to good, is necessarily also contrary to

existing. And what is contrary to existing cannot be an entity” (Aquinas, On Evil 59 ).

In the case of Ivan Karamazov, though he doubts God could create something and allow

some evil to overcome it, a privation, he can never doubt that what he doubts about the nature of

the reason for the evil, he cannot doubt that the being who is being subjected to evil doesn’t

exist. To our way of thinking evil is a privation, but we do not see evil as it is used in the infinite

mind and will of God. If all things were perfect and we experienced that perfection, we would

still be finite and never arrive at the understanding of God’s infinite perfection. It takes faith to

see the position Aquinas is dishing out in his disputation on Evil. Without faith it is easy to fall

into despair and hopelessness in the face of Evil. Human beings desire existence.

Ivan Karamazov has a different view than what Aquinas has, since Ivan can’t see that

God could allow all the terrible things in the world and still be called God. Consider the Book V ,

chapter IV called “Rebellion.” (Dostoyevsky 309) Here Ivan asks this question:

““Rebellion? I am sorry you call it that,” said Ivan earnestly. “One can hardly live in

rebellion, and I want to live. Tell me yourself, I challenge you—answer. Imagine that you are

creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them

peace and rest at last, but that it was essential

and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature—that baby beating its breast with

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its fist, for instance—and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you consent to be

the architect on those conditions?” (Dostoyevsky 309)

Ivan asks the question whether God could have created the entire world while knowing

He would allow evil. The answer according to Christian tradition has always been yes, but that

doesn’t mean that holding a position revealed thru faith is an easy one. Ivan would most

probably not agree with Aquinas position, given the fact that he doubts an absolute providential

God who can even bring good out of evil.

Given the condition of God allowing a man to have a crooked leg and that he could bring good

out of it may be even harder for Ivan Karamazov to understand how Ivan Karamazov would

respond to it. I believe that unless Ivan had faith it would be hard to see any suffering as

redemptive. It is much like the example of the soldier who was arrested, beaten and flayed

because he wouldn’t deny his faith. (Dostoyevsky 157) It is undeniable that the man suffered

because someone else didn’t believe as he did and that he suffered at the hands of those who

were opposed to his faith; but that is a choice of free-will. As St. Augustine says, there are many

things a person can do unwillingly, but no one can believe unwillingly. Ivan can choose to doubt

about God’s revelation is but he cannot deny that he has free-will to do so. An atheist can deny

God’s existence, but he cannot deny that he freely chooses to deny. He cannot deny that he

knows that he denies and that he thinks what he knows he is denying. And that he remembers he

thinks and denies these things.

Given the broad scope in which a person can deny evil to exist at all or that evil is a

real thing but that there is no control over it, Aquinas has reached a middle ground in his

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argument, since Aquinas gives to God what belong to God and to man what belongs to man.

What belongs

to God is God and what belongs to man, everything good in man, comes from God. The

question is whether man-atheist, faithful, or agnostic-can use the good that comes from God

gives as a means to turn against God. According to Aquinas, God can do whatever he wants with

the good that he gives, whether it is allowing evil in an imperfect world or creating a world with

no imperfections. After all He is Love, or as Aquinas would say, “I AM WHO AM” (Ex. 3:14).

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The Epistemology of Saint Augustine

Augustine begins his journey into God thru faith and it is there that he remains when he begins

speaking of the knowledge of God. Knowledge shall lead to communion with God.

Communion with God leads to Him who is Knowledge itself:

It is no small part of knowledge to join thyself to Him who is knowledge. He hath the

eyes of knowledge; have thou the eyes of a believing mind. That which God sees, be thou ready

to believe.8

Not only does all knowledge lead to Him, but one must believe first then you will

understand. Knowledge is not for the sake of knowing in itself, but for the sake of loving. Loving

Him who is Knowledge itself is a far greater good than loving that which passes away.

One could make an argument that reason is a good means to knowledge:

Is it not better to believe in order to know, rather than to know in order to believe, or even

in order to know? At any rate, St. Augustine’s own experience taught him that is was better, and

he in turn wants to persuade us that it is so.9

To believe is part of the human condition. We grow up in our families and in society

immersed in circumstances we need to assent to the authority of another. Children believe their

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parents when they are only beginning life, while new employees believe in those training them in

new skills. Every human being must believe others in order to assent to the truth of commerce

and social good. Knowledge is of two kinds. First, there is knowledge of what is seen. Secondly,

knowledge of what is believed. When it is ourselves who give the testimony it is what we have

seen; on the other hand, when others give the testimony, we assent to their knowledge by

believing.10 We believe others every day in some way. We allow ourselves to trust in their

authority about what they tell us. Augustine, in his work On True Religion, regards authority and

reason as the medicine for the soul.

We need both reason and authority to arrive at the truth:

Authority demands of us faith, and prepares man for reason. Reason leads to perception

and cognition, although authority also does not leave reason wholly out of sight, when the

question of who may be believed is being considered. And certainly the supreme form of

Authority is that of Truth already known and manifest.11

We naturally assent to the authority of others we can see; that is, we believe in their

words to us. When it comes to religious faith, it is still an assent to an authority, but now it is the

authority of he who is knowledge and truth Itself. Is there any reason why I should not believe in

the testimony of truth itself, which comes from those who witness to having seen and heard Jesus

Christ?12

Augustine knows that even those who doubt, know that they doubt and even though they

still do not know what they wish to know, they cannot deny the truth that they doubt. A person

who chooses to doubt also chooses to desire the truth.13 Augustine understood that reason is a

gift of God and it is what distinguishes man from the beast. The problem Augustine keeps

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coming back to is that his experience will not allow him to rely totally upon reason, simply

because his early life as a follower of the Manichean’s helped him realize that that reason alone

cannot attain happiness. Reason alone always falls short of its goal. Faith in Jesus Christ,

enlightens reason as to its proper object of knowledge. It is only in faith that he can find

happiness and true knowledge. The solution Augustine came to was that reason assisted by faith

could ask God to heal itself , which was crippled by sin. Man by his freedom fell into sin, but

God by his grace liberated man from sin; in the same way that reason without grace cannot find

immutable truth, but with the help of grace can be restored to true knowledge in Jesus Christ.14 It

is natural for man to believe, but with grace that comes thru Jesus Christ, he being sot believe

truly. Man must purify his sight thru faith, so that reason can be guide to a true an unhampered

knowledge that comes thru Jesus Christ. For St. Augustine this is Truth and Wisdom; it is Truth

because is what man is created for and it is Wisdom to submit ones whole life to that Truth

because it leads to eternal happiness.

Augustine faced the fact that he must humbly submit to grace to truly know:

In its essence, Augustinian faith is both an adherence of the mind to supernatural truth

and a humble surrender of the whole man to the grace of Christ. After all, how could these two

things be separated? The adherence of the mind to God’s authority implies humility, but humility

in turn presupposes a confidence in God, and this in itself is an act of love and charity.15

If we have this faith it will no doubt lead us to a true understanding.16 When Augustine

knows that he exists, concomitantly he lives; the two are inseparable. He lives for the truth he

contemplates and it is for this eternal contemplation of the eternal Beatitude of God that he finds

true happiness. The face to face contemplation of God in eternity is the ultimate knowledge for

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Augustine, but it is a knowledge without end. It is a knowing, and a knowing as you are known.17

It is an eternal seeking and finding Him who is beyond our knowing even in Eternity. Just as

Scripture is an introduction to the Mystery of Him who is beyond comprehension, so the

contemplation of Him is the eternal joy of beholding Him who is beyond all knowing.

Augustine is certain of one thing, as told in De Beata Vita, his thought:

You who would know yourself, do you know that you exist? Yes. How do you know this?

I do not know. Do you think that you are one or many? I do not know. Do you know that you

move? No. Do you know that you think? Yes. Then it is true that you think? Yes.18

How much more is he certain of his faith, since faith is to think with assent. For

Augustine he can be certain of his activity of thinking with assent, which is faith, but even with

the aid of reason and the fruit of his understanding, it always falls short of its object.

Faith and reason are intrinsically bound in the pursuit of God:

For even though it is true that faith seeks and understanding finds, still the One it finds is

such that even after finding Him it goes on seeking Him.19

We see that Augustine is certain that he exist, that he thinks, and that he lives.

Furthermore, he is certain that he believes in the One who is Truth and Knowledge itself, he is

certain that he reasons about his understanding and that it remains far off and that he must

continue to seek beyond his understanding.

Augustine’s journey of knowledge was always towards that unmovable Truth:

Now whosoever supposes that he can know the truth while he is still living iniquitously,

is in error. And it si wickedness to love this world, and those things that come into being and pass

away, and to lust after these things, and to labour for them in order to acquire them, and to

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rejoice when they are abundant, and to fear lest they perish, and to be saddened when thye

perish. Such a life cannot see that pure, and undefiled, and immutable Truth, and cleave to it, to

be for evermore unmoved.20

For Augustine, besides the necessity of faith and the rational evidence that leads to

acknowledging one’s very existence there is another key to his epistemology, the soul and its life.

St Augustine sees the soul as a creature just like all of that brought from nothingness into being

by God. The soul is infused into the body by God. St. Augustine doesn’t give one hypothesis as

to when this happens. He understands that the soul is certain about one thing, and that it is

mind.21 Because the mind can distinguish itself from the body and it knows it doesn’t have

extension like the body. The soul, because it hasn’t extension cannot be located in three

dimensional space, but it vivifies the body. Because the soul is a spiritual faculty it can have

contact with the divine ideas, unlike the body.22 The mind knows it has its origins in God and

knows it is immutable, since it is a spiritual substance. The souls is eternal only because it is

brought into existence by God and sustained in that existence; the souls shares the life of God.23

The truth of our existence is true because our body and soul share in the truth of God’s existence.

In the same way, the mind or soul, seeks truth because it is made to seek the truth; there is only

One Truth and that is Truth itself. St. Augustine will later call this Truth , the Word. Its’ very

immortal existence, depends upon God himself.24

The souls sees its indestructibility as coming from God:

So, being a substance dependent on God and on God alone. The soul knows itself to be

an indestructible life through which the order of the Ideas is introduced into the body it animates.

But there is soul only where there is knowledge.25

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Sense knowledge comes about thru the sense exposure to the temporal life. Since the

body and the soul are two distinct substances, yet united, the soul , being a spiritual faculty, has

priority over the body. The body cannot enter the mind, but it is the mind that must subject the

senses to the order of the mind. When we speak we say certain sounds, but it is not the sounds

themselves that give meaning to our words, but the mind that understands the sounds it hears and

applies meaning to them. For each person the meaning will be different, depending upon the

experience of the listener. We judge another’s thought referring it to our own self-

consciousness.26 When we assent to its truth, we form a judgment about what we experience,

whether true or false. Augustine’s comparisons of what we experience with the divine ideas is

Platonic in character.27 According to Plato, the divine ideas are the eternal ideas of God. For

Augustine it is the soul that is the cause of knowledge and not the senses.28 The sense play their

part by presenting to the soul what it experiences thru sight, hearing, tasting, smelling and

feeling. It is the soul that gives order to our sense experience. It is the souls’ memory that

recollects the experience of the senses and orders the experience towards the ideas of God. The

soul bestows meaning upon the sense operation by giving them order towards the Ideas.29 St.

Augustine understands that it is the soul giving attention to the corporeal passions of the body

that gives meaning to the passions and pains it experiences. The soul cannot ignore the body. The

body hunger, the soul acknowledges and gives it food. The body needs sleep and the soul

recognizes and gives it a reasonable amount of rest. So on for all the senses. Without the reason

guiding the body, the body becomes reckless. The body needs the soul to expose ti to the Ideas of

God.

In all of our sense activities it is the soul that creates these experiences of the senses:

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Thus we see that a soul is transcendent to the body intervenes even at the lowest level of

knowledge.30

On the path to knowledge, there is a natural light and a light from the soul:

Thee is one light which we perceive through the eye, another by which the eye itself is

enabled to perceive.31

The soul arrives at rational knowledge thru what Augustine calls the “inner master.”32

The inner master is nothing less than God himself. When two persons are in conversation, each

person speaks in concepts and letters to the other person. Anyone listening to the person speak

would understand what the other is saying in relation to his own experience, education, and

knowledge of the words being used. When the teacher teaches, he speaks concepts and uses

examples in order that the student will understand the concepts he uses. It is up to the student,

with his own experiences to translate the teachers words into his own meaning. The teacher

cannot teach the truth, but only the truth, which is common to both teacher and student can

mediate the truth for both of them. The mind cannot produce truth, it sees the truth that is in it.

It is God who becomes the mediator of knowledge to the soul:

In Augustine therefore, God received the title of inner master because He is the source of

agreement between minds….In everything we learn we have but one master, namely the inner

truth which presides over the soul, i.e. Christ, the unchangeable power and eternal wisdom of

God.33

It is God who mediates the truth between the teacher and the student:

When I speak or am spoken to, it is He who reveals one and the same truth to the mind of

speaker and hearer alike. This is what the God tells us in the Gospel. One is your Master,

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Christ.34

For Augustine epistemology is a yielding to the Word within, who mediates the truth to

the mind and the truth to the soul, to the degree it is inclined towards it. God reveals himself to

each soul as it is prepared to receive it.

Augustine knows that the Word is the cause of “thought,” and “learning:”

In Augustine’s way of thinking, thought (cogitatio) is merely the movement by which the

soul gathers, assembles and collects all the hidden knowledge it possesses and has not yet

discovered, in order to be able to fix its gaze upon it.35

Augustine has a term for this teaching of the Word in the soul, the inner master; he calls

this divine illumination. Divine illumination is another way to say that God is the source of truth

to the soul. The Word is our interior master and he not only is present to teach is about created

things in the order of nature, but also illumine about the uncreated knowledge of God. He creates

in us both the spark of reason and faith.

Divine illumination is not on the order of abstraction from the sensible, but is the Word

speaking directly to the soul thru its capacity to receive Him. The souls seeks to accept its lowly

state while clinging to the Word in Truth: For when the mind rejoices in itself as if in good

belonging to itself, it is proud. But when it perceives itself to be mutable (as is dear from the one

fact that from being foolish it may be made wise), and perceives that wisdom is immutable, the

mind must at the same time perceive that wisdom is superior to its own nature and that there is

more abundant and certain joy in the participation and the illumination of wisdom than in itself.

Thus from causing to subside and desisting from boasting and self-conceit, it strives to cling to

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God and to be remade and reformed by Him who is immutable, by Him who it now understands

is not only every species of all things with which it comes in contact, whether by the bodily

senses or by the faculties of the mind, but also the very capacity of taking form before there is a

form, since the formless is defined to be that which can be given a form.36

God establishes knowledge in the soul thru a path which leads thru escaping the obstacles

of doubt that truth exists and in its very doubt it finds that its life and existence cannot be

doubted. Augustine leads the soul in search for truth thru a path which rejects all that is passing

so it can cling to what in itself can never pass, for it is the eternal truth that reveals himself to the

soul to the degree that it disposes ti self to the truth. When the soul cleanses its heart and mind

from passions and the residue of sin, truth is encountered as the One inner master that never

leaves it. The inner master of truth leads the soul to accept itself in its own weakness and

surrender to the illumination power of itself thru the mind. This divine illumination cannot be

effected by the body since it is the guide for the body and critiques the operation’s of the senses.

The soul gains its knowledge thru recognizing that it cannot know itself or know its immortality

without the truth that reveals itself to itself. When the soul accepts its limited knowledge in the

face of the infinite truth of the Word is no longer desires the passing pleasures of the temporal

satisfactions it is given thru the senses, but ever seeks to remain in an ever uninterrupted union

with He who speaks the Truth itself.37

Augustine’s Epistemology: Gilson or Copleston

Gilson and Copleston are in agreement with Augustine’s theory of divine illumination,

which is the heart of Augustine’s Christian philosophy of knowledge. Gilson presents the

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development of the thinking of Augustine on knowledge a little more carefully and completely,

though Copleston presents the entire spectrum of Augustine’s major themes in his writings a little

more fully. For example, Copleston is concerned with Augustine’s entire world of thought:

knowledge, God, the World, moral theory and the state, while Gilson remains glued to

Augustine’s epistemological adventure throughout his work. Gilson ascends from one stage of

Augustine’s epistemological experience to his final arrival at his understanding of divine

illumination: step one: faith; step two: rational evidence; step three: the soul and life; step four:

sense knowledge;finally, step five: rational knowledge. Thru each step he allows the student of

Augustine to meditate and take in small chunks of Augustine’s advance. This is really helpful for

the student. Because of this slow ascent from the easier concepts of Augustine’s thought to his

more advanced thoughts on divine illumination, as a new student to Augustine I found it easier to

slowly approach the insights of Augustine thru Gilson rather than Copleston. This has nothing to

do with the mastery of Copleston or Gilson, but only with this careful caution that I might miss

something if I were to attempt a more speedy ascent to reach an Augustines’s understanding of

knowledge.

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St. Thomas Aquinas: On the Anima

While asking questions about the nature of man, St. Thomas spends some time

reflecting upon the characteristics of the anima38 or soul; he divides his inquiry into seven

questions. In these seven questions, he investigates all of the general questions regarding the

essence, potency’s and relationship of the anima or soul.

Q1

Aquinas first shows that the soul’ essence is not its substance, since that belongs to God alone.

God’s essence and operation are one. Can we speak of the anima as having an essence? Are there

potencies in the anima? The anima or soul is still a creature, since all creatures receive their

substance from another. The soul is no different from any other creature, yet it is of the highest

sense a creature, since it animates the body. If the anima had life actually, it would not depend

upon another for its potency; but it actually does receive its potency from another. The anima has

life apart from the body. It does not need the body for its existence. The anima is subsistent.

Aquinas says that the anima is not the immediate principle of its operation. If it’s operation were

its act, then it would have to be outside of the genus of creature hood; this is impossible, as he

mentioned in the first argument. The nature of the anima is not in capacity to an act beyond

itself. It is the act of the body. He judges that the nature of the anima is not its potency.39 The

‘anima’ is a form according to its potency and not its essence. It can be in capacity to another act,

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but not according to its essence; that is, it is not an all-potencyful act, since that would place it

outside the genus of creature; since this is impossible, he reverts to his original argument and

concludes as before. The animas’ essence cannot be identical to its potency.

Q2

Can we define only one potency in the anima? Can the anima have several potencies?

Aquinas reflects in this way. A few imperfect creatures require many acts to reach a less than

perfect existence; other creatures who can reach a new state of perfection require many more acts

to reach their state of perfection; there is finally rational man, who require less acts to reach their

state of perfection. Lastly, the angels and God require no acts to reach perfection, since they are

perfect. Furthermore, Aquinas says that just as a sick person who is ill disposed to health requires

many such remedies or medicines to heal him, and the person who is more disposed to health

requires fewer such medicines to heal him; lastly, the person who is in perfect health needs no

medicine at all. So is the anima of man, who is on the boundaries of the body; that is, a

composite being, requires many such acts in disposition to reach the state of perfection; ergo, he

needs many such potency’s of the anima.40

Q3

How can I distinguish the potencies in my own soul? Is it easy to discern if I have

different potencies in my soul? Acts and operations come before the potency’s according to

purpose; their objects again precede these. Nature’s potency’s are diversified according to the

various objects. Acts are either active potency’s or passive potency’s. The act of an active

potency acts as an end, whereas the object of the act of a passive potency acts as a principle or

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moving principle. Just as different potency’s of the anima have different objects, that is, the

senses have sensual objects and the intellectual has spiritual objects, truth, justice, so different

potency’s are required as the active or passive principle of their objects.41 Aquinas shows that

the anima has potency’s according to its essential princples of activities and are directed towards

different objects, which diversify its acts, active or passive abilities.42

Q4

Do all of the potencies of my soul act equally to one another? Is one potency more

important than another? In de Anima, Aristotle compares parts to figures. Figures have

disposition among themselves; ergo, the potency’s of the anima have disposition. Whenever

there are many things that start from one, there must be disposition in the procession. The anima

has many integral parts, such as vegetative, sensual, imaginative and intellectual potency’s; ergo,

there must be disposition among these potency’s. There are two kinds of disposition. The first

kind of disposition is the lower subject43 to the higher potency’s. This can be seen in the

vegetative and sensual potency’s subject to the intellectual potency. In addition, the vegetative

falls under the command44 of the sensual; lastly, the sensual falls under the command of the

generative potency. Ergo, Aquinas concludes that the anima potency’s need to have disposition

among its specific potency’s. Secondly, there is a disposition among the sensual potency’s, or

potency’s, which are similar in nature. Sight is more perfect than hearing, since sight is more

spiritual than hearing, since hearing depends upon the movement of the air.45

Q5

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Are all the potencies in my soul necessary or can I speak of them as non-essential?46

Aquinas sees that a few of the potency’s of the anima do not require a bodily organ to function,

as intellect and will; other potency’s of the anima do not act unless they are passively engaged as

sight and hearing; that is, they need the influence of a corporal organ. Ergo, a few of the

potency’s of the anima are spiritual.47 Aquinas begins to explain the various potency’s of the

anima in this way. He says first that the subjects of the operative potency’s are able to operate.

Next, he shows that when potency is able to operate, it is the same as the potency that does

actually operate, since the potential potency is the same as the actual potency. The person of

potency is the person of operation. In other words, I am the same person whether I have the

potential potency to see as when I actually do see. My seeing does not change me as a subject,

but it is only an expression of the potency of my anima, which sees. It is in this way that, we can

understand ourselves to have two kinds of potencies: one dependent upon corporeal potency’s,

the other depends upon the spiritual potency. For example, it is essential to the definition of man

that he acts rational, but not that he tastes or touches. The sense is common qualities shard by

both man and animal. To will and understand is essential to the definition of man. This is how

Aquinas shows how the different potency’s are within man as a person; that is, a few essential

and others accidental.48

Q649

Aquinas goes on to show that the potency’s of the anima, spiritual and corporeal, arise

from its natural form. What flows from the anima essentially? Aquinas concludes that the person

of the anima is essentially all the potency’s that are naturally part of it and nothing that is

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accidental to it.50 Ergo, the potency’s of the anima flow from its essence. It is contradictory to

call a few thing accidental which is essential and vice versa:

“There is a real distinction between the anima and its potency’s. The anima belongs to the

genus of substance; the potency’s belong to the genus of accident. But there is a real distinction

betweeen substance and accidnt. Ergo, there is a real dinstinction between the anima and its

potency’s.”51

Ergo, we see that the potency’s flow from the anima as its accidents. The operations of

the anima are not it essentially, otherwise it would be what it does; but that would make it God,

which is absurd, since only God’s operation is equal to his substance. Ergo, the operations of the

anima, its potency’s, are distinct from its substance.52 The anima is always in act, but the

potency’s of the anima are not always in act. What is not always in act in the anima are

accidental to the act of the anima. The potency’s of the anima are not always in act-the anima

doesn’t always see, since a fewtimes it sleeps; the anima doesn’t always understand or will when

it sleeps-the anima animates its potency’s, which are accidental to the anima. Without the act of

the anima which is is its substance, there could be no potency’s. The potency’s of the anima flow

from the essence of the anima.

Q7

Do the potencies of my anima grow out of one potency, as the trunk fro a tree root or as a

branch or leaves from a limb?

The anima has both essential and accidental potencies or spiritual and accidental

potencies. All of them flow as from the root of the anima, as being born from its essence.

However, since the spiritual potencies are vital to the definition of the anima, the will and

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understanding are as principles of the other potencies of the anima:53

“those powers of the soul which precede the others, in the order of perfection and nature,

are the principles of the others, after the manner of the end and active principle.”

Each potency in the anima conditions the activity of those that follow. On the other hand,

the potencies that are more united with the corpus, like the sensual and vegetative, follow from

those potencies that take precedent over them: the intellect and will.

Q8

Will the potencies I experience in my anima now be with me after I die? Since my body

and soul function together as a composite, then what effects one affects the other. Death affects

the separation of the soul from the body. In this regard, the potencies that are proper to the corpus

or body do not remain after death, but those that are potencies within the soul do, as

understanding and will. The potencies of the anima, which function in relation to the body, are

the vegetative, sensual, and reproductive. These potencies will not be necessary after death, since

they only serve a purpose in the sensual world; however, the spiritual faculties of intelligence

and will remain:

“But some powers belong to the soul alone as their subject; as the intelligence … remain

in the soul, after the destruction of the body. However, other powers are subjected in the

composite; as all the powers of the sensitive... accidents cannot remain after the destruction of

the subject.”54

Summary

In this paper, we have looked at the many ways of generally understanding the soul. The

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soul is a subsistent act, which is not dependent upon the body of its existence. It was necessary

for the body and soul to be always united, then the soul could not be separated form the body at

death, but the soul is separated from the body at death. The essence of the soul is different from

the power of the soul. Whenever a soul operates it, is not its substance that operates but a power

that operates. For God he is whatever he does. Even though the act of the soul is separate for its

power, the power operates. The power is related to the soul as an accident, whereas the soul is

related to the power as its act. The more perfect a being has towards perfection it requires little

movement in order to acquire perfection, as the Angles and God. The least disposed a being is

towards perfection it can acquire perfection only thru many powers and movement as mankind.

When a being has many parts all the parts must be related to one another thru different powers

and operations and this is the state of man. The soul requires many powers to unify the many

powers and operations. Some powers are more spiritual and others are less spiritual and more

related to the body, since the soul must govern both itself and the body. Just as a building cannot

be raised up without a foundation, so all the powers of the soul cannot work in harmony with one

another without some being principles of activity of others. Therefore, the spiritual powers like

understanding and will govern the lower powers of appetite and senses. Even within the powers

that rule the body, there is a higher and lower rank as between the vegetative powers and the

sensual powers or the sensual powers and the generative powers. Therefore, the powers of the

soul are governed within by the acts they perform. Some perform spiritual acts, while others

perform temporal acts. Just as there are several power in the soul so there is an order among the

powers. The spiritual or less visible governs sensual and corporeal. Just as the entire tree receives

its nutrients from its roots, so the many powers of the soul are governed by those powers closest

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to its essence, which is spiritual. A lower power cannot command a higher power, but the sensual

power is lower than the intellective power. It stands to reason that those powers in the soul,

which are more spiritual and deal with universal truths should govern those powers, which are

temporal and deal with more immediate causes. Just as the intellect deals with eternal truth, so

the temporal order of the sensual powers is governed by the powers of the soul, which

contemplate the eternal principles of universal being. Just as some of the powers of the soul are

governed by other powers in the soul, which are more spiritual, so some of the powers of the soul

are of the substance of the soul, while others are related to the soul as substance to accident or

soul to the body. Since some of the powers of the soul are related more to the body than the

essence of the soul, so they are not in their subject. The essence of the soul contains within itself

all the lower powers that are beneath it or are governed by it. The vegetative, sensual and

intellectual powers are powers contained within the soul. That is why all of these lesser powers

are contained within the soul. One thing arises from another thing only if the first thing contains

that that thing within it. The soul is such a subsisting since it contains within itself all the other

powers, which it expresses. The soul expresses the intellectual, sensual and vegetative powers.

This is why Aquinas says that in the soul one power can arise from within another power of the

soul. Regarding the last question St. Thomas considers, he teaches that some powers remain in

the soul after death, while others do not remain in the soul after death. The reason for this is that

some powers are part of the soul essence, while others only exists in the soul because of the souls

union with the body. After the soul is disunited with the body after death, it is not necessary that

that these powers exist in the separated state of the soul form the body. In other words, the

sensual and vegetative powers which function in the soul because of the composite union

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between the soul and body no longer exist after the corruption of the soul, while those powers

which exist in the soul from its subsistence as understanding and will continue to exist in the soul

after the separation of the soul from the body, since these flow from the soul itself and not the

composite relation to the body.

St.Thomas’ theological consideration on the powers of the soul gives his students a general

approach to understanding the powers and essential qualities of the soul, in both the wayfaring

state and its state after death. By using the authority of Augustine, Aristotle, Dionysius, Aquinas

gives a rationale argument for his belief in the powers and relationships of the powers of the

soul. Besides his commentary on De Anima of Aristotle, Q. 77 of the Summa is one of the key

texts, which reflect his understanding of the human soul. For a fuller understanding of the human

soul and its powers, the student of St. Thomas should refer to Q. 78-79, where he investigates the

specific powers of the soul.

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St. Thomas Aquinas on the Essence of the Virtues

Introduction

This is an exposition on the theological writing of St. Thomas Aquinas. It follows his

treatment of the essence of the virtues in his major treatise called The Summa. This entire

question deal with virtue as a good habit. Good because it is what all men desire it; habit because

it is something that is learned. The Latin verb for habit is habitus. There are various meanings to

the word. The Latin dictionary gives these meanings for its verb form: have, hold, reason, keep.

Q1. First, we need to find out if Virtue is a habit

When we think of a power, we think of the potential to do something. In the same way

virtue is just not a power to do anything, since if that were the case any power would be virtuous.

However, a power used without reason cannot be a virtuous act. If a power used without reason

would be virtuous, then it would use its quality of being rational or human and it would not be

the good required of man. In other words, it could not be a good. Aquinas explains it by saying

that only a perfection of power can be considered a virtuous power. A power without perfection

remains a power, but it has not yet been perfected. When it becomes perfected, it becomes a

virtuous act. Several repeated virtuous acts form a virtuous habit, and when a habit is formed, a

person can freely choose to act virtuously and not haphazardly, irrationally, or sporadically. In

other words freely and with deliberation. In other words, a man who does not act for a virtuous

end cannot be virtuous. Virtue does not happen without choice or reason. The end for which a

person acts makes the powers he uses to be virtuous. For example, two people see an elderly

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woman crossing the street every day. One stops to assist her out of compassion, while the other

makes the excuse that he will be late for work and he has not the time to help her. They both

have power to help, but one chooses to help. When he helps every day, he not only has the power

to be compassionate, but he becomes compassionate. This is what St. Thomas refers to when he

says virtue is the continual improvement of a power.55 Aquinas distinguishes a natural virtue

from a rational virtue. A natural virtue is a power which naturally achieves a good end, such as

seeing, to turn one’s neck, to walk. There are other virtues called rational which do not have a

determined purpose, but must be chosen. That is why they are called habits because only after a

habit is formed with their use do they actually become perfect. As a student has developed good

study habits or of a habit of reasoning logically in debates, so that when he is called upon to

defend his argument he has a facility to reason logically and scientifically rather than guessing or

conjecturing to a conclusion. A habit can be so habitual that it becomes perfected and is no

longer in need of growth and St. Thomas treats of these infused virtues at another time. Also, a

natural virtue attains an habitual disposition one act at a time; it is thru this continual

intensification of its habit that it becomes perfected. For example, in reference to the earlier

example of the man who helps the elderly woman cross the street. He later begins to help his co-

worker at work, then his crippled child at home, his neighbors and even stranger; lastly, he

extends his compassionate virtue to even his enemies. He finds ways in every circumstance to

apply his compassionate virtue so that it becomes habitual, to the extent that he does nothing

without this compassion in mind.

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Q2. Aquinas asks questions about the tendency of virtue to be effective

That which has the potential to good is goodness. Virtue is a disposition in a subject

which causes the subject to act in a good manner under varying circumstances. Virtue is

understood by Aquinas in two ways. There is a way of virtue which makes a being good and that

is power; a being has a power to be. Aquinas says that this is related to the substance of a thing to

be made. Then there is a virtue of the form of a thing, which makes a thing act. A form actualizes

a thing. Just as the natural virtues have a disposition to their acts, so rational virtues, common to

the soul, must be disposed toward their act. But the only way an act is disposed to act is thru

action or choice and that is the habit of virtue or an operative habit.56 Just as the body is the

matter of the soul, so are the natural virtues the matter for the rational virtues, which are

governed by the operation of the soul. The operation of the soul is essential to man. An animal

cannot be called virtuous, since virtue is associated with free will, which animals do not have.

Man does have certain things in common with animals: body and its senses. The two things that

constitute the essence of man is understanding and free will and these are spiritual powers. The

difference between man and animal is that man can choose between good and evil, whereas the

animal has instincts. If a person chooses an evil over a good, then he become un-virtuous; only

when he chooses good over evil is someone called virtuous. Picking up the example we have

stated earlier about the man compassionately helping the elderly woman across the street. There

are three reasons why he acts for this end. He understands that he has to make a deliberate act in

order to put into effect his ability to help this woman-he is not hard wired to help her, it has to be

a determinate act; he wants to act for a good end-he may even think he is being a little selfish,

but he overcomes this tendency by performing a free human act.57 When he finishes helping this

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woman cross the street he knows he has performed an act that will help him draw closer to the

end for which he is made, as opposed to stealing, lying or acting shamelessly. This is what

Aquinas calls an operative act, since it is integral to what engages his humanity toward a good

end. He can choose to act otherwise and this will be a human act, but it may not be a virtuous act

depending upon the circumstances in which he acts.

Q 3 Aquinas investigates whether virtue is a desirable habit or not

A virtuous habit moves the person closer toward a good end. A good end has both an

objective and a subjective goal. The objective end is the true end of this subject who considers it.

The subjective good is the truth that it is this subject who considers this end. This is why Aquinas

refers calls upon the authority of Aristotle. A subject cannot attempt to pass the limit of his power

for good. A man cannot try to be an angel, nor an angel attempt to become a man. A doctor

practices healing arts while he practices his profession and not comical arts-otherwise he wold

not stay in business for long. It is the same with a virtuous person. He doesn’t attempt to pass the

limit of his subjective knowledge of his capacity for doing good. He grows in practicing good

and when he develops greater habits of good virtues he practices greater acts of virtuous habits.

The subject participates more in being to the degree that he determines himself thru good habits,

the virtues. Aquinas refers to three authorities in this investigation: Aristotle, Augustine, and

Dionysius. First,58 he refers to Aristotle who shows the limit of the power of virtue; secondly he

refers to Augustine about the goodness of virtue; lastly, to Dionysius about the opposite of virtue,

evil. If virtue is limited by its power it still remains good, since a thing is only good to the degree

that is participates in the will of God’s goodness.59 He refers to Augustine because Augustine

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believed that his virtuous actions made him participate in goodness; since there is no limit to this

goodness, there is no limit to the degree that a person in this life can practice virtuous acts

toward a just end. Lastly, he refers to Dionysius. Dionysius says, following the rule of scripture,

that evil can be understood as a weakness. Some people may interpret this saying of Dionysius in

a wrong way, but he is not referring to physical weakness-though an evil act of a person could

have an effect on the body, as many psychoanalysts teach. Dionysius is referring to the

disposition of evil,which replicates itself thru privative acts. Aquinas quoting Augustine in De

Malo also says that to the degree that a person practices evil he becomes not only weak but

nothing.60 Since the opposite of evil is good, and virtue is a participation in the good, then it is

right to call virtue a good habit. The Creator cannot move the creature towards evil, but man with

his free will can choose a habit of evil over a good habit. Aquinas is concerned with showing that

the disposition toward virtue is what makes virtue a good habit. A virtue could not be called good

if it made a man weak. But evil makes a man weak. Therefore, a person who practices only evil

cannot will not be able to a good habit. Only the practice of virtue makes a person good. Evil

only makes a person the opposite of good. Therefore, a person who only practices evil cannot

become the opposite of evil.61

Q.4 Aquinas sets the record straight about the definition of virtue

St.Thomas refers again to St. Augustine to resolve this question. Because Augustine has

already given a good definition of virtue. Aquinas comments on Augustine’s definition by using

Aristotle. He introduces his commentary on Augustine’s definition by saying that any good

definition bears within it all its causes. Augustines’s definition of virtue does this. In order to

LeFort 49

establish the genus in which virtue is found and he difference form other things he says that

Augustine refers to this when he says good quality.62 The material cause is what Augustine refers

to as “of the mind,” meaning it is part of the rational part of man and not the natural powers

associated with the body. The final cause or object which virtue acts is the it makes us live justly

before God and we can’t make bad use of virtue. Aquinas is careful to make us realize that

though virtue creates an effect of good, habits can be formed for evil. That is why he refers to

Augustine saying that virtue causes us to live justly. An in order to make sure that virtue has any

other purpose than to serve the good he adds the final determiner that its use is only for good and

not for evil; in other words, we can’t use it for bad.

Conclusion

What we have reflected upon in this essay is St. Thomas Aquinas theological reflection

on the essence of virtue. The essence of virtue is a good habit and which when practiced or

elicited makes its subject good. Virtue shouldn’t be confused with natural virtue, but is a good

habit which is associated with the rational part of man’s reason and understanding and free-will.

A subject must freely choose to determine himself to be virtuous as opposed to forced or being

virtuous thru chance. The reason virtue makes a person good is because the good of man is good

habits as opposed to that which makes him bad, which are bad habits. If man can form good

habits is it because his reason and free will guide him to that rational good for which he acts an

he freely chooses to act with reason rather than unreasonably and act viciously. Virtue also

perfects the spiritual faculties of man, his intellect and will. By acting according to towards his

due end, he acts in such a way that the good he chooses is integrated toward the end he chooses.

Since the end he chooses is goodness, then it must make him good, just as acting for evil would

LeFort 50

make him evil. Lastly, Aquinas relies upon St. Augustine to show that to live with a good habits

of the mind, while aiming to live righteously is to live virtuously. But he says that the infused

virtues have one more characteristic that separates the natural virtues from the infused virtues

and that is that God works these infused virtues in the subject without the the subject. Both the

natural and supernatural virtues cannot be put to a bad use. St. Thomas calls the acquired virtues

those which man chooses to determine himself towards and the infused virtues those which God

works in man without him to determines man towards man towards God.

LeFort 51

Works Cited

Catholic Biblical Association of America, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, and

Bishops’ Committee. The New American Bible. New York: Benziger, 1970.

Ignatius. The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius: a Translation and Commentary. St.

Louis: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 1992.

Augustine. An Augustine Synthesis. New York: Harper & Row, 1958.

Poulain, Aug, and J. V Bainvel. The Graces of Interior Prayer (Des Grâces D’oraison) A

Treatise on Mystical Theology. St. Louis: Herder, 1950.

John of the Cross. The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross. Washington, D.C.:

Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979.

Aquinas, St. Thomas. On Evil . Ed. Brian Davies. Trans. Richard Regan. Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2003.

On the Power of God (De Potentia). Trans. English Dominican Fathers. reprint of 1932

Edition by Newman Press. eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2004.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. The Brothers Karamazov. Trans. Constance Garnett. New York:

The Lowelll Press, n.d.

Copelston, S.J., Frederick. A History of Philosophy: Medieval Philosophy. Vol. II. New

York: Image Books, Doubleday, 1993. XII vols.

Gilson, Etienne. Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine. Trans. L E.M. Lynch. New

York: Random House, 1960.

Przywara, S.J., Erich. An Augustine Synthesis. Ed. S.J., Erich Przywara. New York:

LeFort 52

Sheed & Ward, 1936.

Aquinas, St. Thomas. On Evil . Edited by Brian Davies. Translated by Richard Regan.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

—. The Virtues as to Their Essence. Translated by English Dominicans. New York, NY:

Christian Classics, 1981.

Grenier, Henri. Thomistic Philosophy. Translated by J. P.E. O'Hanley. Vols. I-III.

Charlottetown: St. Dunstan's University, 1948.

Thomas, and English Province. Summa Theologica. New York: Benziger Bros., 1947.

Aquinas, St. Thomas. Aristotle's De Anima with the Commentary of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Trans. K. Forester and S. Humphries. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1951.

—. Summa Theologiae. Trans. English Dominicans. New York: Christian Classics, 1981.

Aquinas, St.. Thomas. Questions on the Anima. Trans. James H. Robb. Milwaukee:

Marquette University Press, 1984.

Grenier, Henri. Thomistic Philosophy. Trans. J. P.E. O'Hanley. Vols. I-III. Charlottetown:

St. Dunstan's University, 1948.

LeFort 53

1. Further references to Eph. 6:10.63

A. Acts 9:22 But Saul grew all the stronger and confounded [the] Jews who lived in

Damascus, proving that this is the Messiah.”

B. Rom. 4:20 He did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief; rather, he was empowered by

faith and gave glory to God.

C. Phil. 4:13 I have the strength for everything thru him who empowers me.

D. 1 Ti. 1:12 I am grateful to him who has strengthened me,64 Christ Jesus our Lord,

because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry.

E. 2 Ti. 2:1 So you, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

F. 2 Ti 4:17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the

proclamation might be completed and al the Gentiles might hear it.

Comment: this is the same strength that the Eucharistic Lord gives to his faithful who

come to spend time with him. He is present in his glorified body, the same body that met the

disciples after the resurrection: at the Sea of Tiberias, in the Upper Room, and Mary Magdalen at

the empt tomb. The Holy Spirit will confirm in our own lives what he confirmed in the early

Church’s life. Notice St. Paul always indicates it is a strength that is for the work of God and not

for weightlifting and self-glorification. This strength is always a relation to the Lord whom St.

Paul is responsible.

LeFort 54

1 The same verb, pronounced en-du-na-moo is also used in by St. Paul in Rom. 4:20 and

Phil. 4:13. See Appendix.

2 St. Catherine of Siena lived many years of her life only on Holy Communion.

3 All of the music on this album was written by the author and is free for you to

download. The songs that are not downloadable have been licensed by Amazon for their use. You

can find other of my albums on Amazon.com.

4 St. Ignatius that God only wants us to praise, reverence and serve him in order to save

our souls. (#23.2-3)

5 I am referencing the New American Bible for practical purposes. The Septuagint version

which Augustine used or the Latin translation used different numbering scheme of the Psalms. In

his version it was Ps. 44:11, but in the same verse in the NAB is 45:11.

6 Poulain, Aug, and J. V Bainvel. The Graces of Interior Prayer (Des Grâces D’oraison)

A Treatise on Mystical Theology. St. Louis: Herder, 1950, pgs. 88-113.

7 John of the Cross. The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross. Washington, D.C.:

Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979, pgs. 125-130.

8 S.J., Erich Przywara, An Augustine Synthesis, ed. S.J., Erich Przywara (New York, NY:

Sheed & Ward, 1936, pg. 42).

9 Etienne Gilson, Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine, trans. L E.M. Lynch (New

York, NY: Random House, 1960, pg.27).

10 ibid., 28.

11 S.J., Erich Przywara, An Augustine Synthesis, ed. S.J., Erich Przywara (New York, NY:

Sheed & Ward, 1936),55.

LeFort 55

12 Etienne Gilson, Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine, trans. L E.M. Lynch (New

York, NY: Random House, 1960), 28.

13 S.J., Frederick Copelston, A History of Philosophy: Medieval Philosophy, Vol. II, XII

vols. (New York, NY: Image Books, Doubleday, 1993), 53.

14 Etienne Gilson, Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine, trans. L E.M. Lynch (New

York, NY: Random House, 1960), 30.

15 Ibid., 31.

16 Ibid., 32.

17 Ibid., 33.

18 Ibid., 41.

19 Ibid., 34.

20 S.J., Erich Przywara, An Augustine Synthesis, ed. S.J., Erich Przywara (New York, NY:

Sheed & Ward, 1936), 46-47.

21 Etienne Gilson, Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine, trans. L E.M. Lynch (New

York: Random House, 1960), 46.

22 Ibid.,49.

23 Ibid.,53.

24 Ibid.,54.

25 Ibid.,55.

26 S.J., Frederick Copelston, A History of Philosophy: Medieval Philosophy, Vol. II (New

York: Image Books, Doubleday, 1993), pg. 55, XII vols.

27 Ibid. 57.

LeFort 56

28 Etienne Gilson, Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine, trans. L E.M. Lynch (New

York: Random House, 1960), 60.

29 Ibid., 60.

30 Ibid., 65.

31 Ibid., 65.

32 Ibid.,66.

33 Ibid.,74.

34 Ibid.,74.

35 Ibid.,75.

36 S.J., Erich Przywara, An Augustine Synthesis, ed. S.J., Erich Przywara (New York:

Sheed & Ward, 1936), 36-37.

37 Etienne Gilson, Christian Philosophy of Saint Augustine, trans. L E.M. Lynch (New

York: Random House, 1960), 94.

38 Anima is latin for soul.

39 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, trans. English Dominicans (New York:

Christian Classics, 1981), Pt.I,Q 77, a1.

40 ibid. a2

41 ibid., a3.

42 Aquinas uses the latin word potentia, meaning potency, force, or power. Here it is

translated as activity or potency.

43 We speak of subject as personhood or subjectivity.

44 The senses do not command as the will commands, but retains its influence over the

LeFort 57

vegetative potency of the soul.

45 Ibid. a4.

46 This is one of the most important questions Aquinas asks because man is a composite

of anima and corpus (body).

47 Spiritual potency’s are only two: will and understanding

48 ibid., a5.

49 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, trans. English Dominicans (New York:

Christian Classics, 1981), Pt. I, Q. 77, a6.

50 ibid., a6.

51 Henri Grenier, Thomistic Philosophy, trans. J. P.E. O'Hanley, Vols. I-III (Charlottetown:

St. Dunstan's University, 1948), pg. 393

52 ibid.

53 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, trans. English Dominicans (New York:

Christian Classics, 1981), Pt. I, Q. 77, art. 7.

54 St.. Thomas Aquinas, Questions on the Soul, trans. James H. Robb (Milwaukee, Wis.:

Marquette University Press, 1984).

55 St. Thomas Aquinas, The Virtues as to Their Essence, trans. English Dominicans (New

York, NY: Christian Classics, 1981), Pt. I-II,Q. 55, art. 1.

56 Ibid., art. 2.

57 Henri Grenier, Thomistic Philosophy, trans. J. P.E. O'Hanley, Vols. I-III (Charlottetown:

St. Dunstan's University, 1948), Vol. III, # 925.

58 He use two theologians in the Catholic Church, both Doctors of the Church; the third

LeFort 58

authority is one of the greatest philosopher who has ever lived.

59 St. Thomas Aquinas, On Evil , ed. Brian Davies, trans. Richard Regan (Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2003),Q.1.

60 ibid.

61 ibid.

62 St. Thomas Aquinas, The Virtues as to Their Essence,1981), art. 4

63 All passages are taken from the New American Bible.

64 Remember St. Paul’s conversion, the Lord gave him strength to stop his persecution

and start building up the Church. He is know as the “Super Apostle;” that is being a real

“Superman,” in a real super-sense. HIs Aposteship came with a great price. St. Paul realized

where it all came from, “I no longer live, but it is Christ who lives within me.”

LeFort 59

Appendix II

Please visit my author’s page at Amazon for other titles in this series. Also, I have many

albums of religious music available for meditation and reflection here.

Here are a few of the titles available:

Titles of Mary II

St. Mary Magdalen

St. Paul the Apostle