Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/791

 GRACE

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GRACE

nobilit}', and thus a friendship of excellency {(imicilid exccllenti'Cp) is estabhshed between God and the just. (See Schiffiai, "De gratia divina", 305 sqq., Freiburg, 1901.)

(5) In the Di\-ine filiation of the soul the formal workings of sanctifying grace reach their culminating point ; by it man is entitled to a share in the paternal inheritance, which consists in the beatific ^•ision. This excellence of grace is not only mentioned count- less times in Holy Writ (Rom., \-iii, 15 sq.; I John, iii, 1 sq., etc.), but is included in the Scriptural idea of a re-birth in God (cf. John, i, 12 sq.; iii, 5; Titus, iii, 5; James, i, 18, etc.). Since this re-birth in God is not effected by a substantial issuance from the substance of God, as in the case of the Son of God or Logos (Christus), but is merely an analogical or accidental coming forth from God, our sonship of God is only of an adoptive kind, as w'e find it expressed in Scripture (Rom., viii, 15; Gal., iv, 5). This adoption was de- fined by .St. Thomas (III, Q. xxiii, a. 1): persojus ex- tranccF in filium el heredem gratuita assumptio. To the nature of this adoption there are four requisites: (i) the original unrelatedness of the adopted person ; (ii) fatherly love on the part of the adopting parent for the person adopted; (iii) the absolute gratuity of the choice to sonship and heirship; (iv) the consent of the adopted child to the act of adoption. Applj-ing these conditions to the adoption of man by C!od, we find that God's adoption e.xceeils man's in every point, for the sinner is not merely a stranger to God but is as one W'ho has cast off HLs friendship and become an enemy. In the case of human adoption the mutual love is pre- sumed as existing, in the case of God's adoption the love of God effects the recjuisite disposition in the soul to be adopted. The great and unfathomable love of God at once bestows the adoption and the consequent heirship to the kingdom of heaven, and the value of this inheritance is not diminished by the number of coheirs, as in the case of worldly inheritance.

God does not impose His favours upon any one, therefore a consent is expected from adult adopted sons of God (Trent, Sess. VI, cap. vii, per voluntaria}7i susceptionem gratiw et donorum). It is quite in keep- ing with the excellence of the heavenly Father that He should supply for His children during the pilgrimage a fitting sustenance which will sustain the dignity of their position, and be to them a pledge of resurrection and eternal hfe; and this is the Bread of the Holy Eucharist (see Euch.^rist).

(c) The Supernatural Retinue. — This expression is derived from the Roman Catechism (P. II., c. i, n. 51), which teaches: "Huic (gratis sanctificanti) additur nobilissimus omnium virtutum comitatus". As the concomitants of sanctifj-ing grace, these infused vir- tues are not formal operations, but gifts really dis- tinct from this grace, connected nevertheless with it by a physical, or rather a moral, indissoluble link — re- lationship. Therefore the Council of Vienne (1311") speaks of injormans gratia et I'irtutes, and the Council of Trent, in a more general way, of gratia et dona. The three theological Wrtues, the moral virtues, the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, and the personal in- dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the soul are all consid- ered. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, c. vii) teaches that the theological \'irtues of faith, hope, and char- ity are in the process of justification infused into the soul as supernatural habits. Concerning the time of infusion, it is an article of faith (Sess. VI, can. xi) that the virtue of charity is infused immediately with sanc- tifjang grace, so that throughout the whole term of existence sanctifjnng grace and charity are found as inseparable companions. Concerning the habitus of faith antl hope, Suarez is of the opinion (as against St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure) that, assuming a fa- vourable disposition in the recipient, they are infused earlier in the process of justification. Universally known is the expression of St. Paul (I Cor., xiii, 13),

" -Vnd now there remain faith, hope, and charit}', these three: but the greatest of these is charity." Since, here, faith and hope are placed on a par with charity, but charity is considered as diffused in the soul (Rom., V, 5), conveying thus the idea of an infused habit, it will be seen that the doctrine of the Church so conso- nant with tlie teaching of the Fathers is also supported by Scripture. The theological virtues have God di- rectly as their formal object, but the moral ■N'irtues are directed in their exercise to created things in their moral relations. .\11 the special moral virtues can be reduced to the four cardinal virtues: prudence {pru- dcntia), justice Q'ustitia), fortitude (fortitiulo), tem- perance (temperantia). The Church favours the opin- ion that along with grace and charity the four cardinal virtues (and, according to many theologians, their subsidiary virtues also) are communicated to the souls of the just as supernatural habitus, whose office it is to give to the intellect and the will, in their moral rela- tions with created things, a supernatural direction and inclination. By reason of the opposition of the Scotists this view enjoys only a degree of probability, which, however, is supported by passages in Scripture (Prov., viii, 7; Ezech., xi, 19; II Pet., i, 3 sqq.) as well as the teaching of the Fathers (.\ugustine, Gregory the Great, and others). Some theologians add to the infusion of the theological and moral virtues also that of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, though this view cannot be called anj'thing more than a mere opinion. There are difficulties in the way of the acceptance of this opinion which cannot be here discus.sed.

The article of faith goes only to this extent, that Christ as man possessed the seven gifts (cf. Is., xi, 1 sqq.; Ixi, 1; Luke, iv, 18). Remembering, however, that St. Paul (Rom., viii, 9 sqq.) considers Christ, as man, the mystical head of mankind, and the august exemplar of our own justification, we may possibly as- sume that God gives in the process of justification also the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.

The crowning point of justification is found in the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is the per- fection and the supreme adornment of the justified soul. Adequately considered, the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit consists of a twofold grace, the created accidental grace {gratia areata accidentalis), and the uncreated substantial grace {gratia increata substaniialis). The former Ls the basis and the indis- pensable assumption for the latter; for where God Himself erects His throne, there must be found a fit- ting and becoming adornment. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the soul must not be confounded with God's presence in all created things, by virtue of the Divine attribute of Omnipresence. The personal in- dwelling of the Holy Ghost in the soul rests so securely upon the teaching of Holy Writ and of the Fathers that to deny it would constitute a grave error. In fact, St. Paul (Rom., v, 5) says: " The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us". In this passage the Apostle distin- guishes clearly between the accidental grace of theo- logical charity and the Person of the Giver. From this it follows that the Holy Spirit has been given to us, and dwells within us (Rom., viii, 11), so that we really become temples of the Holy Ghost (I Cor., iii, 16 sq.; vi, 19). Among all the Fathers of the Church (except- ing, perhaps, St. .A.ugustine) it is the Greeks who are more especially noteworthy for their rapturous utter- ances touching the infusion of the Holy (ihost. Note the expressions: "The replenishing of the soul with balsamic odours", '"a glow permeating the soul", "a gilding and refining of the soul". Against the Pneu- matomachians they strive to prove the real Divinity of the Holy .Spirit from His indwelling, maintaining that only God can establish Himself in the soul ; surely no creature can inhabit any other creatures. But clear and uiuleniable as the fact of the indwelling is, equally difficult and perplexing is it in degree to