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 JUSTIFICATION

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JUSTIFICATION

(original and personal) and its punishments, and is made a child of God. The same proeeas of justifica- tion is repeated in those who by mortal sin have lost their baptismal innocence; with this modification, how- ever, that the Sacrament of Penance replaces baptism. Considering merely the psychological analysis of the conversion of sinners, as given by the council, it is at once evident that faith alone, whether fiduciary or dogmatic, cannot justify man (Trent, 1. c, can. xii: "Si quis dixerit, fidem justificantem nihil aliud esse quam fiduciam divinae misericordiae, peccata remit- tentis propter Christum, vel earn fiduciam solam esse, qua justificamur, a. s."). Since our Divine adoption and friendship with God is based on perfect love of God or charity (cf. Gal, v, 6; I Cor., xiii; James, ii, 17 sqq.). dead faith devoid of charity (fides informis) cannot possess any justifying power. Only such faith as is active in charity and good works (fiAcs caritate formata) can justify man, and this even before the actual reception of baptism or penance, although not without a desire of the sacrament (cf. Trent, Sess. VI, cap. iv, xiv). But, not to close the gates of heaven against pagans and those non-Catholics, who without their fault do not know or do not recognize the Sacra- ments of Baptism and Penance, Catholic theologians unanimously hold that the desire to receive these sacraments is implicitly contained in the serious resolve to do all that God has commanded, even if His holy will should not become known in every detail.

(2) The Formal Cause of Justificalion. — The Council of Trent decreed that the essence of active justification comprises not only forgiveness of sin, but also " sancti- fication and renovation of the interior man by means of the voluntary acceptation of sanctifying grace and other supernatural gifts" (Trent, 1. c, cap. vii: "Non est sola peccatorum remissio, sed et sanctificatio et renovatio interioris hominis per voluntariam suscep- tionem gratise et donorum "). In order to exclude the Protestant idea of a merely forensic absolution and exterior declaration of righteousness, special stress is laid on the fact that we are justified by God's justice, not that whereby He himself is just but that whereby He makes us just, in so far as He bestows on us the gift of His grace which renovates the soul interiorly and adheres to it as the soul's own holiness (Trent, 1. c, cap. vii; "Unica formalis causa [justificationis] est justitia Dei, non qua ipse Justus est, sed qua nos justos facit, qua videlicet ab eo donati, renovamur spiritu mentis nostra;: et non modo reputamur, sed vere justi nominamur et sumus, justitiam in nobis recipientes unusquisque suam"). This inner quality of righteousness and sanctity is universally termed "sanctifying (or habitual) grace", and stands in marked contrast to an exterior, imputed sanctity, as well as to the idea of merely covering and concealing sin. By this, however, we do not assert that the "justitia Dei extra nos" is of no importance in the process' of justification. For, even if it is not the formal cause of justification (causa formalis), it is nevertheless its true exemplar (causa exemplaris), in- asmuch as the soul receives a sanctity in imitation of God's own holiness. The Council of Trent (1. c, cap. vii), moreover, did not neglect to enumerate in detail the other causes of justification: the glory of God and of Christ as the final cause (causa finalis), the mercy of God as the efficient cause (catisa efficiens), the Pas- sion of Christ as the meritorious cause (causa meri- toria), the reception of the Sacraments as the instru- mental cause (causa instrumentalis). Thus each and every factor receives its full share and is assigned its proper place. Hence the Catholic doctrine on justifi- cation, in welcome contrast to the Protestant teaching, stands out as a reasonable, consistent, harmonious system. For further explanation of the nature of sanctifying grace, see Grace. Regarding the false doctrine of the Catholic theologian Hermes, cf. Kleut- VIII.— 37

gen, "Theologie der Vorzeit", II (2nd ed., Miinster. 1872), 254-343.

According to the Council of Trent sanctifying grace is not merely a formal cause, but " the only formal cause" (unica causa formalis) of our justification. By this important decision the Council excluded the error of Butzer and some Catholic theologians (Grop- per, Seripando, and Albert Pighius) who maintained that an additional "external favour of God" (favor Dei externus) belonged to the essence of justification. The same decree also effectually set aside the opinion of Peter Lombard, that the formal cause of justifica- tion (i. e. sanctifying grace) is nothing less than the Person of the Holy Ghost, Who is the hypostatic holi- ness and charity, or the uncreated grace (gratia in- creata). Since justification consists in an interior sanctity and renovation of spirit, its formal cause evi- dently must be a created grace (gratia creata), a per- manent quality, a supernatural modification or acci- dent (accidens) of the soul. Quite distinct from this is the question whether the personal indwelling of the Holy Ghost, although not required for justification (ina.smuch as sanctifying grace alone suffices), be necessary as a prerequisite for Divine adoption. Sev- eral great theologians have answered in the affirmative, as for instance Lessius ("De summo bono", II, i; "De perfect, moribusque divin. ", XII, ii); Petavius (" De Trinit. ", viii, 4 sqq.) ; Thomassin (" De Trinit. ", viii, 9 sqq.), and Ilurter (" Compend. theol. dogmat. ", III, 6th ed., pp. 162 sqq.). The solution of the lively controversy on this point between Fr. Granderath (" Zeitschrift fiir kathohsche Theologie", 1881, pp. 283 sqq.; 1883, 491 sqq., 593 sqq.; 1884, 545 sqq.) and Professor Scheeben ("Dogmatik", II, § 169; "Katholik", 1883, I, 142 sqq.; II, 561 sqq.; 1884, I, 18 sqq.; II, 465 sqq., 610 sqq.) seems to lie in the fol- lowing distinction: the Divine adoption, inseparably connected with .sanctifying grace, is not constituted by the personal indwelling of the Holy Ghost, but re- ceives therefrom its full development and perfection.

(3) The Effects of Justification. — The two elements of active justification, forgiveness of sin and sanctifi- cation, furnish at the same time the elements of habitual justification, freedom from sin and holiness. According to the Catholic doctrine, however, this free- dom from sin and this sanctity are effected, not by two distinct and successive Divine acts, but by a single act of God. For, just as light dispels darkness, so the infusion of sanctifying grace eo ipso dispels from the soul original and mortal sin. (Cf. Trent, sess. VI, can. xi: "Si quis dixerit, homines justificari vel sola imputatione justitiae Christi, vel sola peccatorum re- missione, exclusa gratia et caritate, qua- in cordibus eorum per Spiritum Sanctum difl'undatur atque illis inhsereat . . ., a. s.") In considering the effects of justification it will be useful to compare the Catholic doctrine of real forgiveness of sin with the Protestant theory that sin is merely "covered" and not imputed. By declaring the grace of justification, or sanctifying grace, to be the only formal cause of justification, the Council of Trent intended to emphasize the fact that in possessing sanctifying grace we possess the whole essence of the state of justification with all its formal effects; that is, we possess freedom from sin and sanc- tity, and indeed freedom from sin by means of sanc- tity. Such a remission of sin could not consist in a mere covering or non-imputation of sins, which con- tinue their existence out of view; it must necessarily consist in the real obliteration and annihilation of the guilt. This genuinely Biblical concept of justification forms such an essential element of Catholicism, that even .\ntonio Rosmini's theory, standing half way be- tween Protestantism and Catholicism, is quite irrecon- cilable with it. According to Rosmini, there are two categories of sin: (1) such as God merely covers and does not impute (cf. Ps., xxxi, 1); (2) such as God really forgives and blots out. By the latter Rosmini