HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUMMA-1 Mi 0 f? c N PAMPHLET No. I in the Series HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUMMA The Divine Architect By REV. GERALD C. TREACY, SJ. THE PAULIST PRESS 401 West 59th Street New York 19, N. Y. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUMMA is a simplied and abbreviated translation of Aquinas' work. It is intended for classroom, discus- sion clubs or private study. Only one chapter should be taken at a time. For St. Thomas packs a great deal of thought into a few sentences. Imprimi Potest: Nihil Obstat: Imprimatur: Rev. Thomas E. Henneberry, S.J., Provincial. John M. A. Fearns, S.T.D., Censor Librorum. © Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York. New York, October 18, 1955. Copyright, 1955 , by The Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle in the State of New York PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A. BY THE PAULIST PRESS, NEW YORK 19 , N. Y. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUMMA By Gerald C. Treacy, S.J. The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas is con- sidered his masterpiece. It was written seven hundred years ago as a classroom text. But it was a text for the teacher, a series of lectures given to students who in those days took notes on the lectures and thus made up their own textbooks. St. Thomas Aquinas wanted to sum up for beginners the complete message of the Christian religion. So in the first part of the Summa he treats of God, man and the world. For it is important for man to know these three truths if he wants to understand the meaning of life. “What is life all about?” That is the perennial question knocking at the door of every human heart. Theology is the science of God. If that science is not known then a man cannot know himself or his world. Father Walter Farrell, O.P., in his Companion to the Summa remarks: “Thomas’ study is important for our times because the men of our times have learned all but the impor- tant things. His study of God, man and the world is necessary because forgetting God, our times have not recognized men and have yet to see the world. We are learned but far from wise . This is Thomas’ book of wisdom.” What Is the Summa? The Summa then is a summation of all that is known of God and man. As a book it is divided into three parts, treating of God, man and the God-Man. It is made up of 38 treatises, 631 questions, approximately 3,000 articles, and 10,000 objec- tions with their answers. At once it is plain that Thomas wrote a book entirely different from the books of our time. — 3— In the first part we are given a study of God in Himself as well as God, the Principle from which the angelic, human and physical worlds stem. The second part shows us man’s movement back to the Source from which he came. The third part tells us of the road man travels to that Source, and the home that he finds at the end of his journey. What may be said of the style of this book? It follows the method of Socrates by beginning every article with a question. To make the issue clear objections to the treatise are at once introduced. The body of the article explains, illustrates, refutes and proves. The Highlights of the Summa do not follow the style of St. Thomas. Father Farrell holds that this oook is “providentially designed for the needs of the twentieth century. Certainly no age has greater need for ultimate an- swers, for a plan of action, for an exemplar for human living. For no age has less conception of the meaning of life, the things that go into successful living, the manner in which human life must be lived to be successful. In his three great divisions of this book, Thomas gives us precisely these things: a study of the Divine Architect and His completed work; a study of the goal of human life and the human action by which that goal is attained; a study of the God Who became Man that men might become like unto God” (A Companion to the Summa, Vol. 1, p. 22). — 4— Highlights of the Summa THE DIVINE ARCHITECT THE FACT OF GOD THE GREAT TRUTHS, GOD AND MAN The great truths that must be learned are the infinite per- fection of God and the perfectibility of man. Man must grasp the goodness of God and his own capacity to share in God’s life even here on earth. Without this realization life is mean- ingless, for it has no pattern. This is wisdom and no man can get it by himself. Wisdom must be given him by God. He can have this by accepting it from his Creator. His own reason is powerless to give it to him. The Light from Above If man starts out in life with God’s gift of wisdom he will finish in complete possession of that wisdom. If he guides him- self in his life’s pilgrimage by the light from above, he will end by gaining eternal light and unending peace in God’s Heaven. The mystery of life’s beginning and ending, the constant tide in the universe of things beginning and ending, the steady succession of the seasons year by year, point to a life without beginning to account for all beginnings, a Life unending to give an answer to death, an omnipotent Creator of life to explain all living things. Law and Order Intelligence stamps this universe of unintelligent things, for there is law and order among creatures completely unable of themselves to use the proper means to attain an end. The — 5— sun for instance as an unintelligent being cannot plan its ris- ing and setting. The harmony of the universe shows order written in the accurate adaptation of means to ends. And if we look from the immensity of the sun to the smallest bud or flower, we see the evidence of a Great Intelligence. God has given men intelligence that they might read His message as the universe proclaims it. Who Is God? The Book of Job answers: “He is higher than Heaven and what wilt thou do? He is deeper than Hell and how wilt thou know? The measure of Him is longer than the earth and broader than the sea” (xi. 8-9). God’s depth is His infinite knowledge, His omnipotence is His height, His eternity is His length and His breadth is His loving Providence over all His creation. God is eternal life; He is limitless knowledge, goodness and power. It is not God possessing these perfections but God is really each attribute that we mention as a perfection. All images of God are imperfect. They mirror God only as far as creatures can reflect their Creator. God is infinite Life, Goodness, Truth. All creatures as God’s images have within them something of life, goodness and truth. In this sense God is the Measure of things and men; the closer anything comes to God the more perfect it becomes. The closer, for example, a man draws to God the more a man perfects his humanity. Creatures Resemble God Every perfection in the smallest creature speaks of God for all perfections are in God. From God they came. While creatures speak of God their speech is not clear but rather cloudy, for they are finite and God is infinite. God is good and once man glimpses that Goodness he counts no hardship too great a price to pay to secure it. If it is won, everything is won, if it is lost all is lost. Goodness demands love. Through divine grace we become images of divine goodness. — 6— The Effects of Sanctity and Sin As wisdom and holiness increase, a man becomes more of a man and so draws others to him. All his energies have been used to perfect God’s image within him. By contrast the more a man sinks into sin the more he is shunned by his fellows. For he becomes less and less a man by sin, and hence less lovable. Only God and those very close to God can discover even a spark of goodness in such a man and so love him. Maybe the best illustration of the link between goodness and fullness, evil and emptiness, is found in the human heart that lives in a dream world. For so to live is to try to be satisfied with only ourselves and the fanciful world we have made. The dreamer shrinks from the real and the lovable. The Power of God's Goodness God’s goodness keeps the universe moving. It is the driv- ing power of life. In all our endeavors we seek goodness. Goodness or a false picture of it is the stimulating force in life’s activities. Life means action and for this have we been made; and what prompts action is the appeal of goodness. We bend all our energies to carry out a difficult task because its accomplishment will bring us goodness. We are enticed by the good because it is a guarantee that we can share in it and become part of it. God as the Supreme Goodness surpasses all created good. To love Him is to be enticed to share in His life. All the goodness and charm of the entire universe is nothing in comparison with man’s power to live God’s life. This power God gives in giving grace. The saint madly in love with God is completely in accord with everything in the universe, from the least to the greatest. This is because he is so close to God Who is Creator of all things. The saint will hate but one thing, the spoiling of God’s images by sin. We Are God's Witnesses We witness to God’s infinity and show that we are His images by the constant restlessness of our minds and hearts. “For Thee have we been made and our hearts will be ever — 7 — restless till they rest in Thee,” were St. Augustine’s words. For no matter how much truth and goodness we attain, we are not satisfied. Our hearts and minds are really groping for the Infinite. God f s Presence While we are always striving for God, He is not far away. He is really within us for we are His creatures, and that means everything we have comes from Him. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” He is closer to us than we are to ourselves. As the ray is a loan from the sun so is our entire universe a loan from God. His life supports our lives at every second of our existence. Were we separated from Him for one instant we would fall back into the nothingness from which He created us. With mind and heart we may desert God, but He will never desert us. We are completely His. God Contains Us To be precise we should say that God contains us rather than that He is within us. For God as a spiritual Being cannot be contained by anything. God really permeates us, we are plunged into divinity and sustained constantly by infinite power. The world is God-full. He is everywhere. Search the universe from sea to sky and where He is not there is nothing. Though His infinite power sustains every breath and thought and action of our lives, God is not satisfied. He wants to be closer to us. The Divine Guest By giving us grace He is our Guest dwelling in our intel- lects and wills. By knowing, wanting and loving Him we give Him what no other of His creatures in this world can give Him, a welcome to the world He made. Our Divine Guest is unchangeable. “I am God and I change not,” He has said. It is impossible for Infinite Perfec- tion to gain anything nor can anything be lost by the Lord — 8— of all things. As Creator He determines what things shall be and not be, and whether the things that now are shall continue or cease to be. As all things are dependent on the Supreme Power, no lesser power can challenge Him. Yes, God is changeless but we are not, for we either turn toward Him in love or away from Him by sin. It is not easy to think of the unchangeable since we are creatures plunged in the flow of time which is ever changing from the past to the present and on into the future. In God there is neither beginning nor end for He always was, is and will be. We think in terms of time even when we think of eternity, an interrupted moment lasting always coming from no past and going to no future. But eternity is rather a cover blanket- ing all time, a continuous circle with no starting point and no finishing point, an uninterrupted always. God is superior to all creatures while He is so close to them. His mercy bridges the space between Creator and creature, the Infinite and the finite. He is at once close, that is His immanence. He is likewise far away and that is His transcendence. God is One, in perfect simplicity. “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one God.” There are no parts in God. Nor can He be multiplied. There must be only One God as all perfection is His. God’s splendor is made evident by the vari- ety in creation. We have only to raise our eyes as we move through the world to see this variety. Yet the Source of all this variety is the all-perfect One. KNOWING AND LOVING GOD As God is infinite Truth He is infinitely knowable. And we are constantly striving to know more and more truth. God has put this hunger within us and we shall be satisfied only with Infinite Truth. The day will come when we shall see by God’s grace His beauty, for we shall see Him face to face in the beatific vision which is Heaven. — 9 — Heaven Means Complete Truth While on earth we know God by seeing His works through- out the universe. We learn also by faith a great many truths about God that our reason could never tell us. But all this is partial knowledge. In Heaven our knowledge of God, Infinite Truth, will be complete. We shall see Him and in Him all things that He has created. We shall peer unceasingly into God’s Essence, never exhausting the infinite riches, ever pene- trating deeper and deeper into the Godhead. We shall be united with God for ever in a union that will never cease. In this life we cannot say the final word about God. Know- ing God’s creatures we can know a good deal about the Crea- tor. We can learn about Him too by denying Him all crea- tures’ defects. These creatures are mortal, God is immortal. And so we can reason about numerous creature defects. In all that is good in creation we can glimpse something of the infinite goodness of the Creator. God's Name God reveals His Name in telling Moses: “I Am Who Am.” This is expressive of God’s total independence, infinity, the everlasting now, with neither past nor future. So it was that our Lord declared: “Before Abraham was I AM.” God's Riches and Our Knowledge St. Paul tells us: “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God” (Rom. xi. 33). Our own intel- lects give us an insight into those riches because they are spir- itual and so can take in the whole universe, conquering all material barriers and soaring toward the infinite. This is but a faint glimpse of the divine wealth. Only God has complete knowledge of Himself. In Heaven when we will enjoy God as He is in Himself, our knowledge will not be complete. We shall keep knowing more and more of God all through eternity. There is no limit to God’s knowledge. He knows all things. “God knows all creatures spiritual and material not because — 10— they are, but because He knows them therefore they are,” are St. Augustine’s words on the knowledge of God. We spend our days learning more and more of the things that God has made. But God’s knowledge is not like that. All things sprang into existence at His creative command. As He is the Creator of all things He is not startled by anything in the work of His creation. God's Vision Eternity is one eternal moment containing past, present and future. God’s eternal vision sees all this. Whatever is or might have been, the good and evil, the actual and the pos- sible stand out clearly before God’s eye. “All the ways of a man are open to His eyes” (Prov. xvi. 2). We cannot out- distance God’s vision. All our thoughts, words and deeds He knows perfectly. From the infinite sweep of this knowledge He loves us. Within us we carry His image however we may blur it by sin, and in His mercy and love He places eternal happiness within our grasp always. We begin to appreciate God’s knowledge when we realize that all that is known proceeds from His Mind ; all reality that we know comes from Him and grasping this we grasp truth. God Is Truth The truth we have is the picture of the world of reality. We destroy the world of reality if we exchange our mind’s product for the products of God’s Mind, and thereby we lose truth. We do not make truth we find it out, for God is Truth and all other truths have their source in Him. He is infinite, creative Truth. Things are real when they picture the Divine Mind. To deny God is to destroy the foundation of truth and plunge into unreality. Unless truth enlightens the mind the heart will be starved. If error rules the mind then the heart is poisoned and frus- trated, becoming the victim of despair. We go after only what we know. If our knowledge is false we are bound to stumble, making mistake after mistake. The heart takes what the mind gives it. Only truth can satisfy mind and heart. With truth we live in a real world. — 11— Beauty and Goodness Truth brings beauty and goodness into one’s life. The very enemies of beauty and goodness must mask under the appear- ance of beauty and goodness if they are to grip the mind and the heart. Evil and ugliness finally disgust the normal man however good they may appear. Without truth and beauty and goodness we cannot live. Christ came among us, as He said that men “might have the truth and the truth might make them free.” He declared Him- self to be “the way, the truth and the life” and went to His death rather than lie about His divine nature. Without truth life is meaningless. And what is life if not activity from within? We distinguish different levels of life in terms of activity, passing from plant to animal to man. Man has more of life than an animal not because he has better hearing or sight, but because he can reason and love, because he can enclose the entire universe within his mind and can take or refuse anything in it. Nothing drives him. He acts freely. And his knowledge and love abide within him for the perfecting of his humanity. Who Is God? God’s knowledge and love are within Himself, in fact they are Himself. He is unmoved and the Mover of all things, ac- tivity’s font and objective. The essence of divinity is eternal, infinite knowledge and love. His activity of knowledge and love is intense, constant and never tiring. We have life but He is life, we show activity but He is Pure Act. He is Life and by that life all things live; “in Whom we live and move and have our being.” Intense Living To know and to love is the most intense living for it is an activity entirely within us, a share in God’s living. Our Saviour declares that life with God, eternal life is “to know the one true God.” — 12 — We say that life is the principle of activity within a man. And the good or bad habits he forms within himself are the principles energizing the actions that color his life. Our life is real if it is nourished by truth and goodness. In this world our life is a constant pursuit for we grasp some little good and enjoy it. Then we start again after something better. We are always seeking. God’s life on the contrary is one of infinite truth completely grasped and infinite goodness completely possessed. There is no need for God to pursue since He is in complete, eternal possession of all things. God's Will God’s will is a thing of love not of terror. Its first and un- ending activity is love. Before seeing the might of God’s will we must appreciate its laboring lovingly with human wills. The test of human goodness is the capacity to love. The greater the capacity the finer the character. God’s capacity to love is infinite, a love ceaselessly reaching out to all good yet completely in repose. It is an ever consuming flame, in com- parison with which even Mary’s love is but a tiny spark. Even God cannot resist the appeal of the divine goodness. He must necessarily love it infinitely. God must love all other things for His own sake as His divine will freely embraces them. Loving Himself for His own sake is not selfish love; it is perfect love for it is His sharing of the riches that are His with infinite prodigality. No matter how wide the distribution of these riches they cannot decrease. One Who has all things cannot acquire anything. He must share. This is of the very manner of acting that belongs to an infinitely perfect Being, to be constantly sharing His goodness. Because we have so little we are always striving for more. In our most generous acts we are endeavoring to perfect our- selves. When we are concerned most for God and our neigh- bor we do most for ourselves. Our every action either increases or lessens perfection. We must not look at God’s will as we do at our own wills. We must see it in that first, unceasing activity of sharing all goodness and desiring nothing. That — 13— is the meaning of God loving Himself and loving all things in Himself. It is the infinite mystery of divine love. God's Goodness Seeing clearly this first act of God’s will, we understand why St. Augustine can say: “Because God is good, we exist.” His will is the final source of the creative act that gave us existence and only His goodness could motivate that act. Be- cause He loves His infinite goodness, we are created to share His goodness and His love. God is not responsible for men’s failure to answer His love by loving Him. They do this in their folly because they are free. Unless love is free it is not love. Once having given us freedom God never takes it back. We are free to choose happi- ness or misery, Heaven or Hell. God’s will cannot be defeated. Rejecting His love we meet His justice and that for eternity. Man's Nobility God wishes every man to save his soul. But man must will to do so. God gives man his work to do and then abides by his decision. God shows man that his life should be lived do- ing the divine will. If we fail to do this we ruin ourselves since eternal happiness depends on our carrying out God’s will. This is a proof of man’s nobility. To do God’s will is to answer His love with our own and so arrive at the eternal life of sharing God’s life and love. God’s will is our unending happiness with Him. How do we find God’s will during our earthly sojourn? In His teaching, in His law, in His Church. As we bear His image we have intellects sharing the light of His own Intellect, and so we can trust those intellects to find out His will. Besides we can always have recourse to those more intelligent than we are. Our consolation is that we do not lose God accidentally, we revolt against God because we want to. Very often in speaking of God we use figurative words because our limited intellects can never totally grasp His divinity. But when we speak of God’s love for us we are using real terms. Its vast- — 14— BOOK REVIEW COPY TITLE AND AUTHOR: HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUMM& by Rev. Gerald C. Treacy, S*J* DATE OF PUBLICATION: July 3, 19# PRICE: P.00 per set THE PAULIST PRESS 401 West 59th Street New York 19, N. Y. •* ' ness is such that we cannot exaggerate it. God’s love always produces goodness. He does not range the world seeking good- ness but spreading it. Wherever God’s love penetrates love- ableness appears. Love's Definition To will good to another effectively is love. Hence God loves everything that exists for to everything He has willed some good. “Thou lovest all things that are and hatest none of the things which Thou hast made” (Wis. xi. 25). That is not to say that every creature is God’s friend. It is for men to enjoy that friendship since they can give back love for love and participate in God’s life. God loves all other creatures for Himself and also for men as they can serve men. This should make us humble seeing that our Friend uses omnipotence to make a universe that is an instrument to bring us to our goal which is to share His life. The hardened sinner in fact does not cast out God’s love, for God hates the sin that is wrecking His friend, not His friend for whom He has made a universe. The Universe Reveals God's Love We who have intellects able to understand and hearts capable of loving can read the story of God’s love for us in the universe. God’s love differs in each thing it touches. There is a vast difference between His love for man and His love for a speck of dust. Something of goodness always results from the touch of God’s love. Variations in God's Love The being possessing more has been loved more by God. In the scale of God’s love Christ’s humanity stands highest. No one has been closer to God, no one has shared such full- ness of grace, such heights of glory. Then Mary would come next, above the angels and saints. We stop here and do not strive to find out the difference in God’s love for different individuals. — 15— Justice and Love Love’s foundation is justice. Let injustice prevail and love comes crashing down. Not God’s justice but our own injustice we should fear. If we flout God’s justice by sin we shall meet up with His wrath. God’s justice is the truth divine working. It is the Creator’s Mind marking out the plan of all that exists. As love rests on justice so does justice rest on mercy. Mercy and justice are not in conflict. Mercy goes farther than justice nor does justice ignore mercy but uses it. In all that God does for us we see Him sharing His good- ness out of love for us. It is to His mercy that we attribute all His goodness to us. If He did not preserve us we would dis- appear into the nothingness from which we came. God's Loving Guidance As life moves on we realize our weaknesses and the awful risk we run in the constant recurring choice between Heaven and Hell. We are often tempted to act as careless children, liv- ing as though we would live here always. Surely we must face life seeing ourselves as children but as sensible children grow- ing up to unending life under the loving care of our Almighty Father. As the years move forward we rely more on God’s Provi- dence, seeing that as our Father He is taking care of every- thing for us. We are much more dependent on our Heavenly Father than the child is on his human father. God possesses all that the child wrongly thinks his father has. There is noth- ing He cannot do for us, there is no limit to the love He gives us, there is none of our needs He will not fill. We grasp this more easily when we realize that every detail in creation has been in God’s Mind from all eternity. All crea- tion is His, intelligently mapped out before time began. As God lacks neither knowledge nor power, creation’s plan is per- fect from the beginning nor can anything upset that divine plan. On the contrary we find our plans upset by ignorance and — 16— human weakness. The unforeseen can wreck our finest calcu- lations and rival plans can defeat our own. We cannot read God’s plan with our limited human vision. We see only a tiny spot on the centuries-old map and we pro- ceed to judge the immense plan of the Infinite Mind. Suffer- ing, sorrow, evil are in the world. Why? We do not know and cannot know fully here on earth. But God knows and if we are sensible children we will trust our Eternal Father. As we grow in wisdom we discover many truths. For ex- ample physical suffering we may discover as an instrument of God’s justice, or as a discipline developing virtue. In fact it is not the evil in the world but the good that defies explanation. The constant marvel is the goodness of God spread far and wide for our eyes to see and our hearts to enjoy. The One-Sided View Men’s sins are a blot on God’s plan if we only view their freedom. If we consider God’s omniscience only, then there is no reason for sin at all. This is a one-sided view of the rela- tions between God and man. The fact is God and man are not in conflict. God’s knowl- edge does not restrict man’s freedom and man’s freedom does not limit God’s omniscience. We must see the truths of God and man in their proper relationship. God is almighty and all- knowing and man is at liberty to choose Heaven or Hell. Even when man is using his freedom to outrage God he will not be deprived of it by his Heavenly Father. God will still honor the gift He has bestowed on man. The Great1 Marvel We share His power to act with intelligence and freedom and He as the Font of all action must act with us. But when we sin we need no aid for we thereby create nothing but dis- order. The great marvel is not what we fail to do but what we actually do. In this the smallest action needs the aid of infinite power. No human intelligence can grasp that mystery. Why does God allow us to sin? Because He has made us — 17 — free and will ever respect that freedom. Why did He make us at all if we are in danger of being lost in Hell? Because the gaining of Heaven is worth the price of risking Hell. In sharing God’s power we do not harm His omnipotence nor does His infinite knowledge harm our freedom. We can par- ticipate in God’s life forever or we can share Satan’s life in Hell forever. THE TRIUNE GOD God is the Great Lover. Every true lover must talk and listen, reveal and discover; for it is a characteristic of love to desire to know and to be known. Our Heavenly Father is familiar with our minds and hearts. He knows us through and through. And in spite of that knowl- edge He loves us. And loving us He wants us to know Him. So He tells us about Himself, He reveals Himself to us. He reveals the family life of God. In His loving eagerness to be known He has revealed to us the mystery of the Trinity; the mystery of three divine Persons in one divine nature, Father, Son and Holy Spirit Who are by their unity of nature One God. The eternal life of divinity means the Father Who is God eternally knowing, eternally generating; the Son Who is God eternally known, the Word eternally generated; the Holy Spirit Who is God eternally loved, the breath of love proceed- ing eternally from the Perfect Knower and the perfectly Known. Distinction and Identity These are three Persons distinct one from another, but completely identical in their divine nature. This is our Divine Lover’s secret revealed to increase our happiness; Love’s con- tribution to us who are so loved. The joy, truth, beauty and love of that infinite God has poured Itself out in its abundance to make a world, and to — 18— slake men’s thirst for God’s life. In that divine life love is so personal as to be a Person; Wisdom and its Generator are Persona. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are divine Persons. God wants us to know these sacred secrets. He reveals them to us even though they are beyond our understanding. Lovingly dependent on His word the knowledge of the Holy Trinity will help us to love God, to live holily and to honor our fellow men who are to share that divine life now and forever. Knowing the Blessed Trinity clarifies the truth of the lover’s quest for union. It shows us the truth of our idea of activity; it proves that truth and love are priceless gifts that cannot be surrendered. It shows us that falsehood and hate destroy a man. Love and truth are close to the divine life; falsehood and hate are at enmity with that life. Love and truth bring us closest to God; falsehood and hate separate us from Him. The Works of God When God reveals to us the Holy Trinity He shows us plainly that He does not need anything outside Himself. Within the Godhead there is the infinite Fatherhood, the infinite Word, the infinite Love. Everything that God does outside the Godhead is the work of all three Persons, a work done by virtue of the divine nature which is common to All Three. To stress the infinite personalities of the Holy Trinity we call the works of power the works of the Father, the works of wisdom the works of the Son, the works of love the works of the Holy Spirit. Knowledge of the Blessed Trinity shows us that we are temples of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit live their divine life within us. We share that divine life by sanctifying grace. By the virtue of faith we know. By the virtue of charity we love. God as the Object of knowledge and love is in us in a special way. This way resembles the way of the Holy Trinity, the way of Knower, Known and Loved. Sanctifying grace is the seed of glory. Heaven begins in — 19— any spot on earth when the man living there receives sanctify- ing grace into his soul. His life makes impact on divine life and his soul is aglow with an eternal flame. With the Holy Trinity living within our souls we are at home in God’s family. GOD THE CREATOR If our eyes really penetrate the world about us they will see God everywhere. He is constantly sharing His infinite goodness, carrying out His world-plans down to the minutest details. He is Final Perfection summoning all the world’s activities so that every creature may find its Last End. All creatures from the depths of their natures are constantly cry- ing out: “We are sharing God’s goodness; all we have is His; we are returning to Him.” The fact that God called everything out of nothing when He created the world stuns us. The greatness of the fact al- most blinds us, so different is it from our puny ways of accom- plishing things. The mystery of creation humbles the proud man, for try as he may, his mind can never fully take it in. It likewise comforts the man of wisdom showing him that there are truths too big for the human mind, for that finite mind is not capable of grasping all truth. Whatever our re- actions, the truth stands: “In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth.” The Persisting Question The question is not: “How old is the world?” but: “How did the world begin?” It is idle to say it had no beginning and will have no end. It is senseless to say: “At some time by chance the world began.” How could chance give birth to itself? What is chance? As well say a child gave birth to itself as to say a world gave birth to itself. For us to produce means we have something to begin with. We do not make the strength of stone or the beauty of wood. Once we have these things if we have the artistic gift we can — 20— work wonders in stone and wood. Then we claim the work as our own. The fact is it is God’s more than ours. We are given the material so we make, we do not create. Before we can end God must begin with giving us the material. When God creates He says, “Live,” and instantaneously life springs from noth- ingness. God is first and nothing is before Him. As He is omnipo- tent He needs no time to fashion materials as He wishes them to be. He does not grow in power with the years. He is above, beyond the years for the years only spell time. The world does not grow out of the life of God, but it has come to life and is sustained in life solely by God’s intellect and will. The Proof of Omnipotence The tiniest created thing witnesses to omnipotence. Om- nipotence alone works independently of everything. We can only account for the dependent things of the world having their beginning by admitting a First Cause, omnipotent and completely independent. We must admit either that we and our world have no existence or else accept creation as the only explanation of how things could begin to be. Even though we cannot see through the truth, it stands: “In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth.” The parents looking on their new-born child humbly ad- mit that the life-giving soul in that tiny body is none of their work but all of God’s. For this soul will reach above the uni- verse into the Godhead Itself to gather truth and love. For this soul is not made from something; it is not produced gradually but is created. Creation Teaches Humility Any man facing the startling fact of creation can learn the humility parents learn. A man cannot think himself self- sufficient and at the same time admit that he is utterly in the power of omnipotence. Only a man blind to the mystery of creation will fall into pride and the sins that stem from pride. It is difficult for any man to shut his eyes to omnipotence which is in evidence everywhere he may look. — 21 — There are shadows of the Trinity in all created things and in the activity of man’s intellect and will there is a distinct image of the Trinity. For man by knowing, images God Knowing; the eternal generation of divine Wisdom is imaged in man’s generation of knowledge; and from that knowledge flows the love that is the driving force of all man’s action as well as the constant declaration of the Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit flowing from Father and Son. The imaging of Divinity in this world is weak and inade- quate. We get merely a hint of its splendor from any one thing in this world. The whole universe portrays only a small segment of God’s beauty. If we were to speculate on what creatures God created first, we would say the angels for they are most like Him, pure spirits whose life is a flame of knowing and loving, dependent on God alone, not knowing death. Then He would create those most unlike Him, all the world inferior to man. This world is unspiritual, incapable of thinking and loving, dependent on everything, continually struck down by death and raised up by birth. The marvel is that God should create a being like man, who is both spirit and matter, satisfied only with infinite Truth and Love. While dependent on the world below him, with his intellect and heart he conquers time and space, depressed by death and gladdened by birth, frightened yet made happy by the sureness of Life Eternal. THE ANGELIC WORLD The angels are most like God for they are pure spirits. They express in the best way the goodness, majesty and glory of God. They are natural creatures. They belong to our world and dominate it. God alone is the Supernatural Being. To us they are wonderful creatures, but in God’s sight they are creatures owing all they have to their Creator. They are numerous. The whole world’s population is nothing in comparison with the angels. “Thousands of thousands minis- — 22 — tered to Him and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him,” are the words of Daniel the prophet. Angelic Variety The angels are varied, each individual angel differing from all others. They are brilliant images of God’s perfections and yet the image is faint, for God is so completely perfect. They resemble God so perfectly that they reflect God’s eternity, self-sufficiency and immortality. The angels are bodiless spirits. On occasions when they have appeared with bodies the bodies were not real. Their spiritual natures need no bodies. A body would debase that nature. Angels are pictured with wings to symbolize their rapidity of motion. They move like lightning. Pure spirits they image the Infinite Pure Spirit. Space cannot surround them for as pure spirits they are wherever they work. What the Angels Teach Us The angels teach us much about God whose perfect images they are. They teach us much about ourselves showing us how limited our knowledge and love are in comparison with theirs. An angel’s knowledge of himself is direct. Ours is not for we learn of ourselves from the things that we do. Angelic knowledge is errorless. God gives them all knowl- edge in the moment of their creation. As pure spirits they know with the speed of life, grasping all truth at once. They know all about human nature. They reach into our memories and imaginations, however they cannot penetrate our intellects and wills. Only God can do that. Man commands his own life and no one else does. Angelic Belief Angels like men accept God’s revelation on God’s word. Like us the angels must satisfy the hunger of their wills, if they are to be happy. For them as for us God is the satisfac- — 23— tion. They are free but the least of men equals the greatest angel in his freedom. Angelic Love and Hate An angel’s love or hatred is immediate and fixed forever. Nothing can change it. The brightest flame of human love or hate is darkness in comparison with angelic love or hate. In the angelic world love and hate prevail, separating the good and the bad angels, making them citizens of Heaven or of Hell. Two Loves There is a fine, unselfish love in the angelic world that draws them into God’s Family and heavenly joys. There is too a wicked love, a hating self-love that turns into hatred of God. The angels’ world was not always divided by sin. When God created the angels they were perfect. In the instant of their creation they possessed all natural knowledge and their wills reached out for all good. They were in full possession of all natural happiness. Divine Life Given the Angels In the moment of their creation God gave the angels a share in His Own Life. He created them in sanctifying grace. With this gift the angels faced a choice. They were given a trial. It lasted only a second but an eternity of joy or pain hung on that second. In one flash of love some angels with all their power rushed into God’s arms to be happy eternally. Others spurned God in their proud self-love and hurled them- selves into Hell’s torments. The consequences of that trial were tremendous. Angels get no second chance for as they are free from passion and ignorance they grasp truth instantly. The result is they love or hate instantaneously with no possibility of changing their decision. Once the trial was over the sinless angels were happy with — 24— God and forever sinless. As they see God it is impossible for the angels to sin and in that impossibility they are totally free. To choose what defeats the will's deepest yearnings is not liberty but the abuse of liberty. The Nature of the Sin The angels who sinned in abusing their liberty abandoned God. Fascinated by their own beauty they forgot its Origin. They tried to get happiness within themselves, to get from themselves what only God can give, namely unlimited good. The wicked angels may continue to sin and with each sin they realize that they are less free. They freely chose to abuse liberty and their choice is ratified forever in Hell's despairing torments. Their sin turned order into chaos. Hell is a world of dark disorder and hate is the law of that tragic world. As the angels are pure spirits neither passion nor sense- appeal entered into their sin. They could only sin by their intellects yielding to pride and envy. They sinned by pride. Their very perfection was their danger. The fascination for their great gifts led them to forget the Great Giver. The Greatest Angel Sinned Not the least but the greatest angel sinned, Lucifer the highest of the Seraphim, the most perfect picture of God in all creation. Through pride he plunged into Hell. Some of every angelic hierarchy joined him in his revolt against God. Lucifer and his cohorts will agonize for this sin eternally, “in the ever- lasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels" as our Lord tells us. Only a minority of the angels followed Lucifer in his re- volt, the majority remaining loyal to the God Who created them. The Enemies of Man The fallen angels are man's enemies from whom he can expect no quarter. They envy man because he is so much inferior, his gifts are so puny in comparison with angelic gifts. — 25— Yet man their inferior by God’s grace can scale the heights of Heaven. The devils are humiliated when man defeats them by conquering temptation, and this makes them hate God all the more. Hatred spurs them on to work man’s destruction. Although they have lost all supernatural gifts they have lost none of their natural perfection. Their intelligence is superior to the keenest human intellect. They can influence our memories, senses and imaginations. Their diabolic hate could destroy us unless God held them in check. Knowledge Without Happiness There is no happiness in Satan’s knowledge for a creature’s happiness is in knowing what is above it. For example we cannot be satisfied completely with knowledge of creatures. Only in knowing and loving God can we be satisfied. As the angels are superior to all creatures, there is only God above them and they have deserted God. Joy is banished from Hell by the will of those who dwell there. The damned are there by their free decisions and the necessary step for entering Hell was to ban God the Source of all joy. Hell # s Sorrow Hell bars the sorrow of contrition. If it is perfect con- trition it brings sunlight once more into our souls, for our sins are forgiven and their guilt is banished. Such sorrow cannot enter Hell. The sorrow of Hell is hopelessness and despair. “Abandon hope all you who enter here,” Dante wrote over the gates of Hell. The devils are bitterly sorry not for sin but for their own unhappiness which will never end. Nothing can sooth that sorrow. The Devils on Earth The devils who roam the earth carry out God’s plan by schooling men in virtue. Their sin did not render them in- capable of furthering God’s plan for the universe. God’s — 26— plan is that the angelic world should help their inferiors to perfection. The good angels do this directly by helping men to God. The evil spirits help men indirectly by developing men’s virtues who resist them. The devils wandering over the world are not thereby free from the agony of Hell. They carry Hell with them, for Hell is essentially the loss of God. And this terrible sense of loss is always theirs. QUESTIONS LESSON I (Pages 1-3) What type of book is the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas? What was the author’s purpose in writing the Summa? What three truths are treated in the first part of the book? What question is constantly knocking at the door of the human heart? What is theology and what is its value to man? Why is the Summa important for our times? Give a summary of the three parts of the book. What style of writing is found in the Summa? What are the great truths to be learned? When has life no pattern? How may man learn wisdom? Where is the answer to life’s end and life’s beginning? State the theme of the universe, the meaning of the cosmic poem. Explain the depth, height, and the length of God. LESSON II (Pages 4-6) Who is God in terms of life, goodness, power? How perfect are God’s images? How is God the measure of things? Explain how creatures are like God. How does man’s heart respond to Divine Goodness? What is the end and beginning of the human heart’s quest? How do we become an image of God’s goodness? How do wisdom and holiness affect a man? How does vice affect a man? — 27 — What does the dreaming heart prove? Name the effects of God’s goodness. What is the allure of the good? Why is the saint close to everything in the universe? How do we witness to the infinite reaches of God’s Being? Where is the divinity most evident? How far is God from us? What would be the effect of an instant’s separation from God? How does God contain us? LESSON III (Pages 6-7) God is everywhere in the world. Explain. What is God to us through the gift of His grace? Why cannot God change? For us to remain unchanged would be disaster. Explain. What does the unchangeableness of God exclude? Describe eternity. What bridges the chasm between the Creator and the creature? Express negatively that “the Lord our God is One God.” How is God infinitely knowable? Why has God planted within us a divine discontent? What does Heaven mean? Can we know God in this life? LESSON IV (Pages 8-10) How did God explain His Name to Moses? What does This Name express? How can we appreciate the vastness of God’s riches? Will our knowledge of God be complete in Heaven? How does God know all creatures, according to St. Augustine? Explain God’s vision. How far is the world of reality real? What effect has the denial of God on truth? What follows if the light of knowledge is false? What brings beauty and goodness into a man’s life? Why did the Word come to us as Man? How is man affected if he lacks truth? A man has more life than an animal. Explain. State the essence of divinity. — 28— % LESSON V (Pages 10-12) What is the most intense living? What energizes our actions? When is our life intense? Express the inner life of God. How must the divine Will be seen? What do we see in God’s love? What is the meaning of God willing “for His Own sake”? When do we do most for ourselves? Why are we called into being? How do we become worse? We do not defeat God’s will when we spurn His love. Explain. What is the divine tribute to the nobility of men? Explain what God’s will means for us. How can we find God’s will? Does man lose God by accident? What qualities has God’s love always? LESSON VI (Pages 12-14) Prove that God loves everything that is. What is love’s best definition? How does God express His love? Why did He fashion a universe? How does God show His love for the sinner? The universe reveals the Heart of God. Explain. What ranks highest in the scale of God’s love? How is justice related to love? Show the relationship between God’s truth and God’s justice. How is mercy related to justice? How does God’s goodness share itself? What is the common temptation as we face life’s uncertainties? How can we face life cheerfully? How much are we dependent on God? Why is creation’s plan perfect? Are we able to read God’s plan? LESSON VII (Pages 15-16) As we grow we discover many truths. Explain. Why are God and man not in conflict? Does God always allow man his freedom? 29— What is God’s relation to our actions? Do we need aid when we sin? Why does God allow us to sin? Why did He create us if there is a risk of our going to Hell? What is the relationship between God’s knowledge and our freedom? LESSON VIII (Pages 16-17) What is the characteristic of true love? Why does God tell us about Himself? What does the eternal life of divinity mean? How has God’s love poured itself out? What is the distinction and what the identity in the Trinity? How does knowledge of the Holy Trinity help us? How are we affected by falsehood, truth, hatred and love? In revealing the truth of the Trinity, what does God teach us? Do all Three Persons perform works outside the Godhead? How do we stress the infinite personalities? How are we temples of God? How do we share the divine life? By what virtues do we know and love? How is God in us in a special way? When and where does Heaven begin on earth? LESSON IX (Pages 18-20) What are all creatures continually crying out? How does the mystery of creation humble the proud man? How does it comfort the man of wisdom? Why could not the world have given birth to itself? Why do we make a work of art and not create it? What is the difference between God creating and man making? Why does not God need time wherein to fashion materials? Does God grow in power through the years? How do God’s Intellect and Will affect the world? What follows if we do not accept creation? Why does creation teach us humility? In man’s intellect and will there is an image of the Trinity. Explain. How much of God’s beauty does the universe picture? What creature did God create first? What would God’s second creation be? What is the marvel in God creating man? — 30— LESSON X ( Pages 26-28 ) Why are the angels most like God? What do they show forth? Are there many angels? Is there variety among the angels? How do the angels resemble God? If the angels are bodiless, how is it they have appeared with bodies? Why are they pictured with wings? Are they affected by space? What do the angels teach us? How do the angels acquire knowledge? What do they know of human nature? Can they penetrate the human intellect and will? How does an angel love or hate? In what state were the angels created? What resulted from the trial of the angels? LESSON XI (Pages 28-29) Can the angels change their decisions? How are the good angels free since they cannot sin? What was the nature of the evil angels’ sin? State the result of the angels’ sin. What law prevails in Hell? Did passion enter into the angels’ sin? What prompted the angels to sin? Who was Lucifer and what penalty did he pay for his sin? Did a majority of the angelic hosts follow Lucifer in his sin? Why are the bad angels man’s enemies? How are the devils humiliated? Have the bad angels lost all their gifts? If God permitted them, what would the angels do to men? LESSON XII (Pages 29-30) How does the human intellect compare with the angelic intellect? While man is inferior to the angels, what can he attain to by grace? Can the evil angels penetrate our intellects and wills? — 31 — Why is not Satan happy in his knowledge? Are we happy in the knowledge of creatures? Where do angels and men find complete happiness? Who banishes joy from Hell? What was the necessary step for entering Hell? Is the sorrow of Hell contrition? What does perfect contrition bring to our souls? What is the nature of Hell's sorrow? How do the evil spirits carry out God’s plan on earth? How do the evil spirits and the good spirits further God’s plan? Are the devils roaming the earth free from Hell’s tortures? What is the essential torture of Hell? St. John's Vision of the Angels' Sin And there was a battle in Heaven, Michael with his angels battled with the Dragon, and the Dragon and his angels fought. And they did not prevail, neither was their place found any more in Heaven. And the great Dragon was cast down, the ancient Serpent, he who is called the Devil and Satan who leads astray the whole world. And he was cast down to the earth and with him his angels were cast down. — The Apocalypse of St. John, Chapter xii. Verse 7. 32 —