6 4'" i ' / n^ui^s PAMPHLET No. 3 in the Series HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SUMMA Passions— Habits—Virtues By REV. GERALD C. TREACY, S.J. THE PAULIST PRESS 401 West S9th Street New York 19, N. Y. 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 21, 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. THE PAULIST PRESS, NEW YORK 19 , N. 51 BY Y. Highlights of the Summa PASSIONS— HABITS—VIRTUES By Gerald C. Treacy, SJ. CHAPTER I MAN^S PASSIONS As brutes have received from God an inclination to seek their good and avoid things that are harmful, so has man received a like inclination. This is called sense appetite. In brute and man this movement is called passion. In animals the passions move out of necessity. In man, however, it is different. Man’s passions are under the command of reason and will. They have a moral slant in as much as they move man to actions that are good or bad for him. That is why they have an important place in the quest for happiness. The Three Elements in Passion In every passion we have three things, knowledge, a move- ment of the sense appetite and a bodily change. But the move- ment of the sense inclination is really passion. The appre- hension of good or evil sets the passions in motion. In this there is passivity and hence the name passion. While man is in a sense passive in the inclination of the passions, the pas- sions are big factors in life. They are the dynamos driving man to achievement. Without them man is inert. The Passions Act DifferenHy The passions in themselves lead to man’s good. If they do not, it is because man has a defect in his intellect or will, that makes him choose evil, thinking it good. While the passions have man’s good in view, they seek it in different ways. Love and hate, desire or aversion, pleasure and pain concern them- selves with good and evil without reference to difficulty. Whereas hope, despair, fear, daring and anger go into action when there is difficulty in getting the good or dodging the evil. The concupiscible passions deal only with good or evil. They are love, hate, desire, aversion, pleasure and sadness. As their action is not impeded by the knowledge of any difficulty in attaining their object they are called simple. The irascible passions are those concerned with a good hard to obtain or an evil hard to avoid. As they are only moved in an emergency connected with difficulty they might be called emergency passions. All the passions with the exception of anger are paired in contraries. So love is opposed to hate, hope to fear and so of the others. Love the Dominant Passion All the other passions derive from love. For it is love of the good that moves a man to any other passion. For ex- ample it is love that urges a man to hate a threatening evil. This shows that the tendencies of nature are toward good and not toward evil. While the passions move the brute necessarily, in man they are controlled by reason and free will. When reason realizes that a passion has a good object, then man sees that object and the questing of it as morally good. Reason sees for example that eating is good for health and overeating bad for health, and the will is free to choose either to eat or to overeat. Powers for Good The passions are powers by which a man can achieve good. But reason and will must control them or they will ruin a man. For proper control knowledge of the particular passion is necessary and which is the font of all the rest of the kindred emotions in man’s soul. The first of the concupiscible passions is love. By love we understand whatever is the source of movement toward the object loved. In this sense there is love in the inanimate world, for it means the tendency of everything to seek its good. We call this natural love. It is God Who urges the in- animate creature to its proper objective since it has no knowl- edge of its good. — 4— However, in the animal world things are different. The brute possesses sense knowledge and so can see what is good or bad for him. As he has neither reason nor free will he will tend to what he sees as good, and shrink from bad by in- stinct. That means necessarily. Now man can perceive as the brute does and he can go beyond that, and perceive what is good or evil by his spiritual faculties, reason and free will. He is capable of both sense love and intellectual love. In both instances he can use his * free will. Both loves are the adaptation of a tendency to some good. All love in man is a complacency in realizing the har- mony between a good and an inclination toward that good. Two Kinds of Love In man there are two kinds of love, selfish and unselfish. If a man loves food for the pleasure it gives him, his love is selfish as he is concerned only with himself. This is the love of concupiscence. On the other hand if a man loves another by desiring only the good of the other, his love is unselfish and is called the love of friendship. Selfish love is not evil. It is good for it urges a man to seek the happiness God created him for. However, the love of friendship is a higher, nobler love. By the love of friend- ship man grows into the lives of others, sharing in all the ac- tivities of these lives. In this love a man rises above himself and mingles with other lives, human, angelic and divine. The Causes of Love The causes of love are knowledge, goodness and likeness. There can be no love without knowledge. An obiect moves the sensitive or rational appetites, either attracting or re- pelling it. Unless the object is known and recognized as de- sirable or undesirable, the attraction or repulsion cannot occur. For love to exist in the tendency or appetite some knowl- edge is necessary though it need not be perfect. Goodness is the basic cause of love. Love either of the sense or rational appetite is a tendency to good. Goodness is what draws all love to itself. Love is also caused by likeness. Like attracts like. That is because the lover wants to be united with what he loves. So when men are alike in virtues, tastes, abilities they tend to union with one another. Even when opposites are attracted to each other, the attraction comes from what is alike in each of the opposites. Love and Union All love leads to union. If a man loves a woman, she lives in his intellect, imagination, will. If she is absent he longs for her presence. Lover and beloved live in one another. Human love reaches its heights when this unity is attained. Love is ecstatic. It makes the lover get out of himself. He will think less of self, he will make any sacrifice for his beloved. Zeal arid jealousy flow from love, for the lover wants constantly to serve his beloved, and resents anyone who looks like a rival. Love can likewise do harm to the individual instead of doing good. This will happen unless love is ruled by reason. No matter what its danger, love is a tendency to good. It is the force back of every human effort and achievement. Hatred's Object Hatred is the opposite of love; it is the tendency of the appetite away from evil. As the object of love is good, so the object of hatred is evil. Although hatred’s object is evil, hatred is caused by love. Its base is some former love. Love is stronger than hatred for a strong hatred is based on a stronger love. A man hates to run into the danger of death because he has a stronger love for life. Hatred is a force for good because it is rooted in love. But reason must dominate it or else it will not achieve a man’s good. — 6— Desire and Love Desire is an inclination toward a good not yet possessed. It is love pursuing a good. It is the urge back of all man’s actions. Some desires are natural, others are not. Whatever is good for one’s well-being is naturally desired. For example: everybody naturally wants a decent standard of living. As men possess reason they can see good in many things which are not actually necessary for their well-being. Desires that are not natural are without limit. Pleasure for instance, or recreation can become the absorbing interest in life. Of course that means the desire for pleasure is not governed by reason. Dislike or aversion is the opposite of desire. It is the weakest of all the passions. It is unproductive and has no ability for strong love. Men are prompted to action by desire. Its object is joy or pleasure. Pleasure is a movement of the appetite, for the appetite is in action when it holds the good it has been seek- ing. And yet the appetite is resting, for it rests in the good it previously desired. Pleasure and Joy The appetite resting in good is either pleasure or joy. The repose of the sense appetite is pleasure, the repose of the rational appetite, that is the will, is joy. Bodily change al- ways accompanies pleasure. But joy is different. A man rejoices in finding truth which means there is a movement in his will. However, a great spiritual joy can also give bodily pleasure. Spiritual pleasures, those reached by the intellect and will are superior to bodily pleasures, though the majority of men hardly realize this truth. Love yearns to be united with the object loved and union with the loved object brings happiness. A real union brings the greatest joy, but we delight also in a past union or in one to come. Love makes others’ actions a joy for us when those actions are for our benefit. Beneficial actions we undertake for friends likewise give us joy, for we think of our friends as ourselves. Likeness gives delight for we enjoy those who have tastes and interests like our own. Sensible Pleasure Sensible pleasure comes from the senses of sight and touch. Sight lets us enjoy all the world’s wonders, and touch pleases us for by it we hold things for our own uses. Touch is better than sight for bodily pleasure, but for mental pleasure sight is better as it leads more directly to knowledge. Activity causes pleasure because pleasure demands the gaining of a suitable good and the knowledge of this gain. To get what they desire men must act, and so pleasure comes from action. Anticipating our desires also gives pleasure. In every instance pleasure comes from love. So if love is intense the pleasure will be intense. Love is expansive and so it means growth. If our loves are right our growth will be right. If our loves are not right they grow but wrongly. Pleasure's Urge Pleasure or joy gives the urge for more. This is true of sensible and intellectual joy. Man seeks intellectual joy that is unlimited and he can find it only in the vision of God Who is Truth and Good Unlimited. Pleasure can perfect human action for we do more per- fectly the things that please us. On the other hand the excess of pleasure can dull the mind and impede its proper action. The morality of pleasure is important. It is determined by right reason. If pleasure leads me to my destiny, God, it is good pleasure, otherwise it is evil pleasure. IVIan’s highest pleasure is the Beatific Vision. It is reason’s function to de- termine if a pleasure leads to this objective; then we should enjoy it if it does, shun it if it does not. All earthly joys are to be judged according to their bearing on eternal joy. They are but shadows of The Real Joy. — 8— Pain and Sorrow Pain and sorrow are the opposites of pleasure and joy. Pain is the tendency of the sense appetite in regard to evil. Sorrow is the wilPs tendency in regard to evil. Like all the passions pain and sorrow occur through the knowledge of eviPs presence. Pain and sorrow depress man and prevent him from find- ing pleasure in the good things he has. Pleasure is the best remedy for pain or sorrow. Pain and sorrow in themselves are evil but sometimes they may lead a man to good. Remorse in itself is painful but it may lead to contrition. All these passions are the simple passions. God has given us other passions that are known as the emergency passions. They help us in our battle for good and against evil. The Emergency Passions The first of these emergency passions is hope. It is a tendency to a future good which is difficult to gain. The opposite of hope is despair. Hope is based both on experience and on its lack. Youth is ever hopeful as it has not met with failure. Hope aids action as it stimulates effort. Despair blocks action and strangles effort. Hope gives rise to daring. When a man hopes for some good he dares to take risks to get it. Daring is more stable when based on reason and experience. Fear is the opposite of daring. It is the tendency to take flight in the face of threatening danger. Fear strikes when danger is imminent. Fear takes many forms. It accounts for laziness which is fear of work. And so for many other weak- nesses. Love of good is the cause of fear. A man wants the good he has and fears anything that will deprive him of it. The bad effect of fear is to block a man acting for his own good. Anger is the last of the emergency passions. It has a mix- ture of elements. It will prompt a man to hate someone who has injured him and also prompt him to get revenge. Anger 9— touches on justice. A man is angry for an injustice done him, and seeks to punish the perpetrator of injustice. Anger can drive men to act and it can give pleasure. But it can also unbalance reason and prudence. Why God Gives Man Passions All man’s passions are his from God as helps to avoid evil and seek good. Their activity may be good or bad. If guided by right reason they are good and lead man to his final objec- tive. If they rule a man they bring him to ruin. The motive of all human action must be love of the Real Good. Man and society grow through love. The world is made fit for man and man made fit for God by love under reason’s guidance. Note—^When St. Ignatius Loyola explains the meaning of Spiritual Exercises in his first annotation or directive, he says: “Under the name of Spiritual Exercise is understood ... all methods of preparing and disposing the soul to rid itself of all inordinate affections, and after it has rid itself of them to seek and find God’s will in the ordering of one’s life for one’s soul’s salvation.” This means living, with reason and will controlling the passions.—G. C. T. — 10— CHAPTER II MAN^S HABITS We reach God by our free morally good human acts. Free decisions mold our lives. The difficulty of making free de- cisions is lightened by that quality of human nature that we call habit. Because he has acquired the habit of kindness the kind man finds it easy to be kind. It is easy for the thief to steal because he has acquired the habit of stealing. Habits make it easy or hard for men to be good or to be evil. Habit is a quality in man that puts him in order for some- thing. To be put in order a thing must have different parts or elements. As man is made up of parts he can be put in order. He has a body and a soul. His body is made up of different members. His soul has different powers, the intellect and the will. He has passions or sense appetites. These elements must be put in order for a man to be well-disposed in his human nature or in respect to human actions. A Secand Nature Every arrangement of parts is not a habit. A habit is something that is added to man’s nature. It is like a second nature. To acquire a habit a nature must be capable of some perfection which as yet it lacks. Then that nature must be capable of being determined to different perfections in different ways. Man is capable of habit because his tendencies have a character of universality and for his efficient action he needs habit. Man seeks all truth and all good. He can choose what- ever truth or good he wishes. But the attainment of any truth or good demands the easy direction of man’s powers. Without habits man would often be hampered in his actions, — U — Habit Secu res Efficiency Surrounded by a number of good things man is pulled in every direction. His sense tendency urges him to all bodily pleasures; his intellect goes after all truth, his will after all good. His powers need to be determined to one object, if he is to act sensibly. This determination is given by habit. Habit stands between man’s power to act and his actions. Man is capable of always telling the truth but to do so con- stantly he must gain the habit of truthfulness. His will is determined toward truth-telling by truthfulness. Habit enables man to choose the good and avoid the evil in life. It is what holds him to the right path morally. Hu- man power’s energy is activated by habit. Direct and Indirect Relation Man acts through his powers. His powers are of body and soul. Some habits will be in his body and soul and will affect his nature directly. Habits of intellect and will directly influ- ence his actions. Health of body for example, is a habit directly affecting man’s nature and indirectly influencing his activities. Bodily health makes the body a suitable instrument for the soul’s powers to employ in searching for happiness. Health is an asset, sickness is not. No Habit Affects the Soul As the soul gives form to human nature, vitalizing the body, no habit affects it directly. However, in the super- natural life the soul has to be disposed to enjoy the vision of God. It cannot grasp that vision by any natural powers. God makes man ready for the Beatific Vision by pouring sanctifying grace into man’s soul. Sanctifying graces makes man able to live in God’s own life. He shares that life by the power of grace. Health and grace are entitative habits because they are found in human nature’s elements. They directly affect na- ture. Action follows from their indirect influence. However, most habits directly affect action. They modify man’s powers — 12 — to act, not his nature. They direct the powers of intellect or will or sense appetite to definite action. As they prompt imme- diate action they are called operative or active habits. Operative Habits These habits are found in the intellect and the will. As man’s intellect and will tend toward universal truth and good, they need direction if they are to be efficient. The operative habits give direction. Bodily powers such as digestion or assimilation of food, act naturally and of necessity, and so are not guided by habit. Man’s sensitive powers while operating naturally are subject to reason and will and so to habit. But as intellect and will have such a sweeping tendency to all truth and all good, they must be guided to special channels of action, if man is to make the most of his human nature and its powers. Causes of Habits Nature, human action and God are the causes of habits. Health and beauty are caused by nature, which can aid also in forming other habits. Man can gain knowledge more readily with good sight and hearing. Every man by nature is able to grasp the first principles of thought. Once knowing what a whole is and what a part, any man can know that a whole is greater than a part. A man can learn through nature’s senses what is a whole and what a part. Then, too, man’s appetitive powers are furnished the beginning of a habit by nature. Some men are naturally inclined to anger while others tend toward calmness. Human activity is the chief cause of habits. An operative habit is acquired by the repeated action in the same line. The habit of kindness is acquired by repeated acts of kindness. A kind man finds it hard to be unkind, easy to be kind. While human acts are habit-forming, they are not alone in this. God can infuse natural habits in man as He is the Cause of man’s nature. It is more usual for God to infuse super- — 13 — natural habits, since He calls man to the supernatural life. But by natural habits he can never reach that life. And so God gives him supernatural powers or habits. Habits Grow and Decline Since habits are the result of human activity they can grow and they can decline. The oftener a man practices a vir- tue the stronger it grows in his soul. And the reverse is true. Objectives, too, distinguish habits from one another. The habit of honesty differs from the habit of kindness. Habits also have a moral slant for they are either good or bad. Jus- tice is a virtue while injustice is a vice. A man’s final destiny depends on his habits, for a man of bad habits is moving away from God and heading for Hell, while a man with good habits is moving toward God and Heaven. CHAPTER III MAK^S VIRTUES Man gains true happiness by seeking moral good. His intellect and will must be directed to definite acts of good- ness by good habits. These good habits are virtues. For good living virtues are necessary. Virtues are those perfections en- abling man to conquer the world for himself and himself for God. Virtues in Relation to Action Virtues are habits enabling man to work efficiently. Some virtues give the ability to work efficiently without giving the Note—A prayer that St. Ignatius Loyola prizes highly is the Exam- ination of Conscience and especially the Particular Examination of Conscience. He places it at the very beginning of the Spiritual Exer- cises. The psychology of the prayer is based on the truth that man is a creature of habit and his life’s happiness hinges on the habits he has formed. The Particular Examination of Conscience teaches him how to rid his soul of bad habits and build up good habits in their stead. — G. C. T. 14 — right use of that ability. Others give both the ability and its right use. They are perfect virtues. Virtues are in the intellect, will, and sense appetite, but in different ways. As the will urges man to the search for good, perfect virtue is in the will alone, and in man^s other powers in as far as they are guided by the will. The intellectual virtues contemplate truth and of them- selves do not effect good actions. A man may be a good phi- losopher and morally a bad man. These intellectual virtues are imperfect with the exception of prudence which effects morally good actions. The simple passions of man as sense tendencies have no relation to virtue. But the concupiscible passions dominated by reason are human actions. In as far as reason guides the sense appetite it is subject to virtue. Conformity to reason constitutes the virtues of the passions. Why the Will Needs Virtues As the will prompts man to good deeds it is the proper subject of virtue. So to perfect its action it has no need of virtues when man is reaching for personal good. But as man is related to other men and to God, his will needs virtues for its perfection, justice for example, and charity. As human actions proceed from the intellect and the will every virtue must be a perfection of one of these faculties. It is an intellectual virtue if it perfects man’s intellect and a moral virtue if it perfects his will. Virtue then is the per- fection of intellect and will which lifts man above the brute and makes him God’s image. Divine Knowledge and Love constitute God’s life. So do knowledge and love make man’s life. And to know and love properly man needs the intellectual and moral virtues. The Help of the Intellectual Virtues The intellectual virtues aid the intellect in its search for truth. Truth is the intellect’s good. We may merely contem- plate truth or we may act on truth. The speculative intellect — IS— contemplates truth, the practical intellect acts on truth. To perfect action both need virtue. Speculatively a truth may be known in itself, as the fact that the whole is greater than its parts. Truths like that are the beginnings of all other knowledge. The knowledge of these principles is the virtue of understanding. A truth known through another truth may be grasped as true by its nearest principles. This is the knowledge of science. It is knowledge of a particular subject like mathematics. In the sciences we deduce a truth from some other truth, or else we read facts from principles given us by the intellectual vir- tue of understanding. The Light of Wisdom The intellect is satisfied only with the final answer to all things. The nearest answer will not satisfy. The knowledge of the final answer is wisdom, the intellectual virtue enabling man to see all things in proper perspective. The relation of one truth to another, one science to another, and of all to the Final Truth—God, is seen through the light of wisdom. It is normal for man to want to know everything for he is created for truth. Understanding, science and wisdom—the virtues of the speculative intellect—are needed to perfect man as man. Every man is gifted with understanding but he must gain science and wisdom by his own efforts. While the sciences as intellectual virtues help on man’s perfection, without wis- dom man cannot become as perfect as he should be. For wisdom alone gives the final answer to the great questions: ^Where did the world come from? Where did man come from? Where is he going?” The virtue of wisdom should be the aim of all endeavor in gaining knowledge. Prudence and the Practical Intellect The practical intellect is related to virtue. It is inter- ested in things to be made or done. Art is the virtue that per- fects the intellect in this practical knowledge. Man needs art when he wants to make something. Art is the knowledge of the right way of doing or making things. — 16— When the practical intellect goes into action then prudence is needed. Prudence is concerned with the right way of acting humanly. Hence it is an intellectual virtue. Its objective is moral good. As human acts are good or bad according to their objectives, prudence depends on the wilPs good intention as it is the will that chooses the objective. Prudence is a good habit urging man to right conduct. As good human acts secure man’s true happiness and pru- dence guides human acts according to right reason, man’s right or wrong living depends upon the presence or absence of prudence in his soul. Understanding, science, wisdom and art perfect man’s in- tellect but do not make him either good or evil. So they are not perfect virtues. As prudence is a force for moral good it perfects man as man and consequently is a moral virtue. The Intellectual and Moral Virtues The intellectual virtues are different from the moral vir- tues. The moral virtues are habits conditioning a man for good. If knowledge promoted good actions moral virtues would be unnecessary. But knowledge does no such thing. While reason is the principle of human acts, man’s sense appe- tite often refuses to follow reason. For right moral action man needs intellectual virtues for his reason’s perfection, and moral virtues to hold his sense appetite on the beam of reason. The Relation of the Virtues The intellectual virtues are distinct from the moral vir- tues but yet they are related to each other. The intellectual virtues of prudence and understanding are necessary for moral virtue. Prudence makes a man able to choose the right means for attaining his objective. Justice in the will inspires a man to pay his obligations, but it is prudence in the intellect that shows the right procedure. And on its part prudence depends upon understanding, the knowledge of first principles. Prudence demands right intention in a. particular act. Right intention is secured through the moral virtues which — 17 — direct man’s sense tendency. If that tendency is toward moral good then prudence can assist in getting the right means for the objective. It is the right intention in the tendency that enables the intellect to choose the right means for gaining the objective. To judge correctly in a special instance is easy for a man whose will is just but not so with the man of unjust will. Righteousness in will and sense appetite is an absolute demand of prudence. I The Virtues Necessary for Human Living The intellectual and moral virtues direct man’s intellect and will to gaining the true and the good. Without the vir- tues a truly human life cannot be lived. The world of truth and goodness is wide open to man’s intellect and will. The virtues are the powers helping man’s intellect to grasp the truth and his will to grasp the good. The Function of the Virtues If man is to reach happiness by his powers of reason, will and sense appetite, these powers must be properly ad- justed. If not united they will not work properly. They must be subject to one another and to God. The virtues adjust man’s powers properly. Reason shows man what true happiness is and how to gain it. The intel- lectual virtues dispose reason toward this effort. If man’s destiny were in the natural order he would need no special Note—In a dramatic contemplation called The Two Battle-Flags St. Ignatius Loyola pictures Christ our Lord calling His followers to battle for souls, and so build up Christ’s Kingdom, and Lucifer calling his followers to battle against Christ’s Kingdom and so win the world for the powers of darkness. Followers in both camps are presented ^^dth a battle strategy. The strategy of the Divine Leader is to draw men to perfect spiritual poverty as the first step in the campaign for souls. Spiritual poverty means detachment from material things. It means making oneself independent of creatures, so that a man uses them in as far as they help him achieve his destiny and lets them severely alone if they are impeding his destiny’s achievement. The Soldier Saint is stressing a key virtue that opens the door to all other virtues. For all virtues are related.—G. C. T. — 18— virtue to spur his will on to good. For naturally the will seeks good. Man's Vocation But man has a supernatural vocation, the Beatific Vision, and so he needs the virtue of charity to empower him to arrive at his supernatural destiny. As man lives in a world with others and not alone, the virtue of justice is necessary to him that he may give others their due. Man has passions or tendencies. If they are to lead man to happiness they must be guided by reason and will. Virtues bring them under the sway of reason and will. The con- cupiscible passions are ruled by temperance, the irascible or emergency passions by fortitude. Man's Need of the Virtues To seek the good efficiently man needs all the virtues. The cardinal virtues equip him properly for gaining natural happiness, and the theological virtues condition him for super- natural happiness. Prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude are the car- dinal virtues, so called because they organize human activity and guide it to man^s good as man. All virtues grow from them. All man’s natural powers are perfected by them. Pru- dence empowers man to decide in this particular instance what is to be done or not done. As some of man’s actions bear upon others and their rights, he needs the virtue of justice to orient him properly in giving what is due to God and man. The Sense Appetite The sense appetite urges man toward his individual good. It consists of the concupiscible and irascible powers. Tem- perance controls man’s concupiscible tendency for sensible good. In seeking a good that is difficult to attain man needs the virtue of fortitude to bolster up his irascible appetite. 19— These basic natural virtues will be related to any other natural virtues man may need. With the cardinal virtues man is not at odds with himself but is in harmony with himself, the world and God. He is a well-adjusted machine using all his powers in the right way for the project at hand. If man’s destiny were natural the cardinal virtues would suffice for him, but as he has a supernatural destiny, the Beatific Vision, he needs the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity to fit his reason and will to search efficiently for the vision of God. We call these virtues theological for God is their object, God gives them to us and makes them known by revealing them to us. First Principles To guide his activity in the natural order man needs to know first principles. To perfect his intellect in seeking God he needs to know supernatural principles. He gets this knowl- edge through faith. Man’s will tends naturally toward the good. Through the virtue of hope man’s will tends toward God in the supernatural order. Man’s will loves the good it has won in the natural order, and in the supernatural order his will loves God through the virtue of charity. Note—To know God and to know man is to know the meaning of life. That is why St. Ignatius Loyola starts his Spiritual Exercises with a consideration of the truth of God and the truth of man. He calls it Principle and Foundation. It is a plain matter-of-fact statement. It is not presented as a meditation or contemplation. It is put down bluntly and tersely. It begins: “Man is created to honor, serve and love God and by so doing to save his soul.” That gives meaning to man. He comes from God and belongs entirely to God. All he has God has given him. All he does he does only with God’s power. He is God’s creature. He was once nothing but now he is somebody and he will be somebody forever. God not only gave him his life but He gave him a higher life. Besides making him man, God’s man. He made him God’s child. By the gift of grace man receives a new creation. He becomes a member of God’s family, he shares God’s Nature. This is man’s dignity. To live up to it is his vocation. The virtues’ function is to enable him to do this.—G. C. T. — 20— How God Is Reached God as He is in Himself cannot be reached by man. The infused virtues of faith, hope and charity make God accessible to man, and by living these virtues man is getting ready to reach God as He is in Himself and so attain his destiny. The natural and supernatural virtues make man perfect as man and as the child of God and heir of Heaven. By the cardinal virtues all man’s powers are subject to reason, and by the theological virtues man’s reason and will are conformed to God’s Law. Both ready man to gain the vision of God. The virtues do not frustrate or hamper man but they em- power his reason and will to strive successfully for happiness. The man of virtue acts according to reason. He knows the objective he is seeking and how to get it. To call a man vir- tuous is to say that he is perfect. Nature, Man, God How does man get the virtues necessary for human liv- ing? He is given them by nature, man and God. The be- ginnings of the natural virtues are given man by nature. The first principles of knowledge and action are given the intellect by nature. The first truths, the foundation of science and wisdom every man knows naturally. For example man knows naturally that the whole is larger than its parts, and that in his conduct he should do good and shun evil. Reason directs human action to happiness by the practical knowledge derived from this truth. Nature, too, makes the will a natural tendency to good in keeping with the dictates of reason. Then the temperament given individual men by nature conditions them for certain virtues. Some are inclined to one virtue, some to another. This tendency comes from nature. Habits and Virtues To gain the natural virtues man must follow nature’s urges. These virtues are habits and are acquired like habits. If a man wants the virtue of fortitude he must repeatedly act — 21 -^ with fortitude. These repeated acts will form the virtue of fortitude. That is how all virtues are acquired. God must infuse the supernatural virtues, both moral and theological. For they cannot come from nature. God as He is in Himself is the Object of the theological virtues, but not of the moral virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude, jus- tice. They guide man’s actions and passions in their tendency to the Object of the theological virtues, God in Himself. They must be infused by God for man cannot acquire them naturally. The Norm As human acts are intelligent they work toward an objec- tive. The objective measures the perfection of the act and the virtue that prompts it. The virtues act in keeping with their objective. The Norm of Human Virtues Human reason is the norm of the moral virtues. The norm is the middle way between extremes. Temperance is the mean between gluttony and starvation. Human activity is not halted by following the mean or measure of virtue. The measure of virtue frees this activity to pursue the good. In seeking natural good the natural moral virtues follow the norm of reason. Sometimes this norm is placed in human actions by reason, sometimes the objective of the action de- mands it. As justice means giving everyone his due, in matters of justice the norm of reason must conform to the object of justice. If I am in debt to a man I must pay him the exact amount of the debt, neither more nor less. The Role of Reason Reason itself, however, sets the norm for the other moral virtues. Reason determines what is temperance, what is forti- tude for a man. And the norm will vary in different indi- viduals. The norm of the other virtues is determined by pru- — 22— dence, for it is prudence which decides what a person can and should do as well as when and how he should do it. A standard also determines the action of the natural in- tellectual virtues. Truth is the intellect’s object, truth taken absolutely for the speculative intellect, truth in conformity with good for the practical intellect. Things are the norm for speculative truth. The intellect must know things as they are in themselves. When the intel- lect knows the make-up of things it is perfected by the virtue of science. Art and Prudence Art and prudence are the virtues of the practical intellect. Art is interested in making things. In as far as reason is con- formed to things, reason is the rule of art. Human actions are the concern of prudence. Its sphere is man’s will and sense appetite. It follow the norm of reason and it judges the virtues according to the circumstances of individuals. The Eternal Law is the norm for the infused moral vir- tues. Natural virtues have a natural motive for their practice and supernatural virtues have a supernatural motive. The Norm of the Supernotural Virtues God Himself is the mean or norm of the supernatural vir- tues of faith, hope and charity. As God is Infinite Truth and Good, man can never believe in Him too intensely, nor hope in Him too confidently, nor love Him too greatly. All the virtues act in keeping with some norm, whether the norm is in things or man or God. In addition they are all related to each other in some fashion. This is because the object of all is to lead man to the Beatific Vision. The Binding Force of fhe Moral Virtues The binding force of all the moral virtues is prudence. For the actions of the will and the sense appetite are moder- ated either by the law of reason or the Divine Law. The effect is prudent action. — 23— Prudence needs the moral virtues as it is interested in using the proper means of gaining the objective of human action. It requires a right tendency to a good objective. If the moral virtues do not secure this right tendency then pru- dence will not act. The Need for Charity Since the natural virtues are concerned with man’s nat- ural good they do not need charity. But as the infused moral virtues are pointing man to his supernatural destiny they need charity. Supernatural prudence is interested in guiding man to the vision of God, and hence requires charity. For the proper action of all the supernatural virtues charity is needed. If charity is to be effective it must have the infused moral virtues. All actions leading to God are rooted in charity. Man’s actions are guided to charity by the infused moral virtues. Foifh, Hope and Charity The theological virtues of faith and hope need charity if they are to enable a man to act correctly in seeking happiness. They are imperfect otherwise. A man is not led to God by simply believing in Him. He must love Him. The same is true of hope. To have perfect hope in God there must be love for God and conformity to His will. Faith and hope must support charity. I must believe it possible to become God’s friend in Heaven and hope to attain this by God’s grace before I can love Him and win my super- natural destiny. Virtues Are Interrelated Virtues are related to one another and their perfection is not equal. Their objective’s perfection as well as man’s vir- tues make virtues vary. A virtue’s greatness is determined by its object’s great- ness. That is whv the theological virtues surpass all others for God is their object. As by charity we are one with God, this is the supreme virtue excelling both faith and hope. — 24— The Inf’cllectual and Moral Virtues In one sense the intellectual virtues are superior to the moral virtues and in another sense they are not. As universal truth is the intellect’s object, and some particular good is the object of man’s appetite, the object of the intellectual virtues is above the moral virtues’ object. But moral virtue is supe- rior if we think of human action, since it makes man’s appe- tite perfect. His appetite activates all his powers. A man is made good intellectually by good intellectual habits, but he is made good as man by good moral habits. The Rating of the Moral Virtues Justice is supreme among the moral virtues since it per- fects the will. And this is man’s rational appetite and so above his sense appetite. Moreover justice orders a man rightly in regard to others. And so fortitude excels temperance as it makes the sense appetite subject to reason. Wisdom is the supreme intellectual virtue, because God the final cause of all things, is its object. Virtues Differ Virtues differ according to the degree in which they are in man’s possession. Some men are braver than others, and in one man some one virtue may excel all others. This is due to nature, to man or to God. A man’s temperament may urge him more strongly to justice than to any other virtue. A man can develop this dominant virtue by his own efforts. By this he acquires the habit of virtue. The infused virtues will differ in degree since God is their Cause and He may give them in what proportion He determines. The virtues are all interrelated and some cannot flourish without others. Some may be stronger in one man than in another. One may be stronger in the same man than another. It is a law of simple proportion. The Effect of Difference The effect of difference of virtues in men makes for in- terest. If all men were virtuous they would be good but not — 25 -^ all in the same way. This would mean variety. Vice does not have this effect for it tends to despair. Nothing satisfies except the good. The Preservation of Virtue Mortal sin kills charity and the infused moral virtues. Man must avoid it if he will live. Faith and hope are killed by sins that are their opposites; so these sins should be avoided. Neglect destroys the natural virtues. Constantly acting in accord with them in the way to preserve them. The Duration of the Virtues What virtues will remain in Heaven? While there will be no need for temperance and fortitude in Heaven since at present no bodies are there and so no conflicts between soul and body, yet the order which these virtues gave to man will remain. According to St. Augustine temperance will endure delighting in God without any rebellious yearnings. Likewise fortitude and justice will abide in the souls of the just in Heaven. As the mind will keep all the ideas learned during life the intellectual virtues will remain in Heaven. The theological virtues faith, hope and charity cannot en- dure in Hell since the lost soul has rejected God forever. Faith and hope do not remain in Heaven for there is no need for them as the blessed soul enjoys God’s vision in full possession. But charity remains as all the blessed will continue loving God for eternity. Charity Is Supreme Because charity remains forever it is the supreme virtue. The natural virtues cannot ready man for the Beatific Vision. The supernatural virtues do this. The theological virtues put Note—If we follow the life of Christ prayerfully we learn the lesson of the virtues. Because Christ in His lifetime practiced all the virtues perfectly. That is why besides being God He was also perfect Man. St. Ignatius’ plan in his Spiritual Exercises is to draw men to a prayerful study of the life of Christ. For this is the way they become true Christians, other Christs.—G. C. T. ^26— man’s intellect and will in contact with God. All man’s ax tions are guided by charity to union with God. Charity gives the answer to human living. There is no prudence without charity and no moral virtues without pru- dence. And man cannot be guided to happiness without moral virtues. The virtues make man capable of directing all his powers, natural and infused, to the attainment of happiness. Christ came to give men a plan of life, a pattern for liv- ing, real human living. And what is the key to this real living? It is the life of the virtues, those powers that God gives man to enable him to be a true man. Man really has two lives; a natural life and a life higher than nature. So he first follows the pathway of the natural virtues and then the pathway of the supernatural virtues. The natural virtues cannot bring him the vision of God. He needs the supernatural virtues for that. And God gives them if man asks for them. — 27 — QUESTIONS LESSON I (Pages 1-6) What is passion? How do the passions differ in man and brute? In every passion we have three elements. Explain. What part do the passions play in man’s life? The passions seek man’s good in different ways. Explain. How do the concupiscible passions act? Why are they called simple? The concupiscible passions may be called emergency passions. Why? All the passions are paired in contraries. Explain. Why do all the passions stem from love? Why must the passions be controlled by reason and free will? What is natural love? Love in man is a complacency. Explain. What two kinds of love exist in man? What is the effect of the love of friendship? What are the causes of love? How can love harm the individual? How is love stronger than hatred? LESSON II (Pages 7-10) Define desire and aversion. Where does sensible pleasure come from? Where can man find unlimited joy? What is the determinant of the morality of pleasure? Define pain and sorrow. What are the emergency passions? What causes fear? How is anger associated with justice? Why does God give man passions? What is love’s function? — 28— LESSON III (Pages 10-11) How do we reach God? How are our lives molded? How do habits affect men? Define a habit. Why can man be put in order? Why do we call a habit a second nature? What is necessary for man to act efficiently? Habit is a quality in man. Explain. Habits are related to human activity directly and indirectly. Explain. How does bodily health affect man’s nature? LESSON IV (Pages 11-13) Why is the soul unaffected by habit? What affects the soul in the supernatural order? How are health and grace comparable? What is the difference between entitative and operative habits? Why are operative habits found in the intellect and the will? The sensitive passions are subject to habit. Explain. Name the causes of habits? What is the principal cause of habits? How is the habit of truthfulness acquired? What habits may God infuse in man? Habits can grow and decline. Explain. What distinguishes one habit from another? What makes habits important to man? LESSON V (Pages 14-15) What is virtue? What is man made for? How are intellect and will determined to particular acts of goodness? — 29— Explain the difference between perfect and imperfect virtues. Where are virtues found? Where is perfect virtue found? What is the concern of science, wisdom and understanding? How do the movements of the passions become sources of human actions? What are the virtues of the passions? In what instance does the will need virtues to perfect it? What are the two sources of human actions? LESSON VI (Pages 15'16) Virtue makes man perfect as man. Explain. Why does man need the intellectual and moral virtues? Truth may be known either speculatively or practically. Ex- plain. How may a truth be known speculatively? What is the habit or virtue of understanding? A truth known in and through some other truth can be known in two ways. Explain. What is wisdom? How does understanding differ from science and wisdom? What questions does wisdom answer? LESSON VII (Pages 16-17) What is the practical intellect concerned with? Define art. What is the concern of prudence? What is its objective? How does the will affect prudence? What does man’s right or wrong living depend upon? Why are understanding, science and wisdom not perfect virtues? Explain man’s need of intellectual and moral virtues. What is the relationship between the virtues? How is a right intention secured? What is an absolute demand of prudence? How do the virtues direct man? — 30— LESSON VIII (Pages 18-19) How are man’s powers properly adjusted? How do the intellectual virtues affect reason? What is man’s vocation? What does he need to follow this vocation? Why does man need the virtue of justice? What virtue rules the concupiscible passions? What virtue rules the emergency passions? What is the function of the cardinal virtues, what the function of the theological virtues? Why are some virtues called cardinal? How do the virtues affect man’s powers? Explain the relationship between the sense appetites and the virtues? How is man affected by the cardinal virtues? LESSON IX (Pages 19-20) Why are not the cardinal virtues sufficient for man? Why are faith, hope and charity called theological virtues? How does man get his knowledge of supernatural principles? How does man’s will tend toward God? How does man’s will love God? How is God made accessible to man? What virtues make man perfect as man? What virtues make him the child of God and heir of Heaven? Do the virtues frustrate man? LESSON X (Pages 21-22) How does man get the necessary virtues for human living? What does man know naturally? What part does nature play in conditioning man for certain virtues? How are virtues acquired? Explain the difference in function of the theological and moral virtues. What measures the perfection of a human act? What is the norm for the moral virtues? — 31 — What must the norm of reason do In matters of justice? Explain the function of reason and of prudence. What is the norm for speculative truth? What are the virtues for the practical intellect? What is the rule of art? LESSON XI (Pages 23-24) What concerns the virtue of prudence and what is its sphere What is the norm for the infused moral virtues? Name the norm of faith, hope and charity. Why are all the virtues related to one another? State the relation of prudence to the moral virtues. On what does the action of prudence depend? Why do the infused moral virtues need charity? How is man guided to charity? Why do faith and hope need charity? Faith and hope must support charity. Explain. Why do virtues vary? How do we determine a virtue’s greatness? Are the intellectual virtues superior to the moral virtues? LESSON XII (Pages 25-27) Why is justice supreme among the moral virtues? Why does fortitude excel temperance? Why is wisdom the supreme intellectual virtue? How do virtues differ? What is variation due to? What effect has difference in virtues? What kills charity? How are faith and hope killed? How do we preserve the natural virtues? What virtues will remain in Heaven? What virtues endure in Hell? Why is charity the supreme virtue? '-I, W- ^ 'i-