[WV] Augustine Institute for Catholic Studies

Wonderess

"I will be true to you whatever comes."
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Augustine Institute for Catholic Studies
Greetings to you seekers of knowledge! I am very excited to welcome you to this institute for the study of the Catholic faith. Overtime, I hope to more perfectly describe and define Catholic ideals and show to you just how wondrous and beautiful the Church really is.

Goals of the Institute

-Explain the Catholic faith fully and truthfully
-Show that faith in the Church is reasonable
-Answer questions from those who wish to respectfully inquire about the faith

-Create a respectful dialogue with those of other religious dispositions

Plan of Action

I will go through the Catechism of the Catholic Church section by section and expound on its ideas. After each post, feel free to ask questions and I will be happy to answer them or point you to a better source than myself. I do hope that an air of respect and maturity may always pervade the Institute. I am very excited and wish to thank @St George for this opportunity!

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph pray for us!​
 
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I've never had much contact or interaction with religion so maybe this will provide some insight. :)
Religion has always seemed fairly confusing.
 
Catechism: Lesson One

PART ONE:

THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION ONE

"I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"
26 We begin our profession of faith by saying: "I believe" or "We believe". Before expounding the Church's faith, as confessed in the Creed, celebrated in the liturgy and lived in observance of God's commandments and in prayer, we must first ask what "to believe" means. Faith is man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life. Thus we shall consider first that search (Chapter One), then the divine Revelation by which God comes to meet man (Chapter Two), and finally the response of faith (Chapter Three).


CHAPTER ONE

MAN'S CAPACITY FOR GOD


I. The Desire for God
27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:

The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.1

28 In many ways, throughout history down to the present day, men have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and behaviour: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations, and so forth. These forms of religious expression, despite the ambiguities they often bring with them, are so universal that one may well call man a religious being:

From one ancestor (God) made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him - though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For "in him we live and move and have our being."2

29 But this "intimate and vital bond of man to God" (GS 19 # 1) can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected by man.3 Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in the world; religious ignorance or indifference; the cares and riches of this world; the scandal of bad example on the part of believers; currents of thought hostile to religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God out of fear and flee his call.4

30 "Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice."5 Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, "an upright heart", as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God.

You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is your power and your wisdom is without measure. and man, so small a part of your creation, wants to praise you: this man, though clothed with mortality and bearing the evidence of sin and the proof that you withstand the proud. Despite everything, man, though but a small a part of your creation, wants to praise you. You yourself encourage him to delight in your praise, for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.6


References
1 Vatican Council II, GS 19 # 1.

2 Acts 17:26-28.

3 GS 19 # 1.

4 Cf. GS 19-21; Mt 13:22; Gen 3:8-10; Jon 1: 3.

5 Ps 105: 3

6 St. Augustine, Conf. I, I, I: PL 32, 659-661.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church begins by acknowledging what it is that is the center of human connection to God which is faith. Faith is unique in that it is a trusting acceptance of basic tenets. Faith is a trusting in things not seen in the hope and trust that those things are. It is how the human person responds to the call of God who makes himself known in the human person and in the living of life.

Next, the Church acknowledges that humanity has a natural desire for God as seen through religious practices throughout history. It is understood that acting or living against this notion hinders the ability for the human person to be fulfilled. This is further made an issue by the practices and thought of the world that causes religion to be seen as unimportant or
unnecessary. However, even when God is rejected by the person, this does not cease the call of man from God to find Him and seek Him for while man changes, God in His perfection never does. It is also made clear that the practice of religious seeking must be accompanied by the reason or else it boils down to unguided superstition. The "intellect," "will," and "upright heart" are all necessary aspects of the person for correct faith. Also, faith is lived in community as there is a requirement of others to help orient the person towards what is of God. The uniting of wills to seek what is True and holy yields further fruits than the pursuit of the individual which is one aspect that the Church in her holy beauty provides.

This concludes lesson one so feel free to pose questions on this subject matter below.
 
II. Ways of Coming to Know God

31 Created in God's image and called to know and love him, the person who seeks God discovers certain ways of coming to know him. These are also called proofs for the existence of God, not in the sense of proofs in the natural sciences, but rather in the sense of "converging and convincing arguments", which allow us to attain certainty about the truth. These "ways" of approaching God from creation have a twofold point of departure: the physical world, and the human person.

32 The world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as the origin and the end of the universe.

As St. Paul says of the Gentiles: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.7



And St. Augustine issues this challenge: Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . . question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." Their beauty is a profession [confessio]. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One [Pulcher] who is not subject to change?8

33 The human person: with his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God's existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. the soul, the "seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material",9 can have its origin only in God.

34 The world, and man, attest that they contain within themselves neither their first principle nor their final end, but rather that they participate in Being itself, which alone is without origin or end. Thus, in different ways, man can come to know that there exists a reality which is the first cause and final end of all things, a reality "that everyone calls God".10

35 Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith.(so) the proofs of God's existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason.




7 Rom 1:19-20; cf., Acts 14:15, 17; 17:27-28; Wis 13:1-9.


8 St. Augustine, Sermo 241, 2: PL 38, 1134,


9 GS 18 # 1; cf. 14 # 2.


10 St. Thomas Aquinas, S Th I, 2, 3.

Here the Church addresses the way by which God can come to be known from the experience of life. St. Thomas Aquinas' proofs for God are referenced which deal with the extrapolation of God's existence from contingency or the ordered state of nature. Next beauty is discussed as the human ability to perceive beauty and the beauty residing in natural things points to a creator who is the origin and center of the beautiful itself.

Then comes the determination of God through the human person. God is seen as in some way reflected but not the same as human creation. This is evident in the ability to discern what is morally good, the ability to grasp the idea of the infinite, the search for ultimate happiness, and the coming to see the person as not just physical but also spiritual with the presence of the eternal soul. However, none of these things have their origin in the human person but come forth from the ultimate and the prime origin which is God. All of this is good and right in coming to know that God is, but it does not tell us who He is or anything about His person. This requires the person to accept God's revelation throughout salvation history which is found in faith. It is faith and reason together that provide a fullness of understanding God for who He is and what it is He has created and done. They form a union in the person and rely on one another for the fullness of understanding.

As always, comments and questions are happily accepted.
 
III. The Knowledge of God According to the Church

36 "Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason."11 Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created "in the image of God".12

37 In the historical conditions in which he finds himself, however, man experiences many difficulties in coming to know God by the light of reason alone:

Though human reason is, strictly speaking, truly capable by its own natural power and light of attaining to a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, who watches over and controls the world by his providence, and of the natural law written in our hearts by the Creator; yet there are many obstacles which prevent reason from the effective and fruitful use of this inborn faculty. For the truths that concern the relations between God and man wholly transcend the visible order of things, and, if they are translated into human action and influence it, they call for self-surrender and abnegation. the human mind, in its turn, is hampered in the attaining of such truths, not only by the impact of the senses and the imagination, but also by disordered appetites which are the consequences of original sin. So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful.13

38 This is why man stands in need of being enlightened by God's revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also "about those religious and moral truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error".14




11 Vatican Council I, Dei Filius 2: DS 3004 cf. 3026; Vatican Council
II, Dei Verbum 6.


12 Cf. Gen 1:27


13 Pius XII, Humani generis 561: DS 3875.


14 Pius XII, Humani generis 561: DS 3876; cf. Dei Filius 2: DS 3005;
DV 6; St. Thomas Aquinas, S Th I, I, I.

In this section we see an extended discussion of knowing God according to reason but also those limitations of knowing the Divine by "reason alone."

36. The Church has continually held that the very existence of God can be validated through reason by examining the existence and order of nature and furthermore coming to understand the mystical and greater role of an origin of it all. Furthermore, reason is also necessary for the coming to know what is true in Divine Revelation itself. This is the role of theology in the Church which uses reason in order to illumine and see clearly the truth in God's word and action.

37. A distinction is made between rational knowledge and interpersonal understanding. Just as one can look up their favorite musician and read their quotes or listen to the music that they write, one cannot truly know who the musician is until they meet them face to face and interact with them. So too is it with any great experience of person. A sunrise can be photographed, described, or explained and yet all fails to transmit the experience until the human eye experiences it on its own. So too must one come to be acquainted with God in order to fully come to know what is true by the path of faith and the holy. This requires reason as well so that truth may always be revealed rather than an endless grasping at the superstitious and emotional.

38. Hinted at here is the complimentary nature of faith and reason. Moral truth that can be obtained through reason is further illumined ad understood in context of the whole of creation and reality through the light and foundation of faith. This union allows the person to not only rationally know what is good but come to understand and fully live what is good as a potential beholder of what is true and just.

As always questions on any content covered so far are highly encouraged.
 
Wonderess

III. The Knowledge of God According to the Church

37 [snip]
...they call for self-surrender and abnegation.
[/snip]

This was the sticking point for me. I have, or rather had, too much pride for this. I am, slowly, getting over this and, in time, hope to get beyond it and acquire true faith. I still have pride, but it's not necessarily what it was. I think that that tis may be true of others here as well.

37 [snip]
So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful.
[/snip]

While I believe the above to be true I know that, in some cases, including my own, that I disbelieved because I felt that the literal existence of God was too good to be true. A fairy tale.
 
This was the sticking point for me. I have, or rather had, too much pride for this. I am, slowly, getting over this and, in time, hope to get beyond it and acquire true faith. I still have pride, but it's not necessarily what it was. I think that that tis may be true of others here as well.



While I believe the above to be true I know that, in some cases, including my own, that I disbelieved because I felt that the literal existence of God was too good to be true. A fairy tale.
The fact that you are able to see the hindrance of your own pride is worth applauding as most cannot even see how high they place themselves even over the realities of life. God is considered an "imaginary friend" because they equate Him to an idea. What sets Him apart is His quality which is different from ideas. I find the contemplation and interaction with Him to be qualatatively different from other notions or ideas that I have. Faith of course is the tool by which this discernment is possible for it requires a level of trust in order to discern these more nuanced things of reality and of the person.
 
IV. How Can We Speak about God?

39 In defending the ability of human reason to know God, the Church is expressing her confidence in the possibility of speaking about him to all men and with all men, and therefore of dialogue with other religions, with philosophy and science, as well as with unbelievers and atheists.

40 Since our knowledge of God is limited, our language about him is equally so. We can name God only by taking creatures as our starting point, and in accordance with our limited human ways of knowing and thinking.

41 All creatures bear a certain resemblance to God, most especially man, created in the image and likeness of God. the manifold perfections of creatures - their truth, their goodness, their beauty all reflect the infinite perfection of God. Consequently we can name God by taking his creatures" perfections as our starting point, "for from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator".15

42 God transcends all creatures. We must therefore continually purify our language of everything in it that is limited, imagebound or imperfect, if we are not to confuse our image of God --"the inexpressible, the incomprehensible, the invisible, the ungraspable"-- with our human representations.16 Our human words always fall short of the mystery of God.

43 Admittedly, in speaking about God like this, our language is using human modes of expression; nevertheless it really does attain to God himself, though unable to express him in his infinite simplicity. Likewise, we must recall that "between Creator and creature no similitude can be expressed without implying an even greater dissimilitude";17 and that "concerning God, we cannot grasp what he is, but only what he is not, and how other beings stand in relation to him."18




15 Wis 13:5


16 Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Anaphora.


17 Lateran Council IV: DS 806.


18 St. Thomas Aquinas, SCG 1, 30.

39. Reason stands as the tool by which the objective discussion of God and things of Him can be discussed across faith traditions and various beliefs about eternal reality.

40. It is very difficult to talk about the infinite when the human language is in itself limited and categorical in nature. However, this does not mean that we stop seeking truth despite limitation for more perfect knowledge of who God is can still be obtained through the sharing of ideas.

41. We study the nature of humanity and the reflected characteristics of God in humanity as a means of coming to know the Lord more perfectly. Just as a art historian may look at Van Gogh's paintings to better understand the man himself, so too is nature and the order of reality explored in order to better understand the Creator Himself.

42. This passage reemphasizes the fact that human language never fully presents what is true of God. To say God loves us is true, but these words are not strong enough to describe the reality of God's infinite love of us that is beyond all human comprehension and understanding of love absolute.

43. By our language we can still build an understanding of God that we humans are capable of even though the fullness of meaning is not realized. It is easier to say what God is not than to paint a full positive picture of what He is. Despite these things, an understanding can be developed through thought, time, patience, and the passion for knowing who God truly is and what that means for us in our daily lives.
 
CHAPTER TWO

GOD COMES TO MEET MAN

50 By natural reason man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation.1 Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Article 1

THE REVELATION OF GOD


I. God Reveals His "Plan of Loving Goodness"

51 "It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature."2

52 God, who "dwells in unapproachable light", wants to communicate his own divine life to the men he freely created, in order to adopt them as his sons in his only-begotten Son.3 By revealing himself God wishes to make them capable of responding to him, and of knowing him and of loving him far beyond their own natural capacity.

53 The divine plan of Revelation is realized simultaneously "by deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each other"4 and shed light on each another. It involves a specific divine pedagogy: God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons repeatedly speaks of this divine pedagogy using the image of God and man becoming accustomed to one another: the Word of God dwelt in man and became the Son of man in order to accustom man to perceive God and to accustom God to dwell in man, according to the Father's pleasure.5






2 DV 2; cf. Eph 1:9; 2:18; 2 Pt 1:4


3 I Tim 6:16, cf. Eph 1:4-5.


4 DV 2.


5 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 3, 20, 2: PG 7/1, 944; cf. 3, 17, 1; 4, 12, 4; 4, 21, 3.

We now move to the understanding of Divine Revelation. This is often an aspect of theology that is problematic to the secular minded because of the abuse and misinterpretation of scripture within certain movements of the Christian religion. It is understood that God in His love provides truth to the human race so that we have the ability to come to know Him. This is encapsulated both in the Bible and the tradition of the living Church. The dialogue never ends nor the ability to further discern the truths and impacts of salvation history on humanity. For us to call out to God there must have been first an invitation and so through the merciful love of God this first call began with the first man and was further formalized through the covenants from Abraham down to the sacrifice of the cross. This revelation is separate from the empirical and rational though these things a posteriori are used to make sense of what has been conveyed. The theological pursuit in part is the science that makes sense of revelation and its application to human living. It is a mandate to first listen to God and then after respond.
 
II. The Stages of Revelation

In the beginning God makes himself known

54 "God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities. and furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation - he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning."6 He invited them to intimate communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent grace and justice.

55 This revelation was not broken off by our first parents' sin. "After the fall, (God) buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing."7

Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the power of death. . . Again and again you offered a covenant to man.8

The covenant with Noah

56 After the unity of the human race was shattered by sin God at once sought to save humanity part by part. the covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the principle of the divine economy toward the "nations", in other words, towards men grouped "in their lands, each with (its) own language, by their families, in their nations".9

57 This state of division into many nations, each entrusted by divine providence to the guardianship of angels, is at once cosmic, social and religious. It is intended to limit the pride of fallen humanity10 united only in its perverse ambition to forge its own unity as at Babel.11 But, because of sin, both polytheism and the idolatry of the nation and of its rulers constantly threaten this provisional economy with the perversion of paganism.12

58 The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel.13 The Bible venerates several great figures among the Gentiles: Abel the just, the king-priest Melchisedek - a figure of Christ - and the upright "Noah, Daniel, and Job".14 Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to "gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad".15

God chooses Abraham

59 In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his kindred and his father's house,16 and makes him Abraham, that is, "the father of a multitude of nations". "In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed."17

60 The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare for that day when God would gather all his children into the unity of the Church.18 They would be the root on to which the Gentiles would be grafted, once they came to believe.19

61 The patriarchs, prophets and certain other Old Testament figures have been and always will be honoured as saints in all the Church's liturgical traditions.

God forms his people Israel

62 After the patriarchs, God formed Israel as his people by freeing them from slavery in Egypt. He established with them the covenant of Mount Sinai and, through Moses, gave them his law so that they would recognize him and serve him as the one living and true God, the provident Father and just judge, and so that they would look for the promised Saviour.20

63 Israel is the priestly people of God, "called by the name of the LORD", and "the first to hear the word of God",21 The people of "elder brethren" in the faith of Abraham.

64 Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts.22 The prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation which will include all the nations.23 Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel's salvation. the purest figure among them is Mary.24




6 DV 3; cf. Jn 1:3; Rom 1:19-20


7 DV 3; cf. Gen 3:15; Rom 2:6-7.






8 Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV, 118.


9 Gen 10:5; cf. 9:9-10, 16; 10:20-31.


10 Cf. Acts 17:26-27; Dt 4:19; Dt (LXX) 32:8.


11 Cf. Wis 10:5; Gen 11:4-6


12 Cf. Rom 1:18-25.


13 Cf. Gen 9:16; Lk 21:24; DV 3.


14 Cf. Gen 14:18; Heb 7:3; Ezek 14:14.


15 Jn 11:52


16 Gen 12:1


17 Gen 17:5; 12:3 (LXX); cf. Gal 3:8


18 Cf. Rom 11:28; Jn 11:52; 10:16.


19 Cf. Rom 11:17-18, 24.


20 Cf. DV 3.


21 Dt 28: 10; Roman Missal, Good i Friday, General Intercession VI;
see also Ex 19:6


22 Cf. Is 2:2-4; Jer 31:31-34; Heb 10:16


23 Cf. Ezek 36; Is 49:5-6; 53:11


24 Cf. Ezek 2:3; Lk 1:38

We now begin the journey through salvation history which focuses on the actions of God for the sake of lifting up his human people. Through the promise to Noah, Abraham, and then Moses and the people of Israel, God guides his people to himself in union and faithfulness to what is good. There is difficulty in this pursuit because the free will of man allows the choice that is not God's. There makes itself apparent in the struggle and forgetting of each covenant throughout the eras of Israel. However, each promise and covenant moves God and Israel one step closer to final salvation and victory. The plan is gradual and it is not just an act of God on man. Rather God includes man in His plan for humanity. This is the role of the patriarchs, the kings of Israel, the prophets, and of course we the modern people of the Church.

By seeing the history of how we came to be where we are now, we better understand our own place and purpose in the whole of the narrative. God in His infinite nature connects us to the past as well as the future. We are all connected as His creation and so we look to those before us for guidance and revelation of what is true and just.
 
I love this. There are few better examples of the beauty of the Universal Church than finding a Catholic Studies thread on a forum of a large, multinational organization in a nation-state simulation game. God bless you, Wonderess, and if there's anything I may do to help you with your mission, I'd love to help.
 
While I'm now technically a Catholic, if heretical (as Wonderess can attest), I wholeheartedly agree with the naysayers on this matter for the very reasons stated above.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Grin in fun but being utterly serious about this post.

Janus
 
While I'm now technically a Catholic, if heretical (as Wonderess can attest), I wholeheartedly agree with the naysayers on this matter for the very reasons stated above.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Grin in fun but being utterly serious about this post.

Janus
I think you meant to respond elsewhere, Janus.
 
Something that I just found out the other day.

For those interested there is a patron saint(ess) of the environment: St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

I love this. Now we only need a saint of population control, though it seems likely that that would fall under her bailiwick if only indirectly.

Thoughts @Wonderess?

I also heard that St. Christopher was dropped off the saint list. I won't have time to read up on this for awhile. Could someone explain the rationale for this, per the Vatican, to me please?
 
Something that I just found out the other day.

For those interested there is a patron saint(ess) of the environment: St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

I love this. Now we only need a saint of population control, though it seems likely that that would fall under her bailiwick if only indirectly.

Thoughts @Wonderess?

I also heard that St. Christopher was dropped off the saint list. I won't have time to read up on this for awhile. Could someone explain the rationale for this, per the Vatican, to me please?
The problem with St. Christopher is that his very existence is questioned. Because there is not sufficient evidence that the saint existed, it is therefore not possible to make him a saint. The person has to exist.
 
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Saint Kateri is unique in that she is one of few saints from North America. Also, she was a convert from the Native American people. Her patronage being of the environment makes sense. Population control as a subject is sort of counterintuitive to a Catholic framework so there will probably never be a saint related to that subject.
 
I think that you're wrong about that last. grin

Not so long ago I talked to a Catholic priest/excorcist about this. He said that he'd reconsider his position. I do believe him. I simply talked about the rapaciousness of human beings regarding planetary resources for about 15 seconds.
 
Human life is seen by the Church as an innate gift and that artificial control of birth rates is prohibited because it takes the responsibility of life into human hands rather than by nature and furthermore God's. In action contrary is considered life denying and therefore not open to the will of God.
 
You might as well start leaving the babies on a rock in the wilderness as they did in the olden days. The result would be in God's hands as well, no?

I'll give you this though: "go forth and multiply" once, long ago, made sense. It was necessary for the Christian religion to grow. Now it makes no sense, unless you wish to return to the days of the Crusades, (to include the Children's Crusades) and we have little sense to begin with as it is.

Mindlessly following orders, even those of God, is, in these days of global warming/warning and overpopulation, not the path of wisdom imo. There are better ways to follow God, if one should choose such.
 
You might as well start leaving the babies on a rock in the wilderness as they did in the olden days. The result would be in God's hands as well, no?

I'll give you this though: "go forth and multiply" once, long ago, made sense. It was necessary for the Christian religion to grow. Now it makes no sense, unless you wish to return to the days of the Crusades, (to include the Children's Crusades) and we have little sense to begin with as it is.

Mindlessly following orders, even those of God, is, in these days of global warming/warning and overpopulation, not the path of wisdom imo. There are better ways to follow God, if one should choose such.
Caring for God's creation is also paramount to the Catholic mission. There is a general theme of being responsible for one's action whether that is conceiving a child or caring for the environment.
 
Then answer me this: how do you feel regarding contraception?

And families with many children?
 
Since the encyclical Humanae Vitae was promulgated by Pope Paul VI, artificial contraception is considered an intrinsic evil. Only natural family planning is permissible as the method still allows one to be open to the chance of conceiving a new life. The Church continues to favor large families and has for a while.
 
I know it's been a while since this subject's been brought up, but my citizenship has nearly lapsed, so I have to post somewhere, so I'm doing it here. There is no contradiction between caring for the environment and the existence of large families. Overpopulation is a rather disconcerting myth, a tool used by those advocating for governments to play God to persuade people that it should do just that. Even in the United States, most land is not developed even into farmland, and even less is developed worldwide. In addition, crop yields per acre have risen at a higher rate than has human population ever since the eighteenth century. By the time our population reaches even half of Earth's current carrying capacity, Earth will have a carrying capacity larger than we can imagine today. One more point that might seem somewhat controversial, and might be a little off topic: The best way to protect our environment is unrestrained capitalism. Since there exists demand for beautiful outdoor locations, the best way to protect them is capitalism, which lives by the law of supply and demand. In other words, if supply of nature were to decrease, value would increase, and there would exist financial incentives to protect it, incentives offered by those who wish to protect our environment. This is as opposed to China, who, without capitalism, has no reason not to destroy the environment in pursuit of the glory of the state, and thus has destroyed its environment to a large extent. Just a thought...
 
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Catechism of the Catholic Church:
III. Christ Jesus -- "Mediator and Fullness of All Revelation"25

God has said everything in his Word

65 "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son."26 Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one. St. John of the Cross, among others, commented strikingly on Hebrews 1:1-2:

In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word - and he has no more to say. . . because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behaviour but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.27

There will be no further Revelation

66 "The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ."28 Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.

67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfilment, as is the case in certain nonChristian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such "revelations".




25 DV 2.


26 Heb 1:1-2


27 St. John of the Cross, the Ascent of Mount Carmel 2, 22, 3-5 in The
Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, tr. K. Kavanaugh OCD and O.
Rodriguez OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1979),
179-180: LH, Advent, week 2, Monday, OR.


28 DV 4; cf. I Tim 6:14; Titus 2:13

In this section of the Catechism, the fullness and absolute state of revelation is defined. Because Christ is the Son of Man and the ultimate sacrifice of God to His people, there is nothing that can come after that will match for Christ is truth itself in the flesh because He is God in the flesh. This is to say that revelation, this is the truth communicated to humanity by God Himself, can not be updated to, added to, or subtracted from. It remains unchanged until the end of time. The human ability to understand that revelation develops overtime in accordance with the authority of the Church who guides that development by nature of its God given authority to do so. This is especially important when discussing modern innovations and how they relate to truth, God, and person. We call this teaching authority of the Church the Magisterium which consists of the teaching authority of the Pope along with all of his brother bishops. They protect the truth of faith by virtue of their office and responsibility to the people of God in the Church. There is no movement towards innovation but rather deeper and truer understanding of what simply is of God.
 
Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Article 2

THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION

74 God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth":29 that is, of Christ Jesus.30 Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that this revelation may reach to the ends of the earth:

God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the salvation of all peoples should remain in their entirety, throughout the ages, and be transmitted to all generations.31




29 1 Tim 2:4


30 cf. Jn 14:6


31 DV 7; cf. 2 Cor 1:20; 3:16 - 4:6

I. The Apostolic Tradition

75 "Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high God is summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the Gospel, they were to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline."32

In the apostolic preaching. . .

76 In keeping with the Lord's command, the Gospel was handed on in two ways:
- orally "by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received - whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit";33
- in writing "by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing".34

. . . continued in apostolic succession

77 "In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority."35 Indeed, "the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time."36

78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, "the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes."37 "The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer."38

79 The Father's self-communication made through his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in the Church: "God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son. and the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings out in the Church - and through her in the world - leads believers to the full truth, and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness."39

It is the Church's responsibility to speak out and come to the world to spread the "good news" (gospel) of Christ. Because revelation is the fullness of revealed truth, the Church acts to protect and promulgate that truth to the world. This is accomplished through the union of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition together. The understandings of truth both written and spoken throughout the ages is passed down to the present age and adds context to the teachings and understandings of scripture. This includes the right application of revealed truth to the life of all people most especially in moral concerns. The Church is not a body of personal interpretation but of universal and shared interpretation in truth. Faith is held that God shall not abandon His one Church but shall lead it faithfully to truth in all things leading and nourishing the faithful day to day until the end. It is by the process that humanity comes to be one with God and with light bringing truth that inspires joy and casts out all darkness of the soul.
 
Catechism of the Catholic Church:
II. The Relationship Between Tradition and Sacred Scripture
One common source. . .
80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal."40 Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age".41
. . . two distinct modes of transmission
81 "Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit."42
"and [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching."43
82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence."44
Apostolic Tradition and ecclesial traditions
83 The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus' teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy Spirit. the first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition.
Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed. In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church's Magisterium.


40 DV 9.


41 Mt 28:20


42 DV 9.


43 DV 9.


44 DV 9.
Here the Catechism speaks on the differences and complementarity of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. The Church is older than the written New Testament so it is of course through Tradition that the New Testament was formed through the Church by the word of God who inspired it. Both are unified in the truth of faith, that is the truth brought forth from God Himself. They have the same origin and therefore work together to obtain the same good which is the unification of souls to God. Tradition is not to be confused with tradition (note the lowercase t here). The word Tradition (uppercase) refers to the truths of the Catholic faith that have been passed down since the beginning of the Church such as the importance of the Eucharist or the role of the priesthood as the representatives of Christ to the faithful. These sorts of things are unchanging and are central to Catholicism, while other things such as a particular rite of the Mass or the decoration of a sanctuary for a liturgical season are traditions which can change or vary from culture to culture.

As always feel free to ask question on all things Catholic here!
 
  • PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
    • SECTION ONE "I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"
      • CHAPTER TWO GOD COMES TO MEET MAN
        • Article 2 THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION
          • III. The Interpretation of the Heritage of Faith
III. The Interpretation of the Heritage of Faith
The heritage of faith entrusted to the whole of the Church
84 The apostles entrusted the "Sacred deposit" of the faith (the depositum fidei),45 contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practising and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful."46

The Magisterium of the Church
85 "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."47 This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.
86 "Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith."48
87 Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears me",49 The faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.

The dogmas of the faith
88 The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes in a definitive way truths having a necessary connection with them.
89 There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure. Conversely, if our life is upright, our intellect and heart will be open to welcome the light shed by the dogmas of faith.50
90 The mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, can be found in the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ.51 "In Catholic doctrine there exists an order or hierarchy 234 of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith."52

The supernatural sense of faith
91 All the faithful share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them53 and guides them into all truth.54
92 "The whole body of the faithful. . . cannot err in matters of belief. This characteristic is shown in the supernatural appreciation of faith (sensus fidei) on the part of the whole people, when, from the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals."55
93 "By this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, guided by the sacred teaching authority (Magisterium),. . . receives. . . the faith, once for all delivered to the saints. . . the People unfailingly adheres to this faith, penetrates it more deeply with right judgment, and applies it more fully in daily life."56

Growth in understanding the faith
94 Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church:
- "through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts";57 it is in particular "theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth".58
- "from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience",59 The sacred Scriptures "grow with the one who reads them."60
- "from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth".61
95 "It is clear therefore that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls."62


45 DV 10 # 1; cf.I Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:12-14(Vulg.).


46 DV 10 # 1; cf. Acts 2:42 (Greek); Pius XII, Apost. Const.
Munificentissimus Deus, 1 November 1950: AAS 42 (1950), 756, taken along
with the words of St. Cyprian, Epist. 66, 8: CSEL 3/2, 733: "The Church
is the people united to its Priests, the flock adhering to its Shepherd."


47 DV 10 # 2.


48 DV 10 para 2.


49 Lk 10:16; cf. LG 20.


50 Cf. Jn 8:31-32.


51 Cf. Vatican Council I: DS 3016: nexus mysteriorum; LC 25.


52 UR II.


53 Cf. I Jn 2:20, 27


54 Cf. . Jn 16:13


55 LG 12; cf. St. Augustine, De praed. sanct. 14, 27: PL 44, 980.


56 LG 12; cf. Jude 3.


57 DV 8 # 2; cf. Lk 2:19, 51


58 GS 62 # 7; cf. GS 44 # 2; DV 23; 24; UR 4.


59 DV 8 # 2.


60 DV 8 # 2.


61 St. Gregory the Great, Hom. in Ezek. 1, 7, 8: PL 76, 843D.


62 DV 10 # 3.

The Heritage of the Faith Entrusted to the Whole Church: The Church defends and holds the "deposit of faith" which is the whole of sacred scripture and tradition united together. This means that the Church's thought cannot be made up or fabricated but must always connect and be part of that deposit of faith that has existed since the first apostles governed the Church.

The Magisterium of the Church: The word magisterium means teaching authority. It makes no sense for the Lord to provide an infallible scripture without some instrument that acts as an infallible interpreter. Furthermore there must be a unity, a communion, a whole that upholds divine truth. This holy unity is apparent through the Church who has full teaching authority as has stemmed from Peter and the first apostles, bishops, of the Church. This is not some form of brainwashing or a throwing of meaningless facts at the faithful. The framework of faith is provided but there remains many aspects that are not fully or dogmatically defined which means that reason and belief possess freedoms to move and deliberate within the tradition. The Church serves divine revelation rather than owns or controls it.

The Dogmas of Faith: Dogmas are points of faith that are formally defined and therefore unchangeable truths. If there is no foundation or framework for faith and reason to work from then there can be no development of thought and understanding. Dogma provides that framework so that further development and understanding can come forth.

The Supernatural Sense of Faith: We as the people of God have the grace to know truth through faith. This is true on a communal and individual level. Knowing truth is an active process rather than a simple accepting of ideas at face value. To know is to understand and live by the truths of faith. Religious truth is not merely words on a page but lived reality that affects who we are to the very core.

Growth in Understanding the Faith: Understanding those things of God is a life long process requires work and care. This is the job of the theologian to ponder and come to understand the formal truths of faith that continue to form us from day to day. There is also a personal component. Anyone reading the Bible is coming to know truth by encountering God's voice. By their reading the soul is given strength and understanding, and the mind can be opened to better understand what lies below the words and pages. The instruction of the clergy is the third way. Their preaching words in accordance with their office as rightful successors of the apostles grants them the grace of illumining the truths of faith such as at the homily during mass or special talks which can be found in a local diocese or online. (Bishop Robert Barron is an excellent source.)

The unity of Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium are paramount. All three are codependent for the transmission of divine truth for each has its importance and place for the sake of uniting the faithful in truth and bringing others into communion with that one truth.
 
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
  • SECTION ONE "I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"
    • CHAPTER TWO GOD COMES TO MEET MAN
      • Article 3 SACRED SCRIPTURE
        • I. Christ - The Unique Word of Sacred Scripture

Article 3

SACRED SCRIPTURE

I. Christ - The Unique Word of Sacred Scripture


101 In order to reveal himself to men, in the condescension of his goodness God speaks to them in human words: "Indeed the words of God, expressed in the words of men, are in every way like human language, just as the Word of the eternal Father, when he took on himself the flesh of human weakness, became like men."63

102 Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely:64

You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time.65

103 For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body.66

104 In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, "but as what it really is, the word of God".67 "In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them."68



63 DV 13.


64 Cf. Heb 1:1-3


65 St. Augustine, En. in Ps. 103, 4, 1: PL 37, 1378; cf. Ps 104; Jn 1:1


66 Cf. DV 21.


67 Th 2:13; cf. DV 24.


68 DV 21.

In faith, we do not behold a God who is far off an unreachable due to our lowliness as human beings. No, God in His love comes to us and speaks to us what is most profound and true. He let's us know His plan to save us from our own failure and choices, and furthermore He will allow us to take part in that mission and share in the victory. Through Holy Scripture, we come to know how that has occurred, how we went from the fall of the first humans to the hope of Christ today. To hear his voice and read His words, we are lifted up in the light of truth and the hope of God infinite love for us.

II. Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture

105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."69

"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."70

106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more."71

107 The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."72

108 Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book". Christianity is the religion of the "Word" of God, "not a written and mute word, but incarnate and living".73 If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open (our) minds to understand the Scriptures."74



69 DV 11;


70 DV 11; cf. Jn 20:31; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pt 1:19-21; 3:15-16


71 DV 11.


72 DV 11.


73 St. Bernard, S. missus est hom. 4, 11: PL 183, 86.


74 Cf. Lk 24:45

The Bible was crafted by God through the inspiration of human authors. This is one aspect of the partnership of salvation which God has accomplished with the participation of His people. What is very important is paragraph 108. Catholicism is not a religion of the book because the Word of God is not a dead collection of words in a volume. It is in fact a person who lives with us and in us. This is Christ, the incarnate Word of God made flesh. This is why the Bible is not a collection of trite verses we throw at people. We see the truth in it and beneath the words and live it out day to day and more perfectly discover its truths overtime both as individuals and as one united Church. This is why the teaching of the whole is so vital. As God is one so are we one in pursuing the one noncontradicting truth. Our will conforms to truth rather than truth conforming to our will, a stark departure from modernity.
 
In my research to write a historical paper defending the primacy of virtue ethics in Catholic moral theology, I found this beautiful document outlining what Catholic universities were to teach in philosophy at the time of Pius X which all follows from the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas who in tern is following Aristotle's tradition in many ways. May whoever says that Catholicism is an irrational or mindless endeavor be a fool.

ONTOLOGY

1 . Potency and Act divide being in such a way that whatever is, is either pure act, or of necessity it is composed of potency and act as primary and intrinsic principles.[1]

2. Since act is perfection, it is not limited except through a potency which itself is a capacity for perfection. Hence in any order in which an act is pure act, it will only exist, in that order, as a unique and unlimited act. But whenever it is finite and manifold, it has entered into a true composition with potency.[2]

3. Consequently, the one God, unique and simple, alone subsists in absolute being. All other things that participate in being have a nature whereby their being is restricted; they are constituted of essence and being, as really distinct principles.[3]

4. A thing is called a being because of being ("esse"). God and creature are not called beings univocally, nor wholly equivocally, but analogically, by an analogy both of attribution and of proportionality.[4]

5. In every creature there is also a real composition of the subsisting subject and of added secondary forms, i.e. accidental forms. Such composition cannot be understood unless being is really received in an essence distinct from it.[5]

6. Besides the absolute accidents there is also the relative accident, relation. Although by reason of its own character relation does not signify anything inhering in another, it nevertheless often has a cause in things, and hence a real entity distinct from the subject.[6]

7. A spiritual creature is wholly simple in its essence. Yet there is still a twofold composition in the spiritual creature, namely, that of the essence with being, and that of the substance with accidents.[7]

8. However, the corporeal creature is composed of act and potency even in its very essence. These act and potency in the order of essence are designated by the names form and matter respectively.[8]

COSMOLOGY

9. Neither the matter nor the form have being of themselves, nor are they produced or corrupted of themselves, nor are they included in any category otherwise than reductively, as substantial principles.[9]

10. Although extension in quantitative parts follows upon a corporeal nature, nevertheless it is not the same for a body to be a substance and for it to be quantified. For of itself substance is indivisible, not indeed as a point is indivisible, but as that which falls outside the order of dimensions is indivisible. But quantity, which gives the substance extension, really differs from the substance and is truly an accident.[10]

11. The principle of individuation, i.e., of numerical distinction of one individual from another with the same specific nature, is matter designated by quantity. Thus in pure spirits there cannot be more than individual in the same specific nature.[11]

12. By virtue of a body's quantity itself, the body is circumscriptively in a place, and in one place alone circumscriptively, no matter what power might be brought to bear.[12]

13. Bodies are divided into two groups; for some are living and others are devoid of life. In the case of the living things, in order that there be in the same subject an essentially moving part and an essentially moved part, the substantial form, which is designated by the name soul, requires an organic disposition, i.e. heterogeneous parts.[13]

PSYCHOLOGY

14. Souls in the vegetative and sensitive orders cannot subsist of themselves, nor are they produced of themselves. Rather, they are no more than principles whereby the living thing exists and lives; and since they are wholly dependent upon matter, they are incidentally corrupted through the corruption of the composite.[14]

15. On the other hand, the human soul subsists of itself. When it can be infused into a sufficiently disposed subject, it is created by God. By its very nature, it is incorruptible and immortal.[15]

16. This rational soul is united to the body in such a manner that it is the only substantial form of the body. By virtue of his soul a man is a man, an animal, a living thing, a body, a substance and a being. Therefore the soul gives man every essential degree of perfection; moreover, it gives the body a share in the act of being whereby it itself exists.[16]

17. From the human soul there naturally issue forth powers pertaining to two orders, the organic and the non-organic. The organic powers, among which are the senses, have the composite as their subject. The non-organic powers have the soul alone as their subject. Hence, the intellect is a power intrinsically independent of any bodily organ.[17]

18. Intellectuality necessarily follows upon immateriality, and furthermore, in such manner that the father the distance from matter, the higher the degree of intellectuality. Any being is the adequate object of understanding in general. But in the present state of union of soul and body, quiddities abstracted from the material conditions of individuality are the proper object of the human intellect.[18]

19. Therefore, we receive knowledge from sensible things. But since sensible things are not actually intelligible, in addition to the intellect, which formally understands, an active power must be acknowledged in the soul, which power abstracts intelligible likeness or species from sense images in the imagination.[19]

20. Through these intelligible likenesses or species we directly know universals, i.e. the natures of things. We attain to singulars by our senses, and also by our intellect, when it beholds the sense images. But we ascend to knowledge of spiritual things by analogy.[20]

21. The will does not precede the intellect but follows upon it. The will necessarily desires that which is presented to it as a good in every respect satisfying the appetite. But it freely chooses among the many goods that are presented to it as desirable according to a changeable judgment or evaluation. Consequently, the choice follows the final practical judgment. But the will is the cause of it being the final one.[21]

THEODICY

22. We do not perceive by an immediate intuition that God exists, nor do we prove it a priori. But we do prove it a posteriori, i.e., from the things that have been created, following an argument from the effects to the cause: namely, from things which are moved and cannot be the adequate source of their motion, to a first unmoved mover; from the production of the things in this world by causes subordinated to one another, to a first uncaused cause; from corruptible things which equally might be or not be, to an absolutely necessary being; from things which more or less are, live, and understand, according to degrees of being, living and understanding, to that which is maximally understanding, maximally living and maximally a being; finally, from the order of all things, to a separated intellect which has ordered and organized things, and directs them to their end.[22]

23. The metaphysical motion of the Divine Essence is correctly expressed by saying that it is identified with the exercised actuality of its won being, or that it is subsistent being itself. And this is the reason for its infinite and unlimited perfection.[23]

24. By reason of the very purity of His being, God is distinguished from all finite beings. Hence it follows, in the first place, that the world could only have come from God by creation; secondly, that not even by way of a miracle can any finite nature be given creative power, which of itself directly attains the very being of any being; and finally, that no created agent can in any way influence the being of any effect unless it has itself been moved by the first Cause.[24]
 
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