Folia Theologica 20. (2009)
Barbour Hugh: The Cosmology of Catholic Worship: Pre-Socratic Sacraments? A Consideration by a disciple of St. Thomas Qauinas
THE COSMOLOGY OF CATHOLIC WORSHIP 19 offered does not directly bear on the question of the sacraments. In his discussion of the virtue of charity, in the Secunda Secundae question 27, article 3 in the body of the article discussing whether God is to be loved for His own sake, propter seipsum. St Thomas clarifies the matter thus: "Respondeo dicendum quod ly propter importat habitudinem alicuius causae. Est autem quadruplex genus causae, scilicet finalis, formalis, efficiens et materialis, ad quam reducitur etiam materialis dispositio, quae non est causa simpliciter, sed secundum quid. Et secundum haec quatuor genera causarum dicitur aliquid propter alterum diligendum. Secundum quidem genus causae finalis, sicut diligimus medicinam propter sanitatem. Secundum autem genus causae formalis, sicut diligimus hominem propter virtutem, quia scilicet virtute formaliter est bonus, et per consequens diligibilis. Secundum autem causam efficientem, sicut diligimus aliquos inquantum sunt filii talis patris. Secundum autem dispositionem, quae reducitur ad genus causae materialis, dicimur aliquid diligere propter id quod nos disposuit ad eius dilectionem, puta propter aliqua beneficia suscepta, quamvis postquam iam amare incipimus, non propter illa beneficia amemus amicum, sed propter eius virtutem. Primis igitur tribus modis Deum non diligimus propter aliud, sed propter seipsum. Non enim ordinatur ad aliud sicut ad finem, sed ipse est finis ultimus omnium. Neque etiam informatur aliquo alio ad hoc quod sit bonus, sed eius substantia est eius bonitas, secundum quam exemplariter omnia bona sunt. Neque iterum ei ab altero bonitas inest, sed ab ipso omnibus aliis. Sed quarto modo potest diligi propter aliud, quia scilicet ex aliquibus aliis disponimur ad hoc quod in Dei dilectione proficiamus, puta per beneficia ab eo suscepta, vel etiam per praemia sperata, vel per poenas quas per ipsum vitare intendimus." Who could reasonably call into question the world view presented here without outraging the deepest Christian sensibilities? And yet the apparatus whereby St. Thomas presents so sublime a teaching is directly dependent on the discovery of all four causes by Plato and Aristotle. St.Thomas is not ashamed to bring them in even into the most intimate and lofty of Christian concerns, the love of God for His own sake, in which our eternal salvation rests. How impoverished then is our love for the material dispositive power of the sacraments whereby we love the things which dispose us for the obtaining of eternal salvation, if we eliminate from their consideration the grand perspective of the masters of human knowing!
