Sect. 143The Elevating Grace Necessary for Salutary ActsThe Elevating Grace Necessary for Salutary Acts
I. From what has been hitherto laid down concerning the supernatural character of the acts which either lead up to or constitute the life of the adopted sons of God, it follows that these acts require for their production a special Divine co-operation. Neither the ordinary Divine concurrence, nor that more special help required by man to overcome the difficulties of his natural moral life, is sufficient. A salutary act has effects entirely above nature, and must therefore proceed from a principle above nature. Hence the Divine co-operation must consist in a communication of Divine power to the creature, enabling it to produce acts of supernatural value. Theologians call it “a co-operation giving the very power to act,” a fecundating motion, an aid, or a grace physically raising and completing the natural power. They all understand in this sense the dogma of the absolute necessity of grace for salutary works, and the origin of these acts from God, and more especially from the Holy Ghost.
The fundamental principle of this doctrine is clearly expressed in two of our Lord’s sayings: “No man can come to Me, except the Father, Who hath sent Me, draw him” (John 6:44); and “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).
II. The communication of Divine power must necessarily affect the created faculty intrinsically so as to raise it to a higher kind of energy and efficacy. The reason for this necessity lies in the nature of the acts to be produced. These acts are a free and voluntary motion of the creature towards God; although a gift of God, they are at the same time a meritorious work of the creature itself; in short, they are vital acts of the creature. Hence the co-operation or concurrence of God with the creature is not like that of the artisan with his tool, nor can it be like that of the human soul with the body. In the former case, the salutary acts would not be vital acts of the creature; in the latter, God and the creature would be one nature. The Divine power must go out of God and be handed over to the creature. Now, it is always possible to conceive the Divine influence as only an inner application of the Power of the all-pervading God; still, it is at least more in harmony with the usual course of nature that a power should be produced in the created faculty itself, giving it a higher intrinsic perfection. This “intrinsic form” must affect and modify the faculty after the manner of a physical quality (e.g. as heat affects and modifies water)—that is, of a quality accompanying its actual motions.
III. All approved theologians admit this elevation of nature wherever it can be supposed to exist already as a permanent habit before particular salutary acts take place. They also unanimously connect it with the full possession of supernatural life in the state of adoption, although they grant that it is not the only conceivable form of elevation. But there are other supernatural acts, preparatory and introductory to the state of sonship, on the existence of which depends the acquisition of sonship. The Council of Trent calls them “motions towards habitual justice;” the older Schoolmen term them “preparation for grace,” in contradistinction to works performed in the state of grace and by grace; the Fathers look upon them as the “first conversion to God.” There is some difficulty in explaining how the elevating influence of God can be intrinsic to these acts. We are certain that the Divine co-operation in them holds an intermediate position between the natural or general Divine concurrence and the supernatural co-operation proper. St. Bonaventure calls it “a gratuitous gift, which is, as it were, a mean between the habits of virtues and the natural freedom of the will” (In 2 Dist., 28, a. 2, q. 1). In fact, the ordinary Divine concurrence is not sufficient, because, according to defined dogma, the acts are strictly supernatural, necessarily proceeding from the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Hence “a specially qualified motion” must be admitted on the part of God for the production of the acts which introduce the creature to supernatural life. On the other hand, it is clear that this elevating motion is but an integrating element of the actual aid (viz. grace) by which the act really takes place; it has an analogy with the “elevation” received by the tool at the moment when the artisan begins to use it. So far nearly all theologians are agreed, but the greatest divergence of opinion prevails as to the further determination of the motion in question.
I. From what has been hitherto laid down concerning the supernatural character of the acts which either lead up to or constitute the life of the adopted sons of God, it follows that these acts require for their production a special Divine co-operation. Neither the ordinary Divine concurrence, nor that more special help required by man to overcome the difficulties of his natural moral life, is sufficient. A salutary act has effects entirely above nature, and must therefore proceed from a principle above nature. Hence the Divine co-operation must consist in a communication of Divine power to the creature, enabling it to produce acts of supernatural value. Theologians call it “a co-operation giving the very power to act,” a fecundating motion, an aid, or a grace physically raising and completing the natural power. They all understand in this sense the dogma of the absolute necessity of grace for salutary works, and the origin of these acts from God, and more especially from the Holy Ghost.
The fundamental principle of this doctrine is clearly expressed in two of our Lord’s sayings: “No man can come to Me, except the Father, Who hath sent Me, draw him” (John 6:44); and “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4).
II. The communication of Divine power must necessarily affect the created faculty intrinsically so as to raise it to a higher kind of energy and efficacy. The reason for this necessity lies in the nature of the acts to be produced. These acts are a free and voluntary motion of the creature towards God; although a gift of God, they are at the same time a meritorious work of the creature itself; in short, they are vital acts of the creature. Hence the co-operation or concurrence of God with the creature is not like that of the artisan with his tool, nor can it be like that of the human soul with the body. In the former case, the salutary acts would not be vital acts of the creature; in the latter, God and the creature would be one nature. The Divine power must go out of God and be handed over to the creature. Now, it is always possible to conceive the Divine influence as only an inner application of the Power of the all-pervading God; still, it is at least more in harmony with the usual course of nature that a power should be produced in the created faculty itself, giving it a higher intrinsic perfection. This “intrinsic form” must affect and modify the faculty after the manner of a physical quality (e.g. as heat affects and modifies water)—that is, of a quality accompanying its actual motions.
III. All approved theologians admit this elevation of nature wherever it can be supposed to exist already as a permanent habit before particular salutary acts take place. They also unanimously connect it with the full possession of supernatural life in the state of adoption, although they grant that it is not the only conceivable form of elevation. But there are other supernatural acts, preparatory and introductory to the state of sonship, on the existence of which depends the acquisition of sonship. The Council of Trent calls them “motions towards habitual justice;” the older Schoolmen term them “preparation for grace,” in contradistinction to works performed in the state of grace and by grace; the Fathers look upon them as the “first conversion to God.” There is some difficulty in explaining how the elevating influence of God can be intrinsic to these acts. We are certain that the Divine co-operation in them holds an intermediate position between the natural or general Divine concurrence and the supernatural co-operation proper. St. Bonaventure calls it “a gratuitous gift, which is, as it were, a mean between the habits of virtues and the natural freedom of the will” (In 2 Dist., 28, a. 2, q. 1). In fact, the ordinary Divine concurrence is not sufficient, because, according to defined dogma, the acts are strictly supernatural, necessarily proceeding from the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Hence “a specially qualified motion” must be admitted on the part of God for the production of the acts which introduce the creature to supernatural life. On the other hand, it is clear that this elevating motion is but an integrating element of the actual aid (viz. grace) by which the act really takes place; it has an analogy with the “elevation” received by the tool at the moment when the artisan begins to use it. So far nearly all theologians are agreed, but the greatest divergence of opinion prevails as to the further determination of the motion in question.
Seção 49% da obra, de A Manual of Catholic Theology (Wilhelm & Scannell, sobre a Dogmatik de Scheeben). Ver o original.