Sect. 196Value of Christ’s Actions as Acts of WorshipValue of Christ’s Actions as Acts of Worship
I. Theologians distinguish a threefold value in every good work: (a) the “substantial” or essential value arising from its own intrinsic goodness; (b) an “accidental” value accruing to it from the accidental holiness of the agent; and (c) a “personal” value derived from the personal dignity of the same agent. Each and all of the works of Christ were performed in the service of God, directly tending to His honour and glory; they proceeded from the fountain-head of all holiness; and they were the actions of a Divine Person. They were, therefore, the best of works, done with the highest amount of Divine Love, and by the most excellent Being. The infinite worth of their author communicates itself to the works of Christ and gives them infinite value (see § 145, II.).
Closely connected with, yet distinct from, the value of Christ’s actions, is their efficacy for merit and atonement. This value and efficacy are related as cause and effect The intrinsic value of an action may be compared to the intrinsic value of a coin; its efficacy to the coin’s value as money. The Church uses the term valor to express both the intrinsic and the effective value of the Redeemer’s actions.
II. The intrinsic value of moral actions is determined by their relation to the final object of all morality: the honour and glory of God. The character and the measure of the honour and glory of God arising out of an action (obsequium Deo præstitum) determine the action’s intrinsic value. The moral works of Christ, owing to His personal excellence, give to God an honour quite unique in its kind and exaltedness. The acting principle (principium quod), the Man Christ, is a Divine Person subsisting in a human nature. The principle by which (principium quo) the actions are performed is a human nature united to, and, as it were, animated by the Divine Person, whose organ it is. But the greatness of honour rendered is commensurate with the dignity of the person who renders it. Again, the essence of giving honour consists in the submission of self to the person honoured. Hence, if we consider Christ as the honour-giving Subject, we find that the honour He gives acquires a peculiar excellence from the dignity of the Personal Principle who, in His human nature, submits Himself to God. Lastly, Christ is not only the principle and the subject, but also the subject-matter of His honorific actions. The worship of God—if not also other honorific actions—is a reflexive act: its principle and subject offers and subjects itself to God as a tribute of honour. Now, as a rule, the value of the tribute measures the greatness of the honour intended to be conferred: hence the worship of Christ, offering and subjecting Himself to the Father, is of unique, viz. of Divine value.
The specific value of Christ’s worship is most manifest from this last point of view, especially in His abasement and in His death. By His voluntary abasement He renounced the exercise of His rights of Lord of all things, and offered to God a sacrifice immensely superior to the affective sacrifice by which a creature offers to God that which already is God’s own. By His death He renounced and sacrificed His own Self. To sum up—the formal reason of the specific value of the actions of the Man Christ, as distinguished from those of other men, is best expressed thus: The adequate principle of Christ’s actions is a Man who, even as Man, is, owing to His anointment, vested with Divine glory and holiness, and possesses the rank and character of Lord and of natural Son of God.
III. The influence of the Hypostatic Union on the actions of Christ gives them infinite value, in the same manner as it gives infinite dignity to His Body. Their value is not only relatively or comparatively, but absolutely infinite, viz. not only does it surpass any given value, or the value of all other moral actions put together, but it is equal to the infinite glory and holiness which entitle the Man Christ to Divine Worship or Adoration. Their infinitude, then, consists primarily in this, that they adequately contain the full honour to which the Divine Majesty is entitled. Hence their value cannot be equalled by the value of all actual and possible good actions of mere creatures. Especially the honour which Christ gives to God by humbling Himself is at least equivalent to all the dishonour to God arising from the sins, real and possible, of creatures.
The subtle difficulties adduced by Scotists and Nominalists against the infinite value of Christ’s actions fall to the ground if the nature of that infinitude be well kept in mind. It is a participation in the “value for honour” (= honour-value) essential to Divine acts, in the same way as Christ’s adorability is a participation in Divine Dignity. St. Thomas, 3, q. 1, a. 2; Franzelin, thes. xlvii.
I. Theologians distinguish a threefold value in every good work: (a) the “substantial” or essential value arising from its own intrinsic goodness; (b) an “accidental” value accruing to it from the accidental holiness of the agent; and (c) a “personal” value derived from the personal dignity of the same agent. Each and all of the works of Christ were performed in the service of God, directly tending to His honour and glory; they proceeded from the fountain-head of all holiness; and they were the actions of a Divine Person. They were, therefore, the best of works, done with the highest amount of Divine Love, and by the most excellent Being. The infinite worth of their author communicates itself to the works of Christ and gives them infinite value (see § 145, II.).
Closely connected with, yet distinct from, the value of Christ’s actions, is their efficacy for merit and atonement. This value and efficacy are related as cause and effect The intrinsic value of an action may be compared to the intrinsic value of a coin; its efficacy to the coin’s value as money. The Church uses the term valor to express both the intrinsic and the effective value of the Redeemer’s actions.
II. The intrinsic value of moral actions is determined by their relation to the final object of all morality: the honour and glory of God. The character and the measure of the honour and glory of God arising out of an action (obsequium Deo præstitum) determine the action’s intrinsic value. The moral works of Christ, owing to His personal excellence, give to God an honour quite unique in its kind and exaltedness. The acting principle (principium quod), the Man Christ, is a Divine Person subsisting in a human nature. The principle by which (principium quo) the actions are performed is a human nature united to, and, as it were, animated by the Divine Person, whose organ it is. But the greatness of honour rendered is commensurate with the dignity of the person who renders it. Again, the essence of giving honour consists in the submission of self to the person honoured. Hence, if we consider Christ as the honour-giving Subject, we find that the honour He gives acquires a peculiar excellence from the dignity of the Personal Principle who, in His human nature, submits Himself to God. Lastly, Christ is not only the principle and the subject, but also the subject-matter of His honorific actions. The worship of God—if not also other honorific actions—is a reflexive act: its principle and subject offers and subjects itself to God as a tribute of honour. Now, as a rule, the value of the tribute measures the greatness of the honour intended to be conferred: hence the worship of Christ, offering and subjecting Himself to the Father, is of unique, viz. of Divine value.
The specific value of Christ’s worship is most manifest from this last point of view, especially in His abasement and in His death. By His voluntary abasement He renounced the exercise of His rights of Lord of all things, and offered to God a sacrifice immensely superior to the affective sacrifice by which a creature offers to God that which already is God’s own. By His death He renounced and sacrificed His own Self. To sum up—the formal reason of the specific value of the actions of the Man Christ, as distinguished from those of other men, is best expressed thus: The adequate principle of Christ’s actions is a Man who, even as Man, is, owing to His anointment, vested with Divine glory and holiness, and possesses the rank and character of Lord and of natural Son of God.
III. The influence of the Hypostatic Union on the actions of Christ gives them infinite value, in the same manner as it gives infinite dignity to His Body. Their value is not only relatively or comparatively, but absolutely infinite, viz. not only does it surpass any given value, or the value of all other moral actions put together, but it is equal to the infinite glory and holiness which entitle the Man Christ to Divine Worship or Adoration. Their infinitude, then, consists primarily in this, that they adequately contain the full honour to which the Divine Majesty is entitled. Hence their value cannot be equalled by the value of all actual and possible good actions of mere creatures. Especially the honour which Christ gives to God by humbling Himself is at least equivalent to all the dishonour to God arising from the sins, real and possible, of creatures.
The subtle difficulties adduced by Scotists and Nominalists against the infinite value of Christ’s actions fall to the ground if the nature of that infinitude be well kept in mind. It is a participation in the “value for honour” (= honour-value) essential to Divine acts, in the same way as Christ’s adorability is a participation in Divine Dignity. St. Thomas, 3, q. 1, a. 2; Franzelin, thes. xlvii.
Seção 66% da obra, de A Manual of Catholic Theology (Wilhelm & Scannell, sobre a Dogmatik de Scheeben). Ver o original.