Part III (Secunda Secundae) Part 47 (2/2)
Obj. 3: Further, of all things lovable, G.o.d is to be loved most, and then one's father, as Jerome says [*Comment. in Ezechiel xliv, 25].
Now these are our greatest benefactors. Therefore a benefactor should be loved above all others.
_On the contrary,_ The Philosopher says (Ethic. ix, 7), that ”benefactors seem to love recipients of their benefactions, rather than vice versa.”
_I answer that,_ As stated above (AA. 9, 11), a thing is loved more in two ways: first because it has the character of a more excellent good, secondly by reason of a closer connection. In the first way we ought to love our benefactor most, because, since he is a principle of good to the man he has benefited, he has the character of a more excellent good, as stated above with regard to one's father (A. 9).
In the second way, however, we love those more who have received benefactions from us, as the Philosopher proves (Ethic. ix, 7) by four arguments. First because the recipient of benefactions is the handiwork of the benefactor, so that we are wont to say of a man: ”He was made by so and so.” Now it is natural to a man to love his own work (thus it is to be observed that poets love their own poems): and the reason is that we love _to be_ and _to live,_ and these are made manifest in our _action._ Secondly, because we all naturally love that in which we see our own good. Now it is true that the benefactor has some good of his in the recipient of his benefaction, and the recipient some good in the benefactor; but the benefactor sees his virtuous good in the recipient, while the recipient sees his useful good in the benefactor. Now it gives more pleasure to see one's virtuous good than one's useful good, both because it is more enduring,--for usefulness quickly flits by, and the pleasure of calling a thing to mind is not like the pleasure of having it present--and because it is more pleasant to recall virtuous goods than the profit we have derived from others. Thirdly, because is it the lover's part to act, since he wills and works the good of the beloved, while the beloved takes a pa.s.sive part in receiving good, so that to love surpa.s.ses being loved, for which reason the greater love is on the part of the benefactor. Fourthly because it is more difficult to give than to receive favors: and we are most fond of things which have cost us most trouble, while we almost despise what comes easy to us.
Reply Obj. 1: It is some thing in the benefactor that incites the recipient to love him: whereas the benefactor loves the recipient, not through being incited by him, but through being moved thereto of his own accord: and what we do of our own accord surpa.s.ses what we do through another.
Reply Obj. 2: The love of the beneficiary for the benefactor is more of a duty, wherefore the contrary is the greater sin. On the other hand, the love of the benefactor for the beneficiary is more spontaneous, wherefore it is quicker to act.
Reply Obj. 3: G.o.d also loves us more than we love Him, and parents love their children more than these love them. Yet it does not follow that we love all who have received good from us, more than any of our benefactors. For we prefer such benefactors as G.o.d and our parents, from whom we have received the greatest favors, to those on whom we have bestowed lesser benefits.
_______________________
THIRTEENTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 26, Art. 13]
Whether the Order of Charity Endures in Heaven?
Objection 1: It would seem that the order of charity does not endure in heaven. For Augustine says (De Vera Relig. xlviii): ”Perfect charity consists in loving greater goods more, and lesser goods less.” Now charity will be perfect in heaven. Therefore a man will love those who are better more than either himself or those who are connected with him.
Obj. 2: Further, we love more him to whom we wish a greater good. Now each one in heaven wishes a greater good for those who have more good, else his will would not be conformed in all things to G.o.d's will: and there to be better is to have more good. Therefore in heaven each one loves more those who are better, and consequently he loves others more than himself, and one who is not connected with him, more than one who is.
Obj. 3: Further, in heaven love will be entirely for G.o.d's sake, for then will be fulfilled the words of 1 Cor. 15:28: ”That G.o.d may be all in all.” Therefore he who is nearer G.o.d will be loved more, so that a man will love a better man more than himself, and one who is not connected with him, more than one who is.
_On the contrary,_ Nature is not done away, but perfected, by glory.
Now the order of charity given above (AA. 2, 3, 4) is derived from nature: since all things naturally love themselves more than others.
Therefore this order of charity will endure in heaven.
_I answer that,_ The order of charity must needs remain in heaven, as regards the love of G.o.d above all things. For this will be realized simply when man shall enjoy G.o.d perfectly. But, as regards the order between man himself and other men, a distinction would seem to be necessary, because, as we stated above (AA. 7, 9), the degrees of love may be distinguished either in respect of the good which a man desires for another, or according to the intensity of love itself. In the first way a man will love better men more than himself, and those who are less good, less than himself: because, by reason of the perfect conformity of the human to the Divine will, each of the blessed will desire everyone to have what is due to him according to Divine justice. Nor will that be a time for advancing by means of merit to a yet greater reward, as happens now while it is possible for a man to desire both the virtue and the reward of a better man, whereas then the will of each one will rest within the limits determined by G.o.d. But in the second way a man will love himself more than even his better neighbors, because the intensity of the act of love arises on the part of the person who loves, as stated above (AA.
7, 9). Moreover it is for this that the gift of charity is bestowed by G.o.d on each one, namely, that he may first of all direct his mind to G.o.d, and this pertains to a man's love for himself, and that, in the second place, he may wish other things to be directed to G.o.d, and even work for that end according to his capacity.
As to the order to be observed among our neighbors, a man will simply love those who are better, according to the love of charity. Because the entire life of the blessed consists in directing their minds to G.o.d, wherefore the entire ordering of their love will be ruled with respect to G.o.d, so that each one will love more and reckon to be nearer to himself those who are nearer to G.o.d. For then one man will no longer succor another, as he needs to in the present life, wherein each man has to succor those who are closely connected with him rather than those who are not, no matter what be the nature of their distress: hence it is that in this life, a man, by the inclination of charity, loves more those who are more closely united to him, for he is under a greater obligation to bestow on them the effect of charity. It will however be possible in heaven for a man to love in several ways one who is connected with him, since the causes of virtuous love will not be banished from the mind of the blessed. Yet all these reasons are incomparably surpa.s.sed by that which is taken from nighness to G.o.d.
Reply Obj. 1: This argument should be granted as to those who are connected together; but as regards man himself, he ought to love himself so much the more than others, as his charity is more perfect, since perfect entire reason of his love, for G.o.d is man's charity directs man to G.o.d perfectly, and this belongs to love of oneself, as stated above.
Reply Obj. 2: This argument considers the order of charity in respect of the degree of good one wills the person one loves.
Reply Obj. 3: G.o.d will be to each one the entire reason of his love, for G.o.d is man's entire good. For if we make the impossible supposition that G.o.d were not man's good, He would not be man's reason for loving. Hence it is that in the order of love man should love himself more than all else after G.o.d.
_______________________
QUESTION 27
OF THE PRINc.i.p.aL ACT OF CHARITY, WHICH IS TO LOVE (In Eight Articles)
We must now consider the act of charity, and (1) the princ.i.p.al act of charity, which is to love, (2) the other acts or effects which follow from that act.
<script>