Prima Secundae
275. Operating and Cooperating Grace; the Nine Graces Freely Given and Why Grace That Makes Us Pleasing to God Is Higher (Summa I-II, Q.111, Articles 4–5)
Class of 2016-03-31
https://berquistcourse.com/course/theology/11-prima-secundae/275-operating-and-cooperating-grace-the-nine-graces-freely-given/

[0:00] In the name of the Father, the Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. God our enlightenment, guardian angels, strengthen the lights of our minds, or to illumine our images, and arouse us to consider more correctly. Saint Thomas Aquinas, angelic doctor. Pray for us. And help us to understand all that you have written. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen.

[0:28] Article Article Four, I guess. Come back a little bit to the article there on the distinction between operating and cooperating grace, right? I was thinking, you know, myself a little bit of those little

[0:46] prayers I composed for myself, you know, huh? And kind of the way I was led to choose some words, right? I'll compare these two little prayers I had constructed.

[1:02] Help us, God, to know and love you. In Troca me least. Help us, God, to know and love you, right? And then this other prayer, right? Move me, God, to love you above all other things, and all other things, the sake of you, even myself.

[1:25] Now, why had I chosen the words there? In one sense, I say help, right? And the other, I say move me to. What's the difference in those two? Why would I do that? I was thinking about how my mind worked. See. Maybe the distinction of grace. before and the one Yeah. Or even the one between operating and cooperating, right? Now, when I say, what's the difference in those two graces, right?

[2:00] Huh? See. And which one of these would be asking God for operating grace? Of those two prayers that I constructed, and which one would be asking God for cooperating grace? The first one is cooperating. Which one? Helping is cooperating. Yeah, yeah. I guess see, because I'm already thinking about the fact we're trying to understand God and so on in this course and so on, and we're trying to love Him, right, huh?

[2:31] So, is we've already begun in a sense, and we're seeking His help to cooperate with us, so we can do this meritorious act and so on. But in that case, why did I use the term "move me" to love you above all other things and all other things, the sake of you, even myself?

[2:53] See. As if that's something, what? It's even harder for me to begin, right? So I'm asking God to move me. Thomas does speak of the mover, right? In in the operating grace, huh?

[3:13] So now I could I could change the words I could say. Move me, God, to what? Know and love you, and then help me, God, to know and love you, right? So what would I say first say first?

[3:31] Move me to move me, God, to know and love you. I think he's already done that See? That's from the beginning. Yeah, yeah, that's becoming first, right? And then as He moves me, right? Then I begin to what? Understand God and to love Him, and then I want to be confirmed in these, right, and perfected in these things that I'm doing, right? But I have, right? Okay.

[3:59] Then I thought too of how in the maybe you see something like this in your office. I don't know, but I've always seen these things, you know. Or sometimes at the beginning of the office, I would say, "Oh Lord, open my lips, and my tongue shall announce your praise." And hasten to help me, you know, and so on, right? Well, when you say "open my lips," and I will praise you, right?

[4:21] What kind of grace are you asking for? What? Yeah, that's as if you're kind of closed, right? You know, you're asking God to open your lips up, to open your heart and your mind and your will, right? To knowing and loving Him, right? And then when you say "uh, incline to my aid," yeah, I guess what they say sometimes in the beginning of the of the lodge or something like that.

[4:48] Hasten to help me, you know. It comes from from the Psalms, I guess. These those words originally. But there you have the operating grace and then cooperating grace, right? But you're asking for the operating grace first, right? So you say, "Is it I got to?" You know, you know, you know, you know. He's got to do it because I've got to close close lips, right? See, so it's just kind of interesting, right?

[5:17] So I was just thinking of how I, without thinking about this distinction between the two kinds of grace, I had chosen the word "help" in the one prayer, right? So I was thinking more of you know, He's helping us as we try to understand and the mothers are already trying to do this, right? It's another thing, you know, to love God above all other things, and even yourself, and all the things I'm saying.

[5:37] You even yourself. So so so more beyond that, I'm almost like saying He's got to what initiate this, right? Or I'll never have this, right? So there I I said, "Move me." I just spontaneously said I chose the word "move" instead of "help me," like I was already doing this, you know. But like it was, you know. Above my, yeah, yeah, he had moved me to to love him above all the things, and even myself, you know.

[6:03] It's you know something that people find hard to understand, right? Because you naturally love yourself, right? Why don't you love yourself the most, right? Fool, speak well thy soul, which in the third says, "It's been seen," you know. Loves Richard. Yeah, yeah, because I am alive. This reminds me of that we have a tool that in the workshop you turn it on and it goes ten, and then you have to the ten spins.

[6:36] Yeah. And it's kind of like with us. We got a little bit, but then we we need to move the motion. Could you say that even the desire that leads to our prayer shows that there's been operating grace? And so in both cases, we're really asking for cooperating cooperating grace. Yeah. Could you say that as well as opposed to saying that one is operating and the other one is?

[7:02] Well, I'd say that you want to be moved by God first, because He's He's the origin of all things, right? So you want to be moved by Him first, right? And then after He moves you, right? Huh? Then you want Him to come and help you to continue the motion and to perfect the motion, right? Huh? So the desire and the prayer to ask for that that operating grace isn't showing that there's already been a prior movement by God, so that we He's moved us to this desire and to pray to Him.

[7:32] Well, he might have, yeah, he might have already moved us in some ways, yeah, yeah, yeah. It seems to be the order there. I mean, you used to use it in lodged in there, I think it was. Or to open my lips, my tongue shall not, you know, not praise you or something like that, and then and then would go to he's going to help me, right?

[7:49] Huh? And you seem to kind of you know repeat the order there, right? Huh? You know, be too sure of yourself, right? You know that you that you need a someone to move you. John St. John Cassian has a whole conference on that. I don't know that it was part of their office in Egypt, but he refers to this. This is the prayer for all monks. Is from that psalm Oh God, come to my assistance, O Lord.

[8:17] Yeah. Okay. We're up to Article Four here, right? I guess. To the fourth one goes forward thus. It seems that the grace gratis data. Remember the distinction that we saw before. How can you speak of this as one kind of grace when all grace is gratis data? What's what's the way of naming that? Yeah. Yeah. that one of the two kinds of graces keeps the common name, or in this case, the common phrase, gratis data.

[9:22] the other one adds something special because it makes you gratam to God, right? So that's called. Yeah, yeah. That's a very common thing. It's a very common thing. And you can go through, you know, different parts of philosophy, right? Aristotle, you know, he distinguishes habit against what disposition. And then other times he'll say that habit is a, you know, a stable disposition, right? So habit adds something significant or noteworthy, right?

[9:58] And that is what stability, yeah, yeah. So that that stable disposition gets a new name, habit, and the unstable disposition of the mood keeps the common name, right? Okay. Um. You know, I always told my mother didn't like me saying man is an animal, right? Well, don't we sometimes use the word animal and we say man and the animals as if the animals are something different than man?

[10:34] Just imagine man is an animal, right? Well, you have animals said of the of the animals with reason and the animals without reason, right? And the animals that have reason have something very noteworthy, reason, right? So they got a new name, man, and the other ones keep the name what? Yeah, yeah. So there's all kinds of examples of that, right? Okay.

[11:01] And people, you know, I used to always make fun of the priest saying, "You can't treat the girl like a thing," you know. Well, she is something, right?

[11:17] But they'll make a distinction of thing and a person, don't they? That's kind of a common thing, right? Well, isn't a person, a thing? Is the person nothing? Huh? Huh? Person is something, right? So they're a thing. But sometimes, you know, the things that are not what don't have will and reason, they keep the name what thing, and we give this thing as reason and will a new name, right?

[11:46] It gets a new name because there's something noteworthy. We call it what person. Or Aristotle in the book in the Ethics, right? In the sixth book of Ethics, he distinguishes the virtues of reason, right? And he distinguishes between in Greek, there episteme and sophia, or in Latin, scientia and sapientia, right? Okay, so their sapientia, wisdom, is distinguished against knowledge, you might say in English, right? Okay, but then in the book devoted to wisdom, the first philosophy there, the 14 books we call metaphysics, he says that sophia is an episteme.

[12:32] Well, he's obviously contradicting himself, right? You know, and I know, he hasn't. He hasn't contradicted himself, right? But wisdom is a what scientia or episteme about the greatest things, about the very first cause, God, right? That's makes it really stand out as something very special compared to any other kind of knowledge, right? So it gets a new name, wisdom, right? I always tell my lady wisdom there, my my grandchild Sophia, that wisdom is about God, right?

[13:06] So I don't ask her what is wisdom about. Jesus, God. Very wise, what she says, right? But that's why it gets the name wisdom, right? Okay, so Aristotle can both say that wisdom is not the same virtue as episteme or scientia or knowledge, right? And then he can say what is knowledge, right? It is an episteme, right? And so those kinds of examples come, right? My daughter likes some particular food.

[13:40] She says, "I don't like this. I love it." Well, I mean, is loving something liking it? Yeah, but you might, you know, for these lesser loves, right? Lesser likings, you might keep the name liking, right? And this intense liking, right, gets a new name, love, right?

[14:07] When you talk to somebody, do you say, you tell the girl you like her, you love her. All kinds of examples of this, right? It runs through all of our language. We have another example with not one word here, but the term gratia gratis right Gratis data, right? Well, all grace is gratia data, right? So what's so special about this grace, right? Why is it, you know, why does it have that name, right?

[14:36] What keeps the common thing that all grace has, and the grace that does something very profound, very very noteworthy, right? That makes you gratum to God, right? Pleasing to God, that gets a new name, right? Gratia gratum faciens and so on. And the other kind keeps this. Okay.

[15:04] I never see a modern philosopher explain that. All kinds of things, right? They don't explain a lot. Yeah. They don't explain themselves. So every gift that is given to us from God can be called gratis, right? can be called gratia gratis data. But infinite are the goods which are given gratis to us by God, right? Conceded to us, both in the goods of the soul and in the goods of the body, which nevertheless make us what?

[15:44] Acceptable to God, yeah. Therefore, the graces gratis datae cannot be comprehended under some certain what division, huh? Okay. Now Thomas explains a couple things here. To the first, therefore, it should be said that as has been said above, not all benefits which are given to us divinely are what should be called gratia gratis data, right? But only those which exceed the what faculty of nature, Fisher, just as the what?

[16:33] Fisherman. Yeah. I guess that's Peter, huh? Yeah. Abounds by the sermon of wisdom and science, and others of the sort, and such are placed here under gratia gratis data, huh? Now there it seems like you almost got a a a

[16:53] the other way that you have something, you know, and that is one that keeps something more what? What's the other way of something when the two keeps the common name? What is the fullness of the thing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you might say, what's the difference between a boy and a girl? Well, a boy is a man and a girl is a woman, right? Okay. But then you might distinguish between what a man and a boy, and because he has the fullness of what a man is, right?

[17:30] And the boy has it in a what? Just a boy, you know. Be so hard. Yeah, yeah. So he he gets a new name, right? Huh? Not because he's something noteworthy in addition, you know, because he's he's really undeveloped, right? And the same way with the girl, right? Huh? Okay. So my mother, mother used to meet with the you know the Rosary Society where I was at the house there, you know, and I was treated as the girls, right?

[18:04] They liked that. I'd be called girls rather than women. Yeah, yeah. So something that is above nature seems to be grace right? Huh? It doesn't. If something is according to your nature, it's something that you have. kind. of a right to, you know, but you get something that is above your nature. That's really gratis, right? My mother used to call it gravy. Potatoes are fine, but gravy on something more.

[18:42] So she used to say, in terms of longevity, she said anything over sixty degrees. Moreover gratia gratis data are distinguished against gratia gratum facientum, right? And that's the way we talked about before. But faith pertains to grace, what gratum facientum, because through it we are justified, according to that of Romans five, justified therefore from faith. Therefore, unsuitably is faith placed among graces, right? Gratis data, especially since the other virtues are not placed there as hope and what charity.

[19:43] To the second, therefore, he says it should be said that faith is not numbered here among the graces, gratis data, according as it is a certain virtue justifying man in himself. But according as it implies a certain supereminentem, right, certitude of faith, an excelling certitude of faith, right? From this, that man is made what suitable to instructing others about those things which pertain to faith, right? So that's kind of like that way we're saying, right?

[20:19] Where there's an excellence in this, right? But hope and charity pertain to the desiring power, right? According as through it man is ordered to what into God, right? Moreover, the operation third objection, the operation of healings, I guess, health, and to speak diverse genera of what languages, huh? Are certain what miracles, huh? But the interpretation of of sermons or of speech pertains to what wisdom or what knowledge, according to that of Daniel one verse seventeen, huh?

[21:15] To these boys, the Lord gave what knowledge and discipline in every book and wisdom, huh? Therefore, unsuitably are divided the grace of healings, the greatest graces, of the genera of tongues, against the operation of virtues, and the interpretation of what speeches, words, against the sermon of wisdom and science.

[21:48] To the third, therefore, it should be said that the grace of sanitatum of healings is distinguished from the general operation of virtues because it has a special reason for inducing us to faith, to which someone is more prompt, right, It's rendered more prompt through the what benefit of bodily health then they should acquire the what Virtue. Acquiring the virtue of faith. Similarly, to speak in various tongues and to interpret words have special reasons of moving to faith, and therefore they are placed as special Grace is given gratuitously.

[22:32] huh? Because you'll see that better when you see them by the article. huh? Moreover, wisdom and science are certain gifts of the Holy Spirit. So we use those words, huh? Seven gifts. So also in understanding and counsel, piety, fortitude, and fear, as has been said. Therefore, these also ought to be what placed among graces, gratuitously given.

[23:04] To the fourth, therefore, it should be said that sapientia and scientia, grace and I mean wisdom and knowledge, are not com computed, not numbered among the graces given gratuitously, according as they are enumerated among the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by reason of which the mind of man is what easily moved, right, or easily movable through the Holy Spirit to those things which pertain to wisdom or knowledge.

[23:37] For thus they are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as has been said above. But they are numbered among the graces gratis datis, according as they imply a certain abundance of knowledge or and wisdom, that man not only in himself is able to write the taste divine things, but also to instruct others and to what Overcome overcome the contradictings. Yeah. And therefore, among the graces gratis datis, significantly they are laid down as the sermo sapientiae, right, And sermo scientiae, right, Because as Augustine says in the fourteenth book of the Trinity.

[24:24] It's one thing to know what a man to believe in order to obtain eternal life or blessed life. Another to know in which way what he is useful and what reaching others right and defending it against the impious.

[24:49] But now the text that Thomas is going to be concerned with here in the body of the article. But against this is what the apostle says in the first epistle to the Corinthians, in the twelfth chapter, starting in the eighth verse, etc. Others through the spirit is given the sermo sapientiae, right? Speech of wisdom. To another sermo scientiae, the speech, I suppose you could say, of what knowledge, according to the same spirit.

[25:22] To another faith in the same spirit, another the grace of what healings, another the operation of virtues, another prophecy, another the discretion of spirits, another genera of tongues, another interpretation of what. Yes. Now, does the apostle, which is Saint Paul, right, by antonomasia, does the apostle divide here into two or three? No, he doesn't. He divides into what? Yeah, Sapientia, sciencia, fides healing the operation of virtues, prophecy.

[26:10] It's something that you know Taking these off almost on all my fingers right. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure they would be sold. Yeah. Okay. Let's see what Thomas does now. huh? The answer should be said that as has been said above, gratia gratis data, right? God grace gratuitously given, right, is ordered to this that a man cooperates with another that he might be led back to what. Yeah.

[26:46] Okay. So it's not like you know for your personal. Grace gratum faciens is for your own happiness, huh? Okay. Now man cannot act for this by what moving inwardly, right? For this belongs to God alone, right? Okay.

[27:21] To go out the window, he takes the woman's head, and you can't get in there and straighten that head out, you know. He was actors there, you know.

[27:38] The rest is gutter. Okay. Yeah. But only by what Teaching in an exterior way, right? eh? Or by what Persuading, right? huh? Okay. And therefore, grace gratis datus, grace gratuitously given,

[28:10] Contains those things under it, right? By which which man needs, in order he might instruct another in what Define things which are above reason. But for this, three is required. Oh, good, good. thank God. He's following the rule Breaking it down for us four lines Yeah Like cutting up your little children's hot dog Little bits one piece Break it down

[28:42] First, that a man obtains a fullness, right, of knowledge of divine things, right, that from this he is able to instruct others, right. Second, that he's able to confirm or prove those things which he what says; otherwise, his teaching would not be efficacious.

[29:11] So, we see my my first great professor, Kasurik you know, he gave up philosophy for a while, right, because the people who were instructing him were saying, "Well, this is because you are Catholic, then you you do this, right? "

[29:29] Well, I mean, this is not efficacious teaching, right? So, he met De Koninck He says, "Now, if you instruct me in the way I was instructed in the states, he says, I will get up in the middle of your class and leave. " And then De Koninck says, "It's fine, fine, " because he stayed, right? You know, in great respect, you know. And he kind of used to come down on a lecture tour, you know, and talk at the colleges, and he talk at the Saint Paul Seminary, and so on, and he stayed at Kasurik's house, you know, and so on.

[30:03] And I remember going to talk at the Saint Paul Seminary there, and De Koninck get up there, and of course, there was some problem with the microphone, and Kasurik jumps out of the audience, runs up to the stage, fixes it up right there. You can see a kind of, you know, that's sort of yeah, I respect, you know, filial piety, you know. It's wonderful to see, though, you know.

[30:32] So he introduced me both to De Koninck and to Dionne Dionne came down, used to pay his way down, see what's on his mind, you know. So,

[30:47] third, that those things which he conceives, he's able to suitably what. Yeah, yeah, and I think I was mentioning, you know, I am reading this little book that Warren Murray sent me, because he's one of the authors in there. It's about the Canadian saints, right? And has you know about fourteen, I guess, of them that have been canonized, you know. It's a little life of them, you know, and so on.

[31:13] Well, he described this one guy. He he was a professor, right? Who was a Jesuit, right? And he was you know fluent about five languages, right? But now, when he went to Canada and he wanted to work with the Indians, he had to learn how to speak their languages. And for some reason, he had this, you know, impediment. He just could not. He spoke five languages. He could not, you know.

[31:42] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he, I guess he, he had to be kind of the servant of the place, you know, and so on. But he became a saint, right? I mean, and I mean that's. He doesn't have that third thing here, right? You know, that third thing is necessary, right? And so you can see, you know, he was a smart man. He was, you know, a lecturer down in in France, right?

[32:02] He. Come lecture the Indians because of the not having the third thing here, right? And they said the Indians are pretty brutal because if you couldn't master their language they treated you like an idiot Yeah, yeah. Really mocked you. and treated you like dirt You're like the stupidest boy in class. You can be, you know, Roman with a PhD in six different things, and they treat you like you're an idiot because you can't master that language.

[32:24] Yeah. The Indian language, tell me, the Algonquinsurans was very, very complex, much more complex than French. Yeah. And so it was particularly hard to learn. Yeah.

[32:44] Okay. So that's division of three. It makes sense. You can understand the distinction of three like that, can't you? Okay. Now, as regards the first, three things are what necessary. Well, see, that's another division, but into three, just as appears in human what teaching, right? For it's necessary that the one who ought to instruct another in some knowledge, that first, right, that the what. Beginnings of that science are to him most what certain, huh?

[33:31] As regards this, is laid down fides, right? Which is a certitude about invisible things, right? Which are supposed as beginnings, in Catholic what teaching.

[33:50] So Augustine has the ingredients in, faith, hope, and charity, right? Thomas has the catechetical instructions. Secondly, it's necessary that the teacher has himself rightly, correctly about the chief what conclusions of the science, huh? And thus there is laid down the sermo sapientiae, right, which is a knowledge of what divine things, huh? Third, it is necessary that he abound in examples and the knowledge of effects, through which sometimes it is necessary to manifest the causes.

[34:34] As regards this, is laid down the sermo scientiae, right? Which is the knowledge of human things. For the invisible things of God, through the things which have been made, are what? Yeah.

[34:53] So that's three forms of what? Grace gratis, data, right? Yeah. Second thing, the confirmation in those things which are subject to reason is through what? Arguments, huh? That's things that are subject to reason, right? Okay. But in those things which are above reason, divine revealed, the confirmation is through those things which are proper to God's what? Power. And this in two ways. Well, it's a division of two, right?

[35:40] First one was subdivided into three, this is into two. In one way that the teacher of sacred doctrine does those things which God alone is able to do.

[35:55] In the works of miracles, whether they pertain to the salvation of the body, as regards this is laid down the grace of what? Healings. Or whether they are ordered to only the manifestation of the divine power, as if the sun stands or becomes dark or the sea is divided, right? As regards this is laid down the operation of what? Powers of yeah. So that's what two, right?

[36:28] So we got three before, right? Now two more, right? Now we got five. Secondly, that one can manifest those things which God alone is what able to know. And these are contingent future things. As regards these, is laid down what? Prophecy. Or also the hidden things of hearts. As regards this, is laid down the discretion of what? Spirits. So you got a division into two, and each of them is subdivided into two.

[37:05] So you get four, right? So four and three is what? Seven, huh? Now we come to the third thing, right? The faculty of pronouncing can be observed either as regards the what? Idiomatic, right? Huh? What's peculiar things for language? Yeah. Private, right? In which something can be understood, and according to this is laid down the genera of what tongues, or as regards the sense of those things which are put forth, and as regards this is laid down the interpretation of what speaks.

[37:44] Yeah. So you got two under the third one, right? So you have nine total. Nine. Yeah, yeah. So you divided into three, and the first one was divided into how many up there?

[38:03] We had fides, sermo sapientiae and sermo scientiae. So there is three, right? Yeah. See, then the second one was divided into two, but each of those into two. That was four, seven, and the last two. Yeah, yeah. So nine altogether, right? Okay.

[38:24] But different than 9 9 choirs of angels, right? They're divided. Into three hierarchies, and each of them into three, right? Each of those three is divided into beginning, middle, and end, and so on, to get down. I don't know how far it goes down, but

[38:40] it's easier to follow, right? This here, it's three and four and two. They're all divided into different number. Each of the ones. So Thomas says, "Okay, starting off two or three, huh?" He still got a few pages left. He might start messing up.

[39:14] So now we come to the article five, right? Whether grace gratis data is more worthy than grace gratum faciens, to the fifth, then one goes forward. Thus, it seems that grace gratis data is more worthy than grace gratum faciens. Grace gratuitously given, I guess. I don't know how to translate. Yeah.

[39:50] First, because the good of the of the nation is better than the good of one, as the philosopher says in the first book of the Ethics. Common good. But the grace making one gratum is ordered only to the good of one man. But the grace given gratis data, gratuitously given, is ordered to the common good of the whole church. Ergo, gratia gratis data is dignior cum gratia gratum faciens.

[40:27] Okay. Now, how the hell are you going to get out of there? Let's look at the reply to the first objection here, right? Who's he going to? This old pagan Aristotle. What does he know? What does he know about grace?

[40:58] He talked about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He went to the heroic creatures Aristotle talks about, which are above the human thing. Okay. To the first there, it should be said that as the philosopher says in the twelfth book of wisdom, twelfth book after the books in natural philosophy, right?

[41:20] I was reading King Lear just recently, and and. And we used to call this course the philosophy of nature. You know, we're doing the physics; it's called the philosophy of nature. Shakespeare refers to it as the wisdom of nature, right? It's a rather beautiful way of saying it, right? Because when Thomas says, you know, I mean, wisdom is kind of like a synonym almost for the word philosophy, right?

[41:45] So the philosophy of nature could be translated into English, then, as the wisdom of nature, right? What I like about it is that it has a what double meaning there, right?

[41:59] You could say the wisdom of nature is about what about the wisdom of nature, right? The wisdom that nature shows, right, what it does, huh? Just like you know, when you say the word of God, right? In one sense, the word of God is the second person of the Blessed Trinity, right? But the other meaning, the word of God is the Bible, right? So somebody says to you, "What is the Bible?"

[42:26] And you want to give a brief answer. What's the best answer to give? Yeah, it's the word of God, the written word of God, right? And but what's the Bible about? Yeah, yeah, it's kind of interesting the way it is, right? So you couldn't say the philosophy of nature is about the philosophy of nature; would make any sense to say that, right? But if you take the the the synonym there, philosophy is kind of wisdom, then the wisdom of nature could be said to be about the wisdom of nature.

[43:02] I like that, right? To get two for the price of one, right? The genitive the objective, the possessive That's the wisdom of nature. It's beautiful. Shakespeare has it the the very simple metaphors, or actually, the simile the way it's said, but

[43:27] in one scene there, false as water, hasty as fire. And why why do you have that? See, why is water said to be false? False as water. Takes on any shape. Yeah, yeah, and so it doesn't have any shape of its own, right? So false. No identity. Yeah, it's like like in the in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, right? Where you have Proteus, right? And Proteus, you know, has is engaged, you know, to one woman, and then when he gets to the court and sees the daughter of the head of the court, he falls in love with her, you know.

[44:14] So why is Shakespeare giving him the name Proteus? Right, Proteus is a character that you meet in in the Odyssey, right? Huh. I mean, a god isn't changing his what, his shape, right? Everything, right? So it's it's a simple thing. False is water, right?

[44:34] He water is no form that it keeps, right? And it adopts to whatever its environment is. what kind of person is that, right? Not a friend of mine. Yeah, I remember someone saying to me, you know, I always end up with agreeing with the last guy I talk to.

[44:54] So he talks to me and agrees with me, you know. Yeah, makes some time saying, you know, and then goes on to talk to somebody else. He does whatever he says, you know. Shakespeare compares that to you know, his head has always changed like his hat with a new, new style and a new fashion, you know. Just we just a hat. Yeah, yeah. But but such a simple metaphor, right?

[45:16] They're similarly false as water, right? Then he goes on the same almost sentence and says, hasty as as fire, you know. Too quick decision there.

[45:33] To the first, therefore, it should be said that as the philosopher says in the twelfth book of wisdom of metaphysics, the good of the multitude, just as of the army, is twofold, right? One which is in the multitude itself, to wit, the order of the army, right? The other, which is separated from the multitude, as the good of the what? Yeah. And this is better because to this the other is what ordered, huh?

[46:11] So we often say that we say you know, there's two orders here to consider in the chair, right? And one is the order of the parts of the chair to each other, right? So if this say part comes in at a little slant, you know, and it's a little slightly obtuse angle here, right, that it comes in at, right? And but then the whole chair is ordered to what?

[46:33] Sitting, right? And so sitting is the purpose of the chair, right? And the end or purpose is always what better, right? Then the then the so Aristotle says the order of the parts, you know, to each other, right? Should be an example of the order of the parts of the army is because they order the army to what the leader or or to the the goal, the leader, which is victory, right?

[47:02] Huh? As MacArthur used to say, and from war, there's no substitute for victory, right? You know. So no matter how good your army is, you don't reach the victory. You lost out, huh? Yeah. Now I was kind of struck, you know, I was reading Thomas again in Summa Contra Gentiles, and as I mentioned before, you know, chapter twenty-eight is where he talks about God being perfect, right?

[47:34] But he gets to explaining, you know, why God is perfect. He says, "But as far as the illoquo nomen ponitur, right? God is not perfect, right? Because it comes from per factum made, right? Okay. Now,

[47:54] in the, I think it's at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, our Christ says, 'And be you perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect, right? Well, that's taking the Latin word perfect, right? Huh? What's the Greek word for perfect? There, probably has something from Telos. Yeah, yeah, it's the same word there as Telos for perfect, right? Telos, right? Huh? Okay. Which I mean, to be transitive, kind of, kind of Oh yeah I know It, it comes from Telos, right?

[48:27] Ended. ended. Yeah, Ended or finished. Yeah, finished. Yeah, yeah. And officially, like the Latin, you know. Well, you know, when Thomas gets through, showing that God's perfect, and he goes on to show that God is because of that good, right? But in the Greek, it's even more clear than the Latin, because good can be said of the means as well as the end, but primarily it's the same thing as the what end, yeah.

[48:58] When Aristotle talks about that fourth kind of cause, the end, you know, he says that if you take away the end, you take away the good, right? And so it's kind of very interesting to to teleos to saying that it's it's good, right? But in that sense, it seems to me that the the Latin word is not as perfect in its etymology, right? As is the what Greek word, right?

[49:26] I talked before about how I think the English word is understanding in terms of its etymology is better than even the Latin word intellectus, huh? And and much better than the Greek word nous, you know, doesn't have that thing. But the understanding is is a very what a very

[49:50] useful word, right? Huh? Because you can point to the fact that the senses know only accidents, right? Huh? But reason is the only part that what the understanding, the name for the reason, the understanding is the only part that knows what substance, right? Or that reason knows the underlying cause, right? It knows what stands under the words you're using, right? And

[50:22] so the word understanding is really very what marvelous, huh? Now my teacher Monsignor Dionne said, you know, sometimes you know if you take Greek and Latin and and French or English, right? You'll find that the word in one language is better. Another word might be better in another another language, right? Huh? So so I think understanding is better than the than the Latin word, huh? I mean the yeah Latin word intellectus, but much better than the word nous there, you know.

[50:58] And but I think with the word teleos right, it's better than the Latin word perfect, and this is where we get our word perfect, right? Perfectus, huh? So you have to come look around a little bit, huh? And see things, huh?

[51:17] I kind of like the word felicitas in Latin. I think it's better than happiness, right? Happiness comes from the word hap, right? Shakespeare says, the two gentlemen of Verona would you be good hap? we should be partaker of your happiness. But it's like saying that it happens, you know. But felicitas means what? Fruitful, right? Fruitfulness, right? Well, that the fruit is a natural product of the tree, right?

[51:47] And happiness is not something just happens. You know. In Greek, you have more words, right? Huh? You know, for these things, huh? So Aristotle has the word, you know, like our word "blessed," you know. He has the word eudaimonia, which is in the ethics, but then in the poetics he uses the word, you know, derived from luck. It's like our word happiness, right?

[52:20] So the average guy was thinking: some people are lucky in life, some people are unlucky, right? Huh? Got hit in the car accident or something. You know, every every day in the newspaper, there's somebody got hit by a car. you know.

[52:36] That reminds me of an old Ray Charles song, "Born to Lose." Just an unlucky guy. Okay, so Aristotle is going to make the distinction Aristotle makes there, right? Huh?

[53:04] That the good of the multitude, that is, of the army, is twofold, right? One, which is in the multitude itself, right? As with the order of the army, right? The other, which is separated from the multitude, as the good of the leader, right? Huh? And this would be victory, and this is better, right? Huh? So the army rejoices when it when it's when it is victorious, right?

[53:28] Not because of its its order, right? Huh? That helps. Because this also, right, right, that other is ordered, right, to this. Now the grace gratis data is ordered to the good, common good of the church, which is the ecclesiastical order, right? But the grace gratum faciens

[53:57] is ordered to the common good separated, which is God Himself. Therefore, grace gratum faciens is nobilior Yeah, we had a fella here. who was getting ready to make his final vows and have money in the bank. and I said, well, get rid of it, just get rid of it, do something. Well, I want to arrange for it so my nieces and nephews can go to college, and it's going to take a while for me to arrange all that.

[54:25] And he used this as an argument because the good of more is better than the good of me. Yeah, yeah. And I couldn't get it through his head. You could burn that money, but you'd be doing better than arranging for because in this process he's not going to make his vows Because he wants to tinker with his money all the time. Yeah, yeah.

[54:56] Okay, that's kind of interesting. Now, to answer that, that first objection, philosophy, philosophy. Yeah. Moreover, that is of greater virtue, that is able to what? Act upon another. Yeah.

[55:23] And what only in itself is affected, huh? Just as great as the clarity of the body, that can also illuminate other what Bodies, huh? Than that which in itself shines, but then it cannot illuminate other things, huh? Okay. An account of which also the philosopher says now, and the devil can quote scripture in the fifth book of the ethics that justice is the what? clarissima virtutum right huh Through which man rightly has himself towards others, right?

[55:58] Does Aristotle compare to the evening star or something like that? There, you know, he always gets poetic, right? How marvelous justice is, huh? But through grace gratum faciuntum, a man is perfected in himself, but through grace gratis datum man works for the perfection of others, right? So it's like justice, right? Okay. Therefore, grace gratis datum is more worthy than grace gratum faciens. Well, that that convinces this dummy over here.

[56:29] You know, I don't know about you guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So see how Thomas gets out of this, huh? Houdini, Houdini, he's he's really tied himself up now. you know, he's got to, he's got to drown right What happened to Houdini? Did he finally drown? I think, I think he did, yeah. Yeah. Udini? Yeah. Burst appendix. Oh. He had somebody. He had people punch him in the stomach to show how strong his stomach was, and somebody punched him when he wasn't ready, and his appendix burst, and he died from the sepsis.

[57:01] that came from that. Yeah, the way to go. Yeah. So don't ask people to punch you. Was he Lebanese? Was he Lebanese? I do not know. I thought Italian, but I could be totally wrong. Yeah, I hadn't heard of him. on the Lebanese list of famous people. Well, maybe because they don't they're not that. impressive. He was a spiritualist too. He thought he was dabbling in that stuff.

[57:26] He thought that he would be able to come back at will after he died, but apparently never made it. I guess. Yeah, I guess not. He lost that bet So those are chains he couldn't get out of Yeah Chains Okay Now, to the second, it should be said that if grace gratuitously given, right, was able to what effect in another, right? When a man obtains the grace, making one acceptable, it would follow that grace gratis datta would be more noble, right?

[58:01] Because it would do more than the other one did, right? Because it make you that way. Just as more excellence is the clarity of the sun illuminating than that of the illuminated body. But through grace gratis gratuitously given, man cannot cause in another a conjunction, right, adjoining to God, which he has through grace. Making one acceptable, but it causes certain dispositions towards this, right? And therefore, it's not necessary that grace given gratuitously is more excellent, right?

[58:43] Just as neither in fire is heat what manifested, species and it's a good idea, yeah, through which it acts for inducing heat in another, is more noble than the what,

[58:58] yeah, because it's more like a what disposition, right? Huh? Okay. More of that which is proper, yeah, is more worthy than that which is common to all. Just as to reason, which is proper to man, is more worthy than to sense, which is common to all the what animals. But the grace gratum faciens is common to all members of the church, right? But grace given gratuitously is proper gift of the more worthy members of the church, right?

[59:55] Therefore, grace given gratuitously is more worthy than grace making one acceptable. Now, to the third, it should be said that to sense is ordered to what reasoning as to an end, and therefore to reason is more what noble, right? But here it is the what reverse, because that which is private, huh, namely the grace gratuitously given, right, is ordered to that which is common as to an end.

[1:00:41] Whence is not what. Okay. So he seems to be saying that the graces gratuitously given are ordered to helping others get grace that will make you acceptable to God. Well, the end is always better, right? Now. I know a lady who used to go around talking. I have the gift of tongues, you know.

[1:01:09] I only have saints by grace. Now this contrast is interesting here, huh? But against this is what the apostle says in the first epistle to the Corinthians, in the twelfth chapter, having enumerated the graces gratis datis, right, huh? Now that was in one Corinthians twelve, right? Simply refer to the text there and said contra the previous article. Then he adds, right? Odd hook, I will show you, right?

[1:01:47] A more excellent way, right? This is the one that Saint Teresa of Lisieux quotes, right? When she's talking about she's going to be the heart of the church, right? Okay. And just as is clear from the things following, he speaks about charity, huh? Okay, which pertains to grace, making one acceptable to God, right? Okay, so that's the text that Teresa of Lisieux quotes, right? Okay. What can she be?

[1:02:19] She'll be the heart of the church. Okay. Therefore, grace gratum faciens is more excellent than grace gratis data. The apostle himself has distinguished all those graces gratuitously given is saying there's something more, what? Excellent than that, right? And that's the grace that makes you pleasing to God.

[1:02:45] Now Saint Thomas's answer is shorter than all the objections, right? I answered should be said, huh? That each virtue is to that extent more excellent, the more it is what? Ordered to a higher good, huh? Well, that makes sense, huh? And he says semper huh? Semper—that's a strong word. Always. The end is more potent, right? Than those things which are towards the end or for the end.

[1:03:22] But grace making one acceptable to God, huh? Orders man immediately to a union with the last end. What came up in this text I was mentioning in Jude? I didn't talk to guys about that. Chapter. one It's his is a very short epistle. It's got twenty-five. Yeah, twenty-five verses. I think it's about the twenty of the verses. But I showed to you Marvin's thing, you know. But he's talking about faith, hope, and charity, really, and then leading to the end, which is eternal life, right?

[1:04:00] It's beautiful. One of the most beautiful things ever seen in the Bible, you know. Just. I say to people, you know, what is the what is the end of faith, hope, and charity? Well, he said in various ways, but he's saying it's eternal life there. Beautiful. He

[1:04:24] brings in mercy there at the end of Christ, huh? Beautiful. So you know, if faith, hope, and charity, it's still. Mercy that you're getting this eternal life from God, huh? Kind of hard to fully deserve it, right? Okay.

[1:04:46] So that's that's the beginning, right? See, Thomas is saying that you got to have the understanding of what the beginnings are, right? Always the end is what potior, more potent than those things which are for the end or towards the end.

[1:05:07] But grace making one what acceptable orders man immediately to a union with the last end. But the graces that are gratis gratuitously given, they order man to certain things that are preparatoria, that are preparations, right, for the last end.

[1:05:32] Just as through prophecy and miracles and other things of this sort, right, men are led, right, to this that they might be joined to the ultimate end That's to the other kind of grace that they are joined to the ultimate end. And therefore, the grace making one acceptable is multo multo

[1:05:55] Yeah, excellentior So excellentior is is the comparative, right? Multo multo And the grace gratis data Okay, Thomas, he's some of that thing. He's a marvelous guy, this Thomas, you know. You know, a lot of times if I get any little cards, I use as bookmarks, you know, and so on. There's one which this guy's at the house there, and his wife there. And I think they're third order Dominicans, but anyway, they're going on a tour of all Dominic's places right now.

[1:06:32] They're going to start with this place in Spain where he was born, end up in Bologna, you know, where the. Because, but they'll be in Florence too. And of course, I showed you this little card I had of the church there, you know. And this is the triumph of Thomas, right? And he's the center, you know, and he's got all these other people. You can see why he why he why he got it though.

[1:06:56] It's kind of a marvelous painting. I think I'll bring the card in sometime, but let's see the little picture of there. But he's okay. So take a little break now after that.