The Virtue of Hope
Introduction l Necessity of the virtue of hope The Prince of the Apostles has left us an admonition urging us to render an account not only of our faith, but also of the hope that is in us." In the first part of the present work we have briefly set forth the teaching of Christian faith. We now turn to the task of undertaking, in compendious fashion, an exposition of the truths pertaining to hope.
We should recall that in one kind of knowledge, man's desire can come to rest. We naturally desire to know truth, and when we do know it, our craving in this direction is satisfied. But in the knowledge of faith man's desire never comes to rest. For faith is imperfect knowledge: the truths we accept on faith are not seen.
This is why the Apostle calls faith "the evidence of things that
appear not."
3©9See 1 Pet. 3:15: "But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy everyone that asketh you a reason of that hope which is in you."
Heb. 11:1.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa Accordingly, even when we have faith, there still remains in the soul an impulse toward something else, namely, the perfect vision of the truth assented to in faith, and the attainment of whatever can lead to such truth. As we pointed out above, among the various teachings of faith there is one according to which we believe that God exercises providence over human affairs.?"' In consequence of this belief, stirrings of hope arise in the soul of the believer that by God's help he may gain possession of the goods he naturally desires, once he learns of them through faith. Therefore, as we mentioned at the very beginning," next after faith, the virtue of hope is necessary for the perfection of Christian living.
Zz Prayer and hope In the order of Divine Providence, each being has assigned to it a way of reaching its end in keeping with its nature. To men, too, is appointed a suitable way, that befits the conditions of human nature, of obtaining what they hope for from God. Human nature inclines us to have recourse to petition for the purpose of obtaining from another, especially from a person of higher rank, what we hope to receive from him. So prayer is recommended to men, that by it they may obtain from God what they hope to secure from Him.
But the reason why prayer is necessary for obtaining something from a man is not the same as the reason for its necessity when there is question of obtaining a favor from God. Prayer is addressed to man, first, to lay bare the desire and the need of the petitioner, and secondly, to incline the mind of him to whom the prayer is addressed to grant the petition. These purposes have no place in 371C£ supra, chaps. 123, 143.
Aes chap. 1.
Introduction the prayer that is sent up to God. When we pray we do not intend to manifest our needs or desires to God, for He knows all things.
The Psalmist says to God: "Lord, all my desire is before Thee"'"' and in the Gospel we are told: "Your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things."''* Again, the will of God is not influenced by human words to will what He had previously not willed.
For, as we read in Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor as the son of man, that He should be changed"; nor is God moved to repentance, as we are assured in 1 Kings 15:292"
Prayer, then, for obtaining something from God, is necessary for man on account of the very one who prays, that he may reflect on his shortcomings and may turn his mind to desiring fervently and piously what he hopes to gain by his petition. In this way he is rendered fit to receive the favor.
Yet a further difference between the prayer offered to God and that addressed to man is to be marked. Prayer addressed to a man presupposes a certain intimacy that may afford the petitioner an opportunity to present his request. But when we pray to God, the very prayer we send forth makes us intimate with Him, inasmuch as our soul is raised up to God, converses with Him in spiritual affection, and adores Him in spirit and truth. The familiar affection thus experienced in prayer begets an inducement in the petitioner to pray again with yet greater confidence. And so we read in Psalm 16:6: "I have cried to Thee"®"® (that is, in trusting prayer) "for Thou, O God, hast heard me"; as though, after being admitted to intimacy in the first prayer, the Psalmist cries out with all the greater confidence in the second.
3B Ps, 37:10 (RSV: Ps. 38:9).
374 Matt. 6:32.
39RSV: 1 Sam. 15:29.
3T6RSV: Ps. 17:6.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa Therefore, in prayer to God, perseverance or repetition of our supplication is not unseemly, but is acceptable to God. Indeed, "we ought always to pray and not to faint," as we learn from Luke 18:1.
Our Lord, too, invites us to pray, for He said: "Ask, and it shall be given you... knock, and it shall be opened to you.""' But in prayer addressed to man, persistence in begging becomes irritating.
3M Natt. (eu.
Hope and Prayer
The Lord's Prayer Since, beyond faith, hope is also necessary for salvation, our Savior, who inaugurated and perfected our faith by instituting the sacraments, thought it well to carry us to a living hope by giving us a prayer that mightily raises up our hope to God. God Himself taught us what we should ask of Him. He would not urge us to pray unless
He were determined to hear us; no one asks another for a favor without hope in him, and he asks only what he hopes for. So in teaching us to ask God for benefits, Christ exhorts us to hope in God and shows us what to hope for by telling us what to request.
We shall consider the petitions in the Lord's Prayer, noting all that relates to Christian hope. We shall indicate the person in whom we ought to hope (and why) and what to expect from Him.
Our hope should be anchored in God to whom we are to pray, as Psalm 61:9 says: "Trust in Him" (i.e., God) "all ye congregation of alt c people; pour out your hearts before Him"'"(i.e., in prayer).
378RSV: Ps. 62:8.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa
Why we must pray to God for what we hope The reason why we must hope in God is chiefly the fact that we belong to Him, as effect belongs to cause. God does nothing in vain, but always acts for a definite purpose. Every active cause has the power of producing its effect in such a way that the effect will not be wanting in whatever can advance it toward its end. This is why, in effects produced by natural causes, nature is not found to be deficient in anything that is necessary, but confers on every effect whatever goes into its composition and is required to carry through the action whereby it may reach its end. Of course, some impediment may arise from a defect in the cause, which then may be unable to furnish all this.
A cause that operates intellectually not only confers on the effect, in the act of producing it, all that is required for the result intended, but also, when the product is finished, controls its use, which is the end of the object. Thus a smith, in addition to forging a knife, has the disposition of its cutting efficiency. Man is made by God somewhat as an article is made by an artificer. Something of this sort is said in Isaiah 64:8: "And now, O Lord, Thou art our
Father and we are clay, and Thou art our Maker."
Accordingly, just as an earthen vessel, if it were endowed with sense, might hope to be put to good use by the potter, so man ought to cherish the hope of being rightly provided for by God. Thus we are told in Jeremiah 18:6: "As clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."
The confidence which man has in God ought to be most certain. As we just intimated, a cause does not refrain from rightly controlling its product unless it labors under some defect. But no defect or ignorance can occur in God because "all things are naked and open to His eyes," as is said in Hebrews 4:13. Nor does He lack
Hope and Prayer power, for "the hand of the Lord is not shortened that it cannot save," as we read in Isaiah 59:1. Nor is He wanting in good will, for "the Lord is good to them that hope in Him, to the soul that seeketh Him," as we are reminded in Lamentations 3:25. Therefore the hope with which a person trusts in God does not confound him that hopes, as is said in Romans 5:5.
We should also bear in mind that, while Providence watches solicitously over all creatures, God exercises special care over rational beings. For the latter are exalted to the dignity of God's image, and can rise to the knowledge and love of Him, and have dominion over their actions, since they are able to discriminate between good and evil. Hence they should have confidence in God, not only that they may be preserved in existence in keeping with the condition of their nature — for this pertains also to other creatures — but that, by avoiding evil and doing good, they may merit some reward from Him. We are taught a salutary lesson in Psalm 35:7: "Men and beasts Thou wilt preserve">"" (that is, God bestows on men and irrational creatures alike whatever pertains to the sustaining of life). And then the Psalmist adds, in the next verse: "But the children of men shall put their trust under the 89 indicating that they will be protected by covert of Thy wings, God with special care.
We should observe, further, that when any perfection is conferred, an ability to do or acquire something is also added. For example, when the air is illuminated by the sun, it has the capacity to serve as a medium for sight; and when water is heated by fire it can be used to cook — and it could hope for this if it had a mind.
To man is given, over and above the nature of his soul, the perfection of grace, by which he is made a partaker in the divine
ST RSV: Ps. 36:6.
3805. 35:8 (RSV: Ps. 36:7).
Aquinas's Shorter Summa nature, as we are taught in 2 Peter 1:4.°"' As a result of this, we are said to be regenerated and to become sons of God, according to John 1:12: "He gave them power to be made the sons of God."
Thus raised to be sons, men may reasonably hope for an inheritance, as we learn from Romans 8:17: "If sons, heirs also." In keeping with this spiritual regeneration, man should have a yet higher hope in God, namely, the hope of receiving an eternal inheritance, according to 1 Peter 1:3-4: "God... hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and which cannot fade, reserved in Heaven for you."
Through this "spirit of adoption" that we receive, we cry:
"Abba (Father)," as is said in Romans 8:15. Hence our Lord began His prayer by calling upon the Father, saying, "Father," to teach us that our prayer must be based on this hope. By uttering the name,
"Father," man's affection is prepared to pray with a pure disposition, and also to obtain what he hopes for. Moreover, sons ought to be imitators of their parents. Therefore he who professes that God is his Father ought to try to be an imitator of God, by avoiding things that make him unlike God and by earnestly praying for those perfections that make him like to God. Hence we are commanded in Jeremiah 3:19: "Thou shalt call me Father and shalt not cease to walk after me." If, then, as Gregory of Nyssa reminds us," you turn your gaze to worldly affairs or seek human honor or the filth of passionate craving, how can you (who lead such a corrupt life) call the source of incorruption your Father?
381 "By whom he hath given us most great and precious promises; that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature; flying the corruption of that concupiscence which is in the world."
>8De oratione dominica, Il (PG, XLIV, 1144).
Hope and Prayer
Why we are to say "our Father," not "my Father"
He who looks on himself as a son of God, ought, among other things, to imitate our Lord especially in His love, as we are urged to do in Ephesians 5:1-2: "Be ye therefore followers of God as most dear children, and walk in love." God's love is not restricted to any individual, but embraces all in common; for God loves "all things that are," as is said in Wisdom 11:25. Most of all He loves men, according to Deuteronomy 33:3: "He hath loved the people."
Consequently, in Cyprian's words, "our prayer is public and is offered for all; and when we pray, we do not pray for one person alone, but for the whole people, because we are all together one people."** Or, as Chrysostom says, "Necessity forces us to pray for ourselves, but fraternal charity impels us to pray for others."** This is why we say, "our Father," and not simply "my Father."
At the same time we should remember that, although our hope rests chiefly on God's help, we can aid one another to obtain more easily what we ask for. St. Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 1:10-11: God will "deliver us, you helping withal in prayer for us." And in James
5:16 we are exhorted: "Pray one for another, that you may be saved." For, as Ambrose reminds us, "many insignificant people, when they are gathered together and are of one mind, become powerful, and the prayers of many cannot but be heard." This agrees with Matthew 18:19: "If two of you shall consent upon Earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in Heaven."*®° Therefore we do
383] iber de oratione dominica, VIII (PL, IV, 524).
384 Pseudo-Chrysostom, In evangelium Matthaei, hom. XIV (PG, LVI, 711).
385 A mbrosiaster, In epistolam ad Romanos, XV (PL, XVI, 177).
386RSV: Matt. 18:18.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa not pour forth our prayers as individuals, but with unanimous accord we cry out, "our Father."
Let us also reflect that our hope reaches up to God through Christ, according to Romans 5:1-2: "Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access through faith into this grace wherein we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God."
Through Him who is the only-begotten Son of God by nature, we are made adopted sons: "God sent His Son ..
. that we might receive the adoption of sons," as is said in Galatians 4:4-5. Hence, in acknowledging that God is our Father, we should do so in such a way that the prerogative of the Only-begotten is not disparaged.
In this connection Augustine admonishes us: "Do not make any exclusive claims for yourself. In a special sense, God is the Father of Christ alone and is the Father of all the rest of us in common.
For the Father begot Him alone, but created us."**' This, then, is why we say: "our Father."
God's power to grant our petitions When hope is abandoned, the reason is usually to be found in the powerlessness of him from whom help was expected. The confidence characteristic of hope is not wholly grounded on the mere willingness to help professed by him on whom our hope tests: power to help must also be present.
We sufficiently express our conviction that the divine will is ready to help us when we proclaim that God is our Father. But to 387 Sermo LXXXIV, which is among the sermons wrongly attributed to St.
Augustine (PL, XXXIX, 1907). The passage is taken from St. Ambrose, De sacramentis, V, 19 (PL, XVI, 451).
Hope and Prayer exclude all doubt as to the perfection of His power, we add: "who art in Heaven." The Father is not said to be in Heaven as though
He were contained by Heaven. On the contrary, He encompasses Heaven in His power, as is said in Ecclesiasticus 24:8: "I alone have compassed the circuit of Heaven." Indeed, God's power is raised above the whole immensity of Heaven, according to Psalm 8:2:
"Thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens."*"® And so, to strengthen the confidence of our hope, we hail the power of God which sustains and transcends the heavens.
This same phrase removes a certain obstacle that may stand in the way of our prayer. Some people act as though human affairs were subjected to a deterministic fatalism imposed by the stars, contrary to what is commanded in Jeremiah 10:2: "Be not afraid of the signs of Heaven, which the heathens fear." If this error had its way, it would rob us of the fruit of prayer. For if our lives were subjected to a necessity decreed by the stars, nothing in our course could be changed. In vain we should plead in our prayer for the granting of some good or for deliverance from evil. To prevent this error from undermining confidence in prayer, we say: "who art in Heaven," thus acknowledging that God moves and regulates the heavens. Accordingly, the assistance we hope to obtain from God cannot be obstructed by the power of heavenly bodies.
In order that prayer may be efficacious at the court of God, man must ask for those benefits which he may worthily expect from God. Of old some petitioners were rebuked: "You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss."**" Anything suggested by earthly wisdom rather than by heavenly wisdom, is asked for in the wrong spirit. And so Chrysostom assures us that the words, "who art in Heaven," do not imply that God is confined to that locality, but PERS VEPs. Sil:
+ 89 James 4:3,
Aquinas's Shorter Summa rather indicate that the mind of him who prays is raised up from the Earth and comes to rest in that celestial region."
There is another obstacle to prayer or confidence in God that would deter one from praying. This is the notion that human life is far removed from Divine Providence. The thought is given expression in the person of the wicked in Job 22:14: "The clouds are His covert, and He doth not consider our things, and He walketh about the poles of Heaven"; also in Ezechiel 8:12: "The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the Earth."
But the Apostle Paul taught the contrary in his sermon to the Athenians, when he said that God is "not far from every one of us; for in Him we live and move and are."" That is, our being is preserved; our life is governed; and our activity is directed by Him.
This is confirmed by Wisdom 14:3: "Thy providence, O Father, governeth" all things from the beginning. Not even the most insignificant of living things are withdrawn from God's Providence, as we are told in Matthew 10:29-30: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Men are placed under the divine care in a yet more excellent way, so that in comparison with them the Apostle could ask: "Doth God take care for oxen?"" The meaning is not that God has no concern at all for such animals but that He does not take care of them in the same way He does of men, whom He punishes or rewards in accordance with their good or evil actions, and whom He foreordains to eternal life. This is why, in the words
_ quoted from Matthew, our Lord says: "The very hairs of your head 3 In Matthaeum, hom. XIX, 4 (PG, LVI, 278).
391 Acts 17:27-28.
3921 Cor. 9:9.
Hope and Prayer are all numbered," thus indicating that everything belonging to man is to be recovered at the resurrection.
Consequently all diffidence should be banished from our lives.
For, as our Lord adds in the same context: "Fear not, therefore; better are you than many sparrows."*"> This clarifies the passage we called attention to above:?"* "The children of men shall put their trust under the covert of Thy wings."'"
Although God is said to be near to all men by reason of His special care over them, He is exceptionally close to the good who strive to draw near to Him in faith and love, as we are assured in James 4:8: "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you."
Confirmation of this is found in Psalm 144:18: "The Lord is nigh unto all men that call upon Him: to all that call upon Him in truth."""° Indeed, He not only draws nigh to them; He even dwells in them through grace, as is intimated in Jeremiah 14:9: "Thou, O
Lord, art among us."
Therefore, to increase the hope of the saints, we are bidden to say: "who art in Heaven" — that is, in the saints, as Augustine explains."'' For, as the same doctor adds, the spiritual distance between the just and sinners seems to be as great as the spatial distance between Heaven and Earth?" To symbolize this idea, we turn toward the east when we pray, because it is in that direction that heaven rises. The hope of the saints and their confidence in 333 Matt. 10:31.
394C£ chap. 4.
39 Ps, 35:8 (RSV: Ps. 36:7).
396RSV: Ps. 145:18.
397D¢ sermone Domini in monte, II, 5 (PL, XXXIV, 1276). Cf. St. Thomas, Expositio orationis dominicae (Vives, XXVII, 185): "The saints are called the heavens, according to Psalm 18:2: 'The heavens show forth the glory of God'" (RSV: Ps. 19:1).
38 Tbhid., col. 1277.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa prayer are increased by the divine nearness, and also by the dignity they have received from God, who through Christ has caused them to be heavens, as is indicated in Isaiah 51:16: "That Thou mightest plant the heavens and found the Earth." He who has made them heavens will not withhold heavenly goods from them.
Objects of hope Having treated of the truths that lead men to hope in God, we must go on to inquire what are the blessings we ought to hope to receive from Him. In this connection we should observe that hope presupposes desire. Before a thing can be hoped for, it must first be desired.
Things that are not desired are not said to be objects of hope; rather they are feared or even despised. Secondly, we must judge that what is hoped for is possible to obtain; hope includes this factor over and above desire. True, a man can desire things he does not believe he is able to attain; but he cannot cherish hope with regard to such objects. Thirdly, hope necessarily implies the idea that the good hoped for is hard to get: trifles are the object of contempt rather than of hope. Or, if we desire certain things and have them, as it were, to hand, we are not deemed to hope for them as future goods, but to possess them as present to us.
We should further note that among the difficult things a person hopes to obtain, there are some he hopes to get through the good offices of another and some that he hopes to acquire through his own efforts. The difference between these two classes of goods comes to this: to obtain the things he hopes to acquire by himself, a man employs the resources of his own power; to obtain what he hopes to receive from another, he has recourse to petition.
If he hopes to receive such a benefit from a man, his request is called simple petition; if he hopes to obtain a favor from God, it is
Hope and Prayer called prayer, which, as Damascene says, "is a petition addressed to God for suitable goods.""
However, the hope a man places in his own powers or in another man does not pertain to the virtue of hope; that virtue is limited to the hope he has in God. Hence we are told in Jeremiah
17:5: "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm"; and a little farther on (17:7): "Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence." This shows us that the goods our Lord teaches us to ask for in His prayer are to be regarded as possible, yet not easy to get; access to them is afforded by God's help and not by human power.
The first petition: desire for perfect knowledge of God In this connection we must heed the order of desire, as regulated by charity, so that a corresponding order of goods to be hoped and asked for from God may be established. The order of charity requires us to love God above all things. And so charity moves our first desire in the direction of the things that are of God. But desire has to do with future good, and nothing in the future can accrue to God, considered as He is in Himself, since He is eternally the same. Therefore our desire cannot bear on things that belong to God as they are considered in themselves: we may not entertain the idea that God can acquire some goods He does not already possess. Rather, our love regards these goods in such a way that we love them as existing. However, we can desire, with respect to God, that He who exists forever great in Himself, may be magnified in the thoughts and reverence of all men.
3 "Oratio est petitio decentium a Deo." De fide orthodoxa, III, 24 (PG, XCIV, 1089).
Aquinas's Shorter Summa This is not to be dismissed as impossible. For, since man was made for the very purpose of knowing God's greatness, he would seem to have been created in vain if he were unable to attain to the perception of this attribute, contrary to what is said in Psalm
88:48: "Hast Thou made all the children of men in vain?"*" If this were the case, the desire of nature, whereby all men naturally desire to know something of the divine perfections, would be fruitless. Indeed, no man is completely deprived of knowledge of God, as we are taught in Job 36:25: "All men see Him." Yet such knowledge of God is hard to obtain; indeed, it is beyond all human power, according to Job 36:26: "Behold, God is great, exceeding our knowledge."
Accordingly, knowledge of God's greatness and goodness cannot come to men except through the grace of divine Revelation, as we are told in Matthew 11:27: "No one knoweth the Son but the Father; neither doth any one know the Father but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him." Therefore
Augustine says, in his commentary on John, that no one knows God unless He who knows manifests Himself."
To some extent God makes Himself known to men through a certain natural knowledge, by imbuing them with the light of reason and by giving existence to visible creatures, in which are reflected some glimmerings of His goodness and wisdom, as we read in Romans 1:19: "That which is known of God" — that is, what is knowable about God by natural reason — "is manifest in them" (namely, is disclosed to pagan peoples). "For God hath manifested it unto them," through the light of reason and through the creatures He has put in the world. The Apostle adds: "For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly
40ORSV: Ps. 89:47.
401 Tn Toannis evangelium, LVIII, 3 (PL, XXXV, 1793).
Hope and Prayer seen, being understood by the things that are made; His eternal power also and divinity."*"
But this knowledge is imperfect because not even creatures can be perfectly comprehended by man and also because creatures are unable to represent God perfectly, since the excellence of the cause infinitely surpasses its effect. Therefore in Job 11:7 the question is put: "Peradventure thou wilt comprehend the steps of God, and wilt find out the Almighty perfectly?" And in Job 36:25, after affirming, "All men see Him," the speaker adds, "every one beholdeth afar off."
As a result of the imperfection of this knowledge, it happened that men, wandering from the truth, erred in various ways concerning the knowledge of God to such an extent that, as the Apostle says in Romans 1:21-23, some "became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened; for, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man and of birds and of fourfooted beasts and of creeping things."
To recall men from this error, God gave them a clearer knowledge of Himself in the Old Law, through which men were brought back to the worship of the one God. Thus the truth is announced in Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one
Lord." But this information about God was wrapped up in the obscurities of figurative language, and was confined within the limits of one nation, the Jewish people, as is indicated in Psalm
75:2: "In Judea God is known; His name is great in Israel."*""
In order that true knowledge of God might spread throughout the whole human race, God the Father sent the only-begotten
402R om. 1:20.
403 RSV: Ps. 76:1.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa Word of His majesty into the world, that through Him the entire world might come to a true knowledge of the divine name. Our
Lord Himself began this work among His disciples, as He tells us in John 17:6: "I have manifested Thy name to the men whom
Thou hast given me out of the world." But His intention in imparting knowledge of the Deity was not limited to the disciples;
He wished this knowledge to be promulgated through them to the whole world. This is why He adds the prayer: "That the world may believe that Thou hast sent me."** He carries on His task without intermission through the Apostles and their successors; by their ministry men are brought to the knowledge of God, to the end that the name of God may be held in benediction and honor throughout the entire world, as was foretold in Malachi 1:11: "From the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation."
When we say in our prayer, "hallowed be Thy name," we ask that the work thus begun may be brought to completion. "In making this petition," says St. Augustine, "we do not mean to imply that the name of God is not holy, but we ask that it may be regarded by all men as holy; that is, that God may become so well known that men will not judge anything to be holier.' Among the various indications that make the holiness of God known to men, the most convincing sign is the holiness of men, who are sanctified by the divine indwelling. Gregory of Nyssa asks: "Who is so bereft of the finer sensibilities as not, on beholding the spotless life of believers, to glorify the name that is invoked by those who lead such a life?"**° The Apostle speaks in like vein, in 404) ohn 17:21.
495De sermone Domini in monte, II, 5 (PL, XXXIV, 1277).
46D oratione dominica, II] (PG, XLIV, 1153).
Hope and Prayer 1 Corinthians 14:24-25. After saying: "If all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or an unlearned person, he is convinced of all," he adds: "And so, falling down on his face, he will adore God, affirming that God is among you indeed."
Therefore, as Chrysostom points out, in teaching us the words, "hallowed be Thy name," our Lord also bids us, when we pray, to ask that God may be glorified by our lives.**' The sense of the prayer is this: "Grant us so to live, that all men may glorify Thee through us."*8 God is sanctified or hallowed in the minds of other men through us, to the extent that we are sanctified by Him. Hence when we say: "hallowed be Thy name," we pray, as Cyprian remarks, that God's name may be hallowed in us." Following the
we beg lead of Christ, who says: "Be holy, because I am holy, that we, who have been sanctified in Baptism, may persevere in the state in which we began.
Furthermore we pray daily to be sanctified in order that we, who daily fall, may wash away our sins by a constant process of purification.
This petition is put first because, as Chrysostom observes, he who would offer a worthy prayer to God should ask for nothing before the Father's glory, but should make everything come after the praise of Him."
In Matthaeum, hom. XIX, 4 (PG, LVII, 279).
408 \Vivas: "Ita fac nos vivere, Ut per nos te universi glorificent"; Mandonnet:
"Ita fac nos vivere, ut nos te et universi glorificent." The Vivés reading is preferred as agreeing better with the context.
409] iber de oratione dominica, XII (PL, IV, 527).
N0See Lev. 11:44; cf. 1 Pet. 1:16.
4117 oc. cit.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa
The second petition: prayer for participation in God's glory After desiring and praying for the glory of God, man is led to desire and ask that he may be given a share in divine glory. And so the second petition is worded: "Thy kingdom come." In discussing this petition, we shall follow the same procedure as we observed in treating of the preceding petition. We shall consider, first, that we do right to desire the kingdom of God; secondly, that man can attain to the possession of this kingdom; thirdly, that he can attain to it not by his own powers, but only with the help of divine grace.
And then, in the fourth place, we must inquire into the sense in which we pray that the kingdom of God may come.
As to the first point, we should note that to every being its own good is naturally desirable. Hence good is conveniently defined as that which all desire. The proper good of any being is that whereby it is brought to perfection. We say that a thing is good inasmuch as it reaches its proper perfection. On the other hand, a thing lacks goodness so far as it is lacking in its proper perfection. Consequently each thing seeks its own perfection, and so man, too, naturally desires to be perfected. And, since there are many degrees of human perfection, that good chiefly and primarily comes under man's desire which looks to his ultimate perfection. This good is recognized by the sure sign that man's natural desire comes to rest in it. For, since man's natural desire always inclines toward his own good which consists in some perfection, the consequence is that as long as something remains to be desired, man has not yet reached his final perfection.
Something can thus remain to be desired in two ways. The first is when the thing desired is sought for the sake of something else: when it is obtained, desire cannot cease, but must be borne along toward that other object. The second is when a thing does not Soy!
Hope and Prayer suffice to provide what man desires. For instance, a meager portion of food is not enough to sustain nature, and so does not satisfy natural appetite.
Consequently that good which man chiefly and mainly desires must be of such a nature that it is not sought for the sake of something else and that it satisfies man. This good is commonly called happiness, inasmuch as it is man's foremost good: we say that certain people are happy because we believe that everything goes well with them. It is also known as beatitude, a word that stresses its excellence. It can also be called peace, so far as it brings quiet; for cessation of appetite appears to imply interior peace. This is indicated in the words of Psalm 147:14: "Who hath placed peace in thy borders."
We see clearly that man's happiness or beatitude cannot consist in material goods. The first reason for this is that such goods are not sought for their own sake, but are naturally desired because of something else. They are suitable for man by reason of his body.
But man's body is subordinated to his soul as to its end. For the body is the instrument of the soul that moves it, and every instrument exists for the good of the art that employs it. Furthermore, the body is related to the soul as matter is related to form. But form is the end of matter, just as act is the end of potency. Consequently man's final happiness does not consist in riches or in honors or in health and beauty or in any goods of this kind.
The second reason why happiness is not to be found in material goods is that such goods cannot satisfy man. This is clear on many scores. In the first place, man has a twofold appetitive power: one intellectual, the other sensitive. Consequently he has a twofold desire. But the desire of the intellectual appetite veers chiefly toward intelligible goods, which exceed the competency of material goods. Secondly, material goods, as being the lowest in the order of nature, do not contain all goodness but possess only a
Aquinas's Shorter Summa portion of goodness, so that one object has this particular aspect of goodness (for example, the power to give pleasure) while another object has a different advantage (for instance, the power to cause bodily well-being) and so on of the rest. In none of them can the human appetite, which naturally tends toward universal good, find complete satisfaction. Nor can full satisfaction be found even in a large number of such goods, no matter how much they may be multiplied, for they fall short of the infinity of universal good.
Thus we are assured in Ecclesiastes 5:9 that "a covetous man shall not be satisfied with money.""" Thirdly, since man by his intellect apprehends the universal good that is not circumscribed by space or time, the human appetite, consistently with the apprehension of the intellect, desires a good that is not circumscribed by time.
Hence man naturally desires perpetual stability. But this cannot be found in material things, which are subject to corruption and many kinds of change. Therefore the human appetite cannot find the sufficiency it needs in material goods. Accordingly, man's ultimate happiness cannot consist in such goods.
Moreover, since the sense faculties have bodily activities (inasmuch as they operate through bodily organs which exercise their functions on corporeal objects), man's ultimate happiness cannot consist in the activities of his sensitive nature (for example, in certain pleasures of the flesh). The human intellect, too, has some activity with reference to corporeal things, for man knows bodies by his speculative intellect and manages corporeal things by his practical intellect. And so man's ultimate happiness and perfection cannot be placed in the proper activity of the speculative intellect or of the practical intellect that deals with material things.
412RSV: Eccles. 5:10.
Hope and Prayer Likewise, such happiness is not found in that activity of the human intellect whereby the soul reflects on itself. There are two reasons for this. In the first place the soul, considered in its own nature, is not beatified. Otherwise it would not have to labor for the attainment of beatitude. Therefore it does not acquire beatitude from the mere contemplation of itself. In the second place, happiness is the ultimate perfection of man, as was stated above.
Since the perfection of the soul consists in its proper activity, its ultimate perfection is to be looked for on the plane of its best activity, and this is determined by its best object, for activities are specified according to their objects. But the soul is not the best object to which its activity can tend. For it is aware that something exists that is better than itself. Hence man's ultimate beatitude cannot consist in the activity whereby he makes himself or any of the other higher substances the object of his intellection, as long as there is something better to which the action of the human soul can turn. Man's activity may extend to any good whatever, for the universal good is what man desires, since he apprehends universal good with his intellect. Therefore, whatever may be the degree to which goodness extends, the action of the human intellect, and hence also of the will, reaches out toward it in some way. But good is found supremely in God, who is good by His very essence and is the source of every good. Consequently man's ultimate perfection and final good consist in union with God, according to Psalm
72:28: "It is good for me to adhere to my God."*"
This truth is clearly perceived if we examine the way other things participate in being. Individual men all truly receive the predication man because they share in the very essence of the species. None of them is said to be a man on the ground that he
413 RSV: Ps. 73:28.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa shares in the likeness of some other man, but only because he shares in the essence of the species. This is so even though one man brings another to such participation by way of generation, as a father does with regard to his son. Now beatitude or happiness is nothing else than perfect good. Therefore all who share in beatitude can be happy only by participation in the divine beatitude, which is man's essential goodness, even though one man may be helped by another in his progress toward beatitude. This is why
Augustine says in his book, De vera religione, that we are beatified not by beholding the angels, but by seeing the Truth in which we love the angels and are happy along with them.*"*
Mans spirit is carried up to God in two ways: by God Himself, and by some other thing. It is borne up to God by God Himself when God is seen in Himself and is loved for Himself. It is raised up by something else when the soul is elevated to God by His creatures, according to Romans 1:20: "The invisible things of Him
... are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made."
Perfect beatitude cannot consist in a person's movement toward God through the agency of something else. For, first, since beatitude denotes the ultimate term of all human actions, true and perfect happiness cannot be found in that which is of the nature of change in the direction of the end rather than of a final term.
Knowledge and love of God through the medium of something other than God is brought about by a certain movement of the human mind, as it advances through one stage to another. True and perfect beatitude, therefore, is not discovered in this process.
Secondly, if man's beatitude consists in the adhering of the human mind to God, perfect beatitude must require a perfect adhering to God. But the human mind cannot adhere perfectly to 4141¢ vera religione, LV, 110 (PL, XXXIV, 170).
Hope and Prayer God through the medium of any creature, whether by way of knowledge or by way of love. All created forms fall infinitely short of representing the divine essence. Objects pertaining to a higher order of being cannot be known through a form belonging to a lower order. For example, a spiritual substance cannot be known through a body, and a heavenly body cannot be known through one of the elements. Much less can the essence of God be known through any created form. Yet, just as we gain a negative insight into higher bodies from a study of lower bodies (thus learning, for instance, that they are neither heavy nor light) and just as we conceive a negative idea about angels from a consideration of bodies (judging that they are immaterial or incorporeal), so by examining creatures we come to know not what God is, but rather what He is not. Likewise, any goodness possessed by a creature is a definite minimum in comparison with the divine goodness, which is infinite goodness. Hence the various degrees of goodness emanating from God and discerned in things, which are benefits bestowed by God, fail to raise the mind to a perfect love of God.
Therefore true and perfect beatitude cannot consist in the adherence of the mind to God through some alien medium.
Thirdly, according to right order, things that are less familiar become known through things that are more familiar. Likewise, things that are less good are loved because of their relation to things that have greater goodness. Thus, as God is the first truth and supreme goodness, and is eminently knowable and lovable in Himself, the order of nature requires that all things should be known and loved through Him. So if the mind of any person has to be brought to the knowledge and love of God through creatures, this results from his imperfection. Accordingly, such a one has not yet achieved perfect beatitude, which excludes all imperfection.
We conclude, therefore, that perfect beatitude consists in the direct union of the spirit with God in knowledge and love. In the uy
Aquinas's Shorter Summa same way that a king has the office of directing and governing his subjects, that tendency predominates in man which is the norm for regulating everything else in him. This is why the Apostle warns in Romans 6:12: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body." So, since the notion of perfect beatitude requires that God be known and loved in Himself so that the soul embraces other objects only through Him, God reigns truly and perfectly in the good. Thus we are told in Isaiah 49:10: "He that is merciful to them shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters He shall give them drink." In other words, by Him they shall be refreshed with the most excellent goods, of whatever kind they may be.
We should recall, further, that the intellect understands all it knows by means of a certain likeness or form. In a similar way the external organ of sight perceives a stone by means of a form of the stone. Consequently the intellect cannot behold God as He is in His essence by means of a created likeness or form that would represent the divine essence. For we are aware that an object belonging to a higher order of being cannot be represented, so far as its essence is concerned, by a likeness pertaining to a lower order. Thus a spiritual substance cannot, if there is question of its essence, be understood by means of any bodily likeness. And so, as God transcends the whole order of creation much more than a spiritual substance excels the order of material things, He cannot be seen in His essence through the medium of a corporeal likeness.
The same truth is quite evident if we but reflect on what the vision of a thing in its essence implies. He who apprehends some property pertaining essentially to man does not perceive the essence of man (just as a person who knows what an animal is, but does not know what rationality is, fails to understand the essence of man). Any perfection predicated of God belongs to Him essentially. But no single created likeness can represent God with respect to all the perfections predicated of Him. For in the created
Hope and Prayer intellect the likeness whereby man apprehends the life of God differs from the likeness whereby he apprehends God's wisdom, and so on with regard to justice and all the other perfections that are identical with God's essence. So the created intellect cannot be informed by a single likeness representing the divine essence in such a way that the essence of God can be seen therein. And if such likenesses are multiplied, they will be lacking in unity, which is identical with God's essence. Consequently the created intellect cannot be raised so high by a single created likeness (or even by many of them) as to see God as He is in Himself, in His own essence. In order, therefore, that God may be seen in His essence by a created intellect, the divine essence must be perceived directly in itself and not through the medium of some likeness.
Such vision requires a certain union of the created intellect with God. In the first chapter of his book, De divinis nominibus,
Dionysius observes that when we arrive at our most blessed end and God appears, we shall be filled with a superintellectual knowledge of God.*" The divine essence, however, has this exclusive characteristic, that our intellect can be united to it without the medium of any likeness. The reason is that the divine essence itself is its own existence or esse, which is true of no other form.
Knowledge requires the presence of some form in the intellect; so, if any form that exists by itself (e.g., the substance of an angel) cannot inform an intellect and yet is to be known by the intellect of another, such knowledge has to be brought about by some likeness of the thing informing the intellect. But this is not necessary in the case of the divine essence, which is its own existence.
Accordingly, the soul that is beatified by the vision of God is made one with Him in understanding. The knower and the known
415 Pseudo-Dionysius, De divinis nominibus, 1, 4 (PG, III, 592).
Aquinas's Shorter Summa must somehow be one. And so, when God reigns in the saints, they too reign along with God. In their person are uttered the words of Revelation 5:10: "(Thou) hast made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the Earth." This kingdom, in which God reigns in the saints and the saints reign with God, is called the Kingdom of Heaven, according to Matthew 3:2: "Do penance, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." This is the same manner of speaking as that whereby presence in Heaven is ascribed to God — not in the sense that He is housed in the material heavens but to show forth the eminence of God over every creature, in the way that Heaven towers high above every other material creature, as is indicated in Psalm 112:4: "The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens."*"° The beatitude of the saints is called the Kingdom of Heaven, therefore, not because their reward is situated in the material heavens but because it consists in the contemplation of supercelestial nature. This is also the reason for the statement about the angels in Matthew 18:10: "Their angels in Heaven always see the face of my Father who is in Heaven." Hence Augustine, in his explanation of the passage in Matthew 5:12 ("Your reward is very great in Heaven") says in his book, De sermone Domini in monte:
"I do not think that Heaven here means the loftier regions of this visible world. For our reward .
. . is not to be in evanescent things.
I think that the expression in Heaven refers rather to the spiritual firmament, where eternal justice dwells."*""
This ultimate good, which consists in God, is also called eternal life. The word is used in the sense in which the action of the animating soul is called life. Hence we distinguish as many kinds of life as there are kinds of action performed by the soul, among 416ORSV: Ps. 113:4.
ib. 1,5 (PL, XXXIV, 1236).
Hope and Prayer which the action of the intellect is supreme; and, according to the Philosopher, the action of the intellect is life.*!® Furthermore, since an act receives species from its object, the vision of the divinity is called eternal life, as we read in John 17:3: "This is eternal life: that they may know Thee, the only true God."
The ultimate good is also known as comprehension (comprehensio), a word suggested by Philippians 3:12: "I follow after, if I] may by any means apprehend" (comprehendam). The term is not, of course, used in the sense according to which comprehension implies enclosing; for what is enclosed by another is completely contained by it as a whole. The created intellect cannot completely see God's essence, in such a way, that is, as to attain to the ultimate and perfect degree of the divine vision, and so to see God to the extent that He is capable of being seen. For God is knowable in a way that is proportionate to the clarity of His truth, and this is infinite. Hence He is infinitely knowable.
But infinite knowledge is impossible for a created intellect, whose power of understanding is finite. God alone, therefore, who knows Himself infinitely well with the infinite power of His intellect, comprehends Himself by completely understanding Himself.
Nevertheless, comprehension is promised to the saints, in the sense of the word comprehension that implies a certain grasp. Thus when one man pursues another, he is said to apprehend (dicitur comprehendere) the latter when he can grasp him with his hand.
Accordingly, "while we are in the body," as we read in 2 Corinthians 5:6-7, "we are absent from the Lord; for we walk by faith and not by sight." And so we press on toward Him as toward some distant goal. But when we see Him by direct vision we shall hold
Him present within ourselves. Thus in the Song of Solomon 3:4, 418 Aristotle, Metaphysics, XII, 7 (1072b 27).
Aquinas's Shorter Summa the spouse seeks him whom her soul loves; and when at last she finds him she says: "I held him, and I will not let him go."
The ultimate good we have been speaking of contains perpetual and full joy. Our Lord was thinking of this when He bade us, in John 16:24: "Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full." Full joy, however, can be gained from no creature, but only from God, in whom the entire plenitude of goodness resides. And so our Lord says to the faithful servant in Matthew 25:21: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," that you mayest have joy of thy
Lord, as is indicated in Job 22:26: "Then shalt thou abound in delights in the Almighty." Since God rejoices most of all in Himself, the faithful servant is said to enter into the joy of his Lord inasmuch as he enters into the joy wherein his Lord rejoices, as our
Lord said on another occasion when He made a promise to His disciples: "And I dispose to you, as my Father hath disposed to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom."*" Not that the saints, once they have been made incorruptible, have any use for bodily foods in that final state of good; no, by the table is meant rather the replenishment of joy that God has in Himself and that the saints have from Him.
This fullness of joy must be understood not only of the object of rejoicing, but also with reference to the disposition of him who rejoices. In other words, the object of the rejoicing must be present, and the entire affection of the joyful person must be centered on the cause of the joy. As we have shown, in the vision of the divine essence, the created spirit possesses God as present; and the vision itself sets the affections completely on fire with divine love.
If any object is lovable so far as it is beautiful and good, as Dionysius remarks in De divinis nominibus,*"° surely God, who is
4197 uke 22:29-30.
2°Cap. IV, 10 (PG, III, 708); also 13 and 14 (PG, III, 712).
Hope and Prayer the very essence of beauty and goodness, cannot be gazed at without love. Therefore perfect vision is followed by perfect love.
Gregory observes in one of his homilies on Ezechiel: "The fire of love which begins to burn here on Earth, flares up more fiercely
; 47) Moreover, joy with love of God when He who is loved is seen. over an object embraced as present is keener the more that object is loved; consequently that joy is full, not only because of the object that gives joy, but also on the part of him who rejoices. This joy is what crowns human beatitude. Hence Augustine writes in his Confessions that happiness is joy in truth."
Another point to consider is this: as God is the very essence of goodness, He is the good of every good. Therefore all good is beheld when He is beheld, as the Lord intimated when He said to Moses: "I will show thee all good,"*? So if God is possessed, all good is possessed, as is suggested in Wisdom 7:11: "All good things came to me together with her" (i.e., with Wisdom). In that final state of good, when we see God, we shall have a full abundance of all goods; and so our Lord promises the faithful servant in Matthew
24:47 that "He shall place him over all His goods."
Since evil is opposed to good, the presence of all good requires the utter banishment of evil. Justice has no participation with injustice, and light has no fellowship with darkness, as we are told in 2 Corinthians 6:14. In that final state of good, therefore, those who possess all good will not only have a perfect sufficiency, but they will enjoy complete serenity and security as a result of their freedom from all evil, according to Proverbs 1:33: "He that shall hear me, shall rest without terror and shall enjoy abundance without fear of evils."
421 Gregory the Great, In Ezechielem homiliae, II, 2 (PL, LXXVI, 954).
ib. X, 23 (PL, XXXII, 793).
423 Byod. 33:19.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa A further result is that absolute peace will reign in Heaven.
Man's peace is blocked either by the inner restlessness of desire (when he covets what he does not yet possess) or by the irksomeness of certain evils which he suffers or fears he may suffer. But in Heaven there is nothing to fear. Restlessness of craving will end, because of the full possession of all good. Every external cause of disturbance will cease, because all evil will be absent. The perfect tranquillity of peace will be enjoyed there. Isaiah 32:18 alludes to this: "My people shall sit in the beauty of peace" (i-e., the perfection of peace). To show the cause of peace the Prophet adds: "And in the tabernacles of confidence" (for confidence will reign when the fear of evils is abolished) "and in wealthy rest" (which refers to the overflowing abundance of all good).
The perfection of this final good will endure forever. It cannot fail through any lack of the goods which man enjoys, for these are eternal and incorruptible. We are assured of this in Isaiah 33:20:
"Thy eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed." The cause of this stability is given in the next verse (33:21): "Because only there our Lord is magnificent." The entire perfection of that state will consist in the enjoyment of divine eternity.
Similarly, that state cannot fail through the corruption of the beings existing there. These are either naturally incorruptible, as is the case with the angels, or they will be transferred to a condition of incorruption, as is the case with men. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption," as we are informed in 1 Corinthians
15:53. The same is indicated in Revelation 3:12: "He that shall overcome, | will make him a pillar in the temple of my God."
Nor can that state fail by reason of the turning away of man's will in disgust. The more clearly God, the essence of goodness, is seen, the more He must be loved; and so enjoyment of Him will be desired ever more keenly, according to Ecclesiasticus 24:29: "They
Hope and Prayer that eat me shall yet hunger, and they that drink me shall yet thirst." For this reason the words of 1 Peter 1:12, "on whom the angels desire to look," were spoken of the angels who see God.
That state will not be overthrown by the attack of an enemy, for no disturbing interference of any evil will be found there, as we read in Isaiah 35:9: "No lion shall be there" (that is, no assaulting devil) "nor shall any mischievous beast" (that is, any evil man) "go up by it nor be found there." Hence our Lord says of His sheep, in John 10:28: "They shall not perish forever, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand."
Furthermore, that state cannot come to an end as a result of the banishment of some of its inhabitants by God. No one will be expelled from that state on account of sin, which will be simply non-existent in a place where every evil will be absent; hence we are told in Isaiah 60:21: "Thy people shall be all just." Again, none will be exiled for the purpose of urging them on to greater good, as happens at times in this world when God withdraws spiritual consolations even from the just and takes away other of His benefits, in order that men may seek them with greater eagerness and may acknowledge their own powerlessness. That state is not one of correction or progress, but is a life of final perfection. This is why our Lord says in John 6:37: "Him that cometh to me, I will not cast out." Therefore that state will consist in the everlasting enjoyment of all the goods mentioned, as is said in Psalm 5:12:
"They shall rejoice forever, and Thou shalt dwell in them."
Consequently the kingdom we have been discussing is perfect happiness, for it contains all good in changeless abundance. And, since happiness is naturally desired by men, the kingdom of God, too, is desired by all.
424RSV: Ps. 5:11.
Aquinas's Shorter Summa
The possibility of reaching the kmgdom We must go on to show that man can reach that kingdom. Otherwise it would be hoped for and prayed for in vain. In the first place, the divine promise makes this possibility clear. Our Lord says, in Luke 12:32: "Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom." God's good pleasure is efficacious in carrying out all that He plans, according to Isaiah 46:10: "My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done." For, as we read in Romans 9:19: "Who resisteth His will?' Secondly, an evident example shows that attainment of the kingdom is possible.*" i> Aquinas's Shorter Summa breaks off at this point. His untimely death prevented St. Thomas from finishing the book. His opusculum, Expositio orationis dominicae, though it is probably a reportatio, gives us an idea of the plan he very likely would have followed in completing Part II of his
Shorter Summa. Part III, on the virtue of charity, was to have developed the theme indicated in the opening chapter of the present work, that we should carry out God's will through love.