On the precept of charity

You will ask 1° whether there is given a special precept of loving God by an internal act.

Not a few have taught that no special precept distinct from the others is given of loving God by an explicit internal act, but that the love of God prescribed is nothing else than the observance of the other commandments, even without any internal affection of love; which certainly offends pious ears not a little. Against whom therefore

I answer.¹⁶⁹ A special precept, distinct from the others, is given of loving God with an explicit internal affection and act, and not only in effect, by observing the other commandments. ¹⁶⁹ Hic q. 44, a. 1, ad 1.

It is proved. 1° from these words of Christ, Matt., XXII, 37-40: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law. The same is read Deut., VI, 5, and Luke, X, 27.

From these I form a threefold argument.

First. According to Augustine and all interpreters, the words of Scripture are to be taken in the natural and obvious sense unless some grave inconvenience stands in the way. Now these words: to love with the whole heart, with the whole soul, with the whole mind, naturally and obviously signify an internal affection and act of love, nor can they be twisted into another sense except by open violence; nor does any inconvenience stand against this sense; indeed all things conspire toward it. Therefore.

Second. Among things that are not distinct, one cannot be counted first, second, and third, nor can one be called the greatest: this is evident per se. Now, according to the cited Scripture, the precept of the love of God among the others is numbered first, the precept of the love of neighbor second, the others, which hang on these two, third. Likewise, the precept of the love of God is said to be the greatest among the others. Therefore the precept of the love of God is special and distinct from the other precepts.

Third. Nothing hangs on itself. Now the law, or the precepts of the whole law, hang on these two precepts. Therefore these two precepts are distinct from the others.

It is confirmed. Scripture distinguishes the love of God and the observance of the commandments as cause and effect, as sign and thing signified, John, XIV, 15: If you love me, keep my commandments. Where love is assigned as the cause of the observance of the commandments, and the observance of the commandments as the sign of love.

To this point the following condemned propositions tend: First: « Man at no time of life whatsoever is held to elicit an act of faith, hope, and charity by force of the divine precepts pertaining to those virtues. » It is the first among those condemned by Alexander VII, in the year 1665. — Second: « Whether he sins mortally who would elicit once only in life an act of the love of God, we do not dare to condemn. » — Third: « It is probable that the precept of charity toward God obliges per se not even rigorously every five years. » — Fourth: « Then it obliges only when we are held to be justified, and have no other way by which we can be justified. » These are the fifth, sixth, and seventh among those condemned by Innocent XI, in the year 1679. — Fifth: « Man is not held to love the last end neither at the beginning nor in the course of his life morally. » It is condemned by Alexander VIII, August 24, 1690.

What we have said about the precept of loving God internally must be said about the precept of loving one's neighbor internally, for the same reasons; to which add: We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves; but we love ourselves with an internal affection. Likewise Christ says, John, XV, 12: This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. But Christ loved us not only through external works, but with internal affection.

Neither say that the neighbor is relieved merely by an external work, and that the internal affection need not be attended to. For both assumptions are false. For the neighbor is relieved also by internal prayers, and he would scorn the external work if it were shown him without affection.

Hence the following propositions condemned by Innocent XI: « We are not held to love our neighbor by an internal and formal act. » It is the tenth. — « We can satisfy the precept of loving our neighbor through external acts alone. » It is the eleventh.

[You will ask 2° whether we are held always to act from the motive of charity.

I answer. Negatively. 1° Acts of the other virtues elicited on account of their proper motives are good, as acts of faith and hope, which are obligatory even in the state of sin. The Council of Trent, session XIV, chapter 4, declares attrition to be a gift of God and to dispose the penitent to justification. Likewise session VI, canon 31, defines: « If anyone shall say that the justified man sins while he does good works with a view to eternal reward; let him be anathema. »

The following propositions were condemned by Alexander VIII: the 8th, « An infidel must sin in every work. » — the 13th, « Whosoever serves God even with a view to eternal reward, if he lack charity, is not without fault, as often as he acts with a view even to beatitude. » — the 15th, « Attrition conceived from fear of hell and punishments, without the love of benevolence toward God for himself, is not a good motive or supernatural. »

2° There are given acts indifferent from their species¹⁷⁰, that is, acts which possess a certain natural goodness but are neither good nor evil in the supernatural order; and these acts are licit, as was proved in the treatise on Human Acts, dissertation IV, article 4. Now if we were always bound to act from the motive of charity, such acts would not be licit. Therefore.] ¹⁷⁰ 1, 2, q. 18, a. 8, o.

You will ask 3° when the precept of charity obliges.

I answer. The precept of the love of God obliges per se: 1° At the beginning of sufficient use of reason. Of this I have said enough in the treatise on Sins, dissertation VIII, article 6.

2° It obliges per se at the end of life; because then the spirit returns to God who created it, and the devil lies in wait for him most of all, man would be accused of most grave negligence and contempt if he did not convert himself through love to God, with whom he hopes to be joined in eternal love in beatitude.

3° It obliges per se frequently during life, since charity is the principal virtue by which we tend toward the end for which we were created. But how often and when, is uncertain.

Some assign Sundays and feast days, on which, when the faithful honor God as the principle of all things, they are thereby incited also to love him. Others require an act of love once or twice in the week. But since, as I said, these things are uncertain, the faithful are to be exhorted to exercise themselves often, and as often as they can, in these acts of charity. This they will easily accomplish if they recite the Lord's Prayer with attention and affection, in whose recitation the formal act of the love of God is exercised by saying: Hallowed be thy name; for this is nothing else than to will that the name of God be held holy everywhere and by all, and be glorified.

[Thus St. Liguori, Homo apost., IV, 13: « Regarding the act of charity, the opinion pleases me more of those who require it once in the month, since he will scarcely be able to observe the divine law who frequently does not exercise his love for God in positive acts. »

That acts of charity are to be elicited frequently is clear from these words, Deut., VI, 5-8: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising, and thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand. It is clear moreover from the text itself that implicit acts are included under this precept and fulfilled by them; for the enumerated actions are not per se acts of charity. Whence the faithful who live piously satisfy the precept of charity easily: they pray, receive the sacraments, avoid sin lest they offend God and displease him, embrace the divine will in all things and prefer it to their own, etc. They are nevertheless to be exhorted to elicit explicit acts frequently, because they are most pleasing to God, confirm the habit of charity, and from them devotion grows.

It is clear that those do not satisfy the precept of charity, even though ignorance excuses them at least in part, who remain in mortal sin for months; nor those who indeed detest sin, but from attrition alone, which does not attain to the reason of true charity.]

But per accidens the precept of charity obliges whenever another precept presses which cannot be fulfilled without the love of God; because whoever is held to the end is held to the means.