Article I: On the Subject and Generation of Charity

S. Th. II-II, q. 24, aa. 1, 2, 3, 4; I-II, q. 112, a. 4; De Virt., q. 2, aa. 10 and 11.

863. Charity is in the will. - Since charity has as its object not a sensible good indeed, but the divine good, hence it is not in the sensitive appetite but resides in the will.

864. Thesis. Charity is a virtue infused in itself: for it is not in us naturally, nor is it caused from our acts; therefore it is from divine infusion alone. - It is proved:

Charity exceeds the faculty of our nature: for it is founded upon the communication of eternal beatitude and of grace, which are supernatural gifts exceeding nature. But that which exceeds the faculty of nature is not in us naturally; nor is it acquired through natural powers, because an effect cannot surpass the cause. Therefore charity cannot be had except through divine infusion. It is confirmed: charity

a) is a property consequent upon grace making one pleasing, therefore it is supernatural as that is;

b) is the principle of a salutary and supernatural act, therefore it too is supernatural;

c) has a supernatural material and formal object; therefore it must be supernatural so that it may be able to tend toward that object.

865. Corollary. - From this St. Thomas deduces that charity is not given to us according to natural capacity (or disposition), as if natural perfection or works done by the powers of nature had a disposition toward charity or toward a certain quantity (or grade) of charity; or as if God had decreed to give greater or lesser charity according as natural perfection is greater or lesser. But God gives charity in such proportion as he wills (Eph. IV, 7); nevertheless, when he infuses it, through grace he prepares the man (adult) and gives him the actual disposition by which he strives to receive it voluntarily and freely, and indeed he gives a disposition or striving proportioned to the quantity of charity which he wills to infuse; otherwise man would have the love of God without willing it, or more than he willed or strove for. In this sense the Council of Trent is to be understood, sess. 6, c. 7: "each one receives his own justice, according to the measure which the Holy Spirit distributes to each as he wills, and according to each one's proper disposition and cooperation." Cf. cc. 5 and 6 and can. 4.

866. Observation. - The supernatural act of charity proximately disposes toward grace and the habit of charity after the manner of a material cause, and therefore with the desire alone of the sacrament it justifies (cf. treatise on Justification and on Penance).