Friday, July 19, 2019

"When my spirit is faint, thou knowest my way."

     Ps 142:3a RSV.

בְּהִתְעַטֵּ֬ף עָלַ֨י רוּחִ֗י וְאַתָּה֮ יָדַ֪עְתָּ נְֽתִיבָ֫תִ֥י

My translation:  When my spirit faints away on me, you know my path.
My paraphrase (in the light of v. 3b):  When my courage [(רוּחִ֗י)] fails me, you know where the [trap-free] footfalls are.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Sola fide

"The presence of Christ's true body and blood in this sacrament cannot be detected by sense, nor understanding, but by faith alone [(sola fide)], which rests upon Divine authority.  Hence, on Luke 22:19: 'This is My body which shall be delivered up for you,' Cyril says: 'Doubt not whether this be true; but take rather the Saviour's words with faith; for since He is the Truth, He lieth not.'"

"verum corpus Christi et sanguinem esse in hoc sacramento, non sensu deprehendi potest, sed sola fide, quae auctoritati divinae innititur."

     St. Thomas Aquinas, ST III.75.1 ("Whether the body of Christ be in this sacrament in very truth, or merely as in a figure or sign?").Resp.  Latin from Corpus Thomisticum.
     This may be the passage to which the Dominican Fr. Thomas Joseph White refers when, in a podcast on the Thomistic Institute website, he notes that, according to St. Thomas, Protestants of the sola fide have already everything they need for an adherence to a robust doctrine of the transubstantiation of the elements.

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

"the laws of the political community [are supposed to] direct the life of human beings to the virtues"

"the political community was originally instituted for the sake of living, namely, that human beings adequately find the means to be able to live.  But the political community's existence results in human beings living, and living well insofar as the laws of the political community direct the life of human beings to [the] virtue[s]."

"est enim primitus facta gratia vivendi, ut scilicet homines sufficienter invenirent unde vivere possent: sed ex eius esse provenit, quod homines non solum vivant, sed quod bene vivant, inquantum per leges civitatis ordinatur vita hominum ad virtutes."

     St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Aristotle's Politics I.1.23 (17 in Regan), trans. Richard J. Regan ((Indianapolis:  Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2007), 15).  Latin from Corpus Thomisticum.  See also ST I-II.92.1.Resp., trans. FEDP:
the proper effect of law is to lead its subjects to their proper virtue [(hoc sit proprium legis, inducere subiectos ad propriam ipsorum virtutem)]: and since virtue is 'that which makes its subject good,' it follows that the proper effect of law is to make those to whom it is given, good [(proprius effectus legis sit bonos facere eos quibus datur)], either simply or in some particular respect. For if the intention of the lawgiver is fixed on true good, which is the common good regulated according to Divine justice, it follows that the effect of the law is to make men good simply. If, however, the intention of the lawgiver is fixed on that which is not simply good, but useful or pleasurable to himself, or in opposition to Divine justice; then the law does not make men good simply, but in respect to that particular government.