The transhumanism of nature and grace

      "Beatrice was standing with her eyes all fixed upon the eternal wheels, and I fixed mine upon her, withdrawn from there above.  Gazing upon her I became within me such as Glaucus became on tasting of the grass that made him sea-fellow of the other gods.  The passing beyond humanity [(transumanar)] may not be set forth in words; therefore let the example suffice any for whom grace [(grazia)] reserves that experience."

     Dante, Paradisio I.64-72, trans. Charles S. Singleton.  Beatrice:  "'You are not on earth, as you believe; but lightning, fleeing its proper site [(il proprio sito)], never darted so fast as you are returning to yours" (91-93).  "All things have order among themselves, and this is the form that makes the universe like God. . . .  all natures are inclined by different lots, nearer and less near unto their principle; wherefore they move to different ports over the great sea of being [(a diversi porti | per lo gran mar de l'essere)], each with an instinct given [(istinto . . . dato)] it to bear it on:  this bears fire upwards toward the moon; this is the motive force in mortal creatures; this binds together and unites the earth.  And not only does this bow [(arco)] shoot those creatures that lack intelligence, but also those that have intellect and love.  The Providence which ordains all this, with Its light makes ever quiet that heaven within which revolves the sphere that has the greatest speed; and thither now, as to a place decreed [(come a sito decreto)], the virtue of that bowstring [(corda)] bears us on, which aims at a joyful target [(segno)] whatever it shoots.
     "'To be sure, even as a shape often does not accord with the intention of the art, because the material is deaf to respond, so the creature sometimes departs from this course, having the power, thus impelled, to swerve toward some other part; and even as the fire from a cloud may be seen to fall downwards, so the primal impulse, diverted by false pleasure, is turned toward earth.  You should not wonder more at your rising, if I deem aright, than at a stream that falls from a mountain top to the base.  It would be a marvel if you, being freed from hindrance, had settled down below, even as stillness would be in living fire on earth'" (91-141).

"in our days many evils . . . have come to be openly and habitually practiced, so that we are afraid not only to excommunicate a lay person for them but even to degrade a cleric."

"sic nostris temporibus ita multa mala, etsi non talia, in apertam consuetudinem iam uenerunt, ut pro his non solum excommunicare aliquem laicum non audeamus, sed nec clericum degradare."

      St. Augustine, Enchiridon on faith, hope, and charity 21, 80-22, 81, trans. , WSA I/8 (2005), 321-322.  Context, for analysis later (i.e., does St. Augustine think he has been "immoderately sorrowful" over this (below), or insufficiently attuned to "divine" (as distinguished from immoderately self-exculpatory "human") "judgment"?):

     We must also recognize that sins, however great and terrible, are thought to be small or non-existent when they become habitual, to such an extent that people think they should not only not be hidden but even be proclaimed and advertised when, as it is written, the wicked boast of the desires of their heart, and those who do evil are spoken well of (Ps 10:3). In holy scripture such wickedness is called a cry, as you read in Isaiah the prophet when he speaks of the evil vineyard: I expected him to do justice, but he did wickedness, I expected righteousness, but heard a cry! (Is 5:7) and similarly in Genesis: How great is the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah! (Gn 18:20) since not only did those sins already go unpunished among them but they were even practiced publicly and almost officially. So in our days many evils, if not the same ones, have come to be openly and habitually practiced, so that we are afraid not only to excommunicate a lay person for them but even to degrade a cleric. So, when a few years ago I was expounding the letter to the Galatians, at the place where the apostle says, I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted, I was compelled to cry out, "Woe on the sins of men, which horrify us only when we are unused to them! But as for habitual sins, to wash away which the blood of the Son of God was shed, although they are so serious that they cause God's kingdom to be entirely closed to those who commit them, we are often compelled to look on and tolerate them, and even to commit some of those we tolerate, and grant, O Lord, that we may not commit all of those that we are unable to forbid!" But I shall consider whether my immoderate sorrow caused me to speak somewhat incautiously.
     What I shall now say is what I have also often said in several places in my shorter works: there are two reasons why we sin, either because we do not see what we ought to do or because we do not do what we know ought to be done: the first of these evils comes from ignorance, the second from weakness. We should fight against both of them. But we cannot win without divine help not only to see what ought to be done but also in order that we may be healed and that pleasure in doing right may overcome within us the pleasure we take in things which we desire to have or fear to lose, which leads us to sin with knowledge and awareness. In this case we are not only sinners, which we were even when we sinned through ignorance, but also transgressors of the law, when we do not do what we already know should be done, or when we do what we already know should not be done. So we should pray to God not only that he will forgive us if we have sinned, which is why we say, Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors, but also that he will guide us so that we do not sin, which is why we say, And do not bring us to the time of trial (Mt 6:13). For these things we should pray to him to whom it is said in the psalm: The Lord is my light and my health (Ps 27:1), so that his light may take away our ignorance, and his health our weakness.

"To distinguish between trivial and serious sins is a matter for divine, not human, judgment."

"quae sint autem leuia quae grauia peccata, non humano sed diuino sunt pensanda iudicio."

      St. Augustine, Enchiridion on faith, hope, and charity 21, 78, trans. Bruce Harbert, WSA I/8 (2005), 319-320.  For "We see that some have been pardoned and permitted even by the apostles," while "There are also some . . . that might be thought very trivial were they not shown in the holy scriptures to be more serious than is thought" (21, 79).  Etc.  The point would seem (?) to be that revelation trumps human judgment (and especially the exculpatory judgment that a particular sin is but venial), not that human judgment is wholly incompetent in this regard.  Cf. the citation of this at DTC 12, col. 228.