Category: Philosophy & Ethics
Introduction (63).---Definition (64-69).--The Sources of Morality (70-75).--Good Acts (76-78).--Bad Acts (79-81).--Indifferent Acts (82-86).--Perfect and Essential Goodness (87-88).--Morality of the External Act (89-93).--Morality of the Act Indirectly Willed (94-95).--Moralit...
19. Existence of the Last End.--Every deliberate act proceeds from the will, and, since the will pursues good as its goal, it follows that every deliberate act is done for some...
19. iii. 10), is therefore to be applied to all candidates for the clericallife. A vocation is tested by the years of probation which the church law provides for seminarians, novices and other aspirants to the ecclesiastical state. No cleric has a righ...
13. xviii. 8), He is speaking metaphorically of the avoidance of theoccasions of sin. Much less is temporal good a sufficient reason for mutilation. Hence, a youth may not have his teeth pulled in order to escape military service; a pauper may n...
12. PART II1626. After the theological virtues, which offer to God the services of faith, hope and charity, and which direct man to his Last End, follow the cardinal or moral virtues, whic...
18. vii. 1), and a manly spirit is needed to struggle against thetemptations, injuries, infirmities, and trials that threaten virtue. Without fortitude, then, no one can be saved, for the kingdom of heaven is captured only by the aggressive (...
5. xvi. 16); that is, they must know the doctrine contained in the Creed,919. As to the degree of knowledge that one must possess intensively (i.e., as to its quality and perfection), it is clear that knowledge ought to be more perfect in those who a...
7. xxi. 1-4) is praised, but doubtless she was able somehow to obtainenough to provide for her own life. (b) Alms are excessive when one gives from one’s superfluities so much that the recipients are spoiled and encouraged to do nothing for thems...
4. PART II743. In the First Part of this work, the means to man’s Last End were spoken of in a general way; the features that are common to all good acts--that they be human, morally dese...
14. xviii. 23); it is disrespectful to God and therefore cannot claim the2169. The Kind of Internal Attention Required in Prayer.--(a) The minimum that suffices for the personal benefits of merit and impetration is the verbal or the literal attention...
9. viii. 12); it is spiritual murder, destructive of the souls of others,and so contrary to the mercy and brotherly correction required by charity (Rom, xiv. 15); it brings on oneself the wrath of God (Matt., xviii. 6), and on one’s family, friends a...
6. iv. 16), then only the good understand what self is, and have a truelove for it, whereas the wicked hate their own souls (Ps. x. 6). For the five marks of true friendship are shown to the inner man by the good, to the outward man by the sinner:...
15. xliii. 33), and they must be honored by the superior acts of worshipand reverence. But the effects of His goodness shown to us should be declared and glorified: “I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord, the praise of the Lord for all the...
16. viii. 20), and to the recipients, who should receive the gifts of Godfreely (Matt, x, 8). Hence, St. Peter denounced Simon Magus as deserving of perdition (Acts, viii. 20), and in law simony is spoken of as the worst of pests, a cancer, leprosy,...
17. v. 7) and will receive its portion in the pool of fire and brimstone(a) a lie is pernicious when its matter is harmful, as being contrary to sound doctrine, good morals or true science. Hence, a preacher sins gravely if the substance of his pulp...
10. xxv. 40), and will be the subject of interrogation and eulogy at the1581. In giving the commandment of love towards fellow-creatures, our Lord indicated both the reason for the love and the mode in which the love should be exercised: “Thou shalt...
2. PART II. SPECIAL MORAL THEOLOGYIntroduction (812).--The Sin of Unbelief (813-825).--Heresy (826-834).--Apostasy (835-839).--The Sin of Doubt (840-846).--Credulity and Rationalism (847).--Dangers to Faith (848...
8. viii. 10), to expend secretly the money collected for the poor might1454. The acts wrong in reality or in appearance that give scandal are innumerable, since the whole world is seated in wickedness (I John, v. 19). But today there are a number o...
1. PART I. GENERAL MORAL THEOLOGYIntroduction (63).---Definition (64-69).--The Sources of Morality (70-75).--Good Acts (76-78).--Bad Acts (79-81).--Indifferent Acts (82-86).--Perfect and Essential Goodness (87-...
11. xli. 25), devote their whole lives solely to the pursuit of inordinate1624. The foolishness we are now considering is sinful, for it is a voluntary choice of evil, a violation of commandments, and the ruination of man. In scripture the term “fool”...