On Prayer and The Contemplative Life Part 5

[47] _Of the Nature of Good_, iii.

[48] _Fear_ is one of the "Gifts" of the Holy Ghost.

[49] S. Jerome, _Ep._ LIV., _alias_ X., _ad Furiam_.

[50] II., vi. 15.

[51] iv. 5-6.

[52] i. 6.

[53] The Latin word _ordinare_ means "to set in due order"; there is no precise English equivalent which can be consistently employed.

[54] _Of the City of G.o.d_, x. 6.

[55] II. x. 31.

[56] VIII. viii. 1.

[57] 2. 2. Qu. II., Art. 2.

[58] _Enchiridion_, iii.

[59] xliii. 33.

[60] xx. 1-17.

[61] _Ethics_, II. vi.

[62] lviii. 7.

[63] Ps. xv. 2.

[64] 1 Cor. ix. 16.

[65] See p. 30.

[66] i. 20.

[67] Ps. xlix. 13.

[68] _Of the City of G.o.d_, x. 5.

[69] _Ibid._, vi. 10.

[70] Ps. xciv. 3.

[71] i. 74-75.

[72] Thus Origen, _Hom._ XI, i. _in Levitic.u.m_, where, however, he is not really giving an etymology.

[73] X., _sub litt._ S.

[74] xii. 14.

[75] Rom. viii. 38-39.

[76] _De Affectibus_.

[77] _Of the Divine Names_, xii.

[78] _Of Virginity_, viii.

QUESTION Lx.x.xII

OF DEVOTION

I. Is Devotion a Special Kind of Act?

Cardinal Cajetan, On the Meaning of the Term "Devotion"

S. Augustine, _Confessions_, XIII. viii. 2 II. Is Devotion an Act of the Virtue of Religion?

III. Is Contemplation, that is Meditation, the Cause of Devotion?

Cardinal Cajetan, On the Causes of Devotion " " On the Devotion of Women IV. Is Joy an Effect of Devotion?

Cardinal Cajetan, On Melancholy S. Augustine, _Confessions_, II. x.

I

Is Devotion a Special Kind of Act?

It is by our acts that we merit. But devotion has a peculiarly meritorious character. Consequently devotion is a special kind of act.

Devotion is so termed from "devoting" oneself. Hence the "devout" are so named because they "devote" themselves to G.o.d and thus proclaim their complete subjection to Him. Thus, too, among the heathen of old those were termed "devout" who for the army's sake "devoted" themselves to their idols unto death, as Livy[79] tells us was the case with the two Decii. Hence devotion seems to mean nothing else than "the will to give oneself promptly to those things which pertain to G.o.d's service"; thus it is said in Exodus[80]: _The mult.i.tude of the children of Israel ...

offered first-fruits to the Lord with a most ready and devout mind._ It is clear, however, that a wish to do _readily_ what belongs to G.o.d's service is a special act. Hence devotion is a special act of the will.

But some argue that devotion is not a special kind of act, thus:

1. That which serves to qualify other acts cannot be itself a special act. But devotion appears to qualify certain other acts; thus it is said that _all the mult.i.tude offered victims, and praises, and holocausts with a devout mind_.[81]

But that which moves another gives a certain measure to the latter's movement. The will, however, moves the other faculties of the soul to their respective acts; and, moreover, the will, as aiming at an end in view, moves itself to the means towards that end. Consequently, since devotion is the act of a man who offers himself to serve Him Who is the Ultimate End, it follows that devotion gives a certain measure to human acts--whether they be the acts of the will itself with regard to the means to an end, or the acts of the other faculties as moved by the will.

2. Again, no act which finds a place in different kinds of acts can be itself a special kind of act. But devotion is to be found in acts of different kinds, both in corporal acts, for example, and in spiritual; thus a man is said to meditate devoutly, for instance, or to genuflect devoutly.

But devotion does not find a place in different kinds of acts as though it were a _species_ coming under different _genera_, but in the same sense as the motive power of a moving principle is virtually discoverable in the movements of the things it sets in motion.