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Aquinas on Charity

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There is an important relationship between knowledge and charity – that is, the knowledge of God possessed by the human creature and the connection it has to those developed acts of human charity (made possible partly because of that knowledge). First we can look at charity, briefly how it is in us and what it is in itself, and ultimately how its possession by the human creature is different from knowledge of God; second, we can suggest specific social implications that Aquinas’ account of charity is likely to have. How do we, as human creatures, go about acquiring charity? Charity itself is “not given [to us] according to natural capacities but according to the will of the Spirit distributing his own gifts…it altogether transcends human nature, [and] does not depend on any natural virtue, but solely on the grace of the Holy Spirit who infuses it” (Summa Theologica, II-II. Q. 24, 3). Charity, in this sense, is a part of our being; it is “based on a communication of a supernatural kind” – our communication with God (Summa Theologica, II-II. Q. 24, 2). Charity itself is infused in us, and “resides in the will” (Summa Theologica, II-II. Q. 24, 1). Moreover, it is necessary, if we are to love God properly, that “charity be infused into our hearts,” “because our affections are naturally inclined to what we see” and correcting these natural inclinations requires the prior will of God (Summa Theologica, II-II. Q. 24, 2). This prior will is of the utmost importance because “man has a rational nature” and “it can happen that a man with better natural gifts makes less of an effort than another” at being charitable, etc. (Summa Theologica, II-II. Q. 24, 3); that is, a human creature who is disposed to give a purely rational account of their own good and bad qualities, an individual who accepts who they are based solely on their account of such qualities, might be

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