29. Charity may be either perfect or imperfect.

The perfection or imperfection of charity depends upon two things upon the motive from which, and upon the degree of appreciation with which, we love God.

1. In order that charity may be (a) perfect it must rest on a perfect motive; for it is chiefly the motive which decides the quality of an action (225). The motive of charity is per fect when we love God for His own sake, or for the sake of His infinite perfection; for, since there is nothing more per fect than the divine perfection that love which proceeds from it has the most perfect motive. (b) Charity is imperfect in its motive when the latter is not God Himself, but something different from God-our own advantage or future happiness. For the gifts of God are not God Him. self, nor are they infinite in worth. Therefore they form a less perfect motive than God Himself, or His infinite goodness, or perfection, considered in itself.

With that imperfect charity which proceeds from the hope of everlasting happiness, and which consists in the adherence to God for the sake of those goods which He has promised us, a certain degree of love of God for His own sake is naturally connected. For while we consider the good which God has promised us, and are drawn to Him by reason of our own advantage, the thought of the infinite goodness and perfection of God displayed in the diffusion of His gifts is naturally awakened in us, and by this consideration a certain adherence to God, based upon the motive of perfect charity, however weak, is produced.

2. In order that charity may be perfect it is necessary to adhere to God with the highest appreciation. As faith and hope must be proportioned to their motives, inasmuch as faith is as firm as the divine truthfulness and hope as strong as the divine faithfulness demands, so also charity must correspond to its motive: our love of God must be proportioned to His infinite amiableness and sovereign goodness. This is the case only when we give God, who is above all things ami able, the preference above all things, inasmuch as we are disposed rather to abandon all things else which might separate us from God than to prove unfaithful to Him. This love above all things is commanded in the words: "Thou

shalt love the Lord, thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind" (Matt. xxii. 37).

That charity which possesses this twofold perfection is called simply perfect. Perfect charity, or that contrition which proceeds from it, effects the remission of sins without the actual reception of the sacraments (164). That charity which is perfect in its motive, but imperfect in appreciation, and the contrition which proceeds from such charity, in order to be efficacious, must take the purpose -to abandon all things rather than offend God by sin—from other motives (194).

240. While every grievous sin is against charity, hatred of God is especially opposed to it.

1. Every mortal sin is opposed to charity. For by every mortal sin some creature is preferred to the Creator, and, consequently, the charity of God, diffused in the heart by the Holy Ghost, is extinguished (231).

2. Especially opposed to charity is the hatred of God. Hatred consists in the aversion, or turning away, from an object as from an evil. Hatred of God is possible here on earth because we know God only from His works and exter nal manifestations. Now, as some of God's works (e.g., the prohibition and punishment of sin) are opposed to the in ordinate will of man, it is not impossible that he should consider God an evil as being opposed to his lustful desires, and that he should thus conceive a hatred for Him.

As man is bound to perform acts of faith and hope, so he is also bound to elicit acts of charity (231). It is evident, therefore, that man can sin by the omission of such acts. On the other hand, it is not necessary that all our actions in order to be supernatural should proceed from the motive of charity. For the precept of charity is affirmative, and therefore not binding at all times and under all circumstances. Besides, an action is always good if it proceeds from grace and rests upon supernatural motives (226). But besides the motive of love there are other supernatural motives; and therefore man may perform supernatural actions from motives other than charity (237).

II. THE VIRTUE OF RELIGION.

241. Internal and external worship is due to God.

Religion considered as a virtue is that quality of the soul which inclines us to pay to God the homage due to Him. By homage in general we understand any act by which we acknowledge the excel lence and dignity of any person, and in consequence of such acknowl

edgment show our submission to him. The homage paid to God is called divine worship.

1. That we owe God homage follows from the sovereign dominion of God and man's total dependence on Him. As the infinite being, God possesses infinite perfection and dignity, which demand our acknowledgment. He is at the same time our creator and preserver, and the bestower of eternal salvation; therefore we are totally dependent upon Him and owe Him submission. The acknowledgment of the divine majesty and the submission thence resulting form the essence of divine worship or homage.

2. Man owes to God both internal and external worship. Not only in his heart must he acknowledge and bow to the infinite majesty of God, but his internal homage must at times be manifested by external actions. For (a) man depends on God not only as to his soul, but also as to his body, as upon the infinite being and the first cause of his existence; therefore it is meet and just that with his outward as well as with his inward faculties he should pay to God the tribute of his homage. (b) Moreover, external worship is necessarily combined with internal; because man, on the one hand, naturally gives outward expression to his inward sentiments, and, on the other hand, requires external means to arouse within him internal sentiments, and to sustain his inward thoughts and feelings. (c) Finally, as a member of society, man is bound externally to practise religion, not only because every one has the duty to promote the welfare, especally the spiritual welfare, of his neighbor, but also because society, which as such owes its existence to the Almighty, owes Him acknowledgment and submission also as a social body.

242. Acts of divine worship are of two kinds-acts of religion as such (actus eliciti), and acts of other virtues elicited from the motive of religion (actus imperati).

1. Divine worship consists, in the first place, of acts which of themselves are directed to the homage of God, which of their very nature tend to promote the divine honor. Such

acts of religion relate to God either directly or indirectlydirectly if they are immediately directed to God, as prayer; indirectly when they are directed immediately to the saints, and only mediately, through the saints, to God Himself.

2. There are other acts which are not of themselves acts of the virtue of religion, but of another theological or moral virtue, performed with the intention of paying homage to God. Thus the acts of faith, hope, and charity, though of themselves acts of the theological virtues, and not of the virtue of religion, are elicited with the intention of acknowledging the divine truthfulness, faithfulness, and perfection; the reception of the sacraments, fasting, abstinence from lawful pleasures, may be performed in acknowledgment of the divine majesty, and in expression of our submission to God; in short, since the virtue of religion, to use the language of the school, commands those acts which belong to other virtues, the latter, without losing their own peculiar character, become acts of religion (235).

A. Direct Acts of Religion.

243. While the external profession of faith is not binding at all times and under all circumstances, it is never allowed in word or deed to deny the faith.

Every external manifestation of religious life is, in a wider sense, a profession of faith, and, consequently, an act of external worship, as the acts of the three divine virtues are acts of internal worship (242). At present, however, as there is question of special acts of religion, we do not speak of the profession of faith in its broader sense as the external manifestation of religious life in general, but of the profession of faith in the stricter sense of the word—the external manifestation of faith as such.

1. The precept of openly professing our faith, being an affirmative one, does not oblige at all times; yet such external profession of faith is under certain circumstances an imperative duty. It is a duty in general as often as by its omission God is deprived of the due honor or our neighbor of the due edification. Hence it follows that one is bound to make public profession of his faith when interrogated on the matter

oy public authority, or when our neighbor requires our good example to persevere in the faith.

2. It is never permitted by word or deed to deny one's faith. "He that shall deny Me before men I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Matt. x. 33). If it were permitted at any time to deny one's faith the Church could not in time of persecution demand of its children constancy in the faith even unto death, nor impose severe penalties on those who outwardly deny the faith, though inwardly they continue to believe.

244. Prayer, or the elevation of the soul to God, is a fruitful as well as a necessary exercise of religion.

1. Prayer, in its broader sense, is the raising of the soul to God. As an elevation of heart and mind to God it implies more than the mere thought of God. It is chiefly an act of the will, as religion itself is a virtue of the will.

Prayer is variously distinguished according to the manner in which the will pays its homage to the Divine Majesty. In the first place, we may acknowledge, admire, and praise God; such prayer is called praise. If the divine praise is attended also with the expression of submission to God as our author and last end our prayer is called adoration (latria). According as we thank God for benefits received, or implore new ones, our prayer is called thanksgiving, or petition. By all these acts God's sovereign majesty is honored; and therefore prayer is of its very nature an act of the virtue of religion (S. Thom. II. II. q. 83, a. 3.) Prayer in a stricter sense of the word is synonymous with petition. Of sacrifice, which is a species of prayer, and the most eminent act of religion, we have already treated (182).

2. The fruits of prayer are manifold. (a) Prayer as the elevation of the soul to God comprises the exercise of various virtues, chiefly of the virtue of religion, and is, therefore, as pleasing to God and salutary for us as are those various virtues themselves. By prayer faith is strengthened, hope is fostered, love is enkindled. Prayer is particularly an exercise of humility, being the acknowledgment of our own helplessness and our dependence on God. (b) As a good work prayer is meritorious. "But thou, when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having shut the door pray to thy Father in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee"