The Rosary Light & Life - Vol 66, No 5, Sep-Oct 2013
Men and Angels
Free Will: A Gift & Its Consequences, Part II
By Father Reginald Martin, O.P.
HELL: A SOLITARY FATE
      
We concluded our previous reflection by considering
the fate of the damned. Part of that punishment is
the awareness that the soul is eternally locked into
its choice. Thomas Aquinas teaches that the will is a
two-fold operation, natural and deliberate. The natural
will is God's gift to us and, therefore, it must be good
and seek good. The deliberate will is what we do with
this gift. For an individual to turn his will to sin and
find himself in Hell is sad enough. But once there, the
natural will eternally reminds the individual he does
not belong there.
      
Hell is an eternity of the soul's division against itself:
not only aware it is forever separated from God, but
realizing it fully deserves its punishment, yet aware this
is not the fate it was created for. Hell is an inversion
of everything we hold most dear. St. Thomas writes
Even as in the blessed in heaven there will be
the most perfect charity, so in the damned there
will be the most perfect hate. Wherefore as the
saints will rejoice in all goods, so will the damned
grieve for all goods. (ST, Supp. 98.4)
      
St. Thomas raises the question of the Rich Fool in
the gospel, who begs Abraham to send someone to
his brothers, lest they end up sharing his punishment.
Does this not indicate the damned are capable of feeling
some compassion? He replies that, on the contrary,
the man begs mercy for his relatives simply because
he would feel far worse were his family to witness his
pain and humiliation.
AN EXAMPLE FROM LITERATURE
      
Here we may think, too, of Dante's journey through
the Infernal Regions. Among the first of the souls he
encounters are those of Paolo and Francesca, who were
murdered by Francesca's husband when he found them
committing adultery. "Love," Francesca says, "brought
us to one death." This love also brought them to one
punishment, and while the notion of sharing eternity
with a loved one is something we reasonably long for,
Palo and Francesca find one another's company an
eternal reminder of a shared sin.
      
Here we might mention that Paolo and Francesca
were led to their fatal kiss by reading a book. Not
by the act of reading, which, if we are studying, is
a commendable enterprise. Study, after all, is the
defining character of Dominican spirituality. What led
Paolo and Francesca astray was reading for the sexual
pleasure it gave them. Dante remarks that Paolo and
Francesca would never wander off into a bedroom; too
many people could see them. But what harm could
happen in the library? Here is a good example of sin:
a good, intellectual act, turned awry by misuse.
WHAT DRAWS US TO SIN?
      
This provides a remarkable insight into sin, and what
draws us to it. We imagine we are drawn to evil, because
evil is what we confess in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
But in fact, no one chooses evil. We choose one thing
over another because it seems a better alternative, not
a worse. We may make the wrong choice, or misuse
something we've chosen, but the reason for our choice
- the reason we've chosen this object or this course of
action - is because it appears to be good.
      
Here might be a good place to consider how the
devil tempts us. Scholars suggest we begin our study
with the word "devil" itself, which comes from the Greek
word "diabolos." It means "to accuse" or "calumniate,"
and this is the devil's chief occupation - to detract or lie
about God. St. Paul employs the word quite carefully
in his letters, in part to remind us whose company we
find ourselves in if we lie, and especially if we defame
another's character.
      
The Father of Lies began his career in the Garden,
suggesting to Eve the reason God forbade her and Adam
to eat from the Tree of Knowledge was jealousy. He
tried the same tactic on Jesus in the desert, suggesting
God failed to value Jesus at his true worth, while he
- the Devil - would give him everything if only Jesus
would bow down and worship him.
THE SOURCES OF TEMPTATION
      
Here we should say a word now about temptation,
namely, that it comes in two forms - from within, and
from without. Temptation from without comes from the
devil; within is both the result of our own, personal past
wrongdoing, and, as the Catechism reminds us, it is a
disposition that is one of the consequences of Original
Sin. (CCC, #405)
Often refusing to acknowledge God as his source,
man has...upset the relationship which should
link him to his last end; and at the same time he
has broken the right order that should reign within
himself as well as between himself and other men
and all creatures (CCC, #401)
THE 'WHY' OF TEMPTATION: A TEST OF VIRTUE
      
God can do anything, of course, so we might ask
why he allows us to be tempted, when we consider
the gravity of the consequences. Theologians reply
there are five reasons. The first is to test the virtue
of righteous individuals - which must make righteous
individuals feel very, very grateful. "Oh good, I follow
all the rules, and this is my reward!" And the reply to
that is "yes". God already knows the inner disposition of
the righteous person; temptation teaches God nothing,
but it teaches us a great deal about ourselves.
A REMINDER OF WEAKNESS
      
The second reason God allows us to be tempted is to
remind us of our weakness. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches
that if we lacked bodies we would be faced with the same
dangerous choice as the angels - aware of just how
magnificent our minds are, and just how wonderful our
existence might be were we subject to no one but ourselves.
A REMINDER OF GOD'S MERCY
      
Belief in Satan is ultimately connected to belief in God,
so if we dismiss the world's ills as nothing more than
manifestations of greed, anger, mental illness or psychic
disorder, we reduce the role God plays in human history
and deprive ourselves of the logical help we should turn
to in times of spiritual trial and distress. Temptation is a
reminder how very much we need God's mercy and love.
And because temptation is a reminder of our need for
God, the third reason God allows us to be tempted is to
show demons their powerlessness against God's mercy.
A SOURCE OF STRENGTH
      
The fourth reason God allows us to be tempted is
to harden and strengthen us. Left to our own devices,
unless we are deeply committed athletes, most of us
are apt to extend ourselves physically only so far as we
must. Two Dominican writers have observed,
The same...is likely to happen in the soul when no
demands are made of it; and for that reason, the
absence of temptation can in some circumstances
be a greater danger than temptation itself. (Gerald
Vann, O.P and Paul Meagher, O.P., The Devil and How to
Resist Him)
A REMINDER OF OUR NOBILITY
      
The final reason for allowing temptation is to show
the greatness of the grace God bestows on us. We
have probably all heard the phrase, "God didn't make no
junk." By the same token, the devil shows little interest
in trash. We may find little solace in this when we are
being tempted to commit a sin, but the mere fact of the
temptation is a sign of our worth.
THE BLESSED ANGELS
      
Many who read John Milton's epic poem, Paradise
Lost, are struck to realize the passages dealing with
Satan are more interesting than those that describe
God. In the mid-1960s C.S. Lewis published an essay
in which he remarked how easily we grasp and enjoy
information about individuals who are worse than we,
but grasp only with difficulty facts about individuals who
are better. (This probably explains why supermarket
tabloids feature so few front-page stories about the
Pope.)
      
Scripture assures us the spiritual warfare that
characterizes the moral life of Christians will result in
God's triumph, a triumph we will share when our bodies
and souls are united in heaven, at the end of time. In
the resurrection of the body, the earth of human flesh
will once again embrace the heaven of the human spirit.
In the meantime, when we pray for God's will to be
done on earth as it is in heaven, we beg that we may
enjoy, here on earth, some taste of the righteousness,
knowledge and life that characterizes the happiness
of the blessed.
OUR ANGEL GUARDIANS
      
And this brings us to a very consoling point we may
make about the good angels - they're looking out for us,
so that our life on earth may bear some resemblance,
however remote, to that life we look forward to in God's
kingdom.
      
St. Thomas wrote:
It is moreover manifest that as regards things to
be done human knowledge and affection can vary
and fail from good in many ways; and so it was
necessary that angels should be deputed for the
guardianship of men, in order to regulate them
and move them to good. (ST, I. 113. 1)
      
But St. Thomas was a late-comer when it came to
embracing the comforting theology of Guardian Angels.
St. Bernard preached about them two hundred years
earlier, and St. Basil and St. Jerome six hundred years
before him. They based their faith, of course, on the
Scripture passage in which Jesus admonishes His
listeners, "See that you despise not one of these little
ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always
behold the face of my Father." (Mt. 18.10) St. Jerome's
comment on this verse is, "Great is the dignity of souls, for
each one has an angel deputed to guard it from its birth."
GUARDIAN DEMONS?
      
Sadly, a number of ancient and later Church writers
believed that each of us was plagued by a guardian devil,
in addition to a guardian angel. However, a reliable
source writes, "[this opinion]...lacks an adequate basis in
the sources of Faith, and is also hardly compatible with
the goodness and mercy of God" (Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals
of Catholic Dogma).
HOW MANY?
      
We might make one final observation about angels,
and that is to quote St. Thomas Aquinas, who asked
whether the angels who sinned were as many as those
who remained firm. He replied
More angels stood firm than sinned. Because sin
is contrary to the natural inclination; while that
which is against the natural order happens with
less frequency; for nature procures its effects
either always, or more often than not. (ST I. 63. 9)
      
The angels - the good angels, at least - no less
than the Incarnation and the sacraments, are evidence
of God's love for us. And love, God's love for us and
our love for God, is the perfect image to draw these
reflections to a close.
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