"Mary was nearest to Christ"

September 12th: Memorial of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

"CHRIST is the principle of grace, authoritatively as to His Godhead, instrumentally as to His humanity: whence (Jn 1:17) it is written: "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." But the Blessed Virgin Mary was nearest to Christ in His humanity: because He received His human nature from her. Therefore it was due to her to receive a greater fulness of grace than others."

~St. Thomas Aquinas: S.T. III, q. 27, art. 5.

The Ghent Altarpiece: Virgin Mary (detail), by Jan van Eyck. 

Oil on wood, 1426-29; Cathedral of St. Bavo, Ghent.

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"THERE is no reason why creatures should not be called mediators after a fashion, in that they co-operate in our reconciliation, disposing and ministering to men's union with God."

~St. Thomas Aquinas: S.T. III, q. 26, a. 1.

Mediatrix of All Graces

La Madonna del Popolo, by Federico Fiori Barocci. 

Oil on panel, 1575-79; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

God’s special Providence over man by grace

“SINCE the last end of rational creatures exceeds the capacity of their nature and since whatever conduces to the end must be proportionate to the end according to the right order of Providence, rational creatures are given aids that are not merely proportionate to nature but that transcend the capacity of nature. God infuses into man, over and above the natural faculty of reason, the light of grace whereby he is internally perfected for the exercise of virtue, both as regards knowledge, inasmuch as man’s mind is elevated by this light to the knowledge of truths surpassing reason, and as regards action and affection, inasmuch as man’s affective power is raised by this light above all created things to the love of God, to hope in Him, and to the performance of acts that such love imposes.

“These gifts or aids supernaturally given to man are called graces for two reasons. First, because they are given by God gratis. Nothing is discoverable in man that would constitute a right to aids of this sort, for they exceed the capacity of nature. Secondly, they are called graces because in a very special way, man is made gratus (or “pleasing to God”) by such gifts. Since God’s love is the cause of goodness in things and is not called forth by any preexisting goodness, as our love is, a special intensity of divine love must be discerned in those whom He showers with such extraordinary effects of His goodness. Therefore God is said chiefly and simply to love those whom He endows with these effects of His love by which they are enabled to reach their last end, which is He Himself, the fountainhead of all goodness.”

~St. Thomas Aquinas: Compendium of Theology, 143.

St. Thomas Aquinas, by Fra Angelico. 

Tempera on wood, 1340-45; 

Collezione Vittorio Cini, Venice.

"Christ dwells in us"

"CHRIST dwells in us, namely, when we know that we hold the faith which the Catholic Church teaches and holds. But if it is taken in regard to the affectivity, then Christ dwells in us by formed faith; and in this way no one can know that Christ dwells in him, or that he has charity, unless this certainty be granted to a person by revelation and a special grace. But there is nothing to prevent us from having a conjecture [coniecturum] that we are in charity, namely, when a person finds himself so ready and disposed that he would not wish to do anything against Christ in any way for something temporal: “Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 Jn. 3:21)."

~St. Thomas Aquinas: Commentary on 2 Corinthians, (2 Cor. 13:5-10) 13, lect. 2, 527. 

The Temptation of St. Thomas Aquinas, by Bernardo Daddi.

Poplar, 1338; Staatliche Museen, Berlin.

St. Thomas on Nature and Grace

"RATIONAL natures are poised between alternatives. God moves the human spirit to good; nevertheless it could resist. It is God's doing, then that a man prepares himself to receive grace. If he lacks grace, then the cause of the failure lies in him, not in God."
—Quodlibets, I, 4, 2.

"HENCE man, by his natural endowments, cannot produce meritorious works proportionate to everlasting life; and for this a higher force is needed, viz. the force of grace. And thus without grace man cannot merit everlasting life; yet he can perform works conducing to a good which is natural to man, as to toil in the fields, to drink, to eat, or to have friends, and the like."
—Summa Theologica, I-II, Q. 109, A. 5.

"MAN'S nature may be looked at in two ways: first, in its integrity, as it was in our first parent before sin; secondly, as it is corrupted in us after the sin of our first parent. Now in both states human nature needs the help of God as First Mover, to do or wish any good whatsoever, as stated above (A. 1). But in the state of integrity, as regards the sufficiency of the operative power, man by his natural endowments could wish and do the good proportionate to his nature, such as the good of acquired virtue; but not surpassing good, as the good of infused virtue. But in the state of corrupt nature, man falls short of what he could do by his nature, so that he is unable to fulfil it by his own natural powers. Yet because human nature is not altogether corrupted by sin, so as to be shorn of every natural good, even in the state of corrupted nature it can, by virtue of its natural endowments, work some particular good, as to build dwellings, plant vineyards, and the like; yet it cannot do all the good natural to it, so as to fall short in nothing; just as a sick man can of himself make some movements, yet he cannot be perfectly moved with the movements of one in health, unless by the help of medicine he be cured.

"And thus in the state of perfect nature man needs a gratuitous strength superadded to natural strength for one reason, viz. in order to do and wish supernatural good; but for two reasons, in the state of corrupt nature, viz. in order to be healed, and furthermore in order to carry out works of supernatural virtue, which are meritorious. Beyond this, in both states man needs the Divine help, that he may be moved to act well."
—Summa Theologica, I-II, Q. 109, a. 2.

“SINCE the aptness for grace is part of human nature’s good estate, we can now appreciate how sin diminishes nature. And because grace perfects nature, heightening mind and will and the sensitive parts which serve reason, we can appreciate also how sin, by depriving us of grace and clogging our natural abilities, also hurts nature. The results of sin are ignorance, malice, and concupiscence, and these are called the wounds of nature.”
—Disputations concerning Evil, 11, 11.

"THE justification of the ungodly is brought about by God moving man to justice. For He it is "that justifieth the ungodly" according to Romans 4:5. Now God moves everything in its own manner. . . . It is man's proper nature to have free-will. Hence in him who has the use of reason, God's motion to justice does not take place without a movement of the free-will; but He so infuses the gift of justifying grace that at the same time He moves the free-will to accept the gift of grace, in such as are capable of being moved thus."
—Summa Theologica, I-II, Q. 113, A. 3.

St. Thomas Aquinas, by Fra Angelico.
Tempera on wood, 1340-45; Collezione Vittorio Cini, Venice.

"The New Law is chiefly the grace itself of the Holy Spirit"

"NOW that which is preponderant in the law of the New Testament, and whereon all its efficacy is based, is the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is given through faith in Christ. Consequently the New Law is chiefly the grace itself of the Holy Spirit, which is given to those who believe in Christ."

~St. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae, I-II, Q. 106, Art. 1.