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(3) What kind of parts are they? |
(4) Of its division into subjective parts. |
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FIRST ARTICLE [III, Q. 90, Art. 1] |
Whether Penance Should Be Assigned Any Parts? |
Objection 1: It would seem that parts should not be assigned to |
Penance. For it is the Divine power that works our salvation most |
secretly in the sacraments. Now the Divine power is one and simple. |
Therefore Penance, being a sacrament, should have no parts assigned |
to it. |
Objection 2: Further, Penance is both a virtue and a sacrament. Now no |
parts are assigned to it as a virtue, since virtue is a habit, which |
is a simple quality of the mind. In like manner, it seems that parts |
should not be assigned to Penance as a sacrament, because no parts |
are assigned to Baptism and the other sacraments. Therefore no parts |
at all should be assigned to Penance. |
Objection 3: Further, the matter of Penance is sin, as stated above (Q. |
84, A. 2). But no parts are assigned to sin. Neither, therefore, |
should parts be assigned to Penance. |
Contrary: The parts of a thing are those out of which the |
whole is composed. Now the perfection of Penance is composed of |
several things, viz. contrition, confession, and satisfaction. |
Therefore Penance has parts. |
Response: The parts of a thing are those into which the whole |
is divided materially, for the parts of a thing are to the whole, |
what matter is to the form; wherefore the parts are reckoned as a |
kind of material cause, and the whole as a kind of formal cause |
(Phys. ii). Accordingly wherever, on the part of matter, we find a |
kind of plurality, there we shall find a reason for assigning parts. |
Now it has been stated above (Q. 84, AA. 2, 3), that, in the |
sacrament of Penance, human actions stand as matter: and so, since |
several actions are requisite for the perfection of Penance, viz., |
contrition, confession, and satisfaction, as we shall show further on |
(A. 2), it follows that the sacrament of Penance has parts. |
Reply Objection 1: Every sacrament is something simple by reason of the |
Divine power, which operates therein: but the Divine power is so |
great that it can operate both through one and through many, and by |
reason of these many, parts may be assigned to a particular sacrament. |
Reply Objection 2: Parts are not assigned to penance as a virtue: because |
the human acts of which there are several in penance, are related to |
the habit of virtue, not as its parts, but as its effects. It |
follows, therefore, that parts are assigned to Penance as a |
sacrament, to which the human acts are related as matter: whereas in |
the other sacraments the matter does not consist of human acts, but |
of some one external thing, either simple, as water or oil, or |
compound, as chrism, and so parts are not assigned to the other |
sacraments. |
Reply Objection 3: Sins are the remote matter of Penance, inasmuch, to |
wit, as they are the matter or object of the human acts, which are |
the proper matter of Penance as a sacrament. |
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SECOND ARTICLE [III, Q. 90, Art. 2] |
Whether Contrition, Confession, and Satisfaction Are Fittingly |
Assigned As Parts of Penance? |
Objection 1: It would seem that contrition, confession, and |
satisfaction are not fittingly assigned as parts of Penance. For |
contrition is in the heart, and so belongs to interior penance; while |
confession consists of words, and satisfaction in deeds; so that the |
two latter belong to interior penance. Now interior penance is not a |
sacrament, but only exterior penance which is perceptible by the |
senses. Therefore these three parts are not fittingly assigned to the |
sacrament of Penance. |
Objection 2: Further, grace is conferred in the sacraments of the New Law, |
as stated above (Q. 62, AA. 1, 3). But no grace is conferred in |
satisfaction. Therefore satisfaction is not part of a sacrament. |
Objection 3: Further, the fruit of a thing is not the same as its part. |
But satisfaction is a fruit of penance, according to Luke 3:8: "Bring |
forth . . . fruits worthy of penance." Therefore it is not a part of |
Penance. |
Objection 4: Further, Penance is ordained against sin. But sin can be |
completed merely in the thought by consent, as stated in the Second |
Part (I-II, Q. 72, A. 7): therefore Penance can also. Therefore |
confession in word and satisfaction in deed should not be reckoned as |
parts of Penance. |
Contrary: It seems that yet more parts should be assigned to |
Penance. For not only is the body assigned as a part of man, as being |
the matter, but also the soul, which is his form. But the aforesaid |
three, being the acts of the penitent, stand as matter, while the |
priestly absolution stands as form. Therefore the priestly absolution |
should be assigned as a fourth part of Penance. |