CATECHISM OF THE “SUMMA THEOLOGICA” OF SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS FOR THE USE OF THE FAITHFUL BY R. P. THOMAS PEGUES, O.P.
I. OF THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION OR OF THE WORD MADE FLESH
What is meant by the mystery of the Incarnation or of the Word made flesh ?
It is that truth, absolutely incomprehensible for us on earth, according to which the second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, viz., the Word or the only Son of God, existing from all eternity together with the Father and the Holy Ghost, the same, one, and only true God, the Creator and Sovereign Master of all things, came, in time, upon this earth by His Incarnation in the womb of the Virgin Mary of whom He was born: lived moreover our mortal life and evangelized the Jewish race in Palestine to whom He was personally sent by His Father; was rejected by this people, was betrayed and delivered up to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor; was condemned and put to death on a cross; was buried, and descended into hell, and rose again from the dead the third day; ascended into heaven forty days afterwards; sits at the right hand of God the
Father, from whence He governs the Church established by Him on earth, and to which He sent the Holy Ghost, who is His as well as the Father's; sanctified this Church by the sacraments of His grace, so preparing it for His second coming at the end of time ; at the last day He will judge the living and the dead, having made the latter rise from their tombs; and this in order to make the final separation of the good from the bad ; the good He will take with Him into the Kingdom of His Father, and the bad He will curse and condemn to everlasting punishments.
II. OF THE FITTINGNESS AND NECESSITY OF THE INCARNATION
(A)
Is this coming on earth of the Son of God by His Incarnation in harmony with what we know of God?
Yes. For we know that God is goodness itself; on the other hand, we know that goodness endeavours to communicate some of its perfection to others. Now God could not communicate Himself to His creatures in a way more marvellous than by His Incarnation (I. i).
Was the Incarnation of the Son of God necessary?
No ; considered in itself the Incarnation was in no way necessary; but given the fall of the human race by the 'sin of Adam, and that God wished to reinstate the human race in the most perfect way, and that above all He desired to exact the most complete satisfaction for the first sin, then it was necessary that a God-Man should take upon Himself this sin and make reparation for it (I. 2).
It is then by reason of man's sin and for the reparation thereof that the Son of God became incarnate?
Yes, it was for this precise reason (I. 3, 4).
Why then did not the Son of God become incarnate immediately after the fall of Adam?
The reason was because God wished the human race to know fully its misery, and the need it had of a God- Saviour; and also as was meet for so great a coming in order that a great line of prophets might precede and foretell the advent of the Saviour (1.5,6).
(B)
In what does the Incarnation of the Son of God consist considered in itself?
It consists in this, that the divine nature and a human nature, each preserving what was proper to each, were substantially and indissolubly united in the unity of the one and same divine Person, which is the Person of the Son of God (II. 1-6).
Why did this union take place in the Person of the Son rather than in that of the Father or the Holy Ghost?
The reason is because the properties of the Son, who in God, has the nature of the Word, and to whom belongs by way of appropriation all that refers to wisdom through which God created all things, make the Son to be especially fitting for the restoration of the fallen human race; and also because proceeding from the Father, He could be sent by the Father, and He, in His turn, could send MS His Spirit as the fruit of His Redemption (HI. 8).
III. CONCERNING THAT WHICH THE SON OF GOD TOOK OF US AND WHICH HE UNITED TO HIMSELF IN HIS INCARNATION
(A)
When it is said that the Son of God was incarnated or that the Word was made fleshy or that He was made man, what do these different expressions signify?
All these expressions signify that the Word, or the Son of God, took, in order to unite it to Himself in His Passion, our human nature such as it is to be found in every individual human being descended from Adam (IV. 1-6).
Does it then follow that in the incarnate Word or Son of God made man there is a human individual?
Absolutely no. There is in Him an individual human nature, but not a human individual or a human person; for the nature He took was united to His divine Person, so that in the Incarnation there is only one person, and that is the Person of the Word or of God the Son (IV. 3).
Is this human nature which is united to the Person of God the Son as regards its two essential parts, exactly the same as the human nature in each of us ?
Yes (V. 1-4).
The incarnate Son of God has then a body like to ours of flesh and bone, with the same members, senses, and organs?
Yes (V. 1,2).
Has He also a soul like to ours, with the same parts and faculties y and with an intellect and a will like to ours?
Yes, He has a soul with the same parts and powers like to ours exactly (V. 3,4).
Were all the parts which constitute an individual human nature in its essence and integrity united to the Person of the Son of God at the same time?
Yes, but He united them to Himself in a certain order (VI. 1-6).
(B)
In what order did God the Son unite to Himself the human nature and its parts?
In such wise that He took the body and all its parts by reason of the soul; and the soul and its other powers by reason of the intellect ; and the body, soul, and intellect by reason of the human nature which all the above constitutes in its essence and integrity (VI. 1-5).
Was this union of the human nature and all its parts with the Person of God the Son made directly and immediately without the intermediary of any created reality whatsoever?
Yes, and this precisely because the term of this union is the very being of the Person of God the Son which is communicated to this human nature and all its parts (VI. 6).
