The Summit Study Hall

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“Is an action good or evil because of its end?
It seems not.
…the goodness of an act is something existing in it. But the end is an extrinsic cause. Therefore, action is not called good or evil because of the end. Moreover, it can happen that a good activity is ordered to a bad end, as when someone gives alms in order to be praised, and conversely a bad activity can be ordered to a good end, as when someone steals in order to give to the poor. Therefore, the action is not good or evil because of the end.”
-Summa theologiae, Question 18, Article 4


“Are moral acts specified by being good or evil?
It seems that they are not.
Good and evil are found in acts conformably with things, as has been said. But things are not specified by good and evil, for good and bad men are in the same species. Therefore, neither should the good and evil in acts make them specifically different. Moreover, since evil is a privation it is a kind of non-being, but non-being cannot be a difference, according to the Philosopher in Metaphysics 2.3. Therefore, since the difference constitutes the species, it seems that an act is not constituted in some species from the fact that it is evil. So good and evil do not make human acts specifically different.”
-Summa theologiae, Question 18, Article 5

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“Does a man have free choice in his actions or does he choose necessarily?
It seems that he chooses necessarily, not freely.
For it is said in Jeremiah 10.23 ‘that the way of a man is not his, neither is it in a man to walk and direct his steps’. But that with respect to which a man has freedom is his, as constituted, as it were, within his dominion. Therefore, it seems that a man does not have free choice of his way or of his acts.”
-On Human Choice, Disputed Question on Evil, 6.1


“Moreover, he who does what he does not wish to do does not have free choice; but man does what he does not will; Romans 8.16: ‘The evil that I hate, I do.’ Therefore a man does not have free choice in his actions.”
-On Human Choice, Disputed Question on Evil, 6.22

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“In all ordered efficient causes, the first is the cause of the intermediate and the intermediate the cause of the last, whether there be one or many intermediates. The cause being removed, that of which it is the cause is removed. But if in efficient causes there is an infinite regress, none of the causes will be first. Therefore all the others are removed, since they are intermediates. But this is manifestly false. Therefore we must recognize that there is a first efficient cause that is God.”
-Summa contra Gentiles, Book I, Ch. 13


“We have shown above that there is one first being possessing the full perfection of existence whom we call God and who from the abundance of his perfection grants being to all existing things. Thus not only is he the first of beings but the principle of all others. He grants existence to other things, not out of any necessity of nature, but of his free will, as is clear from the foregoing. The result is that he is the Lord of all things he has made, for he rules over what is subject to his will. He has perfect dominion over the things produced by him, since in producing them he requires no external agent nor foundation of matter, since he is the cause of universal being.”
-Summa contra Gentiles, Book III, Ch. 1


“Is God simple?
It seems that he is not.
From one simple thing only one thing comes, for a thing causes something the same as itself, according to the Philosopher. But a multitude of things proceeds from God. Therefore he is not simple.”
-On the Divine Simplicity, Question 7, Article 1

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“‘To have been’ is not ‘to be in the future’; ’to be’ is not ’to have been’ or ’to be in the future’; yet through eternity you have been, and are, and will be. How is it that your eternity is always a whole? Is it that in your eternity nothing is past in the sense that it is not now, or future, as though it were not already existing? So it is not that you existed yesterday, or will exist tomorrow, but that yesterday, today, and tomorrow, you simply are. Or rather, you exist neither yesterday, today, nor tomorrow, but you exist directly right outside time. For yesterday, today, and tomorrow are nothing else but time; you however, though nothing can be without you, are not in place or time; but all are in you. Nothing holds you, but you hold all things.”
-Proslogion Ch. 19


“You then fill and enfold all things, you are before and beyond all things. You are before all things because before they were, you already existed. In what way are you beyond all things? How are you beyond those things that have no ending? Is it that without you they would not exist at all, while even if they return to nothing, your existence is in no way less? That is one way in which you are beyond them. Is it that they can be thought to have an end, but that cannot in any way be thought of you? In that way they do indeed have an end and you do not. And clearly that which does not have an end is beyond that which has some kind of end. In that way you go beyond even eternal things, since your eternity and theirs is entirely present to you; while they do not have their eternity that is still to come, nor do they now have what for them is past. Thus you are always beyond them, for that which they have not reached is where you always are, or rather it is always present to you.”
-Proslogion Ch. 20

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“Still, Lord, you hide from my soul in your light and beauty, and therefore it still lives in darkness and in misery. I look all round, but I do not see your beauty. I listen, but I do not hear your harmony. I smell, but I do not gather your fragrance. I taste, but do not know your savour. I touch, but do not feel your yielding. For, Lord God, it is in your own unutterable manner that you have these things; you have given them to what you have created in a manner which can be felt, but the senses of my soul have been hardened, dulled, and blocked by the ancient sickness of sin.”
-Proslogion Ch. 17


“By you the world is renewed and made beautiful with truth, governed by the light of righteousness.”
-Prayer to the Holy Cross


“For if each good thing is delightful, think carefully how delightful must be that good which holds within it the joy of every good, and not such a good as we experience in created things, but as different as Creator is from creature. For if life that is created is good, how good must the life of the Creator be? If salvation that is wrought is joyful, how joyful must that salvation be that saves all things? If the wisdom that knows everything that is made is lovable, how lovable must that wisdom be that made all things out of nothing? Finally, since there is so much and such deep delight in delightful things, how much better and deeper is the delight which is in him who made these delights?”
-Proslogion Ch. 24

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“For in being entirely and supremely righteous, even in this you are kind to the wicked, just because your goodness is entire and supreme. For you would be less good if you were kind to none of the wicked, for better is he who is good to both good and evil men, than he who is good only to good men. And better is he who is good to the wicked by both punishing and sparing them, than he who only punishes them. So you are compassionate because you are entirely and supremely good. And although one can see why you should deal out good to the good and bad to the bad, what is indeed to be wondered at is why you who are entirely righteous and want for nothing should give good gifts to your wicked and guilty sons. How deep is your goodness, O God.”
-Prologion Ch. 9


“When you punish the wicked, this is just, because it is what they deserve; but when you pardon them, this is just, not because of their deserts, but because it assorts well with your goodness. For in sparing the wicked you are just according to your own nature, not according to ours; in the same way as when we say you are compassionate it is not according to your nature but according to ours.”
-Prologion Ch. 10


“To sin—how evil and bitter that is. Sins—how easy to commit, how hard to give up. Sinners—so misled by sins—are caught by their fetters. Understand, O understand how evil and bitter it is to have lost the Lord.”
-Prayer to St. John the Baptist


“...you were on fire with so much love that in your goodness you prayed for the evil men that surrounded you.”
-Prayer to St. Stephen

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“Lord Jesus Christ by the Father’s plan and by the working of the Holy Ghost of your own free will you died and mercifully redeemed the world from sin and everlasting death.”
-Prayer Before Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ


“The son of man in his goodness came of his own free will to save that which was lost;...”
-Prayer to St. Mary (2)


“You are able to bind and loose as you will; you are able to heal and raise up as you will; you can give the kingdom of heaven to whom you will.”
-Prayer to St. Peter

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“...certainly that than which nothing greater can be thought cannot exist only in the understanding. For if it exists only in the understanding, it is possible to think of it existing also in reality, and that is greater. If that than which nothing greater can be thought exists in the understanding alone, then this thing than which nothing greater can be thought is something than which a greater can be thought. And this is clearly impossible. Therefore there can be no doubt at all that something than which a greater cannot be thought exists both in the understanding and in reality.”
-Proslogion, Ch. 2


“If that than which nothing greater can be thought, can be thought of as not existing, then that than which nothing greater can be thought is not the same as that than which nothing greater can be thought. And that simply will not do. Something than which nothing greater can be thought so truly exists that it is not possible to think of it as not existing.
This being is yourself, our Lord and God. Lord my God, you so truly are, that it is not possible to think of you as not existing. And rightly so.”
-Proslogion, Ch. 3

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“But how absurd it is to say that the occurrence of temporal events is the cause of eternal prescience! Yet the opinion that God foresees the future because it is destined to happen is the same as believing that events of a single occurrence are the cause of that supreme Providence.”
-The Consolation of Philosophy, Book V, Ch. III


“It cannot be that what is foreseen as a future event does not come to pass. It would be as if we believed that what Providence foreknows as future events is not going to happen, they were not predestined in their own nature. You will easily be able to see it in this way; we see many things before our eyes as they happen, like the actions we see charioteers performing in order to control and drive their chariots, and other things of this sort. But no necessity forces any of them to happen in this way, does it?”
-The Consolation of Philosophy, Book V, Ch. IV

Visit: drecarlan.com
Contact: thesummitstudyhall [at] gmail [dot] com

Material referenced:

“Perhaps your eyes are attracted by the way precious stones reflect the light. But if there is any special quality in this brilliance, it is in the light of the precious stones, not of men, so that I am astonished that men can admire them. Surely there is nothing devoid of life to give it movement, and devoid of structure, which living rational nature can justifiably consider beautiful? Such things may be works of the Creator and may draw some minimal beauty from their own ornamental nature, but they are of an inferior rank to you as a more excellent creature, and cannot in any way merit your admiration.”
-The Consolation of Philosophy, Book II, Ch. V