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Cajetan remarks that this question concerns Christ, not as God, but
as man. Is the grace of union natural to Him?
Reply. The grace of union is not natural to Christ, if this would
mean that it is caused by the principle of the human nature; but it may
be called natural inasmuch as it was bestowed upon Him together with
the human nature, and moreover, inasmuch as it comes from the divine
nature of Christ. Infused habitual grace in the soul of Christ is
also natural in this sense.
The reason is that both graces are substantially supernatural and were
given to Christ at the moment of His conception.
Doubt. Was the Blessed Virgin Mary the instrumental cause of the
union of the human nature with the Word at the very moment of
Christ's conception?
Reply. Most certainly no creature was or could be the principal
efficient cause of the Incarnation, for the Incarnation is not only a
work that belongs properly to God, such as creation, but it is His
greatest work; for it is a miracle of the first order surpassing in
substance all created and creatable powers and all exigencies of
whatsoever created nature. It is also a mystery that transcends the
mysteries of grace and that constitutes a special order, known as the
hypostatic order.
The Incarnation was a work of the Trinity, by reason of
omnipotence, which is a common attribute of the three persons. Thus,
as we stated, the Father and the Holy Ghost joined in the act of
uniting the human nature with the Word, but only the Son assumes or
takes this nature to Himself.
But a doubt arises. Was the Blessed Virgin the instrumental cause
of the Incarnation?
The question is disputed. St. Thomas says that Mary was not, for
he writes: "In the conception of Christ, the Blessed Virgin took
no active part, but was merely the material cause."[656] But
the instrumental cause takes an active part through the power of the
principal agent.
Likewise St. Thomas maintains that there is no instrumental cause in
creation,[657] not even in the creation of the souls of infants,
which occurs every day. The parents are not the efficient cause, but
merely furnish the matter or dispose the body for the reception of the
soul; a fortiori there is no instrumental cause in the Incarnation.
The principle on which this a fortiori argument rests may be
illustrated by the following syllogism.
An instrument must dispose the subject for the effect of the principal
agent. But, as in creation, there is no subject from which is
produced that which is created from nothing; so in the Incarnation
there is no pre-existing subject to be disposed, for the Incarnation
is the communication of the personality of the Word to the human nature
of Christ. The Word, however, is beyond the scope of created
action, and is not the subject on which created action operates.
Matter cannot be disposed for something uncreated, namely, for the
Word that assumes. Therefore there is no instrumental cause in the
Incarnation.[658]
Hence, if the Blessed Virgin is said at times to be the instrumental
cause of the creation of Christ's soul and even of the Incarnation,
this must be understood in a broad sense, inasmuch as she provided the
matter which was formed by the Holy Ghost into the human nature and
united with the Word.
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