|
Reply. God directly conserves the very being of things
inasmuch as it is being, but other agents, subordinate to
God, conserve being as such being, for example, the sun
conserves the light in the atmosphere. Similarly the
influence of other subordinate causes is necessary for the
conservation of vegetative and sensitive life on the
surface of the earth; and the succession of day and night
and of the four seasons, without which there would be no
generations or conservation of life, depends on the
regular movement of the stars.
In the spiritual order God directly conserves spiritual
souls in being, and under God the angels and the saints
in their way illumine souls and assist them to know and
love divine things and to conserve the principles of the
spiritual life.[958]
|
|