|
Objection 1: It would seem that the aureole does not differ from the
fruit. For different rewards are not due to the same merit. Now the
aureole and the hundredfold fruit correspond to the same merit,
according to a gloss on Mt. 13:8, "Some a hundredfold."
Therefore the aureole is the same as the fruit.
Objection 2: Further, Augustine says (De Virgin xlv) that the
"hundredfold fruit is due to the martyrs, and also to virgins."
Therefore the fruit is a reward common to virgins and martyrs. But
the aureole also is due to them. Therefore the aureole is the same as
the fruit.
Objection 3: Further, there are only two rewards in beatitude,
namely the essential, and the accidental which is added to the
essential. Now that which is added to the essential reward is called
an aureole, as evidenced by the statement (Ex. 25:25) that the
little crown [aureola] is added to the crown. But the fruit is not
the essential reward, for in that case it would be due to all the
blessed. Therefore it is the same as the aureole.
On the contrary, Things which are not divided in the same way are not
of the same nature. Now fruit and aureole are not divided in the same
way, since aureole is divided into the aureole of virgins, of
martyrs, and of doctors: whereas fruit is divided into the fruit of
the married, of widows, and of virgins. Therefore fruit and aureole
are not the same.
Further, if fruit and aureole were the same, the aureole would be due
to whomsoever the fruit is due. But this is manifestly untrue, since
a fruit is due to widowhood, while an aureole is not. Therefore,
etc.
I answer that, Metaphorical expressions can be taken in various
ways, according as we find resemblances to the various properties of
the thing from which the comparison is taken. Now since fruit,
properly speaking, is applied to material things born of the earth, we
employ it variously in a spiritual sense, with reference to the various
conditions that obtain in material fruits. For the material fruit has
sweetness whereby it refreshes so far as it is used by man: again it is
the last thing to which the operation of nature attains: moreover it is
that to which husbandry looks forward as the result of sowing or any
other process. Accordingly fruit is taken in a spiritual sense
sometimes for that which refreshes as being the last end: and according
to this signification we are said to enjoy [frui] God perfectly in
heaven, and imperfectly on the way. From this signification we have
fruition which is a dowry: but we are not speaking of fruit in this
sense now. Sometimes fruit signifies spiritually that which refreshes
only, though it is not the last end; and thus the virtues are called
fruits, inasmuch as "they refresh the mind with genuine sweetness,"
as Ambrose says [De Parad. xiii]. In this sense fruit is taken
(Gal. 6:22): "The fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy,"
etc. Nor again is this the sense in which we speak of fruit now; for
we have treated of this already [FS, Question 70, Article 1,
ad 2].
We may, however, take spiritual fruit in another sense, in likeness
to material fruit, inasmuch as material fruit is a profit expected from
the labor of husbandry: so that we call fruit that reward which man
acquires from his labor in this life: and thus every reward which by
our labors we shall acquire for the future life is called a "fruit."
In this sense fruit is taken (Rm. 6:22): "You have your
fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting." Yet
neither in this sense do we speak of fruit now, but we are treating of
fruit as being the product of seed: for it is in this sense that our
Lord speaks of fruit (Mt. 13:23), where He divides fruit
into thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold. Now fruit is the
product of seed in so far as the seed power is capable of transforming
the humors of the soil into its own nature; and the more efficient this
power, and the better prepared the soil, the more plentiful fruit will
result. Now the spiritual seed which is sown in us is the Word of
God: wherefore the more a person is transformed into a spiritual
nature by withdrawing from carnal things, the greater is the fruit of
the Word in him. Accordingly the fruit of the Word of God differs
from the aurea and the aureole, in that the "aurea" consists in the
joy one has in God, and the "aureole" in the joy one has in the
perfection of one's works, whereas the "fruit" consists in the joy
that the worker has in his own disposition as to his degree of
spirituality to which he has attained through the seed of God's
Word.
Some, however, distinguish between aureole and fruit, by saying that
the aureole is due to the fighter, according to 2 Tim. 2:5,
"He . . . shall not be crowned, except he strive lawfully";
whereas the fruit is due to the laborer, according to the saying of
Wis. 3:15, "The fruit of good labors is glorious." Others
again say that the "aurea" regards conversion to God, while the
"aureole" and the "fruit" regard things directed to the end; yet so
that the fruit regards the will rather, and the aureole the body.
Since, however, labor and strife are in the same subject and about
the same matter, and since the body's reward depends on the soul's,
these explanations of the difference between fruit, aurea and aureole
would only imply a logical difference: and this cannot be, since fruit
is assigned to some to whom no aureole is assigned.
Reply to Objection 1: There is nothing incongruous if various
rewards correspond to the same merit according to the various things
contained therein. Wherefore to virginity corresponds the aurea in so
far as virginity is kept for God's sake at the command of charity;
the aureole, in so far as virginity is a work of perfection having the
character of a signal victory; and the fruit, in so far as by
virginity a person acquires a certain spirituality by withdrawing from
carnal things.
Reply to Objection 2: Fruit, according to the proper acceptation
as we are speaking of it now, does not denote the reward common to
martyrdom and virginity, by that which corresponds to the three degrees
of continency. This gloss which states that the hundredfold fruit
corresponds to martyrs takes fruit in a broad sense, according as any
reward is called a fruit, the hundredfold fruit thus denoting the
reward due to any perfect works whatever.
Reply to Objection 3: Although the aureole is an accidental reward
added to the essential reward, nevertheless not every accidental reward
is an aureole, but only that which is assigned to works of perfection,
whereby man is most conformed to Christ in the achievement of a perfect
victory. Hence it is not unfitting that another accidental reward,
which is called the fruit, be due sometimes to the withdrawal from a
carnal life.
|
|