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Objection 1: It would seem that blessing and sanctifying are not due
to the seventh day. For it is usual to call a time blessed or holy for
that some good thing has happened in it, or some evil been avoided.
But whether God works or ceases from work nothing accrues to Him or
is lost to Him. Therefore no special blessing or sanctifying are due
to the seventh day.
Objection 2: Further, the Latin "benedictio" [blessing] is
derived from "bonitas" [goodness]. But it is the nature of good to
spread and communicate itself, as Dionysius says (Div. Nom.
iv). The days, therefore, in which God produced creatures deserved
a blessing rather than the day on which He ceased producing them.
Objection 3: Further, over each creature a blessing was
pronounced, as upon each work it was said, "God saw that it was
good." Therefore it was not necessary that after all had been
produced, the seventh day should be blessed.
On the contrary, It is written (Gn. 2:3), "God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He had rested from all
His work."
I answer that, As said above (Article 2), God's rest on the
seventh day is understood in two ways. First, in that He ceased from
producing new works, though He still preserves and provides for the
creatures He has made. Secondly, in that after all His works He
rested in Himself. According to the first meaning, then, a blessing
befits the seventh day, since, as we explained (Question 72, ad
4), the blessing referred to the increase by multiplication; for
which reason God said to the creatures which He blessed: "Increase
and multiply." Now, this increase is effected through God's
Providence over His creatures, securing the generation of like from
like. And according to the second meaning, it is right that the
seventh day should have been sanctified, since the special
sanctification of every creature consists in resting in God. For this
reason things dedicated to God are said to be sanctified.
Reply to Objection 1: The seventh day is said to be sanctified not
because anything can accrue to God, or be taken from Him, but
because something is added to creatures by their multiplying, and by
their resting in God.
Reply to Objection 2: In the first six days creatures were produced
in their first causes, but after being thus produced, they are
multiplied and preserved, and this work also belongs to the Divine
goodness. And the perfection of this goodness is made most clear by
the knowledge that in it alone God finds His own rest, and we may
find ours in its fruition.
Reply to Objection 3: The good mentioned in the works of each day
belongs to the first institution of nature; but the blessing attached
to the seventh day, to its propagation.
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