Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that the active life remains after this life. For the acts of the moral virtues belong to the active life, as stated above (Article 1). But the moral virtues endure after this life according to Augustine (De Trin. xiv, 9). Therefore the active life remains after this life.

Objection 2: Further, teaching others belongs to the active life, as stated above (Article 3). But in the life to come when "we shall be like the angels," teaching will be possible: even as apparently it is in the angels of whom one "enlightens, cleanses, and perfects" another, which refers to the "receiving of knowledge," according to Dionysius (Coel. Hier. vii). Therefore it would seem that the active life remains after this life.

Objection 3: Further, the more lasting a thing is in itself, the more is it able to endure after this life. But the active life is seemingly more lasting in itself: for Gregory says (Hom. v in Ezech.) that "we can remain fixed in the active life, whereas we are nowise able to maintain an attentive mind in the contemplative life." Therefore the active life is much more able than the contemplative to endure after this life.

On the contrary, Gregory says (Hom. xiv in Ezech.): "The active life ends with this world, but the contemplative life begins here, to be perfected in our heavenly home."

I answer that, As stated above (Article 1), the active life has its end in external actions: and if these be referred to the quiet of contemplation, for that very reason they belong to the contemplative life. But in the future life of the blessed the occupation of external actions will cease, and if there be any external actions at all, these will be referred to contemplation as their end. For, as Augustine says at the end of De Civitate Dei xxii, 30, "there we shall rest and we shall see, we shall see and love, we shall love and praise." And he had said before (De Civ. Dei xxii, 30) that "there God will be seen without end, loved without wearying, praised without tiring: such will be the occupation of all, the common love, the universal activity."

Reply to Objection 1: As stated above (Question 136, Article 1, ad 1), the moral virtues will remain not as to those actions which are about the means, but as to the actions which are about the end. Such acts are those that conduce to the quiet of contemplation, which in the words quoted above Augustine denotes by "rest," and this rest excludes not only outward disturbances but also the inward disturbance of the passions.

Reply to Objection 2: The contemplative life, as stated above (Question 180, Article 4), consists chiefly in the contemplation of God, and as to this, one angel does not teach another, since according to Mt. 18:10, "the little ones' angels," who belong to the lower order, "always see the face of the Father"; and so, in the life to come, no man will teach another of God, but "we shall" all "see Him as He is" (1 Jn. 3:2). This is in keeping with the saying of Jeremias 31:34: "They shall teach no more every man his neighbor . . . saying: Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least of them even to the greatest."

But as regards things pertaining to the "dispensation of the mysteries of God," one angel teaches another by cleansing, enlightening, and perfecting him: and thus they have something of the active life so long as the world lasts, from the fact that they are occupied in administering to the creatures below them. This is signified by the fact that Jacob saw angels "ascending" the ladder---which refers to contemplation---and "descending" ---which refers to action. Nevertheless, as Gregory remarks (Moral. ii, 3), "they do not wander abroad from the Divine vision, so as to be deprived of the joys of inward contemplation." Hence in them the active life does not differ from the contemplative life as it does in us for whom the works of the active life are a hindrance to contemplation.

Nor is the likeness to the angels promised to us as regards the administering to lower creatures, for this is competent to us not by reason of our natural order, as it is to the angels, but by reason of our seeing God.

Reply to Objection 3: That the durability of the active life in the present state surpasses the durability of the contemplative life arises not from any property of either life considered in itself, but from our own deficiency, since we are withheld from the heights of contemplation by the weight of the body. Hence Gregory adds (Moral. ii, 3) that "the mind through its very weakness being repelled from that immense height recoils on itself."

Articulus 4

Argumentum 1

Ad quartum sic proceditur. Videtur quod vita activa maneat post hanc vitam. Ad vitam enim activam pertinent actus virtutum Moralium, ut dictum est.

Sed virtutes morales permanent post hanc vitam, ut Augustinus dicit, XIV de Trin..

Ergo vita activa permanet post hanc vitam.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, docere alios pertinet ad vitam activam, ut dictum est.

Sed in futura vita, in qua similes erimus Angelis, poterit esse doctrina, sicut et in Angelis esse videtur, quorum unus alium illuminat, purgat et perficit, quod refertur ad scientiae assumptionem, ut patet per dionysium, VII cap. Cael. Hier..

Ergo videtur quod vita activa remanet post hanc vitam.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, illud quod de se est durabilius, magis videtur posse post hanc vitam remanere. Sed vita activa videtur esse de se durabilior, dicit enim Gregorius, super Ezech., quod in vita activa fixi permanere possumus, in contemplativa autem intenta mente manere nullo modo valemus.

Ergo multo magis vita activa potest manere post hanc vitam quam contemplativa.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod Gregorius dicit, super Ezech., cum praesenti saeculo vita aufertur activa, contemplativa autem hic incipitur ut in caelesti patria perficiatur.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod, sicut dictum est, activa vita habet finem in exterioribus actibus, qui si referuntur ad quietem contemplationis, iam pertinent ad vitam contemplativam. In futura autem vita beatorum cessabit occupatio exteriorum actuum, et si qui actus exteriores sint, referentur ad finem contemplationis.

Ut enim Augustinus dicit, in fine de CIV. Dei, ibi vacabimus et videbimus; videbimus et amabimus; amabimus et laudabimus.

Et in eodem libro praemittit quod deus ibi sine fine videbitur, sine fastidio amabitur, sine fatigatione laudabitur. Hoc munus, hic affectus, hic actus erit omnibus.

Ad 1

Ad primum ergo dicendum quod, sicut supra dictum est, virtutes morales manebunt non secundum actus quos habent circa ea quae sunt ad finem, sed secundum actus quos habent circa finem. Huiusmodi autem actus sunt secundum quod constituunt quietem contemplationis. Quam Augustinus in praemissis verbis significat per vacationem, quae est intelligenda non solum ab exterioribus tumultibus, sed etiam ab interiori perturbatione passionum.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod vita contemplativa, sicut supra dictum est, praecipue consistit in contemplatione dei.

Et quantum ad hoc, unus Angelus alium non docet, quia, ut dicitur Matth. XVIII de Angelis pusillorum, qui sunt inferioris ordinis, quod semper vident faciem patris.

Et sic etiam in futura vita nullus hominum alium docebit de deo, sed omnes videbimus eum sicuti est, ut habetur I Ioan. III. Et hoc est quod dicitur Ierem. XXXI, non docebit ultra vir proximum suum, dicens, cognosce dominum, omnes enim cognoscent me, a minimo eorum usque ad maximum.

Sed de his quae pertinent ad dispensationem ministeriorum dei, unus Angelus docet alium, purgando, illuminando et perficiendo.

Et secundum hoc, aliquid habent de vita activa quandiu mundus durat, ex hoc quod administrationi inferioris creaturae intendunt.

Quod significatur per hoc quod Iacob vidit Angelos in scala ascendentes, quod pertinet ad contemplationem, et descendentes, quod pertinet ad actionem.

Sed sicut dicit Gregorius, II Moral., non sic a divina visione foris exeunt ut internae contemplationis gaudiis priventur.

Et ideo in eis non distinguitur vita activa a contemplativa, sicut in nobis, qui per opera activa impedimur a contemplatione.

Non autem promittitur nobis similitudo Angelorum quantum ad administrationem inferioris creaturae, quae nobis non competit secundum ordinem naturae nostrae, sicut competit Angelis, sed secundum visionem dei.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod durabilitas vitae activae in statu praesenti excedens durabilitatem vitae contemplativae, non provenit ex proprietate utriusque vitae secundum se consideratae, sed ex defectu nostro, qui ex corporis gravitate retrahimur ab altitudine contemplationis.

Unde ibidem subdit Gregorius quod ipsa sua infirmitate ab immensitate tantae celsitudinis repulsus animus in semetipso relabitur.