178. The Beatitudes and Fruits of the Holy Spirit

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Eighth Beatitude #

• Serves as confirmation and summary of all seven preceding Beatitudes
• All Beatitudes receive the reward of the Kingdom of Heaven, but the eighth encompasses this reward in its fullness regarding both soul and body (after resurrection)
• Represents firmness and stability in the beatific vision promised to the persecuted

Scriptural Variations in Beatitude Enumeration #

• Four in Ambrose, seven in Augustine, eight in the Gospel (Matthew)
• Luke narrates the sermon to the crowds (the “moths”) according to their capacity, focusing on temporal and earthly beatitudes
• The four Beatitudes in Luke exclude the four primary temporal goods sought in false beatitude: abundance of exterior goods, bodily comfort, joyfulness of heart, and exterior favor of men

The Four Beatitudes Correspond to Cardinal Virtues #

• Poverty of spirit excludes abundance of exterior goods, pertaining to temperance
• Hunger and thirst for justice pertains to justice
• Mourning pertains to prudence (fleeing fearful things)
• Persecution pertains to fortitude (enduring the odium of men)

Suitable Enumeration of Beatitude Rewards #

Objection raised: All goods are contained in the Kingdom of Heaven, so why enumerate different rewards?

Thomas’s Resolution: The rewards correspond to the goods disordered men naturally seek:

• First three Beatitudes (poverty, meekness, mourning) correct the three types of false beatitude:
  • Men seek wealth and honors → rewarded with Kingdom of Heaven (excellence and abundance in God)
  • Men seek security through power and conflict → rewarded with possession of the land (peace and security)
  • Men seek consolation in worldly pleasures → rewarded with consolation
• Fourth and fifth Beatitudes (hunger for justice, mercy) relate to works of active/practical happiness ordered toward neighbor:
  • Men depart from justice seeking temporal goods → rewarded with satisfaction (fullness)
  • Men depart from mercy fearing others’ miseries → rewarded with mercy (liberation from all misery)
• Sixth and seventh Beatitudes (purity of heart, peacemaking) relate to contemplative happiness:
  • Purity of heart disposes to divine vision
  • Peacemaking (establishing unity) imitates God and results in divine Sonship (perfect joining to God)

Acts vs. Habits: The Nature of Fruits #

Fruits are acts (operations), not habits. Key distinctions:

• Although some fruits are named after virtues (charity, faith, chastity), the names refer to their acts, not the habits themselves
• Example: “Faith is to believe what one does not see” describes the act of believing, not the virtue of faith itself

Translatio Nominis (Carrying Over of Meaning) #

The term “fruit” is transferred from bodily to spiritual realities:

• In bodily things: Fruit is what is produced from a plant at its perfection, possessing sweetness
• In spiritual things: The name can be taken two ways:
  1. What is produced by a person (acts proceeding from the person)
  2. What a person obtains (the final end enjoyed)
• The formal notion of fruit requires two elements: it must be last (ultimate) and delectable (pleasant)

Fruits as Operations of the Holy Spirit #

• When a virtuous act proceeds from the motion of the Holy Spirit (rather than merely from human reason), it is called a “fruit of the Holy Spirit”
• Just as an act of reason is the “fruit of reason,” an act proceeding from divine motion is a “fruit of the Holy Spirit”
• The same operation can be understood as fruit of reason or fruit of the Holy Spirit depending on its principle of causation
• Scripture (1 John 3): “Everyone who is born from God does not make sin because the seed of Him remains in him”

Fruits Ordered to Ends #

• Fruits can themselves be ordered to higher ends (fruits are not always final ends)
• Acts insofar as they are effects of the Holy Spirit operating in us have the notion of fruit
• Acts insofar as they are ordered to eternal life have the notion of flowers (intermediate goods leading to fruit)
• The principle: One end can be ordered to another end; a fruit of one thing can be a flower relative to a higher fruit

Delight in Spiritual Acts #

Two ways of understanding “delighting in something for its own sake”:

1. According to the final cause: Something is delighted in only if it is the last end
2. According to the formal cause: Something can be delighted in for its own sake according to its form (its intrinsic character)

Example: The sick person delights in health as an end; they may delight in sweet medicine for its own sake (the sweet taste) even though the primary purpose is health. The austere medicine they accept only for health’s sake.

Application: In God, man delights as an account of the last end. In virtuous acts, man delights not as an end but according to their form—the acts themselves are delightful to the virtuous person.

Key Arguments #

Arguments That Fruits Are Not Acts (Objections) #

1. “That of which there is fruit ought not be called a fruit” - Acts produce fruit, so acts should not be called fruits
2. Augustine: “We enjoy things in which the will rests” - The will ought not rest in its own acts
3. Some fruits enumerated are virtues (charity, faith, chastity), and virtues are habits, not acts

Responses Supporting Fruits as Acts #

1. Matthew 12: “From its fruit the tree is known”—the fruits are the works (acts) of man
2. Scripture acknowledges fruit of works: “Glorious is the fruit of good works” (Wisdom 3); “He gathers fruit into eternal life” (John 4:36)
3. The naming of virtues as fruits represents a common way of speaking using the act in place of the habit

The Problem of Multiple References vs. Enumeration of Twelve #

• Romans 6:22 speaks of fruit (singular) in sanctification
• Isaiah 27:9: “This is every fruit, to take away sin” (singular)
• Yet Galatians 5 enumerates twelve fruits

Resolution not fully explained in this lecture but referenced: The singular references denote the unified genus; the twelve are species within that genus.

Important Definitions #

Beatitude (Beatitudo) #

More than mere happiness; the ultimate perfection and excellence of the human soul in its operations. Requires not just being ultimate and delectable, but also perfect and excelling in excellence.

Fruit (Fructus) #

• Nominally: What is produced from a plant at its perfection with sweetness
• In spiritual things: An act proceeding from a perfected power of the soul that is both ultimate and delectable
• Specifically, acts of virtue or gifts proceeding from the motion of the Holy Spirit

Translatio (Latin: translatio nominis) #

The carrying over of a name from one domain to another (what Greek calls metaphora). Thomas employs this principle to explain how bodily concepts (fruit, seed, sweetness) are applied to spiritual realities.

Second Act (Actus Secundus) #

In Aristotelian terminology: operation or exercise of a faculty (as opposed to first act, which is the form or habit itself). Fruits pertain to operations as second acts.

Delectable (Delectabilis) #

Capable of being a source of delight or pleasure. For something to be a true fruit, it must possess this quality, not through mere sensory pleasure but through the intrinsic suitability of the act to the perfected soul.

Formal Cause (Causa Formalis) #

The intrinsic nature or essential character of a thing that makes it what it is. In this lecture, used to explain how one can delight in something according to its formal cause (intrinsic character) without it being one’s final end.

Examples & Illustrations #

The Fruit Tree #

Berquist uses the analogy of a fruit farmer: The field and the tree themselves are not fruits; only what is “last” and intended for harvest is the fruit. Similarly, virtues and gifts are not themselves fruits but produce fruits through their operations.

Medicine Coated with Cinnamon #

Anecdote about a boy learning about continence through a coated medicine. The coating makes the medicine pleasant to taste, but the primary purpose is health. This illustrates how something unpleasant (the actual medicine/virtue) can become delectable when properly formed, and how one’s delight can be both in the pleasant form and in the beneficial end simultaneously.

Mozart and Pleasure #

When listening to Mozart’s music, there is genuine pleasure appropriate to the listener. This illustrates how virtuous acts, when performed by the virtuous person, carry an intrinsic delight suitable to that person’s nature.

Questions Addressed #

Q1: Are the fruits of the Holy Spirit acts? #

A: Yes. Though named after virtues (charity, faith, chastity), the names refer to acts rather than the habits themselves. The confusion arises from common usage naming acts by their corresponding virtue. Acts are the second act or operation proceeding from the first act (the habit) of virtue or gift.

Q2: How do Beatitudes differ from fruits? #

A: All Beatitudes are fruits, but not all fruits are Beatitudes. Beatitude requires additional perfection and excellence beyond what fruit requires. Beatitudes are attributed more properly to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, while fruits relate to virtuous operations generally. The relationship is one of genus to species.

Q3: How can one delight in acts not as ends in themselves? #

A: There are two modes of delighting in something: (1) according to the final cause (as the last end), and (2) according to the formal cause (according to its intrinsic character). The virtuous person delights in virtuous acts according to the formal cause—the acts are intrinsically delightful to the perfected soul—without these acts being their final end. God alone is the final end; virtuous acts are delighted in for their formal (intrinsic) excellence.

Q4: Why do some fruits bear names of virtues? #

A: The names of virtues are sometimes taken to mean their acts rather than the habits themselves. Augustine illustrates this: “Faith is to believe what one does not see.” This is not the virtue (habit) of faith but its act. Similarly, in enumerating fruits, virtues are named because their acts are being referred to.

Notable Quotes #

“The name of fruit is carried over from bodily things to spiritual things” (Thomas Aquinas)

• Captures the principle of translatio nominis central to understanding spiritual fruit

“All Beatitudes are able to be called fruits, but not convert it to her—For those are fruits, whatever virtuous works, in which man delights. But Beatitudes are called only those perfect works which also, by reason of their perfection, are more attributed to the gifts than to the virtues.”

• Clarifies the relationship between fruits and Beatitudes: fruits are acts of virtue; Beatitudes are the most perfect of these acts attributed to the gifts

“Sanctification is the unified genus; the twelve are species within it” (implied by Thomas’s resolution)

• Resolves apparent scriptural contradictions about singular vs. plural fruits

“The business of the teacher is to confuse the issue” (Berquist’s pedagogical principle)

• Reflected in the lecturer’s method: apparent contradictions are resolved through careful philosophical analysis