Prima Secundae
Lecture 261: The Nature and Figurative Character of Ceremonial Precepts

Transcript
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Now we get to these interesting things here. We don't know about these ceremonial laws. Consequently, we're not to consider about the ceremonial precepts. And first, about these in themselves, right? Secundum se. How do you say it in English? About these by themselves, right? Secondly, about the what? Cause of them, right? It's going to be question 102. And third, about the what? Duration of them. And that would be 103, right? So he's not talking about the effect of them, is he, there? It's like he does with love, huh? The causes of love and the effects of love. Now about the first, four things are asked. First is, what is the reason for the what? Precepts of the ceremonial precepts, huh? Secondly, whether they are figuralia, right? I've got to get that word figure down, you know? Interesting word. Third, whether they act to be what? Many of them, right? And fourth, about the distinction of them, huh? To the first one, then, one goes forward thus. It seems that the reason of the ceremonial precepts does not consist in this, that they pertain to the, what? Worship of God, huh? For in the old law, there are given to the Jews certain precepts about the abstinence of what? Food. As is clear in the letter of Eccles 11. And also about abstaining from some, what? Vestimates. Some clothing, right? As is said in Leviticus 19. That the vest, which is what? For new parts, you're not put on, huh? This is really crazy, isn't it? And also what is commanded, the number is 15, that they make, what? Yeah. To the, what? Fridges in the quarters of their garments. Yeah. And that's where they're going to put their little law or something on, isn't it? They have those things. But these are not moral precepts, because they do not remain in the new, what? Law. Nor are they judicial, because they do not pertain to the, what? Judgment among men. Therefore, they're ceremonial. But in no way do they seem to pertain to the worship of God. Therefore, this is not the reason for the ceremonial precepts that they pertain to the worship of God. I'd hate to be in a debate with this guy. Yeah, yeah. But our side, you know. Moreover, some say, mine is a reference here in the footnote here to Albert Magnusson, Albert the Great. Some say that the ceremonial precepts are said those ones that pertain to, what? Selenities. Which are said from, what? Plaxes. Plaxes. Yeah. Which are? Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Let. Rabbi. Rabbi. Moses. Says. It's Moses Maimonides, I guess. Rabbi Moses. Yes. Because they reference down here to Doct Perplex. The famous work of his, right? On 1139 and died in year 12, right? Yeah. I was over there where he was, you know, and I was over there with my wife there in Spain. Well, Rabbi Moses says that the ceremonial precepts are said those whose reason is not manifest, but many things pertain to the worship of God having manifest reason, as the observation of the, what, Sabbath, and the celebration of the Passover, right? And the, what? Yeah. And many others whose reason is a sign of love. Therefore, the ceremonial are not those things which pertain to the worship of God. But again, this is what is said in Exodus chapter 18. I will be to this people and those things which pertain to God and, what, the ceremonies and the rite of, what, worshiping. The answer should be said, this has been said above, the ceremonial precepts determine the moral precepts in order to, what, God, just as the judicial determine the moral precepts in order to one's, what, neighbor. Well, that's an interesting statement there to see what those things, now they pertain to what's gone before, right? And therefore, the ceremonial, properly I said, those ones that pertain to the, what, worship of God, huh? And the ratio of this name was laid down above where the ceremonial precepts were distinguished from the others, huh? It's back to question 99, article 3. I'll go back there or not. The moral ones, yeah. In the body of the article it says, huh? Which culti ceremonia are called Quasimunia, it is dona, from Cereris, which is said to be the god of, what? Fruits. Fruits, as some say, right, huh? Because from the fruits, which from the fruits were offered, what? Offerings to God, right? Or as Maximus Valerius refers, the name of ceremonia, reintroduced to signifying the divine cultion before the Latins. May certain, what? Opido, what's that? Mixed room, which is called Quasimunia. Okay, it's kind of more of a patchy dance, huh? Now, to the first objection, right, huh? But there's other things that don't seem to pertain to the, what? Worship of God, right? As a man. can't look before and after right it's objectory the first effort should be said that to the worship of god pertains not only sacrifices and other things of this sort which seem to be amelior to god right but also the debita preparatio the suitable preparation of those worshiping god for his what cult right just as in other things whatever are preparatory to the end fall under the knowledge which is about the what end now these precepts which are given the law about the what clothing right and foods of those which have been god and other things of this sort pertain to a certain preparation of these what yeah that they'd be suitable to the worship of god right just as also certain what they use in special observances were in the service of the what king once also they are contained under the ceremonial precepts so you should not drink wine before you go into say mass or something right you know should the doctor go in you know it's like the doctor you should not be doing having a drink i imagine the doctor comes out of some of these operations he needs a drink but maybe before it goes in he shouldn't have one right now yeah yeah that's true you need to be prepared for him he's got a loose tongue that guy you know it's easy enough to solve right now second one is about a what the the name right now that seems to come from celebrities right now to second should be said that that exposition of the name is not seem to be much what suitable especially since it is not found much in the law that what in the standards the canals were kindled but in the what the lamb with the oil of others has prepared as is said in leviticus 24 nevertheless it can be said in the solemnities all those things are pertained to the what worship of god should be most diligently observed right and according to this in the observations of the solemnities all things ceremonial are what included it's like a participle like we have the word duro this is lingura something that's lit the same form vigil what does that mean you stay awake yeah this is the one that the third one is taking again a etymology here from share in greek right which is salve right and they say what pertains therefore to whatever we're saved by and not just worship of god to the third should be said that neither is that exposition the name much what fitting right now for the name of ceremonia is not greek but what latin nevertheless can be said that since the salvation of man is from god especially those precepts seeming to be rules of salvation which order man to what unless the ceremonial ones are said those which pertain to the what cult of god because that's most important what vatican two say about the mass it's central role there its power comes from that now the fourth objection here which is taken from this text of what moses right moses that reason for ceremonial things is in some way probable not from this that those things that said to ceremonia whose reason is not manifest but because this is something what falling upon it because those precepts pertaining to the cult of god must be what figurality there's something hidden therefore in them right hence it is that their reason is not so what manifest there's a little bit of truth in there he's being nice to rabbi moses this is a pre-christian ecumenical yeah there's a lot of truth in there there's a lot of truth in there there's a lot of truth in there there's a lot of truth in there there's a lot of truth in there there's a lot of truth in there there's a lot of truth in there there's a lot of truth in there Now we're going to get to the nice stuff here in Figuralia. To the second one goes forward thus. It seems that the ceremonial precepts are not Figuralia, right? First, it pertains to the office of any teacher that he thus pronounced, huh? That he might be easily understood, huh? As Augustine says in the fourth book on the teaching of Christ, Christian teaching. And this would seem to be most necessary in the giving of the law. Because the precepts of the law are proposed to the, what? Population, right? The people. Whence the law ought to be, what? Manifest, as Isidore says. If, therefore, the ceremonial precepts are given in figure of something, it seems unsuitably to be treated these precepts of Moses. He does not expound what they, what? Figure. They just say it. They just say it. That would be hilarious. Moreover, those things which are done in the cult of God, right, in the worship of God, most of all ought to have, what? Anastata, non-decency, right? He might say. We would call that transparency today. But to make some things, to represent other things, seems to be theatrical. For a while. For a while. For a while. For a while. For a while. For a while. For a while. For a while. For a while. For a while. For a while. For a while. To make some things below our mind, up to the level of our mind, right? Right. It's proper to the, what? To Scripture, yeah. To take something that's above our mind, to bring it down to our mind, you know? So, what is Dante trying to do? He's more like imitating what Scripture does with the metaphor, right, than what Homer does, you know, with the metaphor or simile. So, yeah, Dante is good for many reasons, but I mean, you've got to realize he's doing something kind of different than what Homer's doing or what Shakespeare's doing, right? And they say the Trojan War might have been some kind of a pirate region or something like that, you know? But when he gets back, you know, you know, I'm always reminded of, you know, it makes like a, you know, it's kind of a symbol of the whole of what human life, right? There's much more meaning, right? You know, than such things as no factions have in real life. It gives more meaning, right? It's a little bit like what Mozart does in music, too, you know? It gives the emotion seem to have more meaning, right? I've been listening to a new piece of Mozart and I run into Telke Sirich what Mozart was doing, you know. I said, Dwayne, you think that has more meaning than it does, you know? I mean, you listen to Mozart's music, right? And of course, you know, it seems like he's saying something, right, huh? You know? I used to tell him, you know, that clarinet can tell Mozart is talking to you, you know? I said, they're listening like kids. They're listening, you know? They get to listen really close, you know? He's going to say something, you know? I mean, that's like what the poet does, right, huh? He gives the emotion seem to have more meaning, right? It's an amazing way what he does, you know? So used to that, then you get to Dante and you're kind of, you know, you're kind of too upside down, you know, to read him, right? So it's like Paul VI's favorite poets were Dante and Shakespeare, right, huh? And so he means kind of, you know, to do those. For in theaters are presented those things which long ago were done there, some other things, right? They're presented some other things, right, to the things that are done there. Therefore, it seems that these things ought not to be part of the worship of God. But the ceremonials are ordered to the worship of God, as has been said. So, therefore, the ceremonials ought not to be figuralia. You know, a lot of times they'll say, you know, that the songs are poems. You hear people say that, right? You've got to be very careful about that, right, I think, huh? The songs. They're basically prayers, right, huh? Yeah. And, you know, even Thomas' Arote Devote is a prayer, right, huh? They call it the Rhythmus Estome. But Shakespeare's songs are really, what, poetry, yeah, yeah, representations, you know. People are kind of, you know, people are kind of fuzzy in their thinking, you know, about these things. Yeah, yeah. Moreover, Augustine says in Inchiridion that God is most worshipped by faith, hope, and charity. But the precepts which are given about faith, hope, and charity are not figuralia. Therefore, the ceremonial precepts ought not to be figuralia. Moreover, the Lord says, John 4, chapter, God is a spirit, right, huh? And those who adore him ought to adore him in spirit and in truth. But a figure is not the truth itself. Rather, it is divided against it, right? Therefore, the ceremonials which you retain to the worship of God ought not to be figuralia. Against this is what the Apostle says to the Colossians, huh? That no one judge you in, what, food or drink or in part of the festival day or in the new moon, is it, or the Sabbaths, which are the umrah of future things, huh, shadows. What do they call that? There was something in Shakespeare's time there where they called the actors the shadows or something like that. I think there was a use of that, you know. So you've got to distinguish these things, right? The best of these are but shadows or something like that, it says in the plays, right? Answer, it should be said, this has been said, the ceremonial precepts are said to be those ones which order us in some way to the cult or worship of what? Of God, huh? But there is a two-fold worship of God. The inward one and the what? It should be et, my Latin text is ex, exterior. It should be et, probably. There's our, yeah, two-fold worship of God, the interior or inward and the exterior, outward. For since man is put together from a soul and a body, both ought to be applied to the worship of what? God. That the soul worships by an inward worship and the body by an exterior one. That reminds me of Thomas saying, you know, doesn't he give one of the reasons there for using metaphors, that every part of man ought to be subject to God, even the imagination. And so by metaphors, in the sense, your imagination is subject to what? God, huh? I want to give a talk there to the seminarian. God, I want to give a talk there. there by assumption there about the uh you know the burning bush right and so on right and the burning bush one way of understanding is the symbolism of it right is that the what the flame represents the divinity of christ and the bush is what humanity and they're united but the one is not swallowed up by the other right and but then you go on you say well why is the is is uh fire a metaphor for god right now when you go to the simplicity of fire right for the simplicity of the divine substance but the light of the fire for the divine understanding right and the warmth of the fire for the divine love right and you can also say that the fire is also um apart from that you said there you can see it's also a metaphor for what the trinity right where the fire in a sense represents god the father and from the fire there proceeds light and heat the sun and the holy spirit right so beautiful to see that right now but uh you're kind of bringing the imagination in too right and the sensible things so even that part is subject to god right just like the feet are when you're genuflect and so on right it's it's an exterior worship of god right isn't it genuflecting right but inwardly you're you're worshiping god as augustine says in that quote there most by faith hope and charity right now so that's really beautiful to see that since you know thomas will say you know people don't see the importance of this you know they don't they confess themselves not to be men you know because you're composed or put composed means put together right you're put together from the soul and the body right now since therefore a man is put together from soul and body both ought to be applied to worshiping god that the soul worship him by an inward worship and the body by but outward once it is said in psalm 83 huh core male which i suppose is what inward right and caromeo my heart and my flesh they exalt in the living god oh god you are my god whom i seek for you my flesh pines and my soul thirst right another one of the psalms and it says that and just as the body is ordered to god to the soul so the outward worship is ordered to the interior worship that's beautifully said huh it's magnificent in fact now the inward worship consists in this that the soul be in fact joined to god both by the understanding and by the affections and therefore according as in diverse ways the understanding and the affection of the one worshiping god are joined to god what right according to this are diversely the exterior acts of man applied to the what worship of god now in the state of future beatitude the understanding the human understanding will see what the divine truth in itself and seems and therefore the outward cult does not consist in some figure but only in the praise of god which comes forth or goes forth from the inward what knowledge and affection according to that of isaiah chapter 51 joy and what gladness are found in it the grace the action of the grace the action of things and the what locks that's the voice huh loudy sound and the voice of what praise so there's going to be some kind of vocal in in in heaven right now okay and we'll all sing on key and let me know there'll be no problem about hitting the high note well you know what what was was it uh lewis you know c.s lewis said uh called hell the kingdom of noise right you know just the opposite of but in the state of the present life we are not able to look upon the divine truth in itself but it is necessary that the ray of the divine truth enlighten us under some sensible figures as dionysius says in the first chapter of the celestial hierarchy and thomas often quotes that particular statement of dionysius huh we thought it was the eryapidite right i don't know they think they don't the eryapidite but yeah yeah diversely nevertheless according to the diverse state of human knowledge now in the he's talking about the difference now between the old law and the new letter in the old law neither the divine truth in itself was made manifest nor was there what brought forth put forth the way of what arriving at it as the apostle says in the epistle to the hebrews right well you know when thomas gets to the third part he says about christ who secundum quad homo has via tendendi in god right well christ does not altogether manifest in the old testament right and therefore is necessary that the outward worship of the old law not only was figurative right of the future truth to be made manifest in the fatherland and patria but also to be figurative of christ who is the road on the via leading one to the truth of the fatherland but in the state of the new law this road now is what revealed whence this is necessary to be what prefigured as something in the future but to be commemorated to the mode of the past or the present he says do this in memory of me doesn't he say that with the eucharist but it's necessary only to prefigure the future truth of glory not yet what revealed and this is what the apostle says to the hebrews chapter 10 the law had the what shadow of the future what goods not the what things for an umbra is something less than the what is as the word the image retains to the new law the shadow to the what old christ thomas is always quoting the uh isaiah i mean i mean isaac there there where he is philosopher some theologian there maybe jewish origin um did we have a uh brady coos or something like that mind uh overshadowed mine uh because uh we know things by discourse and under you know sensible things and so on it's interesting what he says here about this is given under the form of bread and wine because you're being nourished by this by the sacrament to the first therefore it should be sent honest about the idea on this objection saying you got to be clear with your teacher right okay It belongs to the office of the teacher that he pronounced those things, that they might be easily understood, right? To the first, therefore, it should be said that the divine thing should not be revealed to men except according to their capacity, right? Otherwise, it would be given to them the matter for, what? Falling down, right? When they, what? Condemn or have contempt for those things which they are not able to, what? Grasp, huh? And therefore, it would be more useful that under the, what? What veil of certain, what figures, the divine mysteries be treated or handed over to the rude people. The multitude, huh? That thus, at least, they might implicitly know them, right, huh? When they, those figures, to the honor of God, huh? Hmm? Yeah. Rudimentary, yeah. It was Augustine's thing, the Deerubus, and catechetical instruction books. Yeah, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing, catechizing. Right? To the second, it should be said, that just as podika things are not grasped by human reason on account of the defect of truth which is in them, right? So also, human reason is not perfectly able to grasp those things that are, what, divine on account of them exceeding the truth of them, right? And therefore, in both cases, there is work or need for representation to sensible figures, right? But for instance, it's the opposite reason, right? So when he talks about metaphors, when scripture should use metaphors, he says that the poet uses metaphors in the scripture because something is beyond our mind, right? But in different directions, right? Once it gets above our mind, and that's what scripture uses metaphors because it's talking about something above our mind, and the poet uses metaphors to do something, what? Below. Below, yeah. It's very subtle, you know, very subtle, you know, but people can get very confused about that, right? You know, when they start talking about the Psalms as if they were poems or something, you know? Yeah, when they form in her career on analyzing the Bible as literature. Yeah. Which kind of is the point. Yeah, that's why they snuck the Bible, though, into the public schools, I guess, though, you know, as literature, right? Because literature can be taught, but you can't see the Bible, I mean, you can't see the Word of God, I mean, you can't do that, but if you consider it as literature, that's kind of... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but some Catholic teachers, you know, saw this as a way of getting a little bit of the Bible in it. There's no more ideas, yeah. Yeah. Getting it off. Yeah, yeah. That's... You know, when you were conceived, you were a piece of trash in your mother's womb. And I was like, I was never a piece of trash in your mother's womb. Then he'd say, don't forget it. That's good. Who did this? The school teachers. The school teachers, the public schools. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How else did it work? Very good. Very good. So you can compare that to the thing you read at the beginning of the first question, right? The Summa, right? There's an article on that subject, I don't know, ninth article, something like that. Okay. Question one. Okay, to the third one, right? He's talking about the quote from Augusta now. That God is Maxime, right? He's most of all worshipped by faith, hope, and charity, right? Augustine there speaks of the inward, what? Worship of God, right, huh? To which, nevertheless, ought to be, what? Ordered the exterior cult, right? And similarly, it should be said to the fourth, because through Christ, men are more, what? Fully introduced to the, what? Spiritual worship of God, huh? He's mostly worshipped in spirit and truth, huh? We were talking about that before, you know, how the profession of faith of Peter, you know, ascends from the humanity of Christ to his divinity, right? Who do men say that I am? You know, these crazy opinions about what he is. And who do you say? Well, Darth the Christ, the son of the living God, right? So he's Christ as man, right? So he ascends from his human nature to his, what? Divine nature, you know? You know, of course, the Church Fathers point out that in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you have an account of the temptation of Christ, right? Especially in Matthew and Luke, but it's mentioned in Mark, too, you know? There's none in John. Why is that, huh? Well, John's emphasizing more the divinity of Christ, right, than Matthew, Mark, or Luke. And there, emphasizing, compared to John, you know, more the human nature of him, and his being tempted. Obviously, it pertains to his, what, human nature, right, huh? And so it's significant, huh, that there's no account of his temptation in John, right, huh? But you have the same motive that you have in Matthew's, the profession of Peter, of, of, the profession of his faith, right? And so you're kind of ascending from the human to the divine, huh? I think I was mentioning that before when I was reading to Matthew there, the container, the one from Chrysostom, right? Where Chrysostom, you know, he's saying, you should love him with your whole heart and your whole soul and your whole, what? Your whole mind, yeah. He takes the soul as you're referring to this more spiritual, what, love of God, right, huh? And the heart there is more, what? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm also thinking, I'm reminded of that when I think, read of St. Alfonso de Goury, right, where he has these passions, he has three meditations, right, that he wrote in his life of, on the passion of our Lord, right, huh? And they're about, each of them is about 10 years apart from the other one, right, you know? And they give the years when they were published, you know, and there's 10 years, and I think one is 12 or 13 years, and then, you know, but they're beautiful. But he's kind of, he has beautiful quotes from Augustine and other people about the importance of learning to love God by meditating on his passion. Well, you're, that's more sensible, though, right, huh? In the suffering of Christ, right, huh? And, you know, as they always say, you know, if somebody had died for you, you wouldn't forget that, you know? I remember seeing a movie there, you know, where it begins, you know, with the guy going out there with his family, you know, but this guy's grave, you know, and then, you know, you go back to what led to this, you know, but he's kind of, you know, breaking up, you know, and so on. So, I mean, gee, this guy died for me, you know, and so on. And I would be able to go home and marry, have children, grandchildren, and so on. And, you know, well, this is, this is more, more closer to the body, right? The way Augustine, the way Chrysostom understands that, right? Did I mention that, that the birth certificate of Mozart, by the way, did I mention that? It actually says, John Chrysostom, Wolfgang Amadeus. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, John Chrysostom, yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. Where did you learn John Chrysostom? You learned it recently? Yeah, yeah, I just read it, yeah, I was reading something there, something about Mozart, you know? So, John Chrysostom, you know, so. That's kind of appropriate, because the thing I was talking about Mozart, in this other way, but, I mean, you know, in the way it's appropriate to the musician, right, is to give the, represent the emotions and to give them more meaning than they have in real life, right? You know, they seem to be more intelligible or more, you know? I always, I always, I always play for my, the students come on Tuesday night there, you know, D major there, quintet there, you know, which I see as a representation of the emotions of the philosopher. his discovery there in the second movement, you know, but I'm convinced that's what it's about, you know. It's really beautiful the way he does it, you know, he has the meaning of these things, right? You said about the soldier, I think I know all of that story, but I haven't seen the movie, but it reminded me of me when I was a retired school teacher, you know, he was in Korea, he was in the middle of that, he's a commanding officer, commanding officer, oh, yes sir, are you married? No sir. Well I am, I have three beautiful children at home. I'm sticking out to see who's shooting at us. He said that actually? Yeah. That was good. We always admired my mother's, my uncle, my brother there, Uncle Jim, you know, because he volunteered, he went in the First World War, right, he was underage, right, but he volunteered anyway and he got in. And then Second World War, of course he was overage, he volunteered again, got in, he said I'm a bachelor, I don't have any family to take care of, you know, so I should go in, you know. Yes. And so we always admired Jim, you know, yeah. Come out to the house, you know, if he had a bowl of candy, he'd talk in there, get you in his mouth, you know. So we'd go after trying to do it ourselves, we'd probably miss, you know. But I guess when he was in high school, Chris, in the hometown there, you know, he was a big basketball star, you know, and so on. So my mother says, you know, they played those little towns in Minnesota, you know, and they just figured out the feeling would be so, you know, conflict between the two towns, you know, and they played their high schools playing, and then when your own brother's playing, you know, they really get involved, I would say, and so on. So I don't know if we have time for another article, or we have to stop here. This is such a beautiful thing here, this article too. You want to go on that next one here about the multa? Okay. Thank you.