The Human Activity of the Word

HE THOMIST A SPECULATIVE QUARTERLY REVIEW OF THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY EDITORS: THE DoMINICAN FATHERS OF THE PROVINCE oF ST. JosEPH Publishers: The Thomist Press, Washington 17, D. C. VoL. XXII APRIL, 1959 No.2 THE HUMAN ACTIVITY THE WORD HE WORD was made :flesh, and dwelt amongst us!' 1 By these words the Holy Spirit has revealed to us not only the mystery of the Incarnation, but also the mystery of the human life of the Incarnate Word. By these words we realise that the human life and the human love of Jesus Christ are the human life and the human love of the divine Person of the Son God; and we are led to see the human activity of Christ, a personal and proper activity of the Word, an activity in which the Eternal Father and the Holy Spirit do not properly share, an activity, which, in a singular and exclusive sense, belongs to the Person of the Word. Recent discussion has raised questions of no little importance in penetrating this aspect of the human activity of our Saviour. H we wish to enter into the meaning of this mystery, we must determine the precise way in which the human activity, the human life, and the human love of Christ belong exclusively to 1 John, 1:14. 143 144 KEVIN F. O'SHEA the Person of the Word. In attempting this precision, theologians have asked: Is the exclusive attribution of this activity to the Word anything more than a simple relationship? Is there not rat~er a physical communication of the divine Person of the Word, and of it alone, to this activity? Could such a communication of the Word be thought of, not so much as a static and inert conjunction with the human activity of Christ, but rather as an active, dynamic influence exercised by the Word over this activity? If this were so, could we go on to say that the Person of the Word was the sole ruling, governing, and dominating power over this activity, and its only ultimate source? Is the human activity of Christ a radiation and a reflection of the exclusive personal beauty of the Word, a movement and an energy stemming from and produced by the Word alone? These questions are full of meaning for the theologian of the Incarnation. They may open new vistas for many who instinctively wish to center their spiritual lives on the Person and the virtues of the Redeemer. Above all, they come close to the fundamental mysteries of our faith, those of the Trinity and the Incarnation, and they demand a solution which the faith that seeks understanding will ever strive to find. The present study is not meant to be an exhaustive treatment of the problem. It will aim principally at three things: to elaborate the issues involved in the problem itself, indicating an avenue for fruitful investigation; to show the harmony existing between the dogmas of the Trinity and Incarnation as contemplated by St. Thomas Aquinas, detailing the application to our question; and to recall and develop an often forgotten element in St. Thomas' teaching on the Incarnation by which most of the positive and inspiring values in the above questions can be maintained in full vigour. These three points will be presented in the three parts of this study: I. The problem of the dynamism of the Word. II. The mystery of the presence of the Word. m. The concept of pure formal actuation by the Word. THE HUMAN ACTIVITY OF THE WORD 145 I. THE PRoBLEM OF THE DYNAMISM OF THE WoRD. The question The issues we raised above may be summed up in this brief formula: does the Person of the Word exert on the human activity of Christ, a causal influence which is exclusive to Himself , divine, physical and active? Let us explain these terms. We speak of the Person of the Word. It is of faith that Christ the Man is the Person of the Word made flesh,2 and that He is a true Agent and Operator through His human nature.3 The Incarnate possesses a human activity. By this human activity we understand every single operation...