Catechism of the Summa

VI. OF WHAT IS IMPLIED IN A HUMAN ACT FOR IT TO BE A GOOD MERITORIOUS ACT, OR A BAD DEMERITORIOUS ACT; AND OF MERIT AND DEMERIT IN GENERAL

(A)

Is it possible to say by what means man on earth and in this life can prepare himself, by way of merit, to receive from God some day in token of reward the beatific vision in which consists man's eternal happiness?

Yes, this he can merit solely by his acts (VI., Prologue).

Of what kind of acts is there question?

Of virtuous acts.

What is meant by "acts of virtue"?

They are those "acts which man performs by his own free will in conformity with God's will under the action of grace" (VI.-CXIV.).

What is necessary that man's acts should proceed from his will?

It is necessary that he perform them spontaneously and with the knowledge that he is their cause (VI. 1-8). 

What is meant by saying that he must perform them spontaneously?

It is meant that he must perform them without constraint or force (VI. 4, 5, 6).

How can man be coerced or forced to do something against his will?

Man can be coerced or forced to do something against his will in two ways: by violence and by fear (VI. 4, 5, 6).

What is understood by violence?

By violence is understood a force exterior to man which fetters his members and impedes him from acting as he wills, or makes him do exteriorly what his will rejects (VI. 4, 5).

What is understood by fear?

By fear is understood an interior movement which makes man will a thing he would not otherwise will, but to which he consents in the present circumstances in order to avoid some evil that threatens (VI. 6).

Is that which one does under violence wholly involuntary?

Yes, that which one does under exterior violence is wholly involuntary (VI. 5).

Why under "exterior" violence?

Because sometimes the word "violence" is taken to signify the internal movement of anger.

In this case and in the case of other interior movements which excite or incline the will may one also speak of involuntariness?

No, in these divers cases one may not speak of involuntariness unless perchance these interior movements be so vehement as to deprive man of the use of his reason (VI. 7).

And when one acts through fear, is the act also involuntary?

When one acts through fear the act is voluntary, but with it there is an admixture of involuntary in this sense, that that which is done is indeed willed, but it is willed with reluctancy and by reason of some evil from which man shrinks (VI. 6). 

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