Is there any sin which is opposed to this gift that is so supreme and beautiful?
Yes, and it is that lack of wisdom which consists in judging finally of a thing without taking into account, or perhaps even by contemning, the sovereign counsels of God.
What ought this sin to be called?
There is only one fitting name for this sin: it is abject stupidity or supreme folly (XLVI. 1).
Is this sin often found among men?
Yes; for, practically speaking, it is the sin of all those who lead a life apart from or in defiance of the things of God.
Is there an insuperable opposition between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God?
Yes, for each regards the other as folly.
In what does the opposition consist?
It consists in this, that the world esteems those wise who arrange their life in such a way as to lack none of the things of this world, and such people seek their last end in the good things of this life in contempt of the Good of God which is promised us in another life; whereas the wisdom of the children of God consists in subordinating all the things of the present life to the possession of God in heaven.
Are these two kinds of life distinct necessarily in every way?
Yes, because the last end of each is absolutely different; and it is the last end which rules all in a life.
It is then only by practising the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity and cultivating the corresponding gifts that man can tend towards his true final end, and is able as it behoves to view that last end in all the acts of his life?
Yes, of a truth this is so.
Next - The Catechism of the Summa - SECOND SECTION - A DETAILED SURVEY OF MAN'S RETURN TO GOD - XIII. OF THE MORAL VIRTUES: OF PRUDENCE, ITS NATURE AND ELEMENTS, AND OF ITS ATTENDANT VIRTUES; OF THE SPECIES OF PRUDENCE, NAMELY, INDIVIDUAL, DOMESTIC, POLITICAL, AND MILITARY (A)
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