What does the active life entail?
The active life entails all the acts of the moral virtues, and most especially the acts of the virtue of prudence; and the reason is because the precise object of the active life is to regulate, as it behoves, all things of the present life (CLXXXI. 1-4).
Of these two lives which is the more perfect?
Incontestably the contemplative life is the more perfect, because even on earth it brings with it a foretaste of heaven (CLXXXII. 1).
Is it possible for anyone to live both these kinds of lives at the same time?
Yes, it is possible to lead both the contemplative and active life in what is called a state of perfection.
What is understood by a state of perfection?
It is a certain condition of life in which man lives in a fixed and permanent way, apart from the ties which make him a slave to the necessities of the present life, making him free to occupy himself exclusively with the things of God (CLXXXIII. 1, 4).
Next - The Catechism of the Summa - LIX. OF THE TWO KINDS OF LIFE, VIZ., OF THE ACTIVE AND THE CONTEMPLATIVE; OF THE STATE OF PERFECTION-OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE; AND OF THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN THE CHURCH (D)
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