The Thomistic Institute The Sacraments in General: Grace of the Sacraments | Fr. Thomas Joseph White O.P.
Apr 22, 2024
Fr. Thomas Joseph White O.P., specializing in sacramental theology, discusses the concept of instrumental causality in sacraments, distinguishing between signs and causes. The podcast explores theories of sacramental causality, the power of sacramental grace, and the theology of marriage, emphasizing living out divine grace through sacraments.
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Sacraments Are Instrumental Causes Not Mere Signs
- Aquinas rejects sacramental occasionalism and defends sacraments as signs that also instrumentally cause grace.
- He uses the king/lead coin and violin analogies to show sacraments are instruments elevated by God's principal action to transmit supernatural effect.
Trinity Is The Principal Cause And Humanity The Instrument
- Principal cause of grace is the Trinity; sacraments act as instruments conveying that divine life.
- Aquinas compares Christ's divinity as principal cause and his humanity as the united instrument effecting communication of grace.
Instrumental Elevation Makes Matter Matter
- Aquinas introduces Western theory of instrumental elevation: created matter has an obedient potency to be used by God.
- Matter (water, bread, words) is elevated temporarily to carry divine power, so "matter matters" in sacraments.