Whether a Character Can Be Blotted Out from the Soul?
Objection 1: It seems that a character can be blotted out from the
soul. Because the more perfect an accident is, the more firmly does
it adhere to its subject. But grace is more perfect than a character;
because a character is ordained unto grace as to a further end. Now
grace is lost through sin. Much more, therefore, is a character so
lost.
Obj. 2: Further, by a character a man is deputed to the Divine
worship, as stated above (AA. 3, 4). But some pass from the worship
of God to a contrary worship by apostasy from the faith. It seems,
therefore, that such lose the sacramental character.
Obj. 3: Further, when the end ceases, the means to the end should
cease also: thus after the resurrection there will be no marriage,
because begetting will cease, which is the purpose of marriage. Now
the exterior worship to which a character is ordained, will not
endure in heaven, where there will be no shadows, but all will be
truth without a veil. Therefore the sacramental character does not
last in the soul for ever: and consequently it can be blotted out.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (Contra Parmen. ii): "The Christian
sacraments are not less lasting than the bodily mark" of military
service. But the character of military service is not repeated, but
is "recognized and approved" in the man who obtains the emperor's
forgiveness after offending him. Therefore neither can the
sacramental character be blotted out.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 3), in a sacramental character
Christ's faithful have a share in His Priesthood; in the sense that
as Christ has the full power of a spiritual priesthood, so His
faithful are likened to Him by sharing a certain spiritual power with
regard to the sacraments and to things pertaining to the Divine
worship. For this reason it is unbecoming that Christ should have a
character: but His Priesthood is compared to a character, as that
which is complete and perfect is compared to some participation of
itself. Now Christ's Priesthood is eternal, according to Ps. 109:4:
"Thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech."
Consequently, every sanctification wrought by His Priesthood, is
perpetual, enduring as long as the thing sanctified endures. This is
clear even in inanimate things; for the consecration of a church or
an altar lasts for ever unless they be destroyed. Since, therefore,
the subject of a character is the soul as to its intellective part,
where faith resides, as stated above (A. 4, ad 3); it is clear that,
the intellect being perpetual and incorruptible, a character cannot
be blotted out from the soul.
Reply Obj. 1: Both grace and character are in the soul, but in
different ways. For grace is in the soul, as a form having complete
existence therein: whereas a character is in the soul, as an
instrumental power, as stated above (A. 2). Now a complete form is in
its subject according to the condition of the subject. And since the
soul as long as it is a wayfarer is changeable in respect of the
free-will, it results that grace is in the soul in a changeable
manner. But an instrumental power follows rather the condition of the
principal agent: and consequently a character exists in the soul in
an indelible manner, not from any perfection of its own, but from the
perfection of Christ's Priesthood, from which the character flows
like an instrumental power.
Reply Obj. 2: As Augustine says (Contra Parmen. ii), "even apostates
are not deprived of their baptism, for when they repent and return to
the fold they do not receive it again; whence we conclude that it
cannot be lost." The reason of this is that a character is an
instrumental power, as stated above (ad 1), and the nature of an
instrument as such is to be moved by another, but not to move itself;
this belongs to the will. Consequently, however much the will be
moved in the contrary direction, the character is not removed, by
reason of the immobility of the principal mover.
Reply Obj. 3: Although external worship does not last after this
life, yet its end remains. Consequently, after this life the
character remains, both in the good as adding to their glory, and in
the wicked as increasing their shame: just as the character of the
military service remains in the soldiers after the victory, as the
boast of the conquerors, and the disgrace of the conquered.
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