Whether the Virtues Are Restored Through Penance?
Objection 1: It would seem that the virtues are not restored through
penance. Because lost virtue cannot be restored by penance, unless
penance be the cause of virtue. But, since penance is itself a
virtue, it cannot be the cause of all the virtues, and all the more,
since some virtues naturally precede penance, viz., faith, hope, and
charity, as stated above (Q. 85, A. 6). Therefore the virtues are not
restored through penance.
Obj. 2: Further, Penance consists in certain acts of the penitent.
But the gratuitous virtues are not caused through any act of ours:
for Augustine says (De Lib. Arb. ii, 18: In Ps. 118) that "God forms
the virtues in us without us." Therefore it seems that the virtues
are not restored through Penance.
Obj. 3: Further, he that has virtue performs works of virtue with
ease and pleasure: wherefore the Philosopher says (Ethic. i, 8) that
"a man is not just if he does not rejoice in just deeds." Now many
penitents find difficulty in performing deeds of virtue. Therefore
the virtues are not restored through Penance.
_On the contrary,_ We read (Luke 15:22) that the father commanded his
penitent son to be clothed in "the first robe," which, according to
Ambrose (Expos. in Luc. vii), is the "mantle of wisdom," from which
all the virtues flow together, according to Wis. 8:7: "She teacheth
temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such
things as men can have nothing more profitable in life." Therefore
all the virtues are restored through Penance.
_I answer that,_ Sins are pardoned through Penance, as stated above
(Q. 86, A. 1). But there can be no remission of sins except through
the infusion of grace. Wherefore it follows that grace is infused
into man through Penance. Now all the gratuitous virtues flow from
grace, even as all the powers result from the essence of the soul; as
stated in the Second Part (I-II, Q. 110, A. 4, ad 1). Therefore all
the virtues are restored through Penance.
Reply Obj. 1: Penance restores the virtues in the same way as it
causes grace, as stated above (Q. 86, A. 1). Now it is a cause of
grace, in so far as it is a sacrament, because, in so far as it is a
virtue, it is rather an effect of grace. Consequently it does not
follow that penance, as a virtue, needs to be the cause of all the
other virtues, but that the habit of penance together with the habits
of the other virtues is caused through the sacrament of Penance.
Reply Obj. 2: In the sacrament of Penance human acts stand as matter,
while the formal power of this sacrament is derived from the power of
the keys. Consequently the power of the keys causes grace and virtue
effectively indeed, but instrumentally; and the first act of the
penitent, viz., contrition, stands as ultimate disposition to the
reception of grace, while the subsequent acts of Penance proceed from
the grace and virtues which are already there.
Reply Obj. 3: As stated above (Q. 86, A. 5), sometimes after the
first act of Penance, which is contrition, certain remnants of sin
remain, viz. dispositions caused by previous acts, the result being
that the penitent finds difficulty in doing deeds of virtue.
Nevertheless, so far as the inclination itself of charity and of the
other virtues is concerned, the penitent performs works of virtue
with pleasure and ease, even as a virtuous man may accidentally find
it hard to do an act of virtue, on account of sleepiness or some
indisposition of the body.
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