Whether a Man Ought to Love His Mother More Than His Father?
Objection 1: It would seem that a man ought to love his mother more
than his father. For, as the Philosopher says (De Gener. Animal. i,
20), "the female produces the body in generation." Now man receives
his soul, not from his father, but from God by creation, as stated in
the First Part (Q. 90, A. 2; Q. 118). Therefore a man receives more
from his mother than from his father: and consequently he ought to
love her more than him.
Obj. 2: Further, where greater love is given, greater love is due.
Now a mother loves her child more than the father does: for the
Philosopher says (Ethic. ix, 7) that "mothers have greater love for
their children. For the mother labors more in child-bearing, and she
knows more surely than the father who are her children."
Obj. 3: Further, love should be more fond towards those who have
labored for us more, according to Rom. 16:6: "Salute Mary, who hath
labored much among you." Now the mother labors more than the father
in giving birth and education to her child; wherefore it is written
(Ecclus. 7:29): "Forget not the groanings of thy mother." Therefore a
man ought to love his mother more than his father.
_On the contrary,_ Jerome says on Ezech. 44:25 that "man ought to
love God the Father of all, and then his own father," and mentions
the mother afterwards.
_I answer that,_ In making such comparisons as this, we must take the
answer in the strict sense, so that the present question is whether
the father as father, ought to be loved more than the mother as
mother. The reason is that virtue and vice may make such a difference
in such like matters, that friendship may be diminished or destroyed,
as the Philosopher remarks (Ethic. viii, 7). Hence Ambrose [*Origen,
Hom. ii in Cant.] says: "Good servants should be preferred to wicked
children."
Strictly speaking, however, the father should be loved more than the
mother. For father and mother are loved as principles of our natural
origin. Now the father is principle in a more excellent way than the
mother, because he is the active principle, while the mother is a
passive and material principle. Consequently, strictly speaking, the
father is to be loved more.
Reply Obj. 1: In the begetting of man, the mother supplies the
formless matter of the body; and the latter receives its form through
the formative power that is in the semen of the father. And though
this power cannot create the rational soul, yet it disposes the
matter of the body to receive that form.
Reply Obj. 2: This applies to another kind of love. For the
friendship between lover and lover differs specifically from the
friendship between child and parent: while the friendship we are
speaking of here, is that which a man owes his father and mother
through being begotten of them.
The Reply to the Third Objection is evident.
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