Whether the Offering of Sacrifice Is a Special Act of Virtue?
Objection 1: It would seem that the offering of sacrifice is not a
special act of virtue. Augustine says (De Civ. Dei x, 6): "A true
sacrifice is any work done that we may cleave to God in holy
fellowship." But not every good work is a special act of some
definite virtue. Therefore the offering of sacrifice is not a special
act of a definite virtue.
Obj. 2: Further, the mortification of the body by fasting belongs to
abstinence, by continence belongs to chastity, by martyrdom belongs
to fortitude. Now all these things seem to be comprised in the
offering of sacrifice, according to Rom. 12:1, "Present your bodies a
living sacrifice." Again the Apostle says (Heb. 13:16): "Do not
forget to do good and to impart, for by such sacrifices God's favor
is obtained." Now it belongs to charity, mercy and liberality to do
good and to impart. Therefore the offering of sacrifice is not a
special act of a definite virtue.
Obj. 3: Further, a sacrifice is apparently anything offered to God.
Now many things are offered to God, such as devotion, prayer, tithes,
first-fruits, oblations, and holocausts. Therefore sacrifice does not
appear to be a special act of a definite virtue.
_On the contrary,_ The law contains special precepts about
sacrifices, as appears from the beginning of Leviticus.
_I answer that,_ As stated above (I-II, Q. 18, AA. 6, 7), where an
act of one virtue is directed to the end of another virtue it
partakes somewhat of its species; thus when a man thieves in order to
commit fornication, his theft assumes, in a sense, the deformity of
fornication, so that even though it were not a sin otherwise, it
would be a sin from the very fact that it was directed to
fornication. Accordingly, sacrifice is a special act deserving of
praise in that it is done out of reverence for God; and for this
reason it belongs to a definite virtue, viz. religion. But it happens
that the acts of the other virtues are directed to the reverence of
God, as when a man gives alms of his own things for God's sake, or
when a man subjects his own body to some affliction out of reverence
for God; and in this way the acts also of other virtues may be called
sacrifices. On the other hand there are acts that are not deserving
of praise save through being done out of reverence for God: such acts
are properly called sacrifices, and belong to the virtue of religion.
Reply Obj. 1: The very fact that we wish to cling to God in a
spiritual fellowship pertains to reverence for God: and consequently
the act of any virtue assumes the character of a sacrifice through
being done in order that we may cling to God in holy fellowship.
Reply Obj. 2: Man's good is threefold. There is first his soul's good
which is offered to God in a certain inward sacrifice by devotion,
prayer and other like interior acts: and this is the principal
sacrifice. The second is his body's good, which is, so to speak,
offered to God in martyrdom, and abstinence or continency. The third
is the good which consists of external things: and of these we offer
a sacrifice to God, directly when we offer our possession to God
immediately, and indirectly when we share them with our neighbor for
God's sake.
Reply Obj. 3: A "sacrifice," properly speaking, requires that
something be done to the thing which is offered to God, for instance
animals were slain and burnt, the bread is broken, eaten, blessed.
The very word signifies this, since "sacrifice" is so called because
a man does something sacred (_facit sacrum_). On the other hand an
"oblation" is properly the offering of something to God even if
nothing be done thereto, thus we speak of offering money or bread at
the altar, and yet nothing is done to them. Hence every sacrifice is
an oblation, but not conversely. "First-fruits" are oblations,
because they were offered to God, according to Deut. 26, but they are
not a sacrifice, because nothing sacred was done to them. "Tithes,"
however, are neither a sacrifice nor an oblation, properly speaking,
because they are not offered immediately to God, but to the ministers
of Divine worship.
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