Thursday, September 21, 2006

Q44 A4: Whether God is the final cause of all things?

Yes. The divine goodness is the end of all things because it does not belong to the First Agent, Who is agent only, to act for the acquisition of some end; He intends only to communicate His perfection, which is His goodness.

Every creature, however, intends to acquire its own perfection, which is the likeness of the divine perfection and goodness.

It is said (Proverbs 16:4): "The Lord has made all things for Himself."

RO1: To act from need belongs only to an imperfect agent, which by its nature is both agent and patient. But this does not belong to God, and therefore He alone is the most perfectly liberal giver, because He does not act for His own profit, but only for His own goodness.

RO3: All things desire God as their end, when they desire some good thing, whether this desire be intellectual or sensible, or natural, i.e. without knowledge; because nothing is good and desirable except forasmuch as it participates in the likeness to God.