The Divine Motio of the Gifts

An excerpt from my new book, Affective Knowledge in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas

Aquinas defines the gifts “as something given by God according to the order of His own motion (datur a Deo in ordine ad motionem ipsius), something, to wit, that makes man to follow well the promptings (instinctus) of God.” The decisive feature of the gifts, then, is their unique moving principle, namely the Holy Spirit. The classical image that expresses the dynamism of this Spirit-led action in the life of the believer is a sailboat that moves by the power of oarsman and is driven forward by the wind. This image (often mistakenly attributed to Aquinas himself) originates with the seventeenth-century Spanish commentor, John of St Thomas:

This interior illumination, this experiential taste of divine things and of other mysteries of the faith, excites our affections so that they tend to the object of virtue by a higher mode than these very same ordinary virtues do themselves. This happens to the extent that our affections obey a rule and measure dependent upon higher realities, viz., that interior prompting (instinctus) of the Holy Spirit—according to the rule of faith—and his illumination. As a result, the gifts effect a different kind of moral action, that is, they establish a distinctive moral specification; indeed we are led to a divine and supernatural end by a mode that differs from the rule formed by our own efforts and labors (even in the case of infused virtue), that is, one formed and founded upon the rule of the Holy Spirit. In a similar way, the work of oarsmen moves a ship differently than the wind does, even if the waves waft it toward the same port.

The oars and the wind represent two moving forces: what Aquinas in his early theology will call a “human mode” and a “super human mode.” Both are divine gifts; both are supernatural dispositions that effect divine activity. Further, both aim for the same celestial harbor. But their mode of operation is distinct. The infused virtues operate in a human mode whereas the gifts of the Holy Spirit operate according to a “super human mode.”

The image of the sailboat moved by the extrinsic force of the wind is a compelling metaphor for the graced movement of the gifts that move the human person according to the primary motio of the Holy Spirit. Not only is wind (pneuma) a prominent New Testament description of the Holy Spirit, but the image homes in on the non-competitive—but perfective—character of the divine action proper to the gifts. In no way does the wind impair the boat’s per se operation; rather, when the wind fills the sails, the boat takes off with an exhilaration, ease, and power that, while wholly congruent with its nature, lies beyond its native powers. Indeed, one would say that a sailboat looks most properly itself not when moored listless in port, but when, enlivened by the wind, “the vessel puffs her sail” and drives through the waves under the external force of the wind. The very fact that the boat is equipped with sails suggests a disposition (or obediential potency) to be moved by the wind. In like manner, the soul animated by the gifts of the Holy Spirit is driven, but not violently, that is, not contrary to its nature. Rather, because of an inherent disposition (obediential potency) to be elevated by grace, the gifts perfect what is proper and conveniens (but not owed) to human nature. In a word, the gifts perfect what is connatural to the human person.