The Supernatural

Chapter IX: The Supernatural

The Supernatural is defined as that which exceeds a created nature, inasmuch as it exceeds the powers and exigencies of any created nature, although it is not repugnant to that nature, and can gratuitously perfect it.

Article I: Catholic and Heterodox Ideas of the Supernatural

I. Preliminary Statement. Having analysed the meaning of “Revelation,” “Mystery,” and “Dogma,” it is now necessary to establish the possibility of the existence of the supernatural order, and of its revelation, against the Rationalists. It will be shown that Christianity is not a “superior form of the natural evolution of the religious sense,” but a religion essentially and truly supernatural — and infallibly true.

The nominal definition of the Supernatural explains the meaning of the words themselves: the word “nature” here means the interdependent complexity of all things in the universe, acting according to fixed laws; hence the Supernatural is above the laws of nature. A supernatural effect cannot be produced by a natural cause; a supernatural truth cannot be deduced by the natural power of the intellect.

II. Two Kinds of Supernatural. The Supernatural is twofold. (1) Supernatural miracles, which exceed the power and exigency of created nature, but do not exceed the cognoscibility of the human intellect. (2) Supernatural mysteries in the strict sense, which exceed not only the power and exigency, but even the very cognoscibility and appetitive desire, of any created intellectual nature.

III. Heterodox Ideas of the Supernatural. Pantheists, who maintain that the nature of God and the nature of the universe are identical, must and do deny the existence of the supernatural order altogether — according to their teaching, God is merely the immanent principle of all natural evolution. Deists admit an essential distinction between God and the universe, but deny God’s action in human affairs, and hence deny the possibility of any miracle. Semi-Rationalists admit an essential distinction between God and nature, and admit also the possibility of miraculous intervention, but deny, as regards God, any real distinction between the order of natural mysteries — such as the compatibility of Divine immutability with Divine freedom — and the order of supernatural mysteries, such as the Trinity; hence they admit the possibility of a “supernatural effect” only in the sense of what is sometimes called the “preternatural,” but not of supernatural grace and glory in the strict sense.

The Determinists claim for the laws of nature the same necessity claimed for the axioms of mathematics; a “miracle,” if it exists at all, is for them only an extraordinary natural fact which has not yet been explained, and which the religious sense mistakenly attributes to God. A “miracle” thus has, for them, no ontological or objective value, though it may retain a merely symbolical value, if it helps the mind to see the conformity of religion with the aspirations and exigencies of our nature. Certain Agnostics, opposed to Determinism, judge that the very fixity of the laws of nature is only a subjective impression, concerned with what has actually happened, not with what may be possible or impossible; hence, since a miracle would concern precisely the latter, and this lies beyond human knowledge, a miracle, for them, is simply beyond our power of judgment. A few Catholic writers seem to agree, in this narrower point, with the Agnostics — holding that a miracle, in the sense of an unusual phenomenon, may have only a symbolic value, helping the mind to a greater consideration of religion, and to the recognition of its own conformity with the aspirations and exigencies of our nature (cf. Blondel, L’Action, p. 391).

Article II: The Supernatural from the Standpoint of Theological Science

I. Definition of the Supernatural.

(A) To understand what is meant by “the Supernatural,” we must first have a clear idea of what is meant by “nature.” The nature of a thing is its essence — the radical principle of the active and passive powers which belong to it. Hence “natural” signifies whatever belongs to a thing according to its nature, namely: (1) its essence (the essence of man, for example, is his body and rational soul); (2) its passive powers, affected by agents proportionate to that nature; (3) its active powers, or faculties, flowing from that essence — intellect and will, for instance, in man; (4) its exigencies, whatever is required for the attainment of its natural end (Catholic philosophy teaches that the “Divine Concursus” is necessary even for a secondary cause to act at all); and (5) its natural merit, the merit due to legitimate natural action, constituting a right to a proportionate reward — in other words, a right to attain one’s own natural end.

(B) The Supernatural, then, is that which exceeds the limits of nature, and which can gratuitously perfect it. The scientific division of the Supernatural rests on three of the four great causes — the four great causes being the two intrinsic (matter and form) and the two extrinsic (final and efficient). St. Thomas writes: “The character of the Supernatural may belong to anything from a threefold principle” — namely, from the efficient, final, and formal causes, but not from the material cause, since the material cause is merely the subject in which the supernatural quality is received. From the standpoint of efficient cause, an accomplished fact — even a natural fact — becomes supernatural if performed in a supernatural way (the resurrection of Lazarus, or the giving of sight to the blind). From the standpoint of final cause, a fact or quality becomes supernatural when directed to a supernatural end — an act of natural temperance, for instance, informed by a supernatural motive. From the standpoint of formal cause an entity is supernatural to nature, not from the standpoint of the essence or of the active or passive powers of that nature, but because that nature has the capacity of accepting a perfection not naturally due to it — St. Thomas gives the example of a piece of wood carved so as to represent a human being.

(C) The Supernatural is not against nature; it is above nature, and perfects it. It is true that the supernatural life stands opposed to the evil inclinations of nature which come from sin and which are themselves destructive of nature: “If you live according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live” (Rom. VIII, 13); “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt. XVI, 24). But the supernatural life is not opposed to nature as such: there is, in truth, an admirable harmony between nature and grace, shown forth in the life of Our Blessed Lord, and in the lives of the Saints.

II. Division of the Supernatural. The Supernatural divides into that which is essentially supernatural, and that which is modally supernatural. That which is essentially supernatural exceeds the limits, and even the cognoscitive faculties, of any created nature. That which is modally supernatural is some natural fact or quality produced or arranged in a supernatural way: the resurrection of Lazarus, for example, was natural in itself, since it is natural for life to be given, but supernatural in the manner of its accomplishment; the virtue of temperance is a natural virtue, deserving a natural reward, but when informed by a supernatural motive, it deserves a supernatural reward.

Corollary I. Though the work accomplished by a miracle is often essentially natural, it can be effected only by God, and in a supernatural way; hence a miracle is strictly supernatural, but only modally so, when it is “a miracle in relation to the substance of the fact,” as in the resurrection of Lazarus, or “a miracle in the manner of accomplishment,” as in the sudden cure of a fever. But a miracle such as the conversion of St. Paul, involving as it did the infusion of Divine grace itself, is essentially supernatural.

Corollary II. It is well to bear in mind the various kinds of supernatural knowledge and gift.

By way of a miracle:

• A miracle in relation to the substance of the fact — e.g., prophecy (modally supernatural as to substance);
• A miracle in relation to the subject — e.g., the raising of Lazarus;
• A miracle in relation to the manner of accomplishment — e.g., the sudden cure of a fever.

By way of knowledge:

• Essentially supernatural — e.g., the Beatific Vision, theological Faith;
• Supernatural as to substance — e.g., prophecy;
• Supernatural as to the subject who possesses it — e.g., knowledge of secret thoughts;
• Supernatural in manner of acquisition — e.g., the gift of tongues.

Graces given for the instruction of others (gratiae gratis datae) are not of as high an order as the graces which justify (gratia gratum faciens). St. Paul (1 Cor. XII) enumerates these former graces, which may be classified as: those giving knowledge of Divine truths — faith concerning principles, the word of wisdom concerning principal conclusions, the word of knowledge concerning particular examples and their effects; those giving confirmation of Divine truth — the grace of healing, the working of miracles, the discernment of spirits; and those aiding the instruction of others directly — prophecy, the interpretation of speeches.

Hence the following division of the Supernatural by cause:

• Essentially supernatural (from the formal cause) — e.g., the gifts of the Holy Trinity, the created gifts of grace, and the infused virtues.
• Modally supernatural from the standpoint of final cause — e.g., a natural act of virtue directed to a supernatural end.
• Modally supernatural from the standpoint of efficient cause — e.g., a genuine miracle.

III. The Natural and Supernatural Orders.

(A) The Natural order is the arrangement of created things relative to God as their Author and Final End. God is the extrinsic efficient cause and the final cause of the natural order; He is not its intrinsic or immanent principle — a properly pantheistic idea, which would identify the Divine substance with the substance of the universe. From the standpoint of efficient cause, Creation, Conservation, and Divine Concursus all belong to the natural order.

For man, the natural order comprises: (a) its formal end, the possession of God by the natural power of the faculty of reason; (b) its agents — the supreme agent being God, Author of our nature, who gives His concursus to the accomplishment of all natural works, while man, using his own natural faculties, is the secondary agent; (c) its means — the objective means being created things naturally known, the subjective means being the light of reason and the exercise of the faculties, especially intellect and will; and (d) its law — the natural law, source of natural merit and natural reward.

(B) The Supernatural order is the arrangement, relative to God as their Final End, of those things which raise a creature to a supernatural state. This order likewise comprises: (a) its formal end, the possession of God by an intuitive vision beyond the natural power of any created intellect; (b) its agents — the principal agent again being God, Author of our supernatural state, the secondary agent being man raised to that supernatural state; (c) its means — the objective means being Divine Revelation, the Sacraments, and the like, the subjective means being the light of Faith and the exercise of the supernatural virtues under the influx of actual grace; and (d) its law — the positive law of God.

(C) Since both orders proceed from God, there can be no true dissension between them; the natural order is, rather, subordinated to the supernatural order, and from it receives its own final perfection.