Perfecting human acts: St. Thomas Aquinas on human participation in eternal law

During the last century, a greater understanding of Thomistic metaphysics led to the recovery of the notion of participation, which allowed scholars to more fully understand how creatures are related to God through their act of being. Since moral theology considers humans as related to God through their operations, the notion of participation also enriches moral theology.;When Thomas speaks of human participation in God through operation, he especially refers to human participation in the eternal law, the divine exemplary cause of all human actions. All creation participates in the eternal law as moved and governed by it; however, rational agents have an additional kind of participation: cognitive participation.;In reference to participation in eternal law as moved and governed, humans are directed by God to attain the end of eternal happiness. However, as rational, humans can perform diverse actions, which vary in terms of how fitting they are for attaining the end to which humans are inclined by the eternal law. The more perfectly an action is ordered to this end, the more perfectly humans participate in the eternal law when performing the action. This mode of participation in the eternal law is increased by perfecting the natural inclinations through acquired virtue, grace, infused virtue, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.;In reference to cognitive participation, humans as rational creatures must know and choose the eternal end they seek and the means to attain it. Inasmuch as they are able to determine which actions are in accord with their ultimate end, their intellect participates in the eternal law, the source of all moral truth. This cognitive participation in the eternal law is perfected by the acquired intellectual virtues, the virtue of faith, the infused virtue of prudence, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (especially wisdom).;The notion of human participation in the eternal law is a much better foundation for moral theory than a contemporary notion of autonomy. Furthermore, this notion helps to unify all elements of moral theology because the relation of these elements to each other comes from their relation to the one eternal law.