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It behooves me to take some time to admonish the participants and readers of this thread (and the Forum in general) regarding a fundamental truth often ignored, and I am not at all implying or insinuating that this applies to the participants of this thread, and I apologize if I give that impression in any way.

In my personal experience, I have seen numerous persons give themselves over to the study and disputation of lofty questions regarding sacred doctrine, whilst neglecting to cultivate their own interior life. It often happens that certain souls neglect prayer for the sake of study, and this is often a dangerous delusion which can ultimately imperil the salvation of the individual. So many have been the heresies, errors and dissensions that have had their ultimate origin in such a diabolical disorientation.

It particularly behooves us to be temperate in intellectual endeavors, for the Angelic Doctor expounds upon studiousness as the moral virtue which has knowledge as its proper matter (Summa IIa IIæ, q. clxvi., art. 1), and “is a potential part of temperance, as a subordinate virtue annexed to a principle virtue” (“studiositas sit pars potentialis temperantiae, sicut virtus secundaria ei adiuncta ut principali virtuti”), for the moderation of the natural desire that all men have for knowledge pertains to the virtue of studiousness (“moderatio autem hujus appetitus pertinet ad virtutem studiositatis;” ibid., art. 2). St. Thomas goes on to teach that “on the part of the soul, [man] is inclined to desire knowledge of things; and so it behooves him to exercise a praiseworthy restraint of this desire, lest he seek knowledge immoderately” (“ex parte animae, inclinatur homo ad hoc quod cognitionem rerum desideret: et sic oportet ut homo laudabiliter huiusmodi appetitum refrenet, ne immoderate rerum cognition intendat;” ibid. ad iii. dub.).

However, what is temperance without humility? For it is never expedient to search into things that are above us if we fail to cultivate a pure and earnest heart wherewith to search into such sacred things, after the example of King David who prayed unto the Lord, singing, "Lord, my heart is not exalted: neither are mine eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in great matters, nor in marvelous things above me," "Domine, non est exaltatum cor meum: neque elati sunt oculi mei. Neque ambulavi in magnis: neque in mirabilibus super me" (Ps. cxxx. 1).

Lend ear to the admonitions placed upon the lips of our dear Lord and found in the great treatise De Imitatione Christi: "Son, be not curious, and give not way to useless cares. What is  this or that to thee? Follow thou Me," ("Fili, noli esse curiosus, nec vacuas gerere sollicitudines. Quid hoc vel illud ad te? tu me sequere," Lib. III., cap. xxiv. n. 1), for, "I would gladly speak My word to thee, and reveal My secrets, if thou wouldst diligently observe My coming, and open to Me the door of thy heart. Be circuмspect, and watch in prayers, and humble thyself in all things," ("Libenter loquerer tibi verbum meum, et abscondita revelarem, si adventum meum diligenter observares, et ostium cordis mihi aperires. Esto providus, et vigila in orationibus, et humilia te in omnibus," ibid., n. 2). For, "I am He that in an instant elevateth the humble mind to comprehend more reasons of the eternal truth than if any one had studied ten years in the schools. I teach without noise of words, without confusion of opinions, without ambition of honor, without strife of arguments," ("Ego sum, qui humilem in puncto elevo mentem: ut plures æternæ veritatis capiat rationes, quam si quis decem annis studuisset in scholis. Ego doceo sine strepitu verborum, sine confusione opinionum, sine fastu honoris, sine pugnatione argumentorum," Lib. III., cap. xliii., n. 3) --- "For a certain person, by loving Me intimately, learned things divine and spoke wonders. He profiteth more by foresaking all things than by studying subtleties," ("Nam quidam amando me intime, didicit divina et loquebatur mirabilia. Plus profecit in relinquendo omnia, quam in studendo subtilia," ibid., n. 4). "Study the mortification of thy vices; for this will more avail thee than the knowledge of many difficult questions," ("Stude mortificationi vitiorum, quia hoc amplius tibi proderit, quam notitia multarum difficilium quæstionum," ibid., n. 1) --- "In everything attend to thyself, what thou art doing, and what thou art saying: and direct thy whole attention to this, that thou mayest please Me alone, and neither desire nor seek anything out of me," ("In omni re attende tibi, quid facias, et quid dicas: et omnem intentionem tuam ad hoc dirige, ut mihi soli placeas, et extra me nihil cupias vel quæras," Lib. III., cap. xxv., n. 3).

Those who are industrious and diligent to study upon lofty matters and yet neglect their interior lives are in exceeding great peril: "Woe to them that inquire after many curious things of men, and are little curious of the way to serve Me," ("Væ eis qui multa curiosa ab hominibus inquirunt, et de via mihi serviendi parum curat," Lib. III., cap. xliii., n. 2). "For he that would fully and with relish understand the words of Christ, must study to conform his whole life to Him," ("Qui autem vult plene et sapide Christ verba intelligere, oportet ut totam vitam suam illi studeat conformare," Lib. I., cap. i., n. 2). "What doth it profit thee to dispute deeply about the Trinity, if thou be wanting in humility, and so be displeasing to the Trinity?" ("Quid prodest tibi, alta de Trinitate disputare, si careas humilitate, unde displiceas Trinitati?" ibid., n. 3). "Oftentimes call to mind the proverb: The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. Study, therefore, to wean thy heart from love of visible things, and to betake thee to the things unseen," ("Memento illius frequenter proverbii: quia non satiatur oculus viso, nec auris impletur auditu. Stude ergo cor tuum ad amore visibilium abstrahere, et ad invisibilia te transferre," ibid., n. 5). "Truly, a lowly rustic that serveth God is better than a proud philosopher who pondereth the courses of the stars, and neglecteth himself," ("Melior est profecto humilis rusticus, qui Deo servit, quam superbus Philosophus, qui se neglecto, cursum cœli considerat," Lib. I., cap ii., n. 1). The humble of heart have not this admonition to fear: "The more thou knowest, and the better, so much the heavier will thy judgment therefore be, unless thy life be also more holy," ("Quanto plus et melius scis, tanto gravius inde judicaberis, nisi sanctius vixeris," ibid., n. 3).

From the above-cited admonitions of this great treatise upon the Christian life, it is clear that prayer should be the primal concern of the student of sacred doctrine.

Now, as I have hitherto written elsewhere, the Holy Rosary is the most apt prayer for students of sacred doctrine, as this most wondrous Psalterium Jesu et Mariæ is above all the school of contemplation and a mirror of virtues to be imitated in the divine lives of Jesus and Mary. The Holy Rosary is in truth a school wherein the Mysteries of the Faith shine forth before the eyes of the soul with a supernal effulgence that dispels the darkness of sin and ignorance, and illumines the soul with a vivifying light that harmonizes prayer with study, and makes the interior and exterior life of the student correspond with these elements that enlighten and strengthen one another.

In my personal experience, at least, it has come to pass that a well-meditated and well-prayed Rosary has in some instances taught me more regarding certain truths than the Manuals and treatises of sacred theology, perhaps because in the course of meditating upon the Rosary Mysteries certain theological principles taken on a profundity and immensity that overwhelm and thrill the amplitude of the soul, so that in due time discursive reasoning at times gives way to the simple and prolonged gaze of the soul rapt in mute veneration and devout dread before the inexhaustible riches of the wisdom and goodness of God. If this continues, and the soul begins to be purified passively (having already been purged actively by the penance and self-abnegation characteristic of the purgative way) and becomes more detached from self and more docile to the Holy Ghost, then the soul enters the ethereal, transluminous realm of the mystical ways of prayer.

Such is the power of the Holy Rosary, and why it was so recommended by Our Lady at Fatima and elsewhere, and so richly indulged and promoted by the Supreme Pontiffs and lauded by Saints and spiritual authors. For the student of sacred doctrine the Holy Rosary is truly the path not only to sacred knowledge, but to holy contemplation, the plenitude of that divinely revealed faith which is the object of sacred theology.

To conclude: a student of sacred doctrine must be given over to prayer first and foremost, and must frequent the holy Sacraments and avail himself of the spiritual direction of a devout and learned Priest (either personally or by correspondence if a Priest is not accessible because of the times). Availing oneself of the divinely-ordained patronage and tutelage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Sedes sapientiae (Litaniæ Lauretanæ Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, Rituale Romanum, Tit. XI, cap. iii.), particularly by means of the devout recitation of the Holy Rosary, is morally indispensable for the fruitful study of sacred doctrine, for the greater glory of Our Lord and for the salvation and edification of souls.

Well, those are my two cents... nay, they have been clemently vouchsafed me by holy grace, for I of myself can produce nothing but that which is damnably evil: it is by grace alone that man can work any good.

"Nor does this sin belong to this particular man, except in so far as he has such a nature, that is deprived of this good, which in the ordinary course of things he would have had and would have been able to keep. Wherefore no further punishment is due to him, besides the privation of that end to which the gift withdrawn destined him, which gift human nature is unable of itself to obtain.

Now this is the divine vision; and consequently the loss of this vision is the proper and only punishment of original sin after death: because, if any other sensible punishment were inflicted after death for original sin, a man would be punished out of proportion to his guilt, for sensible punishment is inflicted for that which is proper to the person, since a man undergoes sensible punishment in so far as he suffers in his person. Hence, as his guilt did not result from an action of his own, even so neither should he be punished by suffering himself, but only by losing that which his nature was unable to obtain."

SO, while I disagree, I hope to do it AMICABLY

Wait. Stop. Original sin is NOT ONLY the privation of original justice, but also the the actual personal participation in the GUILT of the sin of Adam.

Wait. There is no PUNISHMENT where the penalty is not experienced.

St. Thomas repeatedly says that the condemned infant does not know of his loss. In what therefore does his punishment consist?

"If unbaptized children have interior sorrow after death, they will grieve either for their sin or for their punishment.

If for their sin, since they cannot be further cleansed from that sin, their sorrow will lead them to despair. Now sorrow of this kind in the damned is the worm of conscience. Therefore these children will have the worm of conscience, and consequently theirs would not be the mildest punishment, as Augustine says it is.  [Comment: the worm of conscience is formally excluded by Pope Innocent III later, as is material fire]

If, on the other hand, they grieve for their punishment, it follows, since their punishment is justly inflicted by God, that their will opposes itself to divine justice, and thus would be actually inordinate, which is not to be granted. Therefore they will feel no sorrow."

Further, right reason does not allow one to be disturbed on account of what one was unable to avoid; hence Seneca proves (Ep. lxxxv, and De ira ii, 6) that "a wise man is not disturbed." Now in these children there is right reason deflected by no actual sin. Therefore they will not be disturbed for that they undergo this punishment which they could nowise avoid."

It is the same problem that reincarnation-ists have: Reincarnation is unjust

It makes FAR MORE sense to say

that the unbaptized infant is made aware of Christ and of his lack, and experiences a kind of eternal sorrow and gloom.

Once again, the context is actually irrelevant. We are BOUND to understand the dogmas on their face, and as presented. "

Vatican I clearly taught that NO ONE may rescind from the clear meaning of a dogma on the grounds of a "deeper interpretation.

Yes, before the advent of Pentecost when Baptism was made OBLIGATORY UPON ALL.

As I said, the dogmas are clear, the teaching of the XVI council of Carthage is clear, its promulgation as the teaching of the Catholic Church is clear, its ratification at Ephesus and Nicea II is clear, and  800 years of unquestioned Augustinian teaching and the teaching of the Latin Fathers is clear.

Moreover, even if one were to admit for the sake of argument that this canon of the Council of Carthage acquired the force of an ecuмenical definition, one ought to interpret it in the light of what was understood to be at issue by both sides in the controversy, and therefore add to the simple locus medius the qualification which is added by Pius VI when, in the Constitution "Auctoreum Fidei", he speaks of "locuм illium et statum medium expertem culpae et poenae."

I know it's hard, but that's the truth. History bearing witness, and the dogmas of the church.