1762
The human person is ordered to beatitude by his deliberate acts: the passions
or feelings he experiences can dispose him to it and contribute to it.
I.
Passions
1763
The term "passions" belongs to the Christian patrimony. Feelings or
passions are emotions or movements of the sensitive appetite that incline us to
act or not to act in regard to something felt or imagined to be good or evil.
1764
The passions are natural components of the human psyche; they form the
passageway and ensure the connection between the life of the senses and the
life of the mind. Our Lord called man's heart the source from which the
passions spring.40
1765
There are many passions. the most fundamental passion is love, aroused by the
attraction of the good. Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope
of obtaining it; this movement finds completion in the pleasure and joy of the
good possessed. the apprehension of evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear of
the impending evil; this movement ends in sadness at some present evil, or in
the anger that resists it.
1766
"To love is to will the good of another."41 (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 26, 4, corp. art. ) All other affections have
their source in this first movement of the human heart toward the good. Only
the good can be loved.42 ( Cf. St. Augustine, De Trin., 8, 3, 4: PL 42, 949-950.) Passions "are evil if love is evil and good if it
is good."43 (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14, 7, 2: PL 41, 410. )
II.
Passions and Moral Life
1767
In themselves, passions are neither good nor evil. They are morally qualified
only to the extent that they effectively engage reason and will. Passions are
said to be voluntary, "either because they are commanded by the will or
because the will does not place obstacles in their way."44 ( St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 24, 1 corp. art. ) It belongs to
the perfection of the moral or human good that the passions be governed by
reason.45 (Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 24, 3.)
1768
Strong feelings are not decisive for the morality or the holiness of persons;
they are simply the inexhaustible reservoir of images and affections in which
the moral life is expressed. Passions are morally good when they contribute to good action, evil in the opposite case. the upright will order the movements
of the senses it appropriates to the good and to beatitude; an evil will
succumb to disordered passions and exacerbates them. Emotions and feelings can
be taken up into the virtues or perverted by the vices.
1769
In the Christian life, the Holy Spirit himself accomplishes his work by
mobilizing the whole being, with all its sorrows, fears and sadness, as is
visible in the Lord's agony and passion. In Christ, human feelings are able to
reach their consummation in charity and divine beatitude.
1770
Moral perfection consists in man's being moved to the good not by his will
alone, but also by his sensitive appetite, as in the words of the psalm:
"My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God."46
IN
BRIEF
1771
The term "passions" refers to the affections or the feelings. By his
emotions man intuits the good and suspects evil.
1772
The principal passions are love and hatred, desire and fear, joy, sadness, and
anger.
1773
In the passions, as movements of the sensitive appetite, there is neither moral
good nor evil. But insofar as they engage reason and will, there is moral good
or evil in them.
1774
Emotions and feelings can be taken up in the virtues or perverted by the vices.
1775
The perfection of the moral good consists in man's being moved to the good not
only by his will but also by his "heart."
GO TO:SECTION ONE MAN'S VOCATION IN THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
PART THREE LIFE IN CHRIST
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER
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