Matthew A. Tapie

Aquinas thinks God has given this society of saints a distinctive vocation to preserve unity “in the bond of peace” by cultivating the virtues of humility, meekness, patience, and mercy. The ecclesial peace that is Christ’s gift to us is not only a state to be held now, albeit imperfectly. It is also an activity constitutive of the happiness of the faithful. Indeed, this Christological and ecclesial peace in Aquinas could be described as “civic” peace, though it is a civic peace sustained by the love of God above material things.

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Original publication in Journal of Moral Theology, Vol. 5, No. 1 (2016): 111-128. Republished here with thanks.