The Active Life

The active life is given to works rather than to contemplation. Since the moral virtues are mainly pertinent to operation, they belong essentially to the active life.

And the virtue of prudence, which is speculative in essence and practical in many of its applications,is, as a practical or moral virtue, directly pertinent to the active life.

Teaching as actively exercised belongs to the active life. St. Gregory (Hom. xiv in Ezech.) says that”the active life is to feed the hungry, and to teach words of wisdom to the ignorant.” Yet the teacher, considering truth inhis own mind and loving it, is contemplative. Therefore teaching has a twofold aspect, one active, one contemplative.

The life of external action ends with earthlyexistence. If there be any external actions at all in heaven, they will have contemplation as their aim and end, and thus will belong to contemplation itself. St. Gregory says (Hom. xiv in Ezech.): “The active life ends with this world, but thecontemplative life begins here and is perfected in heaven.”