Prologue

Every very good endowment and every perfect gift from above is coming down from the Father of lights. (Since donum is usually translated as “gift,” datum is translated as “endowment.” In ST I.49.1–2, Thomas discusses how it can be that the Creator is perfectly good whereas evil is a reality in his creation, in view of Matthew 7:18, where Christ says that a good tree bears good fruit.)

This second quotation is from the Letter of James 1:17.

Temporal things are a good endowment. The things that belong to us naturally, like the body and the soul, are a better endowment. Eternal glory and the goods bestowed by grace are the best endowment. Every very good endowment—we understand this as grace—comes from the Father of lights.

Grace is called the best gift, given to us so that we may perform meritorious works. (Grace (gratia cooperantis) is the origin of our merit, in the first place through love (caritas): ST I-II.114.4.) Hence it says in John 15:5: without me you cannot do anything. Likewise, we call grace the perfect gift, given to us so that we may receive the good of glory. And this grace comes from the Father of lights, as we read in Psalm 84:12: the Lord will give grace in the present, and glory in the future. So, because the grace of God is so effective a gift for working the good in the present and for arriving at eternal glory in the future, let us ask at the beginning that the Lord may give us grace, et cetera.