o God: this is the perfection of heaven. Secondly,
in the sense that a man's whole heart be habitually directed to God,
so that it consent to nothing contrary to the love of God, and this
is the perfection of the way. Venial sin is not contrary to this
latter perfection, because it does not destroy the habit of charity,
since it does not tend to a contrary object, but merely hinders the
use of charity.

Reply Obj. 3: That perfection of charity to which the counsels are
directed, is between the two perfections mentioned in the preceding
reply: and it consists in man renouncing, as much as possible,
temporal things, even such as are lawful, because they occupy the
mind and hinder the actual movement of the heart towards God.
_______________________

FIFTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 44, Art. 5]

Whether to the Words, "Thou Shalt Love the Lord Thy God with Thy
Whole Heart," It Was Fitting to Add "and with Thy Whole Soul, and
with Thy Whole Strength"?

Objection 1: It would seem that it was unfitting to the words, "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart," to add, "and with
thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength" (Deut. 6:5). For heart
does not mean here a part of the body, since to love God is not a
bodily action: and therefore heart is to be taken here in a spiritual
sense. Now the heart understood spiritually is either the soul itself
or part of the soul. Therefore it is superfluous to mention both
heart and soul.

Obj. 2: Further, a man's strength whether spiritual or corporal
depends on the heart. Therefore after the words, "Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with thy whole heart," it was unnecessary to add, "with
all thy strength."

Obj. 3: Further, in Matt. 22:37 we read: "With all thy mind," which
words do not occur here. Therefore it seems that this precept is
unfittingly worded in Deut. 6.

On the contrary stands the authority of Scripture.

_I answer that,_ This precept is differently worded in various
places: for, as we said in the first objection, in Deut. 6 three
points are mentioned: "with thy whole heart," and "with thy whole
soul," and "with thy whole strength." In Matt. 22 we find two of
these mentioned, viz. "with thy whole heart" and "with thy whole
soul," while "with thy whole strength" is omitted, but "with thy
whole mind" is added. Yet in Mark 12 we find all four, viz. "with thy
whole heart," and "with thy whole soul," and "with thy whole mind,"
and "with thy whole force" which is