External and internal deeds.

We still do something during our lives. It’s mostly something external. We walk, we talk, we drive. Although we have different feelings, we think of something, although a lot of life attracts a lot of attention, something that is beyond us. Spiritual books often admonish us to focus more inwardly, to draw attention to myself. However, we cannot rule out all external distractions. It’s not even possible. Eventually, this would impoverish our inner life. There are not just some internal deeds. Although ants distinguish between external and internal deeds, this is only a practical division. Even a pure idea the man somehow depends on matter. On the contrary, again, on the outside, we transmit ideas, we implement them, or at least we reveal by waving, tearing muscles, looking, what’s going on inside. There is between inner-thinking and outer action a similar ratio as between soul and body. The face is “A mirror of the soul” but never completely reveals its secret. So it is clear to us that the right one is not enough to evaluate a person’s external actions. Even if we studied it in the sense of the so-called deep psychology, we still judge from the outside according to the words of the Gospel according to appearances (cf. Jn 7:24). Only God sees the heart of man, where the deed of man has its source.
Intention gives value to deeds.
So we are still living in a kind of contradiction that can lead to tragic divisions. True morality is in the heart, but a good heart is not enough to manifest outwardly. It is as if he were the lord of the office who gives the orders but then closes himself in his private office and his officials something completely different. That impression is, e.g., everyone in the morning meditates and makes the best commitment, but he finds out that none of it came to life in the evening. So it could be said that arousing good the intention is to strive to restore the unity between external actions and internal action, the unity we are constantly abandoning, and which we still desire to return. She will never be perfect here on earth, but still, we would love for our lives to have become “more real.” Intention, motive, is that which gives direction to human action. A good goal sanctifies means (which are not immoral in themselves); a bad goal will ruin even a seemingly good deed.
As the theologians generally claim, a natural motive is not enough for a deed to be the meritorious, supernatural intention. For example, it is not, e.g., enough to confess to anyone who regretted his theft only because he then had difficulty with state security. Our job does not have a job supernatural value if we work only to make a living. It will not be a meritorious deed for eternal life if we wash the laundry to clean the shirts. However, we do most of our deeds for reasons we call early, natural: for money, for fun, for family, out of habit, for praise, and so on. So they are for eternal life lost, worthless? That would be truly irreparable damage. However, to this sad conclusion, theologians do not come. They know from psychology that the problem of intention is not as simple as it would seem. There are many motives in one single act. Why does a student go to school? Could he say that? Because attendance is mandatory because they would be bored because he wants to be a teacher because he would be parents otherwise, angry because he is interested in what he is learning because he is used to, etc.

Some of these motifs are closer, others more distant. Theology speaks of the so-called current intention. It is the one who immediately leads me to action. I’m running to the train because he’s leaving at eight o’clock. The intention is virtual, the one that I don’t think of now, but still is the cause, perhaps the main motive for the action. If I were, he didn’t want to make money; I wouldn’t go to work, I wouldn’t run to the train. The desire for profit is, therefore, the virtual motive for my rush to the train. Theologians, therefore, come to this conclusion: a deserved deed must have a supernatural, religious motive, but the intention does not have to be current, just virtual. The Christian once and for all decided that he wanted to save his soul and avoid what would close the gate to heaven. Ten the intention does not easily recall; that is, it applies even if it is in a hurried life does not think. Best seen in cases where we are in temptation for evil. We seem to be working only for money. And yet, we do not steal, even when the opportunity arises. We are very well aware of us at such a moment that it’s not just about money, it’s about something more. What exactly is it? The «more» what are we striving for?