dly there is the
attainment or possession, the use or enjoyment of the thing desired;
thus we may say that the end of the miser is the possession of money;
and the end of the intemperate man is to enjoy something pleasurable.
In the first sense, then, man's last end is the uncreated good,
namely, God, Who alone by His infinite goodness can perfectly satisfy
man's will. But in the second way, man's last end is something
created, existing in him, and this is nothing else than the
attainment or enjoyment of the last end. Now the last end is called
happiness. If, therefore, we consider man's happiness in its cause or
object, then it is something uncreated; but if we consider it as to
the very essence of happiness, then it is something created.

Reply Obj. 1: God is happiness by His Essence: for He is happy not by
acquisition or participation of something else, but by His Essence.
On the other hand, men are happy, as Boethius says (De Consol. iii),
by participation; just as they are called "gods," by participation.
And this participation of happiness, in respect of which man is said
to be happy, is something created.

Reply Obj. 2: Happiness is called man's supreme good, because it is
the attainment or enjoyment of the supreme good.

Reply Obj. 3: Happiness is said to be the last end, in the same way
as the attainment of the end is called the end.
________________________

SECOND ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 3, Art. 2]

Whether Happiness Is an Operation?

Objection 1: It would seem that happiness is not an operation. For
the Apostle says (Rom. 6:22): "You have your fruit unto
sanctification, and the end, life everlasting." But life is not an
operation, but the very being of living things. Therefore the last
end, which is happiness, is not an operation.

Obj. 2: Further, Boethius says (De Consol. iii) that happiness is "a
state made perfect by the aggregate of all good things." But state
does not indicate operation. Therefore happiness is not an operation.

Obj. 3: Further, happiness signifies something existing in the happy
one: since it is man's final perfection. But the meaning of operation
does not imply anything existing in the operator, but rather
something proceeding therefrom. Therefore happiness is not an
operation.

Obj. 4: Further, happiness remains in the happy one. Now operation
does not remain, but passes. Therefore happiness is not an operation.

Obj. 5: Further, to one man there is one happiness. But operati