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AFFECTIONS

A broad variety of human sentiments that are distinguished from strictly mental or cognitive experiences. Affections pertain to the will, desires, and feelings, i.e., the outgoing activities. In the spiritual life they are identified with those movements of the soul that reach out to God and with the invisible world of angels and saints. Affections are acts of the infused virtues of hope and charity. (Etym. Latin affectus, condition, situation; affectionate state or inclination; faculty of desire.)

All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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