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Reply. The answer is in the affirmative. This conclusion is de
fide, as His fullness of grace is.
Scriptural proof. St. Paul says: "God set Christ on His right
hand in the heavenly places, above all Principality and Power and
Virtue and Domination, and every name that is named, not only in
this world, but also in that which is to come."[1223] But this
heavenly glory presupposes a more exalted knowledge of God.
Theological proof. The beatific vision is according to a
participation of light that is derived from the Word of God. But
Christ's soul, since it is united to the Word in person, is more
closely associated with the Word than any other creature, even the
angelic. Therefore Christ's soul received a greater influx of
light, and thus sees the divine essence more perfectly.
Reply to second objection. Christ's soul sees the essence of God
more clearly than even the highest of the angels, whose intellect is,
nevertheless, naturally more powerful, because—and of this, Cajetan
did not sufficiently take note—"the vision of the divine essence
exceeds the natural power of any creature. And hence the degrees
thereof depend rather on the order of grace, in which Christ is
supreme, than on the order of nature, in which the angelic nature is
placed before the human."[1224] Thus, granted an equal degree
of glory, St. Joseph's soul sees the divine essence just as clearly
as the higher angels do. Hence the beatific vision that belongs to
Christ's soul is in the highest degree, "although, absolutely
speaking, there could be a higher and more sublime degree by the
infinity of the divine power."[1225] The highest possible
degree of the light of glory cannot be conceived, because the divine
nature is capable of infinite participation, and there is always an
infinite difference between Christ's beatific vision and the uncreated
and comprehensive vision, not as regards the object, but as regards
the mode of cognition or penetration.
Cajetan seeks to explain the reply to the third objection of St.
Thomas by saying: "If an angel were assumed by the Word of God in
unity of person to an equal degree of glory, the angel would see God
more perfectly than Christ's soul would, and the degree of the
beatific vision would be more sublime, not because of the more sublime
light or degree of light, but because of the more sublime intellect
that is equally illumined."[1226] Thus, in Cajetan's
opinion, there can be a more sublime degree of the beatific vision in
the angel, only because the angelic intellect is naturally more
powerful than Christ's human intellect, and therefore transcends it
in this order.
A considerable number of the other Thomists do not agree with
Cajetan, especially Alvarez, and they say against Cajetan that
St. Thomas in his reply to the third objection had spoken "of a
possibly more sublime degree," not in the formal sense, but only
materially, which is not his usual way of speaking. Moreover, they
also remark that Cajetan's view would conflict with the reply to the
second objection in which St. Thomas said: "The essentially
supernatural degrees of the vision depend rather on the order of
grace... than on the order of nature."[1227] Therefore,
Christ's soul sees God's essence more clearly than the highest
angels do. He received the light of glory in a degree that was in
proportion to the plenitude of His grace, which is derived from the
grace of union.[1228]
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