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TO HAVE a just idea of this vision, we must see its
immediacy, its source, and its object, primary and
secondary. [564]
This Vision Is Intuitive and Immediate
According to the definition of Benedict XII, [565] this
act of the blessed intellect is a vision, clear,
intuitive, immediate, of the divine essence. Without
being comprehensive, it still enables us to know God as
He is.
By its clarity this vision is distinguished from the
obscure knowledge which we have of God, either by
reason or by faith. By its intuitive and immediate
character it is immeasurably superior to all knowledge
that is discursive and analogical, which does not reach
God except by using His effects as principle. This
intuitive vision is higher than all abstraction, all
reasoning, and all analogy. It is immediate intuition
of the supreme reality of the living God. Hence it
surpasses by far all vision, even the intellectual
visions which the great mystics receive here on earth,
because these visions remain within the order of faith
and do not give intrinsic evidence of the Trinity. The
beatific vision, on the contrary, does give this
evidence, showing that God, if He were not triune,
would not be God.
Hence we are called to see God, not only in the mirror
of creatures, however perfect, not only by His highest
radiations in the world of angels. We are called to see
Him without the medium of any creature, to see Him
better than we see those to whom we speak on earth,
because God, being spiritual, will be most intimately
present in our intelligence, which He fortifies with
power to see Him.
Between God and ourselves there will be not even an
intermediary idea, [566] because all created ideas,
even infused ideas, however elevated, can be only
limited participations in the truth, and cannot
therefore represent God as He is in Himself: supreme
Being, infinite Truth, Wisdom without measure, infinite
and luminous source of all knowledge. No created idea
could ever represent as He is in Himself Him who is
thought itself. Thus the child's cup cannot contain the
ocean. [567]
Further, we cannot express our contemplation in one
word, even in an interior word, in a mental word,
because this word, being created and finite, cannot
express the Infinite as He is in Himself. This
contemplation without medium absorbs us in some sense
in God, leaving us without a word to express it,
because only one word can express perfectly the divine
essence, namely, the Word begotten from all eternity
from the Father. The divine essence itself, sovereignly
intelligible, more intimate to us than we ourselves
are, will take the place of all created ideas,
impressed and expressed. [568] In the order of
knowledge we cannot conceive one more intimate than
this, even though it be distinguished by different
degrees.
Here on earth, when at some sublime spectacle, we
cannot find words to describe it, we say that it is
ineffable. With far higher reason is this true when we
see God face to face.
This vision, though it is intuitive and without medium,
is still not comprehensive. God alone can know Himself
to the full extent of His knowableness. This limitation
involves no contradiction. Here on earth many persons
may see the same scene in different degrees, according
as their vision is more or less good. Many intellects
see one and the same truth more or less profoundly.
Each grasps the proposition, subject, verb, and
attribute, but more or less perfectly. Thus in heaven
all the blessed see God without medium, but with a
penetration that varies in proportion to their merits,
but none as profoundly as God knows Himself, all that
He is, all that He can do, all that He will do. [569]
The Light of Glory
This vision, intuitive and immediate, reaches the
object of that uncreated vision whereby God knows
Himself. It reaches Him less perfectly than He does
Himself, but it reaches Him.
How is this possible? It would be absolutely impossible
for any created or creatable intelligence left to its
own natural forces, because these forces are
proportioned to their own natural object, which is
infinitely inferior to the object proper to the divine
intellect. Any created intelligence therefore needs a
supernatural light to elevate it, to fortify it, that
it may be able to see God as He is in Himself.
Otherwise it would be before Him as the owl before the
sun; it would not see Him. [570]
This light, received in a permanent fashion in the
intellects of the blessed, is called the light of
glory. The Council of Vienne [571] condemns those who
"maintain that the human soul does not have to be
elevated by the light of glory in order to see God and
to have holy joy in Him."
Thus the beatific vision arises from the intellectual
faculty as its radical principle, and secondly from the
light of glory as its proximate principle. This light
supernaturalizes the vitality of our intelligence, as
the infused virtue of charity supernaturalizes the
vitality of our will.
The light of glory and infused charity, thus received
into our two higher faculties, themselves arise from
the consummation of sanctifying grace, which is
received, like a divine graft, into the essence of the
soul. How well sanctifying grace merits the
appellation, participation in the divine nature! Grace
is a nature, a radical principle of operations, a
principle which, fully developed, makes us able to see
God as He sees Himself. In God the divine nature is the
principle of operations strictly divine, the principle
of His own uncreated vision of Himself. In the just
soul in heaven, sanctifying grace is the radical
principle of the intuitive vision of the divine
essence, a vision which has the same object as the
uncreated vision.
The Object of the Beatific Vision
The first and essential object is God Himself. The
secondary object is creatures known in God.
The blessed see clearly and intuitively God Himself as
He is in Himself, that is, they see His essence, His
attributes, and the three divine persons. The Council
of Florence says: "They see clearly God Himself, one
and three, as He is." [572] Hence the beatific vision
surpasses immeasurably, not only the most sublime human
philosophy, but even the natural knowledge of the most
elevated angels, even of any creatable angel. The
blessed see the divine perfections, concentrated and
harmonized in their common source, in the divine
essence which contains them all, eminently and
formally, in a far higher way than white light contains
the colors of the rainbow. Thus the blessed see how
mercy the most tender, and justice the most inflexible,
proceed from one and the same love, infinitely generous
and infinitely holy. They see how this same love
identifies in itself attributes apparently the most
opposed. They see how mercy and justice are united in
each and every work of God. They see how uncreated
love, even in decisions the most free, is identified
with wisdom. They see how this love is identified with
sovereign good, loved from all eternity. They see how
wisdom is identified with the first truth, always
known. They see how all these perfections are one in
the essence of Him who is. They contemplate this pre-
eminent simplicity, this purity and absolute sanctity,
this quintessence of all perfection.
In this intellectual vision, never interrupted, they
see also how the infinite fecundity of the divine
nature blossoms into three persons. They see the
eternal generation of the Word, who is the splendor of
the Father, figure of His substance. They see the
ineffable spiration of the Holy Spirit, who is the
terminus of the mutual love of the Father and the Son,
who unites the Father and Son in the most intimate and
mutual self-communication. Such is the primary object
of the beatific vision.
Here below we can but enumerate the divine perfections,
one after the other. We do not see in what intimate
manner they are in harmony. We do not see how infinite
goodness harmonizes with the permission of evil, even
of unspeakable malice. We know indeed that God does not
permit evil except for a greater good, but we do not
clearly see this greater good. But in heaven everything
becomes clear, particularly the value of the trials we
ourselves have suffered. We shall see how divine
goodness, essentially self-diffusive, becomes the
principle of mercy. On the other hand, we shall see how
this same infinite goodness, having the right to be
loved above all things, becomes the principle of
justice. Here on earth we are like a man who has seen
each color of the rainbow, but who has not yet seen
white light. In heaven, seeing the uncreated Light, we
shall see how the divine perfections, even the most
widely different, are harmonized in Him and become one.
The blessed see in God, in the Word, also the holy
humanity which the Son assumed for our salvation. They
contemplate the hypostatic union, the plenitude of
grace, of glory, and of charity in the holy soul of
Jesus. They see the infinite value of His theandric
acts, of the mystery of the Redemption. They see the
radiations of that Redemption: the infinite value of
each Mass, the supernatural vitality of the mystical
body, of the Church, triumphant, suffering, and
militant. They see with admiration what belongs to
Christ, as priest for all eternity, as judge of the
living and the dead, as universal king of all
creatures, as father of the poor.
In this same vision, the saints contemplate the eminent
dignity of the Mother of God, her plenitude of grace,
her virtues, her gifts, her universal mediation as co-
redemptrix.
Further, since beatitude is a perfect state which
satisfies all legitimate desires, each saint knows all
others who are blessed, particularly those whom he has
known and loved on earth. He knows their state, be they
on earth or in purgatory. [573] Thus the founder of an
order knows all that concerns his religious family,
knows the prayers which his sons address to him.
Parents know the spiritual needs of their children who
are still in this world. A friend, reaching the end of
his course, knows how to facilitate the voyage of
friends who address themselves to him. St. Cyprian
speaks thus: "All our friends who have arrived wait for
us. They desire vividly that we participate in their
own beatitude, and are full of solicitude in our
regard." [574]
The beatific vision is one unique, unbroken act,
measured by the one unique instant of an unchangeable
eternity. It is an act that cannot be lost. It is the
source of the happiness of the elect and, as we shall
see later, of their absolute impeccability.
In this supernatural knowledge everything is
harmonized. There is no longer danger of being too
intent on secondary goods or of losing the chief good.
The soul in heaven sees the corporeal world from on
high, in perfect subordination to the spiritual world.
The events of time are seen in their relation to the
plenitude of eternity. God's deeds, natural or
supernatural, are seen as radiations of God's action.
The line of view is no longer horizontal, stretched out
between past and future. It is the vertical view, which
judges of everything from on high, in the light of
supreme Truth.
This entire beatific world of knowledge leads the
blessed soul to love God above all things, immovably,
and to love creatures in Him only as manifestations of
His infinite goodness.
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