|
Objection 1: It would seem that in the present state of life the
contemplative life can reach to the vision of the Divine essence.
For, as stated in Gn. 32:30, Jacob said: "I have seen God
face to face, and my soul has been saved." Now the vision of God's
face is the vision of the Divine essence. Therefore it would seem
that in the present life one may come, by means of contemplation, to
see God in His essence.
Objection 2: Further, Gregory says (Moral. vi, 37) that
"contemplative men withdraw within themselves in order to explore
spiritual things, nor do they ever carry with them the shadows of
things corporeal, or if these follow them they prudently drive them
away: but being desirous of seeing the incomprehensible light, they
suppress all the images of their limited comprehension, and through
longing to reach what is above them, they overcome that which they
are." Now man is not hindered from seeing the Divine essence, which
is the incomprehensible light, save by the necessity of turning to
corporeal phantasms. Therefore it would seem that the contemplation of
the present life can extend to the vision of the incomprehensible light
in its essence.
Objection 3: Further, Gregory says (Dial. ii, 35): "All
creatures are small to the soul that sees its Creator: wherefore when
the man of God," the blessed Benedict, to wit, "saw a fiery globe
in the tower and angels returning to heaven, without doubt he could
only see such things by the light of God." Now the blessed Benedict
was still in this life. Therefore the contemplation of the present
life can extend to the vision of the essence of God.
On the contrary, Gregory says (Hom. xiv in Ezech.): "As long
as we live in this mortal flesh, no one reaches such a height of
contemplation as to fix the eyes of his mind on the ray itself of
incomprehensible light."
I answer that, As Augustine says (Gen. ad lit. xii, 27),
"no one seeing God lives this mortal life wherein the bodily senses
have their play: and unless in some way he depart this life, whether
by going altogether out of his body, or by withdrawing from his carnal
senses, he is not caught up into that vision." This has been
carefully discussed above (Question 175, Articles 4,5),
where we spoke of rapture, and in the FP, Question 12, Article
2, where we treated of the vision of God.
Accordingly we must state that one may be in this life in two ways.
First, with regard to act, that is to say by actually making use of
the bodily senses, and thus contemplation in the present life can
nowise attain to the vision of God's essence. Secondly, one may be
in this life potentially and not with regard to act, that is to say,
when the soul is united to the mortal body as its form, yet so as to
make use neither of the bodily senses, nor even of the imagination, as
happens in rapture; and in this way the contemplation of the present
life can attain to the vision of the Divine essence. Consequently the
highest degree of contemplation in the present life is that which Paul
had in rapture, whereby he was in a middle state between the present
life and the life to come.
Reply to Objection 1: As Dionysius says (Ep. i ad Caium.
Monach.), "if anyone seeing God, understood what he saw, he saw
not God Himself, but something belonging to God." And Gregory
says (Hom. xiv in Ezech.): "By no means is God seen now in
His glory; but the soul sees something of lower degree, and is
thereby refreshed so that afterwards it may attain to the glory of
vision." Accordingly the words of Jacob, "I saw God face to
face" do not imply that he saw God's essence, but that he saw some
shape [FP, Question 12, Article 11, ad 1], imaginary of
course, wherein God spoke to him. Or, "since we know a man by his
face, by the face of God he signified his knowledge of Him,"
according to a gloss of Gregory on the same passage.
Reply to Objection 2: In the present state of life human
contemplation is impossible without phantasms, because it is connatural
to man to see the intelligible species in the phantasms, as the
Philosopher states (De Anima iii, 7). Yet intellectual
knowledge does not consist in the phantasms themselves, but in our
contemplating in them the purity of the intelligible truth: and this
not only in natural knowledge, but also in that which we obtain by
revelation. For Dionysius says (Coel. Hier. i) that "the
Divine glory shows us the angelic hierarchies under certain symbolic
figures, and by its power we are brought back to the single ray of
light," i.e. to the simple knowledge of the intelligible truth. It
is in this sense that we must understand the statement of Gregory that
"contemplatives do not carry along with them the shadows of things
corporeal," since their contemplation is not fixed on them, but on
the consideration of the intelligible truth.
Reply to Objection 3: By these words Gregory does not imply that
the blessed Benedict, in that vision, saw God in His essence, but
he wishes to show that because "all creatures are small to him that
sees God," it follows that all things can easily be seen through the
enlightenment of the Divine light. Wherefore he adds: "For however
little he may see of the Creator's light, all created things become
petty to him."
|
|