|
We must consider the beatifying object and the
beatified subject. [548]
The Beatifying Object
St. Thomas defines the object of beatitude as
follows: "It is that perfect good which completely
satiates the desire of the rational being." [549] He
continues thus: "Only the uncreated and infinite good
can satisfy fully the desire of a creature which
conceives universal good." Whereas truth is formally
in the mind, which judges in conformity with external
objects, the good which is the object of the will is
in the things themselves which are good. The natural
or connatural desire of the will reaches forward,
then, not to the abstract idea of good, but to a real
and objective good. Hence it cannot find beatitude in
any finite and limited good, but only in the
sovereign and universal good. [550]
It is impossible for man to find that true happiness,
which he desires naturally, in any limited good:
pleasures, riches, honor, glory, power, knowledge.
Our
mind, noticing at once the limits of these goods,
conceives a higher good and carries us on to desire
that higher good. We must repeat: Our will, illumined
by our intelligence, has a depth without measure, a
depth which only God can fill.
This truth it is which made St. Augustine say:
"Unhappy
he who knows all things without knowing Thee, my God:
blessed he who knows Thee, even though he be ignorant
of all else. If he knows Thee and knows also other
things, he is happy, not by knowing them, but by
knowing Thee, provided that, knowing Thee, he also
glorifies Thee by thanking Thee for Thy gifts." [551]
We must distinguish natural beatitude from
supernatural
beatitude. Natural beatitude consists in that
knowledge
and love of God which we can attain by our natural
faculties. If man had been created in a state purely
natural, by his fidelity to duty he would have
merited
this beatitude, namely, first, a natural knowledge of
God's perfections reflected in His creatures, a
knowledge without any mixture of error; secondly, a
rational love of God, the Creator, love composed of
reverent submission, fidelity, recognition, the love,
not indeed of a son, but of a good servant in
relation
to the best of masters.
But supernatural beatitude, which we are now speaking
of, surpasses immeasurably the natural exigencies of
every created nature, even the highest angelic
natures.
This supernatural beatitude consists in sharing the
very beatitude of God, that beatitude whereby He
rejoices in knowing Himself and loving Himself for
all
eternity. Notice the expression in the parable of the
talents: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." [552]
This means: Take part in My own beatitude. We are
called to see God as He sees Himself, to love Him as
He
loves Himself. Truly, the depth of our will is such
that only God, seen face to face, can fill that depth
and draw the soul irresistibly. The depth which the
soul has by its very nature is augmented by infused
hope and charity, which widen, as it were, our heart,
increase its capacity to love, and arouse in us
aspirations higher than all natural aspirations, even
the most intimate and elevated. St. Augustine speaks
thus: "God is the goal of our desires, He is the one
whom we shall see without end, whom we shall love
without weariness, whom we shall glorify forever
without fatigue." [553]
Subjective Beatitude
If such is the object of eternal beatitude, what
subjective element is it that formally constitutes
beatitude? All theologians admit that subjective
beatitude consists in a vital union with God through
the higher faculties, intelligence and will, that is,
in the beatific vision and love which follows it.
St. Thomas [554] asks a question: Does beatitude
consist formally in the vision of God or in the love
of
God? According to him and his disciples, essential
beatitude consists formally in the possession of God.
Now it is by the beatific vision that the saints in
heaven possess God, whereas the beatific love follows
this possession, since it presupposes the vision of
God, seen face to face. Love, in fact, carries us on
to
an end that is still absent, in which state we call
it
desire, or toward an object which we already desire,
in
which state we call it joy and repose. This joy,
therefore, presupposes the possession of God, and
this
possession is had by the vision without medium. Hence
love either precedes this possession or follows it.
[555] On the contrary, the intelligence receives the
object into itself, becomes the object known, whereas
the will remains, we may say, outside the object,
which
is received into the intelligence. To illustrate, to
enjoy a scene we must first contemplate it, to enjoy
a
symphony of Beethoven we must first hear it.
Knowledge
takes possession of beauty, and joy follows
knowledge.
Essential beatitude, therefore, consists in the
immediate vision of God, and is consummated in the
love
which follows the vision. Love, a characteristic of
vision, follows that vision as liberty, morality,
sociability follow man's rational nature.
This doctrine is in conformity with many texts of
Holy
Scripture. "Blessed are the clean of heart for they
shall see God." [556] "This is eternal life: that
they
may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom
Thou hast sent." [557] "We shall be like to Him,
because we shall see Him as He is." [558] "We see now
through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to
face." [559]
The teaching of St. Thomas [560] is in harmony with
the
relations he establishes between the intelligence and
the will. Intelligence is higher than the will,
because
intelligence has an object that is more absolute and
universal, namely, being as truth, whereas the object
of the will is the good, which presupposes reality
and
truth, without which the will would not pursue a real
good, but an apparent and illusory good. [561]
Scotus and his followers, on the contrary, since they
hold that the will is superior to the intelligence,
maintain that essential beatitude consists formally
in
love, to which vision is subordinated.
To this position, Thomists reply: Scotus is
considering
beatitude as a concrete whole, without noticing that
it
has several elements. It is true that beatitude is
consummated in love; but we must still ask: What is
the
nature of this beatitude, what is it formally, what
is
the principle whence its characteristics derive?
Thomists maintain, with right, that the mind is
higher
than the will, since it directs the will. Formal
beatitude, then, is the act of the mind, is the
immediate vision of God, as we have seen in the texts
of Scripture just cited. Thomists add: Here below
indeed it is more perfect to love God than to know
Him,
because our knowledge is measured by our limited
ideas,
whereas our love, free and meritorious, goes out
toward
Him. But in heaven our knowledge will no longer be
imperfect: it will be purely intuitive, higher than
any
created idea. Beatific love will flow necessarily
from
the vision. This beatific love is not free. It is
something higher than liberty. [562]
Suarez, having examined the position of St. Thomas
and
of Scotus, says that essential beatitude consists
formally both in vision and in love.
Thomists reply: If it were thus, the intellect and
will
would not be related by subordination of one to the
other, but would be coordinated, equal each to the
other, just as would be two individuals of one and
the
same species who resemble each other very strikingly.
But the truth is not thus. Intelligence and will are
two faculties, specifically distinct, and therefore
unequal. The will is subordinated to the intelligence
which directs it. The will is carried on to a true
real
good, but only on condition that it follows the right
judgment of the intellect, a judgment conformable to
reality. We desire only what we know, and we do not
rejoice except in a good which we possess. Joy does
not
constitute the possession, but presupposes the
possession. Hence intelligence and will are not equal
in the possession of God. They arise in order, one
after the other. By vision the soul possesses God. By
love it enjoys Him, rests in Him, prefers Him to
itself.
St. Augustine speaks as follows, repeating his
conversation with his mother at Ostia: "All within us
cries out: 'We made not ourselves, but the Eternal
One
made us.' If, after this word, all things were
silent,
and He Himself alone would speak to us, no longer
through them, but by Himself: if then our soul,
lifting
itself on the wings of thought up to eternal wisdom,
could retain unbroken this sublime contemplation: if
all other thoughts of the spirit had ceased and this
alone had absorbed the soul, and filled it with joy,
the most intimate and the most divine: if eternal
life
resembled this ravishment in God which we experience
for a moment: would this not be the consummation of
that word: 'Enter thou into the joy of Thy Lord'?"
[563]
In truth, celestial beatitude is the consummation of
that transforming union, spoken of by St. Theresa and
St. John of the Cross, the consummation of that
vision
wherein the just soul is deified in its very depths.
In
heaven this fusion will take place by immediate
vision
and consequent love. The soul, it is true, remains
inferior to God, because only God is existent
reality,
He who is. Compared with Him, we are always as
nothing. God preserves eternally in just souls all
that they
have by nature and by grace. He is eternally in them,
or, to speak still more truly, they are eternally in
Him.
|
|
|
|
| 548. |
Dict. theol. cath., "Beatitude." |
| 549. |
Perfect good is that which quiets and satiates
the
appetite. Ia IIae, q. 2, a.8. |
| 550. |
Only God is the universal good, not as predicate,
but as being and as cause. |
| 551. |
Confessions, Bk. V, chap. 4. |
| 552. |
Matt. 25:21. |
| 553. |
De civ. Dei, Bk. II, chap. 30, no. 1. This is one
of the most beautiful definitions of heaven and
beatitude that was ever pronounced. We know none that
is more perfect. Cf. Sermo 362, 29: "Insatiably thou
wilt be satiated with truth." |
| 554. |
Ia IIae, q.3, a.4. |
| 555. |
The will is carried toward its end, by desiring
it
when it is absent, by enjoying it when it is present.
But it is clear that the desire of that end is not
the
attainment of that end. Delight comes to the will by
the fact that the end is already present. But the
converse is not true, namely, that something becomes
present because the will delights in it. Hence God
becomes present to us by the act of intellect, that
is,
by vision, and then, as a consequence, the will rests
with joy in the end already attained. |
| 556. |
Matt. 5:5. |
| 557. |
John 17:3. |
| 558. |
John 3:2. |
| 559. |
I Cor. 13:12. |
| 560. |
Ia, q. 82, a. 3. |
| 561. |
Cf. Janvier, Conferences de Notre Dame, Lent of
1903, pp. 122, 123. See also Dict. theol. cath.,
"Gloire de Dieu". |
| 562. |
Denz., no. 530. |
| 563. |
Confessions, Bk. IX, chap. 25. |
|
