Whether the Rewards Assigned to the Beatitudes Refer to This Life?
Objection 1: It would seem that the rewards assigned to the
beatitudes do not refer to this life. Because some are said to be
happy because they hope for a reward, as stated above (A. 1). Now the
object of hope is future happiness. Therefore these rewards refer to
the life to come.
Obj. 2: Further, certain punishments are set down in opposition to
the beatitudes, Luke 6:25, where we read: "Woe to you that are
filled; for you shall hunger. Woe to you that now laugh, for you
shall mourn and weep." Now these punishments do not refer to this
life, because frequently men are not punished in this life, according
to Job 21:13: "They spend their days in wealth." Therefore neither do
the rewards of the beatitudes refer to this life.
Obj. 3: Further, the kingdom of heaven which is set down as the
reward of poverty is the happiness of heaven, as Augustine says (De
Civ. Dei xix) [*Cf. De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 1]. Again, abundant
fullness is not to be had save in the life to come, according to Ps.
16:15: "I shall be filled [Douay: 'satisfied'] when Thy glory shall
appear." Again, it is only in the future life that we shall see God,
and that our Divine sonship will be made manifest, according to 1
John 3:2: "We are now the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared
what we shall be. We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be
like to Him, because we shall see Him as He is." Therefore these
rewards refer to the future life.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 4):
"These promises can be fulfilled in this life, as we believe them to
have been fulfilled in the apostles. For no words can express that
complete change into the likeness even of an angel, which is promised
to us after this life."
_I answer that,_ Expounders of Holy Writ are not agreed in speaking
of these rewards. For some, with Ambrose (Super Luc. v), hold that
all these rewards refer to the life to come; while Augustine (De
Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 4) holds them to refer to the present life;
and Chrysostom in his homilies (In Matth. xv) says that some refer to
the future, and some to the present life.
In order to make the matter clear we must take note that hope of
future happiness may be in us for two reasons. First, by reason of
our having a preparation for, or a disposition to future happiness;
and this is by way of merit; secondly, by a kind of imperfect
inchoation of future happiness in holy men, even in this life. For it
is one thing to hope that the tree will bear fruit, when the leaves
begin to appear, and another, when we see the first signs of the
fruit.
Accordingly, those things which are set down as merits in the
beatitudes, are a kind of preparation for, or disposition to
happiness, either perfect or inchoate: while those that are assigned
as rewards, may be either perfect happiness, so as to refer to the
future life, or some beginning of happiness, such as is found in
those who have attained perfection, in which case they refer to the
present life. Because when a man begins to make progress in the acts
of the virtues and gifts, it is to be hoped that he will arrive at
perfection, both as a wayfarer, and as a citizen of the heavenly
kingdom.
Reply Obj. 1: Hope regards future happiness as the last end: yet it
may also regard the assistance of grace as that which leads to that
end, according to Ps. 27:7: "In Him hath my heart hoped, and I have
been helped."
Reply Obj. 2: Although sometimes the wicked do not undergo temporal
punishment in this life, yet they suffer spiritual punishment. Hence
Augustine says (Confess. i): "Thou hast decreed, and it is so,
Lord--that the disordered mind should be its own punishment." The
Philosopher, too, says of the wicked (Ethic. ix, 4) that "their soul
is divided against itself . . . one part pulls this way, another
that"; and afterwards he concludes, saying: "If wickedness makes a
man so miserable, he should strain every nerve to avoid vice." In
like manner, although, on the other hand, the good sometimes do not
receive material rewards in this life, yet they never lack spiritual
rewards, even in this life, according to Matt. 19:29, and Mk. 10:30:
"Ye shall receive a hundred times as much" even "in this time."
Reply Obj. 3: All these rewards will be fully consummated in the life
to come: but meanwhile they are, in a manner, begun, even in this
life. Because the "kingdom of heaven," as Augustine says (loc. cit.),
can denote the beginning of perfect wisdom, in so far as "the spirit"
begins to reign in men. The "possession" of the land denotes the
well-ordered affections of the soul that rests, by its desire, on the
solid foundation of the eternal inheritance, signified by "the land."
They are "comforted" in this life, by receiving the Holy Ghost, Who
is called the "Paraclete," i.e. the Comforter. They "have their
fill," even in this life, of that food of which Our Lord said (John
4:34): "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." Again, in
this life, men "obtain" God's "Mercy." Again, the eye being cleansed
by the gift of understanding, we can, so to speak, "see God."
Likewise, in this life, those who are the "peacemakers" of their own
movements, approach to likeness to God, and are called "the children
of God." Nevertheless these things will be more perfectly fulfilled
in heaven.
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