THE BEATIFIC VISION. (CONTINUED.)
In the Beatific Vision our intellect is glorified, and our thirst for
knowledge completely satisfied.
Man was created with a thirst for knowledge which can never be
satiated in this world. Sin, which greatly weakened and darkened his
mental faculties, has not taken away his desire and love for
knowledge. And the knowledge which he acquired by eating the
forbidden fruit, rather increased than satisfied his thirst.
But all his efforts to reach the perfection of knowledge, even in the
natural order, have been fruitless. With all his boasted discoveries
in astronomy, chemistry, geology, mechanics, and other kindred
sciences, his knowledge of nature's secrets is still very limited.
But could he even master every natural science, and compel nature to
reveal her most hidden secrets, his thirst for knowledge would still
remain unsatisfied.
Let us, for the sake of illustration, suppose a man so gifted that he
not only knows all that can be known about this world, but soars
beyond it, and learns the exact size, distances, laws, and relations
to each other of the countless worlds that shine in the blue sky.
Supposing these distant orbs to be peopled like ours, he knows the
character, manners, laws, and languages of their respective
inhabitants. He knows, moreover, all their sciences, the characters
of their plants, animals, and minerals. In a word, he sees and knows
every star as perfectly as he knows his own house and its inmates.
What vast knowledge would not that man possess! He would certainly be
far more learned than all the philosophers that ever lived, taken
together. But would his thirst for knowledge be completely quenched?
Would he say that his mind is so completely full that he can long for
no more, or that it can contain no more? No, he could never say that;
for the knowledge of the creature alone can never completely fill or
satisfy the mind.
We are little, and very limited, it is true, and if we are aiming at
Christian perfection, we are accustomed to look upon ourselves as
such. And the oftener we compare our borrowed perfections with those
of God, the more deeply convinced of our littleness shall we become.
But yet, how little soever we may be, we have, in a certain sense,
capacity for the infinite; and for it, only the infinite is
sufficient. Hence, as all the wealth of this world could never make
any man perfectly happy, so neither could the perfect knowledge of
every creature perfectly satisfy his cravings after knowledge. The
one is as finite as the other, and consequently neither could do that
for which the infinite alone is sufficient.
Yet this is not all. Not only is the full knowledge of the whole
natural order incapable of satisfying man's desire for knowledge; but
not even all the knowledge of God, and of the supernatural order, so
far as they can be known in this world by faith and theology, ever
did or ever could make a man say, It is enough; I ask for no more.
Indeed, the very reverse takes place. For if there be any knowledge
that intensifies thirst for more, it is precisely the imperfect
knowledge of God we have by faith and the contemplation of Him in his
creatures.
Theologians have studied and learned much; they have thrown much
light on the dark mysteries of revelation; yet what they know is only
as a drop in the boundless ocean of God's unfathomable being. With
all the vast knowledge of God which they have acquired, they are
still constrained to cry out with St. Paul: "Oh, the depth of the
riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible
are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways!"* Do what we may,
read the Holy Scriptures, study, pray, meditate; we never can see and
know God as He is, so long as we remain pilgrims in this world. The
saying of St. Paul will ever remain true: "We now see thorough a
glass in a dark manner;"+ that is, imperfectly and unsatisfactorily.
* Rom. xi. 13. + 1 Cor. xiii. 12,
In the original Greek, St. Paul uses the word mirror, which is also
the word used in the Latin Vulgate, "per speculum;" that is, by means
of a mirror. The meaning, therefore, of St. Paul is not that we see
through a glass by transmitted light, as when we look through a
telescope, but as when we see an image reflected in a mirror. Let us
suppose a man so circumstanced in this world that he has never seen
the sun, nor his light, except as reflected in the moon. He has heard
of his immense size, and his bewildering distance from us; of his
dazzling splendor, and keen, life-imparting power, whereby he gives
life, growth, and beauty to every living thing. To this man, the moon
is a mirror wherein the sun is imperfectly reflected; and, through he
is unable to see the sun himself, he judges from the splendor and
beauty of the moon that he must be grand, glorious, and magnificent
beyond the power of words to express.
This illustrates the meaning of St. Paul when he says that we now see
God by means of a mirror. All creatures, the sun, the moon, and the
stars, the vast expanse of the ocean, the earth, trees, flowers,
animals, and man especially, are a grand mirror in which the
perfections of God are reflected in a dark and imperfect manner. We
see, in them all, faint reflections of His divine beauty, wisdom,
goodness, power, and of His other perfections; but himself as He is,
we cannot see. Therefore, all the knowledge of God which we can
derive from the contemplation of creatures, adding even all that he
has been phased to reveal of himself, far from satisfying, rather
increases the thirst of the soul for more. They who know most of God
are the saints, and they are the very ones who can say, with the
royal prophet: "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so
my soul panteth after Thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the
strong, living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of
God?"* This is the continual sigh and cry of the saints, because the
knowledge which they have of God in creatures, and even in their
visions, does not satisfy their longings. But listen to St. Paul: "We
now see through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face: now
I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known."+
* Ps. xli. 2. + 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
How consoling are these words of inspiration! Yes, in heaven, we
shall see God as He is, face to face. We shall see Him in all his
adorable perfections by a clear and unclouded perception of his
divine essence. We shall gaze with unspeakable delight and rapture
upon that beauty, ever ancient and ever new. We shall drink in all
knowledge at its living source--unmingled with error or doubt. All
the darkness and ignorance caused by sin will forever vanish in the
light of God's countenance, as the darkness of night disappears
before the rising sun.
We shall then see, as it is, the august and awful mystery of
the most Holy Trinity--the deepest, the sublimest, and the most
incomprehensible of all those that God ever revealed to man. We shall
then see the eternal Father, ever begetting His only Son, and the
Holy Ghost ever proceeding from both Father and Son. We shall then
see how they are really three distinct Persons, and yet one undivided
Essence. We shall see, face to face, and as he is, this great,
eternal God, in the eternity of His duration, in the abysses of his
unsearchable judgments, in the sweetness of his goodness, in the
tenderness of his mercies, in the spotlessness of his sanctity, in
the severity of his justice, in the might of his irresistible power,
in the charms of his captivating beauty, and in the splendor of his
majesty and glory. In a word, we shall no longer see God as He is
rejected in the mirror of creation, but as he is in himself.
This is the vision which no mortal has seen, or can see in this
world. This is the vision which pours torrents of knowledge into our
souls, and fills them to overflowing. No more searching of books; no
more wasting away of health and strength in the pursuit of knowledge;
no more going to learned men, as the beggar goes to the rich for
bread. No more perplexing and torturing doubts that perhaps we have
not the truth. The light of glory has opened our eyes, and we see all
truth as it is, and become like God in knowledge, because we see him
as He is.
But this is not yet all. The glorification of our intellect will not
only enable us to see God as He is: it will also unveil us to
ourselves, and make us see ourselves as we are.
In our present state of existence, we are a mystery to ourselves. In
spite of the numberless learned works written on the mind, and the
laws by which it operates, our knowledge of it is still very limited.
We see the human soul only as reflected in a mirror, that is, in her
outward manifestations. Thus, when we read a magnificent poem, or
when we gaze upon a noble ship ploughing the waters of the deep, or
riding safely through a fearful storm; or when we look upon grand
churches, palaces, and works of art--all these are as mirrors, which
reflect the greatness, wisdom, power, and ingenuity of the human
soul. Again, when we enter orphan asylums, or other institutions for
the unfortunate and destitute of every description, we may view them
as mirrors which reflect the moral goodness of the soul; but the soul
herself as she is, we cannot see. She is as invisible to us as God
himself.
In heaven, we shall know and see ourselves as we are. For, as St.
Paul tells us: "Then I shall know even as I am known." We shall then
see and know that beautiful, living image of the Eternal in her very
essence. We shall see her clothed with a surpassing beauty, adorned
with the gems of grace and good works, and shining in the presence of
God like a very star. This sight of ourselves and of our exceeding
beauty will kindle in us none other than sentiments of unbounded
gratitude to God, who is the giver of our existence and of all that
we possess. Here again, as well as in the knowledge of God, the human
intellect will rest satisfied; because its thirst for the complete
knowledge of self will be quenched in the Beatific Vision.
Besides seeing ourselves as we are, we shall also see the beautiful
angels, our elder brothers in creation. We shall also see, as they
are, our fellow-men, who are now as much a mystery to us as we are to
ourselves. We shall likewise see all other creatures as they are in
their very essence, and not as they now appear to us. We shall see
all things in the "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in us all."* Thus shall our souls be filled to
overflowing with all knowledge from its living source, which is God
himself, the eternal Truth.
* Eph. iv. 6.
Before closing this chapter, I must remark, for fear of being
misunderstood, that when we say the blessed will see all things in
God, we do not mean that they will really possess all knowledge. We
are finite beings, and, consequently, essentially unable to possess
any attribute or perfection in an infinite degree. We can no more
possess all knowledge than we can be clothed with all power, all
holiness, all beauty, or any other perfection in an infinite degree.
All these attributes belong to God alone. Even the angels, who are so
superior to us, do not know everything.* When we say, therefore, that
we shall see all things in God, we simply mean that each one's
capacity, great or small, shall be completely filled, and that he
shall desire nothing more. When we fill many vessels with water, the
smallest is as full as the largest. So in heaven. Each one shall know
according to his individual capacity, which the Light of glory will
give him. Each one shall be filled to overflowing, and desire no
more. But more of this when we come to speak of the degrees of glory.
* .... Angeli superiores, inferiores a nescientia purgant. Angeli
autem inferiores vident essentiam divinam: ergo angelus videns
essentiam divinam, potest aliqua nescire. Sed anima non perfectius
videbit Deum quam angelus: ergo animæ videntes Deum non oportet quod
omnia videant.... Sic autem ignorantia non est poenalitas, sed
defectus quidam: nec necesse est quod omnis talis defectus per
gloriam auferatur. Sic enim etiam posset dici quod defectus esset in
Papa Lino quod non pervenerit ad gloriam Petri.--S. Thom., Suppl. q.
92, art. 3.