DEGREES OF ENJOYMENT THROUGH THE GLORIFIED SENSES.
The possession and enjoyment of God in the Beatific Vision is not the
whole happiness of man in heaven; nor is it the only one in which
there are different degrees of enjoyment. Our senses, also, as well
as our minds, are to be elevated far beyond their present capacities
for enjoyment. They, too, are to receive a supernatural development,
an exquisite delicacy of perception, and power of conveying pleasures
to the soul, in proportion to the merits we have acquired by the
holiness of our lives. They, consequently, who, have led the holiest
lives, are not only the most intimately united to God, not only the
most completely transformed into Him by partaking more abundantly of
the Divine Nature; but their senses, also, are glorified and elevated
in power of enjoyment far above theirs who have practised virtue in
an inferior degree. Hence the highest in heaven will receive
immensely more pleasure thorough their senses, than others whose
lives have not been so holy. Any contrary doctrine would savor of
heresy.
If you were told, for instance, that a musician, who never served
God, but who, nevertheless, received the grace of a death-bed
repentance, shall, on account of his cultivated musical ear, enjoy
more pleasure from heavenly music than the Blessed Virgin, the
apostles, martyrs, and holy virgins, your whole soul would
undoubtedly revolt at such a doctrine. You would maintain that if
heaven is the reward of supernatural virtue, its whole happiness, its
every joy, and its every delight, whether from God himself or from
creatures, should be enjoyed in a higher degree by those who have
loved and served Him in a more perfect manner, and sacrificed
themselves more completely for Him.
You would certainly be right in maintaining all this, for it is
certainly so. The highest in heaven will not only possess a greater
elevation of mind--which is necessary to enjoy greater pleasure even
from creatures--but their senses also will be more refined and acute,
and will, therefore, enable them to enjoy more refined pleasures from
the objects of sense. It will be as already explained for the
Beatific Vision. All shall see, hear, and otherwise enjoy the
creatures prepared by the Almighty to rejoice the senses of His
children; but all shall not, on that account, enjoy the same amount
of pleasure. Each one shall receive his own pleasure, according to
the supernatural perfection of his senses which he has deserved by
the holiness of his life.
Let us endeavor to understand this, by supposing a grand concert
given in a church, where all classes of society are represented. All
hear the music, both vocal and instrumental, and all, no doubt,
receive pleasure. But do they all receive the same amount of
pleasure? They certainly do not. We may, for the sake of
illustration, divide that vast assembly into three general classes.
The first consists of those who have little or no musical ear, and,
therefore, the concert affords them only an inferior pleasure. The
next class is composed of those who have a good natural ear for
music, but who never have developed and cultivated it by study. These
evidently receive a far greater pleasure than the former. But the
third class is composed of those who not only possess a natural
talent for music, but who have, moreover, developed it by patient and
assiduous study. These last receive unbounded pleasure. They follow
with ease each instrument and voice into the most intricate harmony;
they receive the most exquisite pleasure precisely in those parts
where the uneducated perceive little or no beauty, because the music
is too scientific for them.
Here you have the same object of pleasure for all. Every one present
hears the whole concert as if he were there alone; and yet, what a
difference in the pleasure enjoyed by each one! We have divided these
persons into three classes, but, in reality, each one forms a class
by himself; for there are not two of those present, whether among the
educated or the ignorant, who receive precisely the same amount of
pleasure. Each one appropriates and enjoys his own individual
pleasure, according to the peculiar development of his faculties.
So it is in heaven. All the blessed hear the magnificent harmony, but
all do not, on that account, enjoy the same degree of pleasure. Each
one enjoys in proportion to his individual development, which is
given him as a portion of his reward. And, as the reward is given in
proportion to the holiness of their lives, it follows that the
holiest enjoy more pleasure than others from heavenly music.
Evidently, this holds true of the other senses, which also are
elevated and refined according to each one's holiness of life. Hence,
however talented and learned a man may now be in music, astronomy,
philosophy, poetry, or any other natural science, and how keen and
perfect soever may be his senses, he will not enjoy more pleasure, in
virtue of these more perfect natural gifts, unless they have been
consecrated to the service of God.
This is a truth which you must never forget. For it is to be feared
that there is a half-formed notion in the minds of respectable and
highly educated persons, that their superior talents and education
will enable them to enjoy more of heaven's happiness than those who
either have no great talents or are too poor to have them developed
by study. There can be no greater illusion. If it were so, the poor,
who, have already suffered so much from their humble position, would
seemingly have reason to complain on seeing the educated classes
again above them in heaven; and that, too, merely on account of their
higher education, and other natural advantages. Remember that God can
and will elevate each one in the power of enjoyment, according to the
holiness of his life, and not according to the natural advantages he
enjoys in this world.
But although it is perfectly true that natural talents, as such, are
not rewarded, and, therefore, do not elevate their possessors to a
higher glory or power of enjoyment, the case is quite different if
these talents have been developed under the influence of grace, and
consecrated to God by supernatural motives. In such a supposition,
they will most certainly be rewarded with a higher degree of glory,
and an increased power of enjoyment. Hence, philosophers,
theologians, and other learned men, who study for the glory of God;
poets, who sing the praises of God and of his saints; musicians, who
devote their talents to the composition of sacred music; the men and
the women who consecrate their talents and lives to the education of
youth--all these shall undoubtedly have their talents rewarded with
an increased power of enjoyment, because they have supernaturalized
them by a pure intention, and exercised them for the glory of God and
the salvation of souls. The rich man will certainly not be higher in
heaven on account of his wealth; but he may increase his glory by
making a proper use thereof. He may relieve the necessities of the
fatherless and the widow; he may build up houses for the education of
the poor; he may increase the beauty and the majesty of God's
temples, and thus change his wealth into a means of reaching a very
high degree of glory in heaven. So with you, if you be wealthy,
talented, and highly educated, although you will not be higher in
heaven on account of these natural advantages, you may vastly
increase your glory by charity to the poor, by teaching the ignorant,
by writing or translating good books, by purchasing and circulating
such pious books among the poor, and by otherwise using your social
position for the advancement of religion, and glorifying God with the
natural advantages He has so liberally bestowed upon you.
But you may, perhaps, ask: Will not these different degrees of glory
cause envy and, therefore, unhappiness in the lowest among the
blessed? Will not kings and queens, and other great ones of this
world, be unhappy if they see the poor above them? when they see
those, to whom they imagined they could not even speak without
lowering their dignity, shining far above them in splendor? I answer,
that if kings, queens, and other great ones of this world have the
unspeakable good fortune of being admitted into heaven, they
certainly will not be envious of the greater glory they shall behold
in those upon whom they formerly looked down.
There is no envy in heaven. If we once admit the possibility of such
a thing as envy, then farewell to the happiness of heaven. For in
such a supposition no one could be happy. The lowest would envy the
happiness of those who are a little higher, and these would envy the
happiness of the highest, and these, again, would envy the happiness
of the Blessed Virgin; and she, too, would be unhappy, because she
does not possess the glory of the Hypostatic Union, which is the
privilege of Jesus Christ alone. The absurdity of all this is a
sufficient answer to the question. Each one in heaven is satisfied
with his own lot, because it suits himself and no one else. As St.
Augustine says: When a tall man and a little boy are both dressed in
a suit of the same precious cloth, each is suited and fitted to his
satisfaction. The little boy is neither envious nor unhappy because
the tall man has more cloth than he; and he certainly would not
exchange with him. So also in heaven. Every one is there satisfied
with his own degree of glory, because it suits himself, and gratifies
all the rational cravings of his nature. Not only are the lowest
without envy, and perfectly satisfied with their degree of glory, but
they even rejoice at the higher glory of others. For they see that
those who enjoy the highest glory of heaven have deserved it by the
heroic virtues they practised while on earth.
Christian soul, I suppose that now you understand something of the
degrees of enjoyment in heaven, and that you are filled with noble
ambition to reach a high degree of union with God. You no doubt
desire to see your whole nature so elevated as to have the most
perfect enjoyment of God himself, and of the creatures in store to
rejoice the glorified senses of the just. Set to work in good earnest
to live a holy life; for it is by so doing that we deserve the
highest powers of enjoyment. A few days of labor and struggle, a few
days of self-denial, a few days of suffering, and then, the
undisturbed possession and enjoyment Of God himself, and of His
beautiful and pure creatures, forever! This is what is in store for
them that practise virtue and persevere unto the end.