46. Heaven
When the form of this world has passed away, those who have welcomed God into their lives and have sincerely opened themselves to his love—at least at the moment of death—will enjoy fullness of communion with God, which is the goal of human life. Generally speaking, the teachings of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition refer to retribution, that is, a reward or a punishment according to each person’s deeds. Therefore, practically every time hell appears in revelation, heaven is mentioned as well.
17. Existence of Heaven
The Creed of the People of God says: “We believe that the multitude of souls gathered round Jesus and Mary in Paradise forms the Heavenly Church. There they enjoy eternal joy, seeing God as he is. There also, in different degrees and ways, they share with the holy angels in that exercise of divine power which belongs to Christ in his glory when they intercede for us and come to the aid of our weakness in brotherly care.”1
The existence of heaven is a dogma of faith: “The souls of those who have not committed any sin at all after they received holy Baptism, and the souls of those who have committed sin, but have been cleansed, either while they were in the body or afterwards … are promptly taken up into heaven.”2
The Old Testament alludes to heaven in different ways (cf. Is 60:1; Wis 3:1; Dn 7:27), but the New Testament is much more explicit and insistent. Our Lord affirms in the Gospel that the angels in heaven continuously see the face of God, and that it is the reward of the clean of heart and those who are found with the nuptial dress, the state of grace. Heaven is compared to a banquet where the desire for happiness is satisfied. But one has to become like a child, fight strenuously to attain it, follow the narrow path, and comply with the will of the Heavenly Father (cf. Mt 7:13–14, 21; 11:12; 18:1–4, 10; 22:11–12; Lk 13:29; 14:15). Another set of texts can be gathered from the teachings of the apostles (cf. 1 Cor 2:9; 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2; Rv 21:3).
Heaven is one of the fundamental teachings of the Gospel, for this is the “Good News” of our salvation: the real possibility of one day being united to God, and sharing his eternal bliss.
Theology explains the existence of heaven in the same way as that of hell. It is fitting to the infinite justice and sanctity of the love of God that the just—those who die in friendship with God—receive a reward.
18. The Nature of Heaven
Metaphorically speaking, heaven is understood in Sacred Scripture as the dwelling place of God, who is thus distinguished from human beings (cf. Ps 104:2ff; 115:16; Is 66:1). He sees and judges from the heights of heaven (cf. Ps 113:4–9) and comes down when he is called upon (cf. Ps 18:9, 10; 144:5). However, the biblical metaphor makes it clear that God does not identify himself with heaven, nor can he be contained within it (cf. 1 Kgs 8:27). This is true, even though, in some passages of the first book of Maccabees, “Heaven” is simply one of God’s names (1 Mc 3:18, 19, 50, 60; 4:24, 55).
The depiction of heaven as the transcendent dwelling place of the living God is joined with that of the place to which believers, through grace, can also ascend, as we see in the Old Testament accounts of Enoch (cf. Gn 5:24) and Elijah (cf. 2 Kgs 2:11). Thus, heaven becomes an image of life in God. In this sense, Jesus speaks of a reward in heaven (cf. Mt 5:12) and urges people to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Mt 6:20; cf. 19:21).
The New Testament amplifies the idea of heaven in relation to the mystery of Christ. Since believers are loved in a special way by the Father, they are raised with Christ and made citizens of heaven. The fatherhood of God, who is rich in mercy, is experienced by creatures through the love of God’s crucified and risen Son, who sits in heaven on the right hand of the Father as Lord. After the course of our earthly life, participation in complete intimacy with the Father thus comes through our insertion into Christ’s paschal mystery. St. Paul emphasizes our meeting with Christ in heaven at the end of time with a vivid spatial image: “Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thes 4:17–18).
In the context of revelation, we know that the “heaven” or “happiness” in which we hope to find ourselves is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds, but a living, personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. It is our meeting with the Father, which takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit.
The happiness of eternal life is, as defined by the Fathers, an exemption from all evil, and an enjoyment of all good. Heaven consists in the perfect and total possession of the good, without any mixture of evil.4 The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that heaven is the ultimate end and the accomplishment of the most profound aspirations of man, the supreme and definitive state of bliss.5
The greatest happiness in heaven, its proper object, “consists in the vision of God, and the enjoyment of the beauty of God, who is the source and principle of all goodness and perfection.”6 Our Lord himself announced it when he said, “And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent” (Jn 17:3).
The Magisterium has described the encounter with God in heaven as an “intuitive and even face-to-face vision, without interposition of any creature in the function of object seen; rather the divine essence immediately manifests itself to them plainly, clearly, openly.”7 The vision of God that the angels and saints enjoy in heaven is not like the knowledge of God that we have on earth, even when it is revealed knowledge. St. Paul exclaims, “Now we see in a mirror dimly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood” (1 Cor 13:12).
19. The Nature of the Direct Vision of God
The Catechism teaches that, because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as he is unless he reveals his mystery to man’s direct contemplation, and gives man the capacity to contemplate him.8
The reason is that we know and understand things through representations of reality that are formed in our intellect. But it is impossible to extract from reality any representation of the essence of God. “It is impossible that any image drawn from created things should be equally pure and spiritual with God, no resemblance can enable us perfectly to comprehend the Divine Essence.… The only means … of arriving at a knowledge of the divine essence is that God unite himself to us.”9 There is direct vision of God because God unites himself to the intelligence of the blessed in heaven, and from this union flow the other characteristics of heavenly bliss.
In heaven, the souls of the blessed “see clearly the Triune God himself, just as he is,”10 and thereby get to know intimately the intra-Trinitarian life. Pope Pius XII, in the encyclical Mystici Corporis, affirms that this contemplation of the intimate life of God makes the saints “rejoice with a happiness very much like to that with which the holy and undivided Trinity is happy.”11
The beatific vision, and the joy that it engenders, make the soul, in a way, identified with God, “for those who enjoy God, while they retain their own nature, assume a certain admirable and almost divine form, so as to seem gods rather than men.”12 This divinization of the soul and of its powers, which will also affect the body after the resurrection, does not take away the difference between Creator and creature—God, who is absolutely transcendent, cannot enter into communication with any creature. This is the great mystery of the beatific vision.
Tradition sheds some light on this mystery with an eloquent analogy: When placed in the fire, iron becomes red hot like fire itself.13
The blessed contemplate God as he is in himself, but, in him, they also have a most perfect knowledge of creatures (especially those that are close to them), and this knowledge, too, gives them an immense joy. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the saints, who form part of the universe, know in the Word everything that belongs to the adornment and wholeness of the world. As members of the human community, they know the objects of their love or interest on earth, and as creatures that are elevated to the order of grace, they clearly know the truths of the faith that refer to salvation: the incarnation of our Lord, the divine motherhood of Mary, the Church, grace, and the sacraments.14
Nevertheless, the blessed cannot know God with absolute fullness and depth, as he knows himself. This is due to the immensity of his perfection, goodness, and beauty, which no creature will ever be able to fully comprehend. Actually, in order to be able to see God face to face, the soul has to be elevated by the lumen gloriae.
20. Necessity and Nature of the Lumen Gloriae
The strictly supernatural character of the beatific vision can be understood—up to a certain point—if we consider that “all created things are circumscribed within certain limits of perfection, while God is without limits; and therefore nothing created can reflect his immensity. The only means, then, of arriving at a knowledge of the divine essence is that God unite himself in some sort to us, and after an incomprehensible way elevate our minds to a higher degree of perfection, and thus render us capable of contemplating the beauty of his nature.”15
This supernatural strengthening and elevation of the created intellect enables the spiritual creature to see God face to face. It is known in theology as the lumen gloriae, or “light of glory.”
The necessity of the lumen gloriae in order to enjoy the beatific vision is a truth of faith. The Magisterium solemnly defined it in condemning as heretical the following proposition: “Every intellectual nature is in itself naturally happy, and the soul does not need the light of glory to elevate it to see God and to enjoy God in blessedness.”16 The supernatural elevation is totally gratuitous and unmerited. Sacred Scripture promises it when it talks about the fountain of life and of light (cf. Ps 35:10), and about the light of the Apocalypse’s city (cf. Rv 21:23ff).
The Church has also defined that “this vision of the divine essence and the enjoyment of it do away with the acts of faith and hope in those souls, insofar as faith and hope are theological virtues in the proper sense.”17 In heaven, God gives himself to the saints as the object of contemplation and joy. There is no longer any need for the virtues of wayfarers on earth, those that tend by their very nature to the perfection of charity.
In summary, in our present condition, even with the help of grace, we cannot see the divine essence; we only get to know about it through revelation. Without the help of God, that is, naturally, the vision of the divine essence is impossible for our bodily eyes and intellect. This applies to angels as well. Only with divine assistance is it possible to see God as he is in himself.
In heaven, we will see as we are seen: not through a likeness or an image, but face to face (cf. 1 Cor 13:9ff). For this, God must help the human and angelic intellect in a supernatural and gratuitous way. This assistance of God, a supernatural and free gift, is the lumen gloriae. It is infused in the created intellect, preparing it for the intellective union with God and making it capable of the beatific vision.
21. Beatific Vision and Happiness
The beatific vision—the face-to-face vision of God—consists in the contemplation of the Trinity and of all its attributes and properties, which are identified with its essence.18 This vision does not exhaust the divine essence, which is incomprehensible, and cannot be completely grasped even with the lumen gloriae.
The term intellect comes from the Latin intus legere, “to read into.” True knowledge, in a certain way, is a “going inside” the known object in order to capture its form and its truth. In an ineffable way, man’s intellect, with the aid of the lumen gloriae, is brought into the divine essence, where it contemplates the Blessed Trinity and participates more fully in the intimate life of the eternal processions.
The act of the will (love) follows the act of the intellect (knowing). Thus, the direct vision of God brings about a most intense act of love, fully uniting the soul to God.
This union with God through vision and love produces perfect happiness and an unimaginable satisfaction of the deepest longings of the soul. And these are even surpassed, because the soul is elevated to an order far beyond our natural order on earth, even with the help of grace.
The essential happiness consists in the immediate vision of God, and of creatures in God, and in the infinite joy of their vision. But God’s mercy is so great, and he is so generous, that he has wanted his chosen ones to find happiness in the legitimate created goods that man seeks.
Aside from the vision of God, “the full and perfect satisfying of every desire,” eternal life consists in “the happy society of all the blessed, and this society will be especially delightful. Since each one will possess all good together with the blessed, and they will love one another as themselves, they will rejoice in the other’s good as their own. It will also happen that, as the pleasure and enjoyment of one increases, so will it be for all.”19 Being with Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, the angels, and the saints is part of the accidental glory, which consists in the “clear and distinct knowledge which each one [of the blessed] shall have of the singular and exalted dignity of his companions [in glory].”20 Meeting those whom we loved while on earth will cause a special joy.
This joy and happiness is completed as other souls enter heaven, as loved ones still on earth progress in their spiritual life, and as one’s apostolic efforts and sufferings endured in the service of God bear fruit with the passage of time. It is finally crowned after the universal judgment with the glorification of one’s own body.
The Catechism teaches that this mystery of blessed communion with God and with all those who are in Christ surpasses all understanding or representation. “No eye has seen, no ear heard, no the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).21 “The faithful should be deeply impressed that the happiness of the saints is full to overflowing of all those pleasures which can be enjoyed or even desired in this life, whether they regard the powers of the mind or of the perfection of the body.”22
22. The Glorification of God and the Beatific Vision
The images that are used by Sacred Scripture to refer to heaven, especially in the Book of Revelation (cf. Rv 4; 5; 6), show the saints to be in continuous adoration of the Blessed Trinity. They praise the glory of God (cf. Eph 1:6, 12, 14) by being united to him, through their total identification with his will, which desires the supreme good for us.
For this reason, the eternal glorification of God and the eternal happiness of the saints are like the two sides of a coin. Perpetual praise is given to God, the Supreme Good that irresistibly attracts the human will, and the saints find the greatest possible happiness in this praise and recognition of the glory of God.
23. The Inequality of Blessedness
Although the blessed are all immensely happy contemplating God face-to-face, “some [see God] more perfectly than others according to their respective merits”23 gained on earth. In support of this, the Council of Trent quotes the epistle to the Romans: “For he will render to every man according to his works” (Rom 2:6).24
St. Thomas explains this question on the basis of the level of grace in each soul:
The faculty of seeing God, however, does not belong to the created intellect naturally, but is given to it by the light of glory, which establishes the intellect in a kind of likeness to God.…
Hence the intellect which has more of the light of glory will see God more perfectly; and he will have a fuller participation of the light of glory who has more charity; because where there is the greater charity, there is the more desire; and desire in a certain degree makes the one desiring apt and prepared to receive the object desired. Hence he who possesses the more charity, will see God the more perfectly, and will be the more beatified.25
This inequality in happiness will not sadden those who have received less. First of all, their total identification with God’s will already brings about their perfect happiness. There is, furthermore, a reason of fittingness: the perfect charity that unites all souls in heaven leads them to wish the greatest good and happiness for the others—a desire that they will see fully satisfied.
The blessed in heaven continue joyfully fulfilling the will of God with regard to other people and the entire creation. They reign with Christ. With him, “they shall reign for ever and ever” (Rv 22:5; cf. Mt 25:21, 23).26
24. The Eternity of Heaven
The eternity of heaven is a dogma of faith. “The same vision and enjoyment remains continuously without any interruption or abolition of the vision and enjoyment, and will remain up till the final judgment and from then on forever.”27
The essential glory that each soul gets upon entering heaven will remain the same for eternity. The accidental glory, however, may increase, and does in fact increase.
This is easy to understand. Good works do not end with their execution; they continue bearing fruit, and only at the end of time can their consequences be fully reckoned. Thus, a good work or an exemplary life does not reach its full stature until all the good effects that it caused—and continues to cause along the course of history—can be completely measured and accounted. As long as history lasts, accidental glory can increase.
Moreover, the operations of the soul will be more perfect after the resurrection, when they shall have rejoined their own bodies. And the glorification of the body shall further add to the accidental glory of the soul.
25. The Properties of Blessedness
The essential properties of beatitude are:
· A most perfect love for God, which completely fills and satisfies the aspirations of the human heart, bringing about perfect happiness,
· Absolute impeccability, which is a consequence of the direct vision of God and of perfect charity,
· Eternity, which has to be understood as lasting forever, as having no end, but should not be confused with the divine attribute of eternity.
Footnotes:
1. Paul VI, Creed of the People of God, 29; cf. DS 1000; LG, 49.
2. DS 857; cf. CCC, 1023–1032.
4. Cf. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.5; cf. St Augustine, De Civitate Dei, 22, 30.
5. Cf. CCC, 1024.
6. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.6.
7. DS 1000.
8. Cf. CCC, 1028.
9. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.8.
10. DS 1305.
11. DS 3815.
12. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.17; cf. CCC, 1023.
13. Cf. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.10.
14. Cf. ST, I, q. 89, a.8.
15. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.8; cf. CCC, 1028.
16. Council of Vienne, Errors of the Beghards: DS 895.
17. DS 1001.
18. Cf. CCC, 1028.
19. The Catechetical Instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas, pp. 74–76.
20. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.8; cf. CCC, 1024.
21. Cf. CCC, 1027.
22. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.12.
23. DS 1305.
24. Cf. DS 1549.
25. ST, I, q. 12, a. 6.
26. Cf. CCC, 1029.
27. DS 1001.
17. Existence of Heaven
The Creed of the People of God says: “We believe that the multitude of souls gathered round Jesus and Mary in Paradise forms the Heavenly Church. There they enjoy eternal joy, seeing God as he is. There also, in different degrees and ways, they share with the holy angels in that exercise of divine power which belongs to Christ in his glory when they intercede for us and come to the aid of our weakness in brotherly care.”1
The existence of heaven is a dogma of faith: “The souls of those who have not committed any sin at all after they received holy Baptism, and the souls of those who have committed sin, but have been cleansed, either while they were in the body or afterwards … are promptly taken up into heaven.”2
The Old Testament alludes to heaven in different ways (cf. Is 60:1; Wis 3:1; Dn 7:27), but the New Testament is much more explicit and insistent. Our Lord affirms in the Gospel that the angels in heaven continuously see the face of God, and that it is the reward of the clean of heart and those who are found with the nuptial dress, the state of grace. Heaven is compared to a banquet where the desire for happiness is satisfied. But one has to become like a child, fight strenuously to attain it, follow the narrow path, and comply with the will of the Heavenly Father (cf. Mt 7:13–14, 21; 11:12; 18:1–4, 10; 22:11–12; Lk 13:29; 14:15). Another set of texts can be gathered from the teachings of the apostles (cf. 1 Cor 2:9; 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2; Rv 21:3).
Heaven is one of the fundamental teachings of the Gospel, for this is the “Good News” of our salvation: the real possibility of one day being united to God, and sharing his eternal bliss.
Theology explains the existence of heaven in the same way as that of hell. It is fitting to the infinite justice and sanctity of the love of God that the just—those who die in friendship with God—receive a reward.
18. The Nature of Heaven
Metaphorically speaking, heaven is understood in Sacred Scripture as the dwelling place of God, who is thus distinguished from human beings (cf. Ps 104:2ff; 115:16; Is 66:1). He sees and judges from the heights of heaven (cf. Ps 113:4–9) and comes down when he is called upon (cf. Ps 18:9, 10; 144:5). However, the biblical metaphor makes it clear that God does not identify himself with heaven, nor can he be contained within it (cf. 1 Kgs 8:27). This is true, even though, in some passages of the first book of Maccabees, “Heaven” is simply one of God’s names (1 Mc 3:18, 19, 50, 60; 4:24, 55).
The depiction of heaven as the transcendent dwelling place of the living God is joined with that of the place to which believers, through grace, can also ascend, as we see in the Old Testament accounts of Enoch (cf. Gn 5:24) and Elijah (cf. 2 Kgs 2:11). Thus, heaven becomes an image of life in God. In this sense, Jesus speaks of a reward in heaven (cf. Mt 5:12) and urges people to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Mt 6:20; cf. 19:21).
The New Testament amplifies the idea of heaven in relation to the mystery of Christ. Since believers are loved in a special way by the Father, they are raised with Christ and made citizens of heaven. The fatherhood of God, who is rich in mercy, is experienced by creatures through the love of God’s crucified and risen Son, who sits in heaven on the right hand of the Father as Lord. After the course of our earthly life, participation in complete intimacy with the Father thus comes through our insertion into Christ’s paschal mystery. St. Paul emphasizes our meeting with Christ in heaven at the end of time with a vivid spatial image: “Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thes 4:17–18).
In the context of revelation, we know that the “heaven” or “happiness” in which we hope to find ourselves is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds, but a living, personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. It is our meeting with the Father, which takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit.
The happiness of eternal life is, as defined by the Fathers, an exemption from all evil, and an enjoyment of all good. Heaven consists in the perfect and total possession of the good, without any mixture of evil.4 The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that heaven is the ultimate end and the accomplishment of the most profound aspirations of man, the supreme and definitive state of bliss.5
The greatest happiness in heaven, its proper object, “consists in the vision of God, and the enjoyment of the beauty of God, who is the source and principle of all goodness and perfection.”6 Our Lord himself announced it when he said, “And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent” (Jn 17:3).
The Magisterium has described the encounter with God in heaven as an “intuitive and even face-to-face vision, without interposition of any creature in the function of object seen; rather the divine essence immediately manifests itself to them plainly, clearly, openly.”7 The vision of God that the angels and saints enjoy in heaven is not like the knowledge of God that we have on earth, even when it is revealed knowledge. St. Paul exclaims, “Now we see in a mirror dimly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood” (1 Cor 13:12).
19. The Nature of the Direct Vision of God
The Catechism teaches that, because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as he is unless he reveals his mystery to man’s direct contemplation, and gives man the capacity to contemplate him.8
The reason is that we know and understand things through representations of reality that are formed in our intellect. But it is impossible to extract from reality any representation of the essence of God. “It is impossible that any image drawn from created things should be equally pure and spiritual with God, no resemblance can enable us perfectly to comprehend the Divine Essence.… The only means … of arriving at a knowledge of the divine essence is that God unite himself to us.”9 There is direct vision of God because God unites himself to the intelligence of the blessed in heaven, and from this union flow the other characteristics of heavenly bliss.
In heaven, the souls of the blessed “see clearly the Triune God himself, just as he is,”10 and thereby get to know intimately the intra-Trinitarian life. Pope Pius XII, in the encyclical Mystici Corporis, affirms that this contemplation of the intimate life of God makes the saints “rejoice with a happiness very much like to that with which the holy and undivided Trinity is happy.”11
The beatific vision, and the joy that it engenders, make the soul, in a way, identified with God, “for those who enjoy God, while they retain their own nature, assume a certain admirable and almost divine form, so as to seem gods rather than men.”12 This divinization of the soul and of its powers, which will also affect the body after the resurrection, does not take away the difference between Creator and creature—God, who is absolutely transcendent, cannot enter into communication with any creature. This is the great mystery of the beatific vision.
Tradition sheds some light on this mystery with an eloquent analogy: When placed in the fire, iron becomes red hot like fire itself.13
The blessed contemplate God as he is in himself, but, in him, they also have a most perfect knowledge of creatures (especially those that are close to them), and this knowledge, too, gives them an immense joy. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the saints, who form part of the universe, know in the Word everything that belongs to the adornment and wholeness of the world. As members of the human community, they know the objects of their love or interest on earth, and as creatures that are elevated to the order of grace, they clearly know the truths of the faith that refer to salvation: the incarnation of our Lord, the divine motherhood of Mary, the Church, grace, and the sacraments.14
Nevertheless, the blessed cannot know God with absolute fullness and depth, as he knows himself. This is due to the immensity of his perfection, goodness, and beauty, which no creature will ever be able to fully comprehend. Actually, in order to be able to see God face to face, the soul has to be elevated by the lumen gloriae.
20. Necessity and Nature of the Lumen Gloriae
The strictly supernatural character of the beatific vision can be understood—up to a certain point—if we consider that “all created things are circumscribed within certain limits of perfection, while God is without limits; and therefore nothing created can reflect his immensity. The only means, then, of arriving at a knowledge of the divine essence is that God unite himself in some sort to us, and after an incomprehensible way elevate our minds to a higher degree of perfection, and thus render us capable of contemplating the beauty of his nature.”15
This supernatural strengthening and elevation of the created intellect enables the spiritual creature to see God face to face. It is known in theology as the lumen gloriae, or “light of glory.”
The necessity of the lumen gloriae in order to enjoy the beatific vision is a truth of faith. The Magisterium solemnly defined it in condemning as heretical the following proposition: “Every intellectual nature is in itself naturally happy, and the soul does not need the light of glory to elevate it to see God and to enjoy God in blessedness.”16 The supernatural elevation is totally gratuitous and unmerited. Sacred Scripture promises it when it talks about the fountain of life and of light (cf. Ps 35:10), and about the light of the Apocalypse’s city (cf. Rv 21:23ff).
The Church has also defined that “this vision of the divine essence and the enjoyment of it do away with the acts of faith and hope in those souls, insofar as faith and hope are theological virtues in the proper sense.”17 In heaven, God gives himself to the saints as the object of contemplation and joy. There is no longer any need for the virtues of wayfarers on earth, those that tend by their very nature to the perfection of charity.
In summary, in our present condition, even with the help of grace, we cannot see the divine essence; we only get to know about it through revelation. Without the help of God, that is, naturally, the vision of the divine essence is impossible for our bodily eyes and intellect. This applies to angels as well. Only with divine assistance is it possible to see God as he is in himself.
In heaven, we will see as we are seen: not through a likeness or an image, but face to face (cf. 1 Cor 13:9ff). For this, God must help the human and angelic intellect in a supernatural and gratuitous way. This assistance of God, a supernatural and free gift, is the lumen gloriae. It is infused in the created intellect, preparing it for the intellective union with God and making it capable of the beatific vision.
21. Beatific Vision and Happiness
The beatific vision—the face-to-face vision of God—consists in the contemplation of the Trinity and of all its attributes and properties, which are identified with its essence.18 This vision does not exhaust the divine essence, which is incomprehensible, and cannot be completely grasped even with the lumen gloriae.
The term intellect comes from the Latin intus legere, “to read into.” True knowledge, in a certain way, is a “going inside” the known object in order to capture its form and its truth. In an ineffable way, man’s intellect, with the aid of the lumen gloriae, is brought into the divine essence, where it contemplates the Blessed Trinity and participates more fully in the intimate life of the eternal processions.
The act of the will (love) follows the act of the intellect (knowing). Thus, the direct vision of God brings about a most intense act of love, fully uniting the soul to God.
This union with God through vision and love produces perfect happiness and an unimaginable satisfaction of the deepest longings of the soul. And these are even surpassed, because the soul is elevated to an order far beyond our natural order on earth, even with the help of grace.
The essential happiness consists in the immediate vision of God, and of creatures in God, and in the infinite joy of their vision. But God’s mercy is so great, and he is so generous, that he has wanted his chosen ones to find happiness in the legitimate created goods that man seeks.
Aside from the vision of God, “the full and perfect satisfying of every desire,” eternal life consists in “the happy society of all the blessed, and this society will be especially delightful. Since each one will possess all good together with the blessed, and they will love one another as themselves, they will rejoice in the other’s good as their own. It will also happen that, as the pleasure and enjoyment of one increases, so will it be for all.”19 Being with Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, the angels, and the saints is part of the accidental glory, which consists in the “clear and distinct knowledge which each one [of the blessed] shall have of the singular and exalted dignity of his companions [in glory].”20 Meeting those whom we loved while on earth will cause a special joy.
This joy and happiness is completed as other souls enter heaven, as loved ones still on earth progress in their spiritual life, and as one’s apostolic efforts and sufferings endured in the service of God bear fruit with the passage of time. It is finally crowned after the universal judgment with the glorification of one’s own body.
The Catechism teaches that this mystery of blessed communion with God and with all those who are in Christ surpasses all understanding or representation. “No eye has seen, no ear heard, no the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).21 “The faithful should be deeply impressed that the happiness of the saints is full to overflowing of all those pleasures which can be enjoyed or even desired in this life, whether they regard the powers of the mind or of the perfection of the body.”22
22. The Glorification of God and the Beatific Vision
The images that are used by Sacred Scripture to refer to heaven, especially in the Book of Revelation (cf. Rv 4; 5; 6), show the saints to be in continuous adoration of the Blessed Trinity. They praise the glory of God (cf. Eph 1:6, 12, 14) by being united to him, through their total identification with his will, which desires the supreme good for us.
For this reason, the eternal glorification of God and the eternal happiness of the saints are like the two sides of a coin. Perpetual praise is given to God, the Supreme Good that irresistibly attracts the human will, and the saints find the greatest possible happiness in this praise and recognition of the glory of God.
23. The Inequality of Blessedness
Although the blessed are all immensely happy contemplating God face-to-face, “some [see God] more perfectly than others according to their respective merits”23 gained on earth. In support of this, the Council of Trent quotes the epistle to the Romans: “For he will render to every man according to his works” (Rom 2:6).24
St. Thomas explains this question on the basis of the level of grace in each soul:
The faculty of seeing God, however, does not belong to the created intellect naturally, but is given to it by the light of glory, which establishes the intellect in a kind of likeness to God.…
Hence the intellect which has more of the light of glory will see God more perfectly; and he will have a fuller participation of the light of glory who has more charity; because where there is the greater charity, there is the more desire; and desire in a certain degree makes the one desiring apt and prepared to receive the object desired. Hence he who possesses the more charity, will see God the more perfectly, and will be the more beatified.25
This inequality in happiness will not sadden those who have received less. First of all, their total identification with God’s will already brings about their perfect happiness. There is, furthermore, a reason of fittingness: the perfect charity that unites all souls in heaven leads them to wish the greatest good and happiness for the others—a desire that they will see fully satisfied.
The blessed in heaven continue joyfully fulfilling the will of God with regard to other people and the entire creation. They reign with Christ. With him, “they shall reign for ever and ever” (Rv 22:5; cf. Mt 25:21, 23).26
24. The Eternity of Heaven
The eternity of heaven is a dogma of faith. “The same vision and enjoyment remains continuously without any interruption or abolition of the vision and enjoyment, and will remain up till the final judgment and from then on forever.”27
The essential glory that each soul gets upon entering heaven will remain the same for eternity. The accidental glory, however, may increase, and does in fact increase.
This is easy to understand. Good works do not end with their execution; they continue bearing fruit, and only at the end of time can their consequences be fully reckoned. Thus, a good work or an exemplary life does not reach its full stature until all the good effects that it caused—and continues to cause along the course of history—can be completely measured and accounted. As long as history lasts, accidental glory can increase.
Moreover, the operations of the soul will be more perfect after the resurrection, when they shall have rejoined their own bodies. And the glorification of the body shall further add to the accidental glory of the soul.
25. The Properties of Blessedness
The essential properties of beatitude are:
· A most perfect love for God, which completely fills and satisfies the aspirations of the human heart, bringing about perfect happiness,
· Absolute impeccability, which is a consequence of the direct vision of God and of perfect charity,
· Eternity, which has to be understood as lasting forever, as having no end, but should not be confused with the divine attribute of eternity.
Footnotes:
1. Paul VI, Creed of the People of God, 29; cf. DS 1000; LG, 49.
2. DS 857; cf. CCC, 1023–1032.
4. Cf. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.5; cf. St Augustine, De Civitate Dei, 22, 30.
5. Cf. CCC, 1024.
6. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.6.
7. DS 1000.
8. Cf. CCC, 1028.
9. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.8.
10. DS 1305.
11. DS 3815.
12. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.17; cf. CCC, 1023.
13. Cf. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.10.
14. Cf. ST, I, q. 89, a.8.
15. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.8; cf. CCC, 1028.
16. Council of Vienne, Errors of the Beghards: DS 895.
17. DS 1001.
18. Cf. CCC, 1028.
19. The Catechetical Instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas, pp. 74–76.
20. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.8; cf. CCC, 1024.
21. Cf. CCC, 1027.
22. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1.12.12.
23. DS 1305.
24. Cf. DS 1549.
25. ST, I, q. 12, a. 6.
26. Cf. CCC, 1029.
27. DS 1001.