glory, and in all the good things which He and they possess. Hence come perpetual praise, and benediction, and thanksgiving; and thus the Blessed, having reached the consummation of all their desires, and knowing not what more to crave, rest in God as their last end.* CHAPTER II. THE BEATIFIC VISION-(continued). IN the Beatific Vision, "we shall be like Him; because we shall see Him as He is." t In the preceding chapter, we have endeavoured to understand the meaning of the Beatific Vision. We have seen that it is not a mere gazing upon God, but a true possession and enjoyment of Him. We have seen, moreover, that the Beatific Vision implies a most intimate union with God, in which the soul is made a partaker of the "Divine nature," in a far higher degree than is attainable in this world. But we must be careful not to confound this union of the soul with God, which is a moral union, with a personal union, such as exists between the humanity and Divinity in Jesus Christ. For, in Him, though these two natures are distinct, they are not separ * De Perf. Divin. lib. xiv. c. v. able. The human nature is so intimately united to the Divine, that it receives its personality from the Eternal Son of God. Hence, we cannot say that Jesus Christ is one Person as Man, and another Person as God, thus asserting two distinct Persons in Christ. This would be a heresy, long since condemned by the Church. In Him, therefore, there is but one Person, and that Person is the Eternal Son of God, in Whom the human nature has not a distinct personality of its own. This is called a personal or hypostatic union, which belongs to Jesus. Christ alone, and constitutes Him the Lord of lords and King of kings, and the Judge of the living and the dead. No other creature, not even the Blessed Virgin, can ever aspire to such a union with God. When, therefore, we speak of our intimate union with God in the Beatific Vision, we understand a moral union, and not a physical or a personal one. Hence, however intimate our union with God may be, we shall always retain our personality, and never be merged into God. In this world, how intimate soever may be the union which exists between friend and friend, parent and child, husband and wife, these persons all retain their respective personalities. So shall it be in heaven. We shall see and possess God, we shall be united to Him in an intimate manner, but we shall ever retain our distinct personality and individuality. When a drop of water falls into the ocean, it is absorbed and completely lost in that immense volume of water. This is no type of our union with God. But the drop of oil is such a type; for while it floats on the bosom of the deep, it does not mingle with the water, nor lose its individuality. It remains a drop of oil. Not only shall we thus retain our personality, when united to God in the Beatific Vision, but we shall, moreover, retain all that belongs to the reality of human nature. For, as St. Thomas teaches, "the glory of heaven does not destroy nature, but perfects it." Therefore, when Scripture tells us that we shall be changed," we must not imagine that we shall be changed into angels, or into some other nature different from human. The change means a supernatural elevation and perfection of our whole nature, and not its destruction. The transition or change of the child into the man neither changes nor destroys the faculties of his mind nor the senses of his body; neither does it create new powers or faculties which he had not before. His gradual growth into manhood only develops "Quamdiu manet natura aliqua, manet operatio ejus. Sed beatitudo non tollit naturam, cum sit perfectio ejus. Ergo non tollit naturalem cognitionem et dilectionem.. Semper autem oportet salvari primum in secundo. Undè oportet quod natura salvetur in beatitudine. Et similiter quod in actua beatitudinis salvetur actus naturæ " (St. Thomas, p. i. q. 62, art. 7). and perfects what the hand of God had placed in his nature on the day of his creation. This gradual development of our nature to its perfection, in the natural order, illustrates the wonderful supernatural perfection which the power of God will work in us, both in the Beatific Vision and in the glorious resurrection of the body. For, however great and elevated we may then be, our now existing natural powers will neither be changed nor destroyed. I have been thus careful in explaining these things, because we are now to study the transforming power of the Beatific Vision upon the soul, as well as the glory of the spiritualised body with which we shall again be clothed on the resurrection day. According to the angelic doctor, the human soul bears a threefold resemblance to God.* She is like God by nature, by grace, and by glory. The likeness to God Imago Dei tripliciter potest considerari in homine. Uno quidem modo secundum quod homo habet aptitudinem naturalem ad intelligendum et amandum Deum. Et hæc aptitudo consistit in ipsa natura mentis, quæ est communis omnibus hominibus. Alio modo secundum quod actu vel habitu Deum cognoscit et amat, sed tamen imperfectè. Et hæc est imago per conformitatem gratiæ. Tertio modo secundum quod homo Deum actu cognoscit et amat perfectè. Et attenditur imago secundum similitudinem gloriæ. Prima ergo invenitur in omnibus hominibus. Secunda vero in justis tantum. Tertia vero solum in beatis" (St. Thomas, p. i. q. 93, art. 4). by nature is found in all men, but is imperfect. The likeness by grace is far more perfect, and is found in the just only; while it is seen in its full perfection in the Blessed. We will, therefore, endeavour to fathom the meaning of St. John, when he says, “We shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is ; as well as the saying of St. Peter, who asserts that we shall be "made partakers of the Divine nature." Let us begin by a little illustration. Suppose you enter an artist's studio just as he has drawn the outlines of a portrait. All the essential features are there-the shape of the head, the eyes, ears, mouth, and whatever else is necessary to constitute the human face; and it already bears a striking resemblance to the man who is sitting for his portrait. You return in a few days, and, though yet it is far from being finished, the colouring has added so much that it is far more beautiful and perfect than when you first saw it. Again, you see it when it is completely finished, framed, and exposed to public view. How perfect how life-like it is! It actually seems to live and breathe. How vast a difference between this exquisitely finished painting and the mere outlines you first saw! This illustration teaches us, better than abstract words could do, how the human soul is like God from the very first, and how that likeness gradually increases by grace and the practice of virtue, until it |