MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA TREATISE I. 14 THE BEATIFIC VISION OF GOD.
ANTONIAZZO ROMANO
Profile Portrait of Cardinal Philippe de Lévis
1475
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA
TREATISE I.
14. THE BEATIFIC VISION OF GOD.
I. There are three factors in the vision of God as in the
perception of anything else. The first is the subject which
sees; i.e., the person possessing the faculty or organ of
vision. God is not corporeal but spiritual : so that He is
not to be perceived with the bodily eye but with the spiritual
faculty or the elevated intelligence of angels and men.
Therefore the Lord said to Moses, " Thou canst not see My
face; for man shall not see Me and live" (Ex. xxxiii. 20).
The intellect is the power of perceiving intellectual objects ; and it has an aptitude and a need for exercising
itself on intellectual objects, of which the first and most
eminent is God. Further the mind easily acquires an incipient knowledge of God ; and this, like every other faculty,
is capable of indefinite development, and indicates the possibility of a transcendent degree of knowledge. There is
also in man an intellectual hunger for the Infinite, and a
tendency towards it, i.e., towards God. This is shown by
the fact that nothing created, whether in the material or the
intellectual sphere, can satisfy man s desires and fulfil his
ideal of goodness, knowledge and happiness. The natural
knowledge of God as seen in the universe does not satisfy
this high faculty of vision, this spiritual eye. We require a
fuller vision of God here, and a still fuller vision hereafter,
if we are to carry out our destiny and develope all the possibilities that are in us. Cultivate clearness of vision ac
cording to the indication of Our Lord: " Blessed are the
clean of heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. v. 8).
II. The second factor in vision is the medium, like the
light which conveys the impression of the object to the eye.
Something analogous to this is required to enable man to sec
God; according to the Scripture: "In Thy light we shall
see light" (Ps. xxxv. 10). The nature of God altogether
transcends that of man ; they are in different spheres ; man
is absolutely incapable by himself of seeing God as He is.
His faculties are such that they are not sensitive to the
vibrations of that finer spiritual light which makes God visible.
These faculties require to have some quality added to them
corresponding to a new sense, so that they may perceive
the rays as they come direct from God and not merely as
they are reflected from creatures. This supernatural quality
is called "the light of glory." This is the "eternal light"
which we implore for the souls in purgatory. Even in this
life the faithful can say, "the light of Thy countenance, O
Lord, is signed upon us " (Ps. iv. 7). They have a light
and a vision, by which they can see, and know, and under
stand things which for others are wrapped in impenetrable
darkness. No happiness is so great as the possession of
this. It is a foretaste of the vision which we shall enjoy in
heaven
III. The third factor in vision is the object present before
us. Our faculties, which cry out for an infinite object to
satisfy them, and that sense in us which has an aptitude for
God, are proofs that God will some day be within their
range. In heaven the Divine Essence will be present to us
in a better way than it is present to every creature in this
world. In what way that indescribable Essence will be
manifested to us we cannot now conceive. This only we
know that God will not be shown to us as at present, in
His creatures, His images, His reflections, or in figure, but
in Himself, directly, and without intermediary. So the
Apostle tells us : " We see now 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" (1 Cor. xiii. 12).
How wonderful, how novel, how far beyond all expectation
will be the heavenly vision when it is suddenly unveiled
before us ! How little we can anticipate now that revelation of glory and delight, the revelation of divine love for
us, and of our capacity for loving God !
MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOGMA BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES BELLORD, D.D.
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