The immediate vision of God, of which we have just spoken,
surpasses the natural capacity of every created intellect, whether
angelic or human. Naturally a created intellect may indeed know God by
the reflection of His perfections in the created order, angelic or
human, but it cannot see Him immediately in Himself as He sees
Himself.(14) If a created intellect could by its natural powers alone
see God immediately, it would have the same formal object as the
divine Intellect; it would then be of the same nature as God. This
would be the pantheistic confusion of a created nature and the divine
nature.
A created intellect can be raised to the immediate vision of the
divine essence only by a gratuitous help, by a grace of God. In the
angel and in us this grace somewhat resembles a graft made on a wild
shrub to enable it to bear good fruit. The angel and the human soul
become capable of a supernatural knowledge of God and a supernatural
love only if they have received this divine graft, habitual or
sanctifying grace, which is a participation in the divine nature and
in the inner life of God. Only this grace, received in the essence of
our soul as a free gift, can render the soul radically capable of
essentially divine operations, can make it capable of seeing God
immediately as He sees Himself and of loving Him as He loves Himself.
In other words, the deification of the intellect and that of the will
presuppose the deification of the soul itself (in its essence), whence
these faculties spring.
When this grace is consummated and inamissible, it is called glory. From it proceed, in the intellects of the blessed in heaven, the supernatural light which gives them the strength to see God, and in their wills the infused charity which makes them love Him without being able thereafter to turn away from Him.
Through baptism we have already received the seed of eternal life,
for through it we received sanctifying grace which is the radical
principle of that life; and with sanctifying grace we received infused
charity, which ought to last forever.
This is what our Savior told the Samaritan woman, as St. John
recounts: "If thou didst know the gift of God, and who He is that
saith to thee: Give Me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of
Him, and He would have given thee living water. . . . Whosoever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but he that shall drink of
the water that I will give him shall not thirst forever. But the water
that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water,
springing up into life everlasting." (15) If one should ask whether
these words of our Lord belong to the ascetical or the mystical order,
the question would seem unintelligent; for, if our Lord is speaking
here of the life of heaven, all the more do His words apply to the
close union which prepares the soul for that life.
St. Thomas says: "He who will drink of the living water of grace
given by the Savior will no longer desire another, but he will desire
this water more abundantly. . . . Moreover, whereas material water
descends, the spiritual water of grace rises. It is a living water
ever united to its (eminent) source and one that springs up to eternal
life, which it makes us merit." (16) This living water comes from God,
and that is why it can reascend even to Him.
Likewise, in the temple at Jerusalem on the last day of the feast
of tabernacles, Christ stood and cried in a loud voice: "If any man
thirst, let him come to Me, and drink. He that believeth in Me, as the
Scripture saith: Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
(17) He who drinks spiritually, believing in the Savior, draws from
the source of living water, and can draw from it not only for himself
but also for other souls to be saved.
On several occasions, as we have already remarked, Jesus repeats:
"He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting life." (18) Not only will
he have it later on, but in a sense he already possesses it, for the
life of grace is eternal life begun.
It is, in fact, the same life in its essence, just as the seed
which is in an acorn has the same life as the full-grown oak, and as
the spiritual soul of the little child is the same one that will
eventually develop in the mature man.
Fundamentally, the same divine life exists as a germ or a seed in
the Christian on earth and as a fully developed life in the saints in
heaven. It is these who truly live eternal life. This explains why
Christ said also: "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath
everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day." (19) "The
kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say:
Behold here or behold there. For lo, the kingdom of God is within
you." (20) It is hidden there like the mustard seed, like the leaven
which causes the dough to rise, like the treasure buried in the field.
How do we know that we have already received this life which should
last forever? St. John explains the matter to us at length: "We know
that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not, abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is
a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in
himself."(21) "These things I write to you, that you may know that you
have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God."
(22) Jesus had said: "Amen, amen I say to you: If any man keep My
word, he shall not see death forever." (23) In fact, the liturgy
expresses this idea in the preface of the Mass for the Dead: "For to
those who believe in Thee, Lord, life is only changed, not taken
away"; on the contrary, it reaches its full development in heaven. All
tradition declares that the life of grace on earth is in reality the
seed of glory. St. Thomas delights also in saying: "For grace is
nothing else than a beginning of glory in us." (24) Bossuet often
expresses himself in the same terms.(25)
This explains why St. Thomas likes to say: "The good of grace in
one is greater than the good of nature in the whole universe." (26)
The slightest degree of sanctifying grace contained in the soul of an
infant after baptism is more precious than the natural good of the
entire universe, all angelic natures taken together included therein;
for the least degree of sanctifying grace belongs to an enormously
superior order, to the order of the inner life of God, which is
superior to all miracles and to all the outward signs of divine
revelation.(27)
The same supernatural life, the same sanctifying grace, is in the
just on earth and in the saints in heaven. This is likewise true of
infused charity, with these two differences: on earth we know God not
in the clarity of vision, but in the obscurity of infused faith; and
besides, though we hope to possess Him in such a way as never to lose
Him, we can lose Him here on earth through our own fault.
In spite of these two differences pertaining to faith and hope, the
life is the same because it is the same sanctifying grace and the same
charity, both of which should last forever. This is exactly what Jesus
said to the Samaritan woman: "If thou didst know the gift of God. . .
thou perhaps wouldst have asked of Him. . . . He that shall drink of
the water that I will give him, shall not thirst forever: but the
water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water,
springing up into life everlasting." (28) By the light of this
principle we must judge what our interior life should be and what
should be its full, normal development that it may be the worthy
prelude of the life of eternity. Since sanctifying grace, the infused
virtues, and the gifts are intrinsically ordained to eternal life, are
they not also ordained to the mystical union? Is not this union the
normal prelude of the life of eternity in souls that are in truth
completely generous?
15. John 4: 10-14.
16. Commentum in Joannem, 4:3 ff.
17. John 7:37 f.
18. John 3:36; 5:24, 39; 6:40,47,55.
19 John 6: 55.
20. Luke 17:20f.
21. See I John 3: 14 f.
22. Ibid., 5: 13.
23. John 8: 51.
24. See IIa IIae, q. 24, a. 3 ad 2um; Ia IIae, q.69, a.2; De veritate, q. 14, a.2.
25. Meditations sur l'evangile, Part II, 37th day, in Joan. 17: 3.
26. See Ia IIae, q. I 13, a.9 ad 2um.
27. Ibid., q. II I, a. 5: "Gratia gratum faciens is much more excellent than gratia gratis data"; in other words, sanctifying grace, which unites us to God Himself, is very much superior to prophecy, to miracles, and to all the signs of divine intervention.
28. John 4: 10-14.
This was difficult for me to get through (as is probably to be expected), but it was inspiring and thought-provoking. Thanks. :)
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