Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/209

 HEAVEN

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HEAVEN

shall give a lirief outline of the principal arguments. From these we shall, at the same time, see that the bliss of heaven is eternal and consists primarily in the possession of God, and that heaven presupposes a condition of perfect happiness, in which every wish of the heart finds adequate satisfaction.

(1) God made all things for His objective honour and glory. Every creature was to manifest His Divine perfections by becoming a Ukeness of God, each according to its capacity. But man is capable of becoming in the greatest and most perfect manner a likeness of God, when he knows and loves His infinite perfections with a knowledge and love analogous to God's own love and knowledge. Therefore man is created to know God and to love Him. Moreover, this knowledge and love is to be eternal; for such is man's capability and his calling, because his soul is im- mortal. Lastly, to know God and to love Him is the noblest occupation of the human mind, and conse- quently also its supreme happiness. Therefore man is created for eternal happiness; and he will infallibly attain it hereafter, unless, by sin, he renders himself unworthy of so high a destiny.

(2) God made all things for His formal glory, which consists in the knowledge and love shown Him by rational creatures. Irrational creatures cannot give formal glory to God directly, but they should assist rational creatures in tloing so. This they can do by manifesting God's perfections and by rendering other services; whilst rational creatures should, by their own personal knowledge and love of God, refer and direct all creatures to Him as their last end. There- fore every intelligent creature in general, and man in particular, is destined to know and love God for ever, though he may forfeit eternal happiness by sin.

(3) God, in his infinite justice and holiness, must give virtue its due reward. But, as experience teaches, the virtuous do not olstain a sufficient reward here; hence they will be recompensed hereafter, and the reward must be everlasting, since the soul is immortal. Nor can it be supposed that the soul in the next life must merit her continuance in happiness by a contin- ued series of comlaats; for this would be repugnant to all the tendencies and desires of human nature.

(4) God, in His wisdom, must set on the moral law a sanction, sufficiently appropriate and efficacious. But, unless each man is rewarded according to the measure of his good works, such a sanction could not be said to exist. Mere infliction of punishment for sin would be insufficient. In any case, reward for good deeds is the best means of inspiring zeal for virtue. Nature itself teaches us to reward virtue in others whenever we can, and to hope for a reward of our own good actions from the Supreme Ruler of the universe. That reward, not being given here, will be given here- after.

(5) God has implanted in the heart of man a love of virtue and a love of happiness; consequently, God, because of His wisdom, must by rewarding virtue es- tabhsh perfect harmony between these two tendencies. But such a harmony is not established in this life; therefore it will be brought about in the next.

(6) Every man has an innate desire for perfect beatitude. Experience proves this. The sight of the imperfect goods of earth natiu-ally leads us to form the conception of a happiness so perfect as to satisfy all the desires of our heart. But we cannot conceive such a state without desiring it. Therefore we are destined for a happiness that is perfect and, for that very reason, eternal; and it will be ours, unless we forfeit it Ijy sin. A natural tendency without an object is incompatible both with nature and with the Creator's goodness. The arguments thus far advanced prove the existence of heaven as a state of perfect happmess.

(7) We are born for higher things, for the possession of God. This earth can satisfy no man, least of all the wise. "Vanity of vanities", says the Scripture (Ec-

cles., i, 1); and St. Augustine exclaimed: "Thou hast made us for Thyself (O God) and our heart is troubled till it rests in Thee. "

(S) We are created for wisdom, for a possession of truth perfect in its kind. Our mental faculties and the aspirations of our nature give proof of this. But the scanty knowledge that we can acquire on earth stands in no proportion to the capabilities of our soul. We shall possess truth in higher perfection hereafter.

(9) God made us for holiness, for a complete and final triumph over passion and for the perfect and secure possession of virtue. Our natural aptitudes and desires liear witness to this. But this happy goal is not reached on earth, Ijut in the next life.

(10) We are created for love and friendship, for in- dissoluble union with our friends. At the grave of those we love our heart longs for a future reunion. This cry of nature is no delusion. A joj'ful and ever- lasting reunion awaits the just man beyond the grave.

(11) It is the conviction of all peoples that there is a heaven in which the just will rejoice in the next Ufe. But, in the fundamental questions of our being and our destiny, a conviction, so unanimous'and universal, cannot l)e erroneous. Else this world and the order of this world would remain an utter enigma to intelli- gent creatures, who ought to know at least the neces- sary means for reaching their appointed end.

(12) Very few deny the existence of heaven; and these few are practically all atheists and epicureans. But surely it cannot be that all the rest have erred, and an isolated class of men such as these are not the true guides in the most fundamental questions of our being. For apostasy from God and His law cannot be the key to wisdom.

Revelation also proclaims the existence of heaven. This we have already seen in the preceding section from the many names by which Holy Writ designates heaven; and from the texts of Scripture, still to be quoted on the nature and peculiar conditions of heaven.

III. Supernatural Character of He.wen and THE Be.^tific Vision. — (1) In heaven the just will see God by direct intuition, clearly and distinctly. Here on earth we have no immediate perception of God; we see Him but indirectly in the mirror of creation. We get our first and direct knowledge from creatures, and then, by reasoning from these, we ascend to a knowl- edge of God according to the imperfect likeness which creatures bear to their Creator. But in doing so we proceed to a large extent by way of negation, i. e., by removing from the Divine Being the imperfections proper to creatures. In heaven, however, no creature will stand between God and the soul. He himself will be the immediate object of its vision. Scripture and theology tell us that the blessed see God face to face. And because this vision is immediate and direct, it is also exceedingly clear and distinct. Ontologists as- sert that we perceive God directly in this life, though our knowledge of Him is vague and obscure; but a vision of the Divine Essence, immediate yet vague and obscure, implies a contradiction. The blessed see God, not merely according to the measure of His like- ness imperfectly reflected in creation, but they see Him as He is, after the manner of His own Being. That the blessed see God is a dogma of faith, expressly defined by Benedict XII (1336) : " We define that the souls of all the saints in heaven have seen and do see the Divine Essence by direct intuition and face to face [visions intuilivd et etiam jaciali], in such wise that nothing created intervenes as an object of vision, but the Divine Essence presents itself to their immediate gaze, unveiled, clearly and openly; moreover, that in this vision they enjoy the Divine Essence, and that, in virtue of this vision and this enjoyment, they are truly blessed and possess eternal life and eternal rest" (Denzinger, Enchiridion, ed. 10, n. 530^-old edition, n. 450; cf . nn. 693, 1084, 1458, old, nn. 588, 868). The