Breviloquium

Concerning celestial glory, this must be held in summary: in it there is a substantial, consubstantial, and accidental reward. The substantial reward, I say, consists in the vision, fruition, and possession of one supreme good, namely God, whom the blessed will see face to face, that is, nakedly and without a veil; they will enjoy him eagerly and delightfully, and they will also possess him eternally, so that Bernard’s statement may be verified: « God will be the fullness of light for reason, an abundance of peace for the will, and a continuance of eternity for memory »¹. But the consubstantial reward consists in the glory of the body, which is called the second robe; once it has been taken up again², the blessed soul more perfectly reaches « the highest heaven ». And this robe consists in a fourfold endowment of the body, namely the endowment of brightness, subtlety, agility, and impassibility; these will be according to greater and lesser measure, according to the greater or lesser degree of charity previously possessed. But the accidental reward consists in a certain special adornment superadded, which is called the aureole; and according to the opinion of the doctors, it is owed to a threefold kind of work, namely martyrdom, preaching, and virginal continence³. And in all the aforesaid, degree and distinction will be preserved according to the demands of merits.

The reason for understanding the foregoing is this: since the first principle, precisely because it is first, has supreme unity, truth, and goodness, for this very reason supreme power, wisdom, clemency, and justice are to be posited in it. But since these invisible attributes of God ought to be manifested through works,⁴ therefore, in bringing this sensible world into being, God produced, governs, repairs, rewards, and brings it to completion in such a way that supreme power is manifested in production, wisdom in governance, clemency in restoration, and consummate justice in retribution. Thus, to manifest his power, he produced all things from nothing, for his own praise, glory, and honor, making one thing near to nothing, namely bodily matter, and another near to himself, namely spiritual substance, and joining these together at once in one human being in the unity of nature and person, namely rational soul and bodily matter. To manifest wisdom, he himself governs all things with the utmost providence and order. For he governs the highest part of man through himself, namely the mind, which he illumines,⁵ and the lowest, namely the body, through the free choice of the will, so that the body and bodily things, as regards governance, may be subject to spirit, and spirit to God⁶. To manifest⁷ clemency, he repaired fallen man by assuming human nature, taking on its penalties, and finally enduring its punishment, so that supreme mercy might make the Merciful One conform to the miserable man for the relief of misery—not only in the dignity of created nature, but also in the defects of nature placed in misery. Finally, to manifest justice, he will repay each according to the demands of merits, giving not only punishment to the wicked but eternal glory to the just. For an equal retribution, a gratuitous restoration, an ordered governance, and a virtuous production all demand this. For the consummation of all these is at the end.

First, then, since the rewarding of all the just must take place according to what just retribution and virtuous production demand; and God’s production⁸ made rational spirit near to God, capable of God, namely capable according to the power of the image of the most blessed Trinity implanted in it, to which the whole spirit of man in the just served according to the integrity of the image: hence it is that nothing less than God can reward rational spirit or fill it, nor can its capacity be brought to an end; therefore the deiformity of glory is given to it as a reward, through which, made conformable to God, it sees him clearly with reason, loves him fully with will, and retains him eternally with memory; so that the whole soul may live, be wholly endowed in the three powers of the soul, be wholly conformed to God, wholly united to him, and wholly rest in him, finding in him, as in every good, eternal peace, light, and sufficiency, through which, « established in the perfect state of the gathering together of all goods⁹ », living an eternal life, it may be called blessed and also glorious.

Again, since that retribution must be made according to what not only just retribution and virtuous production demand, but also ordered governance; and in production God bound the body to the soul and joined them by a natural and mutual appetite, while for governance he subjected the body and placed it in the state of merit, so that the spirit might condescend to and apply itself to governing the body for the exercise of meriting: neither does natural appetite allow the soul to be fully blessed unless the body is restored to it, for the resumption of which it has a naturally implanted inclination¹⁰; nor does the order of governance allow the body to be restored to the blessed spirit unless it is wholly conformed and subject to it, insofar as a body can be conformed to spirit. Since, then, the spirit has been glorified by the vision of eternal light, the greatest brightness of light ought therefore to shine forth in its body. But because by love of that supreme Spirit it has become supremely spiritual, it ought therefore to have in the body a corresponding subtlety and spirituality. Because by possession of eternity it has become wholly impassible, its body ought therefore to have complete impassibility both within and without. But because through all these things the spirit is most ready to tend toward God, supreme agility ought therefore to be found in the glorified body. Since, then, through these four properties the body is made conformable to the spirit¹¹ and also subject to it, hence it is said to be endowed chiefly in these four, by reason of which it may have the fitness to follow the spirit in the heavenly region, which is the region of the blessed. For through these properties it is assimilated to the heavenly bodies, by which the celestial body is, as it were, stepwise distant from the four elements; and thus the body’s fourfold endowment makes the body perfect in itself, conformable to the heavenly dwelling and to the blessed Spirit, through whom, from God the supreme Head down to the hem of the garment,¹² namely the body, the fullness of sweetness and the intoxication of blessedness overflow and, insofar as possible, are derived.

Finally, since that rewarding must take place according to what just retribution, virtuous production, ordered governance, and also glorious restoration demand; and in the different members of Christ there are different charisms of grace, not only with respect to interior gifts but also exterior exercises; not only with respect to habits but also states; not only with respect to the perfection of charity in the mind but also with respect to the beauty and loveliness of perfection in bodily work:¹³ hence it is that certain members are owed not only the robe of the soul with its three endowments and the robe of the body with its four, but also a certain excellence of adornment and joy because of the excellence of the perfection and beauty possessed in virtuous work. Since, then, there is a threefold kind of work exceptionally perfect and beautiful, and beautiful with a special¹⁴ comeliness, according to the threefold power of the soul: according to the rational power, preaching the truth that leads others to salvation; according to the concupiscible power, the perfect avoidance of concupiscences through the perpetual integrity of virginal continence; according to the irascible power, enduring death for the honor of Christ: hence it is that this excellence of accidental reward, which is called the aureole, is owed to these three classes of the just, namely preachers, virgins, and martyrs; it contributes to the adornment not only of the soul but also of the body, because it is not rendered to the will alone but to external work, laying beneath itself the merit and reward of charity, which consists in a sevenfold endowment—threefold in the soul and fourfold in the body—in which are enclosed the consummation, integrity, and fullness of all goods pertaining to the completion of glory.

But what and how great those things are, let not my words but those of blessed Anselm be set forth. For he says at the end of the Proslogion:¹⁵ « Rouse yourself now, my soul, and raise your whole intellect and consider, as much as you can, what and how great that good is. For if individual goods are delightful, consider attentively how delightful that good is which contains the delight of all goods, not such as we have experienced in created things, but differing by as much as the Creator differs from the creature. If created life is good, how good is life that creates? If made salvation is delightful, how delightful is salvation that makes all salvation? If wisdom in the knowledge of created things is lovable, how lovable is wisdom that created all things from nothing? Finally, if there are many and great delights in delightful things, what kind and how great is the delight in him who made the delightful things themselves »?

« He who will enjoy this good¹⁶, what will he have, and what will he not have? Certainly, whatever he wills will be, and what he does not will will not be. For there will be bodily and spiritual goods there, such as eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived. Why then do you wander among many things, little man, seeking the goods of your soul and of your body? Love the one good in which all goods are, and it is sufficient. Desire the simple good, which is every good, and it is enough. For what do you love, my flesh, what do you desire, my soul? There is whatever you love, whatever you desire. If beauty delights, the just will shine like the sun¹⁷. If speed, or strength, or freedom of body, against which nothing can prevail; they will be like the angels of God, because a natural body is sown and a spiritual body will rise, in power, of course, not by nature. If a long and healthy life; there is sound eternity and eternal health, because the just will live forever, and: “The salvation of the just is from the Lord.” If satiety; they will be satisfied when the glory of God appears. If intoxication; they will be intoxicated by the abundance of God’s house. If melody; there the choirs of angels sing without end, praising God¹⁸. If any pleasure—not unclean, but clean; you will give them to drink, O God, from the torrent of your pleasure. If wisdom; the very wisdom of God will show itself to them. If friendship; they will love God more than themselves and one another as themselves, and God will love them more than they love themselves, because they love him, themselves, and one another through him, and he loves himself and them through himself. If concord; there will be one will for all of them, because they will have no will except the will of God. If power; they will be omnipotent in their will, as God is in his. For just as God will be able through himself to do what he wills, so they will be able through him to do what they will; because just as they will not will anything other than what he wills, so he will will whatever they will; and what he wills cannot fail to be. If honor and riches; God will set his good and faithful servants over many,¹⁹ indeed, they will be called and will be sons of God and gods, and where his Son will be, there will they also be, heirs indeed of God but co-heirs of Christ. If true security; certainly they will be so certain that this—or rather, this good—will never and in no way fail them, just as they will be certain that they will not lose it of their own accord, nor will God, who loves it, take it away from those who love it against their will, nor will anything more powerful than God separate God and them against their will ».

« But what kind or how great is the joy²⁰ where there is such and so great a good? Human heart, needy heart, heart that has experienced miseries, indeed been overwhelmed by miseries, how greatly would you rejoice if you abounded in all these things? Ask your inmost parts whether they can contain their joy at such blessedness. But certainly, if someone else whom you loved altogether as yourself had the same blessedness, your joy would be doubled, because you would rejoice for him no less than for yourself. If two, or three, or many more had the same, you would rejoice as much for each as for yourself, if you loved each as yourself. Therefore, in that perfect charity of innumerable angels and blessed human beings, where no one loves another less than himself, each person will rejoice for each of the others no differently than for himself. If, then, the human heart will scarcely contain its joy at so great a good of its own, how will it be capable of so many and such great joys? And certainly, because as much as one loves someone, so much does one rejoice in his good, just as in that perfect happiness each will love God incomparably more than himself and all the others together, so he will rejoice beyond all estimation in God’s happiness more than in his own and that of all the others together. But if they will love God with their whole heart, whole mind, and whole soul,²¹ while nevertheless the whole heart, whole mind, and whole soul are not sufficient for the worthiness of love, assuredly they will rejoice with their whole heart, whole mind, and whole soul, while the whole heart, whole mind, and whole soul are not sufficient for the fullness of joy ».

« Therefore, Lord, I have not yet said or thought²² how greatly those blessed ones of yours will rejoice. Certainly, they will rejoice as much as they love; they will love as much as they know. How much will they know and how much will they love you? Certainly, neither eye has seen nor ear heard nor has it entered the human heart in this life how much they will know and love you in that life. — I pray, O God, that I may know you and love you, so that I may rejoice in you; and if I cannot do so fully in this life, at least²³ may I progress day by day until that fullness comes; may knowledge of you progress here in me and become complete there, may your love grow here and be complete there; so that here my joy may be great in hope and there complete in reality. Lord, through your Son you command—indeed, you counsel us—to ask, and you promise that we shall receive, so that our joy may be full²⁴. God is truthful: I ask, I shall receive, so that my joy may be full. I ask, Lord, for what you counsel us to ask through our wonderful Counselor; I shall receive what you promise through your Truth, so that my joy may be full. In the meantime, may my mind meditate upon it, my tongue speak of it, my heart love it, my mouth discourse upon it, my soul hunger for it, my flesh thirst for it, and my whole substance desire it, until I enter into the joy of my Lord, who is the triune and one God, blessed for ever and ever. Amen²⁵ ».