The Beatific Vision of God and The Name of God
The Beatific Vision of God and The Name of God
From the book Meditations on Christian Dogma, Volume I
We turn again to our meditations on the dogmas of our Christian faith. Today we examine The Beatific Vision of God and The Name of God.
Have you ever considered why it is that we are not allowed to see God in this life or what he will look like if we are fortunate enough to merit heaven and be able to see Him? While we cannot have a sharp vision of these things, we can at least come to know them in very imperfect ways.
In the second reflection, we consider the many names by which God is known and the reasons for the different names attributed to God. Again, we cannot know His true name due to a lack of human understanding, yet we can know Him in ways that allow us to glorify Him.
I hope you find these meditations spiritually enlightening and that they bring you to a greater understanding of God and our Catholic faith.
These meditations were taken from the book Meditations on Christian Dogma, Volume I by Right Reverend James Bellord, D. D. (Convent of Mercy, 1906, pages 28-31).
Yours in Jesus and Mary.
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” (Exodus 33:20). 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 develop all the possibilities that are in us. Cultivate clearness of vision according to the indication of Our Lord: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
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 see God; according to the Scripture: “In Thy light we shall see light” (Psalm 35:10). 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” (Psalm 4:7). They have a light and a vision, by which they can see, and know, and understand 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 someday 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 Corinthians 13:12). 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!
The Names of God
I. God is ineffable. He cannot be described. Considering the name as being the summing up and the picture of a person and his qualities and peculiarities, we may say that God cannot be named. If our intellect cannot grasp His essence, still less can feeble words express it. Even the transcendent ideas that find expression only in those nobler languages which we call the arts, are still too much “of the earth earthly” to suggest to us a fraction of the wonders and delights contained in the Creator’s smallest attribute. Even this earth will never be adequately described, although it is but the footprint of the Almighty. Hence it was said, “Why askest thou My name, which is wonderful?” (Judges 13:18). And again, “I am the Lord that appeared ... by the name of God Almighty; and My name Adonai I did not show them” (Exodus 6:3). The name of God was not pronounced or even known by the Israelites: it was represented by four letters which we pronounce Jehovah. No word can express God’s nature but the uncreated Word of God Himself, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Never presume to measure the perfections of God by the ideas of men. You cannot judge His ways, His designs, the wisdom of His decrees, the methods by which He carries them out. To attempt this is the same as attributing a human character to God and a human name.
II. But because God is ineffable and indescribable, we must not on that account abstain from naming God according to our abilities, from describing His perfections and glorifying His name. In the same way that God, although incomprehensible, may yet be known to a great extent by us; so, the impossibility of a full description of Him does not prevent us from describing Him in a way that will excite much devotion and give glory to His name. “When you exalt Him put forth all your strength and be not weary, for you can never go far enough” (Ecclesiasticus 43:34). The fact that we cannot go far enough is the very reason why we should go as far as we can. If we cannot render God the whole of His deserts, we should at least offer Him all that is in our power. Glorify the name of God, then, as much as you can, making His perfections known to others, enlightening their ignorance about Him, leading them to practice, worship, and prayer and teaching them to love Him.
III. Consider the multitude of names by which God allows us to address Him. The Jews had seventy-two names for God; and we have many more, according to the different aspects in which we regard Him. Much of our knowledge of God is negative; we know that He is free from our imperfections and limitations; so we call Him the Infinite, the Eternal, the Immortal, the Uncreated. Other names refer to God as the origin of all life, virtue, and goodness. Therefore, we speak of Him as the Creator, the First Cause, the Supreme Being, the Almighty, the All- just, the All-merciful. Under other aspects we may address God as our life, our perfection, our joy, as perfect truth, and perfect beauty. In the old times God was called the Lord of Hosts, the strong, the great, the terrible (2 Esdras 1:5). Jesus Christ has revealed to us a different class of names. Christians think of God more frequently as their lover, their highest good, their supreme desire, their felicity, their sweetness, their Spouse, and chiefly as their Father. Above all, we know the name of God made man, Jesus Christ, the only “name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Rehearse the different names of God and praise Him for what is signified by each. Be grateful that He has granted you to know His name and to call upon it.
“No voice can sing, no heart can frame, nor can the memory find a sweeter sound than Thy blest name, O Saviour of mankind.”