29. Beatitude, Divine Illumination, and Human Merit

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Divine Beatitude and Creature Limitations #

• No blessed creature can communicate their beatitude to another in a perfect way
• When knowledge is shared imperfectly, it remains in the giver’s light (the teacher’s light) rather than becoming the receiver’s light
• A person can understand something in an imperfect way but lack the ability to transmit it perfectly to others due to incomplete possession
• Example: Berquist cannot explain complicated Euclidean theorems as readily to others because they have not become “second nature” to him

Angelic Illumination #

• Blessed angels can enlighten lower angels or humans regarding divine works, but NOT regarding the vision of God’s essence
• All blessed creatures see God directly (without intermediary) in the beatific vision
• Higher angels may illuminate lower ones about things they perceive in God that lower creatures do not perceive
• Even saints can illuminate angels about certain truths, as some saints are higher in the order of nature than some angels

The Question: Are Human Works Required for Beatitude? #

Objections presented:

1. God, having infinite power, needs no disposition of matter to produce an effect; therefore, he can confer beatitude without preceding works
2. As God instituted nature without any creature acting beforehand, so he can confer beatitude without prior operations
3. Scripture (Romans 4) states God confers justice without works; therefore, beatitude requires no preceding operations

Counterarguments from Order and Nature:

• Order in things (sapientis est ordinari—“it belongs to the wise to order”) requires that creatures move toward their perfection through operations
• Beatitude exceeds created nature, so no creature naturally possesses it; creatures must tend toward it through meritorious operation
• God can simultaneously prepare the will toward the end and provide the end itself, yet divine wisdom orders otherwise
• Different creatures achieve perfect goods differently: some without motion (God alone), some by one motion (angels), some by many motions (humans through discourse)

Special Case: Christ and Baptized Infants #

• Christ’s soul was blessed from the moment of incarnation without meritorious operation preceding
• This is singular to Christ; it demonstrates God’s capacity but not his ordinary pattern
• Baptized infants receive beatitude through the merit of Christ; they become perfect members of his mystical body through baptism
• Two principal sacraments make one a member of Christ: baptism (initial incorporation) and the Eucharist (continued incorporation)

The Desire for Beatitude #

Distinction between two ways of considering beatitude:

1. According to common notion: beatitude as perfect good lacking in nothing—everyone necessarily desires this
2. According to particular/special definition: what specifically constitutes beatitude—not everyone knows or explicitly desires this

Examples of mistaken beatitude:

• Some place beatitude in bodily pleasure
• Some in wealth and money
• Some in the virtue of the soul
• Some (like Romeo) in romantic love
• Yet none of these things truly satisfy the will

Resolution of apparent contradiction:

• All people desire beatitude confusedly (in general)
• Not all desire beatitude distinctly (knowing specifically what it consists in)
• Because the will follows upon the understanding, what is the same in reality (beatitude) can be desired in one way and not desired in another, depending on whether it is known confusedly or distinctly

Key Arguments #

The Problem of Imperfect Participation #

• When teaching or communicating knowledge, the student receives only an imperfect participation in the teacher’s understanding
• The light of knowledge remains essentially the teacher’s light; the student partakes of it only imperfectly
• This prevents comprehensive understanding: I can never know God as much as he is knowable, nor love him as much as he is lovable

Divine Ordering and Human Operations #

• God’s wisdom preserves order in things, which requires that creatures tend toward beatitude through their own operations
• Though God could confer beatitude without prior works (as he did with Christ), the order of divine wisdom does not work this way for created beings
• God’s non-intervention in leaving disorder suggests beatitude itself requires the creature’s active tendency toward it

Angels and Human Comparison #

• Angels achieve perfect beatitude through ONE meritorious operation (a single choice with complete knowledge)
• Humans achieve beatitude through MANY operations (multiple meritorious acts over time)
• This difference reflects their respective natures: angels do not live in time; humans do and live by temporal discourse
• Angels’ perfection means they choose with complete knowledge; humans make “half-ignorant, half-knowing choices”

The Will and Understanding #

• The will follows upon reason (upon understanding)
• Something can be the same in reality (secundum rem) yet diverse according to rational consideration (secundum rationem)
• Thus something can be both desired and not desired depending on whether the intellect grasps it confusedly or distinctly

Important Definitions #

• Beatitude (in common notion): Perfect good lacking in nothing; that which wholly satisfies the will
• Beatitude (in particular notion): The specific condition in which beatitude consists (e.g., the beatific vision of God’s essence)
• Disposition: An ordering or preparation of matter/will toward receiving a form or end
• Sapientis est ordinari: “It belongs to the wise to order”—a principle that divine wisdom orders all things and leaves nothing disordered
• Justifying grace: Grace that is not given on account of preceding works but is the beginning of motion by which one tends to beatitude
• Gloria (glory): The final state of perfection; beatitude itself as the reward of virtue
• Merit (meritum): Meritorious operation; the act of tending toward beatitude through virtuous works
• Secundum rem / secundum rationem: In reality / according to rational consideration; two ways something can be considered

Examples & Illustrations #

Teaching and Knowledge Transfer #

• Euclidean Theorems: Berquist can follow a complicated Euclidean proof when taking time but cannot spontaneously reproduce or explain it to others because it has not become “second nature” to him
• College Teaching: Through repeated teaching of the same material, knowledge becomes second nature; one can explain it readily. But this is not true of all subjects he has studied
• Giving a Talk: One can recognize a good talk but lack the ability to reproduce its persuasive power to another because one possesses it only imperfectly

Mistaken Conceptions of Happiness #

• Children and Candy: A child may think having all the candy one wants is happiness, but later realizes candy does not truly satisfy
• Romantic Love: Romeo thinks Juliet is his happiness, but this is a mistaken particular definition
• Wealth: A lottery winner receives unwanted attention and burden; money does not secure happiness
• Job Advertisements: Vanity Fair notes that in life, few get what they want, and having gotten it, find it does not satisfy

Different Paths to Beatitude #

• God: Possesses beatitude necessarily, without motion or preceding operation
• Angels: Achieve beatitude through one meritorious operation (one perfect choice with complete knowledge)
• Humans: Achieve beatitude through many operations (multiple acts over time, each involving some ignorance)

Baptism and Grace #

• Infant Baptism: An unbaptized infant can receive beatitude immediately through baptism without personal meritorious works, participating in Christ’s merit
• Thomas’s Prayer: His prayer before communion explicitly asks to be made “a member of his mystical body,” illustrating the sacramental incorporation into Christ through the Eucharist

Questions Addressed #

1. Can a blessed creature communicate beatitude to another? No perfectly; only imperfectly. The creature may illuminate another about divine matters, but the beatitude remains the giver’s alone, participated in only imperfectly by the receiver.

2. Can angels illuminate humans about God? Yes, regarding divine works and things perceived in God, but not regarding the beatific vision of God’s essence itself, which all blessed creatures see directly.

3. Are human works necessary for achieving beatitude? Yes, according to the order of divine wisdom, even though God could confer it without prior works. Humans must tend toward beatitude through meritorious operations because beatitude exceeds their created nature.

4. Why does Christ have beatitude without merit, while humans need merit? Christ’s case is singular; his beatitude demonstrates God’s power but does not establish the ordinary pattern. For creatures, beatitude requires the ordering of their will through operations.

5. Do all humans desire beatitude? Yes, in the common notion of beatitude (perfect good), everyone desires it of necessity. But not all explicitly desire the particular definition of beatitude (the vision of God’s essence) because they do not understand what it specifically consists in.

6. How can something be the same reality yet desired and not desired? Through confusion versus distinct knowledge. If the intellect knows something confusedly, the will may desire it; if distinctly, the will may not desire the particular form under which it is presented. Both desire for beatitude generally and non-desire for its specific condition can be true of the same person.