Ex 33, 20-23 My face you cannot see

(Ex 33, 20-23) My face you cannot see

[20] But my face you cannot see, for no man sees me and still lives. [21] Here," continued the LORD, "is a place near me where you shall station yourself on the rock. [22] When my glory passes I will set you in the hollow of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. [23] Then I will remove my hand, so that you may see my back; but my face is not to be seen."

(CCC 2519) The "pure in heart" are promised that they will see God face to face and be like him (Cf. 1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2). Purity of heart is the precondition of the vision of God. Even now it enables us to see according to God, to accept others as "neighbors"; it lets us perceive the human body - ours and our neighbor's - as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of divine beauty. (CCC 2531) Purity of heart will enable us to see God: it enables us even now to see things according to God. (CCC 2548) Desire for true happiness frees man from his immoderate attachment to the goods of this world so that he can find his fulfillment in the vision and beatitude of God. "The promise [of seeing God] surpasses all beatitude.... In Scripture, to see is to possess.... Whoever sees God has obtained all the goods of which he can conceive" (St. Gregory of Nyssa, De beatitudinibus 6: PG 44, 1265A). (CCC 2549) It remains for the holy people to struggle, with grace from on high, to obtain the good things God promises. In order to possess and contemplate God, Christ's faithful mortify their cravings and, with the grace of God, prevail over the seductions of pleasure and power.