362. What is eternal happiness? (part 1)
(Comp 362) It is the vision of God in eternal life in which we are fully “partakers
of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), of the glory of Christ and of the joy of the
trinitarian life. This happiness surpasses human capabilities. It is a
supernatural and gratuitous gift of God just as is the grace which leads to it.
This promised happiness confronts us with decisive moral choices concerning
earthly goods and urges us to love God above all things.
“In brief”
(CCC 1727) The beatitude of
eternal life is a gratuitous gift of God. It is supernatural, as is the grace
that leads us there.
To deepen and
explain
(CCC 1720) The New Testament uses several expressions to
characterize the beatitude to which God calls man: - the coming of the Kingdom
of God (Cf. Mt 4:17); - the vision of God: "Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God" (Mt 5:8; cf. 1 Jn 2; 1 Cor 13:12) - entering into
the joy of the Lord (Mt 25:21-23); -
entering into God's rest (Cf. Heb
4:7-11): There we shall rest and see, we shall see and love, we shall love and
praise. Behold what will be at the end without end. For what other end do we
have, if not to reach the kingdom which has no end? (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei 22, 30, 5: PL 41, 804).
Reflection
(CCC 1723) The beatitude we are promised confronts us with
decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and
to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is
not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human
achievement - however beneficial it may be - such as science, technology, and
art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and
of all love: All bow down before wealth. Wealth is that to which the multitude
of men pay an instinctive homage. They measure happiness by wealth; and by
wealth they measure respectability.... It is a homage resulting from a profound
faith ... that with wealth he may do all things. Wealth is one idol of the day
and notoriety is a second.... Notoriety, or the making of a noise in the world
- it may be called "newspaper fame" - has come to be considered a
great good in itself, and a ground of veneration (John Henry Cardinal Newman,
"Saintliness the Standard of Christian Principle," in Discourses to Mixed Congregations
(London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1906)
V, 89-90). [IT CONTINUES]
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