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Face to
Face with God
“When
it comes time for a face to face with God
In
our world of voice mail, video conferencing, chat
rooms and cell phones can make communication
instantaneous and worldwide. Yet the best form of
communication is face to face. When we see someone, we
communicate most directly -- using voice, expression,
gesture, inflection and even touch. It's the closest
we can get to another.
In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus promises the
"clean of heart" that "they shall see
God" (Mt. 5:8).
This is one of the scripture texts from which we
derive the concept of the beatific vision, or heaven.
The beatific vision means seeing God face to face. . .
.
In 1336, Pope Benedict XII set down clearly the
teaching on the beatific vision: "these souls
have seen and see the divine essence with an intuitive
vision and even face to face, without the mediation of
any creature clearly and openly..." (Benedictus
Deus).
Paul, in the Letter to the Corinthians, written about
20 years after Christ's resurrection, put it in more
picturesque terms: "At present, we see
indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to
face." (1Cor 13:12)
And the First Letter of John states plainly that
"we shall see him as he is" (3:2).
But what does it mean to see God "as he is?"
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says,
"The beatific vision, in which God opens himself
in an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the
ever-flowing wellspring of happiness, peace and mutual
communion" (no. 1045). . . .
"The concept of beatific vision is best
understood if we think of it in terms of a living,
personal exchange between God and the human
person," explains theologian Fr. Zachary Hayes,
OFM. "God offers the mystery of the divine
presence to the creature. The human person, on the
other hand, is freed from self-seeking and stands
before God in total openness." . . .
Abp. Daniel Pilarczyk, retired president of the USCCB,
explains this knowledge of ourselves as true
fulfillment. "The potential that God created for
each of us will not be lost, but will be actualized
and brought to terms in the glorious humanity of
Christ. Our capacity for loving and being loved, for
intellectual achievement, for appreciating God's works
and for communicating with others, the things we might
have been but never got the chance to be, the things
we started but never got the chance to finish -- all
will be brought to completion in the life of Father,
Son and Holy Spirit manifested in us."
With the promise of this beatific vision, we strive now
to better know Christ, who is "God with Us."
Through him, we draw ever closer to that perfect
communication which the beatified, the saints in
heaven, now fully share-- with God and with all who
live in God.”
Patricia
Kasten,
Compass Associate Editor
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