Caput LXXVII. De regni Dei felicitate.
The Inconceivable Joy of God's Kingdom
The heavenly kingdom surpasses all human imagination and speech, for every form of suffering and discord is utterly absent, leaving only perfect joy, peace, safety, and love.
We can't even imagine the condition of that kingdom, much less put it into words or write it down. This much you should know: nothing you wish to be present will be absent, and nothing you wish to be absent will be present. There's no grief there, no weeping, no fear, no pain, no distrust, no envy, no trial, no temptation, no shifting or corrupting of the air, no suspicion, no ambition, no flattery, no slander, no sickness, no old age, no death, no poverty, no darkness, no need to eat or drink or sleep, no weariness, no failing. So what good is there where there is no grief, no weeping, no pain, and no sadness? What can there be except perfect joy, where there is no trial, no temptation, no changing of seasons or corrupting of the air, no fiercer heat, no harsher winter? What can there be except a supreme ordering of all things, and a true and supreme peace of mind and body? Where there is nothing to fear, what can there be except complete safety? Where there is no discord, no envy, no suspicion, no ambition, no flattery, no slander — what can there be except the highest and truest love?
The Fullness of Every Good
By negating every lack—poverty, ugliness, toil, burden, disease, darkness, and death—the author reveals that heaven holds the fullness of every good: beauty, rest, ease, health, light, and eternal life.
Where there is no poverty, no greed — what can that be but the fullness of every good thing? Where there is no ugliness, what can that be but true beauty? Where there is no toil or exhaustion — what will that be but supreme rest and strength? Where there is nothing to weigh you down or burden you — what is that but perfect ease? Where old age is not even expected, where disease is not feared — what can that be but true health? Where there is neither night nor darkness — what will that be but perfect light?✦ Where death and all mortality have been swallowed up — what will that be but eternal life?✦ What more could we possibly want beyond this?
The Vision of the Creator
All earthly goods are surpassed by the beatific vision: seeing the Creator face to face, knowing the mutual indwelling of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and receiving the promise of eternal life through divine self-manifestation.
All of these are surely surpassed by that one thing: the vision, knowledge, and love of the Creator. He will be seen in himself; he will be seen in his creatures — ruling all things without anxiety, sustaining all things without labor, imparting himself and, in a certain manner, distributing himself to each according to its capacity, without any diminishing or dividing of his own being.1 That countenance will be seen — lovely and desirable, upon which the angels long to gaze — and from its fullness, from its light, from its sweetness, what can be said?2 The Father will be seen in the Son, the Son in the Father, and the Holy Spirit in both. He will be seen not through a mirror, in an enigma, but face to face.✦ For he will be seen as he is, when that promise is fulfilled in which he says: Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him (John✦ 14:21). From that vision proceeds that knowledge of which he himself says: This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (ibid.✦
The Unquenchable Fire of Divine Love
From the vision of God springs an inexhaustible love in which satiety never diminishes desire and desire never hinders satiety—a mystery beyond all human experience, echoing the things God has prepared for those who love him.
XVII, 3). From all this springs such great love, such a burning ardor of fatherly love, such deep sweetness of charity, such an abundance of fervent desire, such intensity of longing, that even having enough doesn't diminish desire, nor does desire get in the way of being satisfied. What is this? Surely, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered the heart of man — the things God has prepared for those who love him.✦
Read the original Latin
Cujus regni status nec cogitari quidem potest a nobis, multo minus dici vel scribi. Hoc sciendum, quod omnino nihil aberit, quod velis adesse; nec quidquam aderit, quod velis abesse. Nullus igitur ibi luctus, fletus nullus, non timor, non dolor, non diffidentia, non invidia, non tribulatio, non tentatio, non aeris mutatio vel corruptio, non suspicio, non ambitio, non adulatio, non detractio, non aegritudo, non senectus, non mors, non paupertas, neque tenebrae, non edendi vel bibendi vel dormiendi ulla necessitas, nulla fatigatio, defectio nulla. Quid ergo boni ibi est, ubi nec luctus, nec fletus, nec dolor est, neque tristitia? Quid potest esse nisi perfecta laetitia, ubi nulla tribulatio, nulla tentatio, nulla temporum mutatio, vel aeris corruptio, aestus vehementior, nec hiems asperior? Quid potest esse nisi summa quaedam rerum temperies, et mentis et carnis vera ac summa tranquillitas? Ubi nihil est, quod timeas, quid potest esse nisi summa securitas? ubi nulla discordia, nulla invidia, nulla suspicio, nulla ambitio, nulla adulatio, detractio nulla; quid potest esse nisi summa et vera dilectio?
ubi nulla paupertas, nulla cupiditas; quid potest esse nisi bonorum omnium plenitudo? ubi nulla deformitas; quid potest esse nisi vera pulchritudo? ubi nullus labor vel defectio; quid erit, nisi requies summa et fortitudo? ubi nihil est, quod gravet vel oneret; quid est nisi summa facilitas? ubi nec senectus exspectatur, nec morbus timetur; quid potest esse nisi vera sanitas? ubi neque nox, neque tenebrae; quid erit nisi lux perfecta? ubi mors, et mortalitas omnis absorpta; quid erit nisi vita aeterna? Quid est ultra quod quaeramus?
Certe quod his omnibus excellit, id est, visio, cognitio, et dilectio Creatoris. Videbitur in se, videbitur in creaturis suis, regens omnia sine sollicitudine, sustinens omnia sine labore, impertiens se, et quodam modo dispertiens singulis pro sua capacitate, sine sui diminutione vel divisione. Videbitur ille vultus amabilis et desiderabilis, in quem desiderant Angeli prospicere, de cujus plenitudine, de cujus lumine, de cujus suavitate quid dicetur. Videbitur Pater in Filio, Filius in Patre, Spiritus sanctus in utroque. Videbitur non per speculum et in aenigmate, sed facie ad faciem. Videbitur enim sicuti est, impleta illa promissione, qua dicit, Qui diligit me, diligetur a Patre meo, et ego diligam eum, et manifestabo ei meipsum (Joan. XIV, 21). Ex hac visione, illa procedit cognitio, de qua ipse ait: Haec est vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te unum Deum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum (Id.
XVII, 3). Ex his tanta nascitur dilectio, tantus ardor paterni amoris, tanta dulcedo charitatis, tanta fervendi copia, tanta desiderii vehementia; ut nec satietas desiderium minuat, nec desiderium satietatem impediat. Quid est hoc? Certe quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus se.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.22.5;Isa.60.20 — And there will be no more night, and they will have no need of the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever. Isa.60.20 — Your sun shall no longer set, and your moon shall not be withdrawn, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.
- ↩1Cor.15.54;Isa.25.8 — But when this perishable puts on imperishability, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' Isa.25.8 — He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; the reproach of his people he will remove from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
- ↩1Cor.13.12 — For now we see in a mirror, dimly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
- ↩John.14.21 — The one who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.
- ↩John.17.3 — And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ.
- ↩1Cor.2.9 — But as it is written: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived—all that God has prepared for those who love him.
Notes
- 1 ↩The participial chain (regens, sustinens, impertiens, dispertiens) describes God's simultaneous governance and self-gift without depletion; rendered to preserve the paradox of infinite self-impartation without diminishment.
- 2 ↩The triple 'de cujus' (from whose fullness, light, sweetness) trails off with 'quid dicetur' — a rhetorical surrender indicating ineffability. The translation preserves the open-ended, awestruck quality.
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