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← Pseudo-Augustine Soliloquia animae ad Deum (Meditations of the Soul to God)/Book 1 · Soliloquia animae ad Deum
Chapter 36PsAug.1.36

De gloriae lumine. Deum videre facie ad faciem quid. Visio haec tota beatitudo. Interim Deum unum intendere.

The Promise of Face-to-Face Vision

The soul anticipates the day when it will see God face to face, no longer through a mirror darkly, and find its desire perfectly satisfied in the peace that surpasses all understanding.

So when we reach you, the fountain of wisdom, the unfailing light, the inextinguishable light, we'll see you no longer through a mirror, darkly, but face to face (1 Cor.✦ Then our desire will be satisfied with good things, because there will be nothing outside that could be desired (1 Cor. 13:12). You, Lord — the highest good — will be the reward of the blessed, the crown of their beauty, and everlasting joy upon their heads, bringing them peace within and without, in your peace, which surpasses all understanding (Phil.✦ Phil. 4:7). There we shall see, and love, and praise. We shall see your light in your light. For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we shall see light (Ps.✦ Ps. 35:10).

The Nature of the Divine Light

The soul inquires into the nature of the immense, uncreated light of God and recognizes that seeing God face to face means seeing God in God's own splendor.

But what kind of light is it? Immense light, bodiless light, beyond comprehension, unfailing light, inextinguishable and beyond reach, uncreated light, truthful light — light that illuminates the eyes of angels, that gladdens the youth of the saints, that is the light of lights and the fountain of life — which you are, Lord my God.✦1 You are indeed the light, and in your light we will see light — that is, you in yourself, in the splendor of your face — because we will see you face to face.✦2

What It Means to See Face to Face

To see God face to face is to know the Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — and this knowledge constitutes the highest good, the full blessedness and glorification of humanity.

What does it mean to see face to face, if not what the Apostle says: to know even as I am also known (1 Cor.✦ 13:12)? To know your Trinity — that is to see face to face. To know the power of the Father, the wisdom of the Son, the mercy of the Holy Spirit, and the one and undivided essence of that most high Trinity — this is to see the face of the living God. This is the highest good, the joy of the angels and of all the saints, the reward of eternal life, the glory of spirits, everlasting gladness, the crown of beauty, the prize of happiness, rich rest, the beauty of peace, the deepest and eternal joy, the paradise of God, heavenly Jerusalem, the blessed life, the fullness of blessedness, the joy of eternity, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding (Phil.✦ 4:7). This is the full blessedness and the whole glorification of humanity: to see the face of one's own God — to see the One who made you, who saved you, who glorified you. You will see Him by knowing Him, love Him by loving Him, praise Him by possessing Him.

God as the Exceedingly Great Reward

God himself is the inheritance and possession of the blessed, for God is not one thing and the reward another — God is both the giver and the gift, the crown and the one who crowns.

He himself will be the inheritance of his own people, the people of the holy ones, the people he redeemed.✦3 He himself is their possession of happiness, he himself their reward and the wages they hoped for.4 I will be, he says, your reward, exceedingly great (Gen.✦5 XV, 1). Truly, Lord my God, you are great, exceedingly so, above all gods, and your reward is exceedingly great.✦ Great things, to be sure, are fitting for the great.6 For you are not great while your reward is small; rather, as great as you are, so great is your reward — because you yourself are not one thing and your reward another, but you yourself, exceedingly great, are yourself the exceedingly great reward, yourself the giver of the crown and the crown, yourself the promiser and the promise, yourself the rewarder and the gift, yourself the one who bestows the prize and the prize itself, the prize of eternal happiness.7 Therefore you, my God, are both the one who crowns and the crown, the diadem of my hope, adorned with glory, a light that makes glad, a light that renews, a beauty that adorns, my great hope, the desire of the saints' hearts, and their longed-for one.8

Eternal Life Is to See God

The vision of God is the whole reward and eternal life, defined as knowing the only true God and the one he sent, Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

The vision of you, then, is the whole reward, the whole prize, the whole joy we have been waiting for. This is eternal life.✦ This is, your Wisdom says, this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ (John✦9 17:3).✦ When, therefore, we see you, the only God, the true God, the living God, almighty, invisible, unbounded, incomprehensible, and your only-begotten Son, consubstantial and coeternal with you, God, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom you sent into the world for our salvation, in the unity of the Holy Spirit — three in persons and one in essence — the one holy God, apart from whom there is no God; then we will possess what we have been seeking: eternal life, the everlasting glory that you have prepared for those who love you, that you have hidden from those who fear you, and that you will give to those who seek you, who seek your face always.✦✦1011

The Soul's Present Longing and Final Entry

The soul prays to be gathered back from dispersion into the single-hearted seeking of God's face, longing to enter at last into the joy of the Lord through the gate of justice.

And you, Lord my God, my maker from my mother's womb, who entrusted me to your hand — don't let me be torn apart any longer into many things, but gather me in from what is outside myself to myself, and from myself to you, so that my heart may always say to you: My soul has sought you; your face, Lord, I will seek (Ps.✦12 XXVI, 8), the face of the Lord of hosts, in which alone the whole glory of the blessed consists — and to see it is eternal life and the everlasting joy of the saints.✦13 Let my heart rejoice, then, so that it may fear your name; let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice — but far more the heart of those who find him.✦14 For if there is joy in seeking, what kind of joy will there be in finding? I will seek your face, then, always — ardently and without ceasing — if only the door and the gate of justice may at last be opened to me, so that I may enter into the joy of my Lord.15 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter through it (Psal.16 CXVII, 20).

Read the original Latin

Cum ergo pervenerimus ad te sapientiae fontem, ad te lumen indeficiens, ad te lucem inexstinguibilem, ut te non jam per speculum in aenigmate, sed facie ad faciem videamus (I Cor. XIII, 12); tunc satiabitur in bonis desiderium nostrum, quia nihil erit exterius quod desideretur. Tu, Domine summum bonum, eris praemium beatorum, et diadema decoris eorum, et laetitia sempiterna super capita eorum, pacificans eos intus et extra in pace tua quae exsuperat omnem sensum (Philipp. IV, 7). Ibi videbimus, amabimus et laudabimus. Videbimus in lumine tuo lumen tuum. Quoniam apud te est fons vitae, et in lumine tuo videbimus lumen (Psal. XXXV, 10).

Quale autem lumen? Lumen immensum, lumen incorporeum, incomprehensibile, lumen indeficiens, inexstinguibile et inaccessibile, lumen increatum, lumen veridicum, quod illuminat oculos Angelorum, quod laetificat juventutem sanctorum, quod est lumen luminum et fons vitae, quod tu es, Domine, Deus meus. Tu es quippe lumen, in cujus lumine videbimus lumen: te scilicet in te, in splendore vultus tui, quoniam te videbimus facie ad faciem.

Quid est videre facie ad faciem, nisi quod ait Apostolus, cognoscere sicut et cognitus sum (I Cor. XIII, 12)? Cognoscere Trinitatem tuam, hoc est videre facie ad faciem. Cognoscere Patris potentiam, Filii sapientiam, Spiritus sancti clementiam, ipsius summae Trinitatis unam et indivisam essentiam, est videre faciem Dei vivi. Hoc est summum bonum, gaudium Angelorum atque omnium sanctorum, praemium vitae aeternae, gloria spirituum, laetitia sempiterna, corona decoris, bravium felicitatis, requies opulenta, pulchritudo pacis, intimum et aeternum gaudium, paradisus Dei, Jerusalem coelestis, vita beata, plenitudo beatitudinis, gaudium aeternitatis, pax Dei quae exsuperat omnem sensum (Philipp. IV, 7). Haec est plena beatitudo et tota glorificatio hominis, videre faciem Dei sui, videre eum qui fecit eum, qui salvavit eum, qui glorificavit eum. Videbit eum cognoscendo, amabit diligendo, laudabit possidendo.

Ipse enim erit haereditas populi sui, populi sanctorum, populi quem redemit. Ipse possessio felicitatis eorum, ipse praemium et merces exspectationis. Ero, inquit, merces tua magna nimis (Gen. XV, 1). Vere, Dominus Deus meus, magnus es tu nimis super omnes deos, et merces tua magna nimis. Magnum enim magna decent. Neque enim magnus es tu, et parva merces tua: sed ut magnus es tu, magna est merces tua; quoniam non aliud tu, et aliud merces tua: sed tu ipse magnus nimis, tu ipse merces magna nimis, tu ipse coronator es et corona, tu ipse promissor es et promissio, tu remunerator es et munus, tu praemiator et praemium felicitatis aeternae. Tu ergo coronator es et corona, Deus meus, diadema spei meae quae ornata est gloria, lumen laetificans, lux renovans, decor adornans, spes mea magna, desiderium cordis sanctorum, et desideratus eorum.

Visio ergo tua tota merces est, totum praemium, totum gaudium quod exspectamus. Haec est vita aeterna. Haec est, inquit Sapientia tua, Haec est vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te solum verum Deum, et quem misisti Jesum Christum (Joan. XVII, 3). Cum igitur videbimus te solum Deum, Deum verum, Deum vivum, omnipotentem, invisibilem, incircumscriptibilem, incomprehensibilem, et Filium tuum unigenitum, consubstantialem et coaeternum tibi Deum, Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, quem pro salute nostra misisti in mundum, in unitate Spiritus sancti trinum in personis, et unum in essentia, Deum sanctum solum, extra quem non est Deus; tunc habebimus quod quaerimus, vitam aeternam, gloriam sempiternam, quam praeparasti diligentibus te, quam abscondisti timentibus te, quam daturus es quaerentibus te, quaerentibus faciem tuam semper.

Et tu, Domine Deus meus, formator meus ex utero matris meae, quae me recommendavit manui tuae, non me permittas amplius ex uno distrahi in multa: sed collige me de exterioribus ad me, de me ad te, ut dicat tibi semper cor meum, Exquisivit te facies mea; faciem tuam, Domine, requiram (Psal. XXVI, 8), faciem Domini virtutum, in qua sola consistit tota gloria beatorum, quam videre vita aeterna est, et laetitia sempiterna sanctorum. Laetetur ergo cor meum ut timeat nomen tuum, laetetur cor quaerentium Dominum, sed multo magis cor invenientium. Si enim laetitia est in quaerendo, qualis laetitia erit in inveniendo? Quaeram ergo semper ardenter et indesinenter faciem tuam, si quomodo tandem aperiatur mihi ostium et porta justitiae, ut intrem in gaudium Domini mei. Haec porta Domini, justi intrabunt in eam (Psal. CXVII, 20).

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩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.
  2. ↩Phil.4.7 — And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
  3. ↩Ps.36.9 — They drink their fill of the abundance of your house, and from your river of delights you give them drink.
  4. ↩Ps.36.10 — For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
  5. ↩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.
  6. ↩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.
  7. ↩Phil.4.7 — And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
  8. ↩Gen.15.1;Ps.28.9;Ps.33.12;Ps.74.2;Ps.78.71;Isa.43.1;Eph.1.14;Titus.2.14;1Pet.2.9 — After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great.' Ps.28.9 — Save your people, and bless your inheritance; shepherd them, and carry them forever. Ps.33.12 — Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. Ps.74.2 — Remember your congregation, whom you acquired of old, whom you redeemed as the tribe of your inheritance—Mount Zion, where you made your dwelling. Ps.78.71 — From following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. Isa.43.1 — But now thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, and your Former, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. Eph.1.14 — who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory. Titus.2.14 — who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own, zealous for good works. 1Pet.2.9 — But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
  9. ↩Gen.15.1 — After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great.'
  10. ↩Ps.86.10;Ps.95.3;Ps.96.4;Ps.135.5 — For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Ps.95.3 — For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. Ps.96.4 — For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. Ps.135.5 — For I know that the LORD is great, and our Lord is above all gods.
  11. ↩John.17.3 — And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ.
  12. ↩John.17.3 — And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ.
  13. ↩John.17.3 — And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ.
  14. ↩1Cor.2.9;Isa.64.4 — 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. Isa.64.4 — You meet those who rejoice and do righteousness; in your ways they remember you. But behold, you were angry, and we sinned — in those ways we have been for long, and can we be saved?
  15. ↩Ps.27.8;Ps.105.4 — My heart says of you, 'Seek my face.' Your face, LORD, I will seek. Ps.105.4 — Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his face continually.
  16. ↩Ps.26.8 — LORD, I love the dwelling place of your house, and the place where your glory dwells.
  17. ↩Ps.26.8 — LORD, I love the dwelling place of your house, and the place where your glory dwells.
  18. ↩Ps.104.3;Ps.84.3 — You lay the beams of your upper chambers in the waters; you make the clouds your chariot; you walk on the wings of the wind. Ps.84.3 — My soul yearns and even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩lumen luminum ('light of lights') echoes the Vulgate Psalm 35:10 (Ps 36:9 Hebrew); rendered here as a direct divine title.
  2. 2 ↩facie ad faciem echoes 1 Cor. 13:12; the allusion is carried forward from the previous section where the Pauline citation is explicit.
  3. 3 ↩The threefold repetition 'populi sui... populi sanctorum... populi quem redemit' is rendered as a series of appositions to preserve the rhetorical accumulation of the Latin; the precise logical relation (explanatory vs. progressive) is left open.
  4. 4 ↩merces rendered 'wages' here to pair with praemium 'reward'; the economic metaphor is deliberate in the Latin.
  5. 5 ↩Scripture citation incomplete in source; likely Gen 15:1 ('Ego... merces tua magna nimis').
  6. 6 ↩The proverbial statement is compressed; 'magna' may be nominative plural neuter or ablative singular feminine. Rendered as nominative plural ('great things') to match the proverbial sense.
  7. 7 ↩The long correlative chain 'sed ut... sed... sed... et... et... et... et' is rendered with varied English connectives ('rather', 'because', 'but') to maintain readability while preserving the logical force of each link.
  8. 8 ↩The series of participial phrases (laetificans, renovans, adornans) modifying diadema/lumen/lux/decor is rendered as relative-like descriptive phrases to maintain natural English while preserving the Latin's layered imagery.
  9. 9 ↩Quotation of John 17:3 (Vulgate). The speaker is attributed as 'your Wisdom' (Sapientia tua), a devotional personification.
  10. 10 ↩Key Nicene-creedal terms retained: consubstantial, coeternal, three in persons and one in essence. These are standard English theological vocabulary and are not modernized away.
  11. 11 ↩The three relative clauses introduced by quam (quam praeparasti, quam abscondisti, quam daturus es) are rendered with 'that' to preserve their parallel structure. The shift from indicative (praeparasti, abscondisti) to future participle (daturus es) is preserved in English tense: 'have prepared,' 'have hidden,' 'will give.'
  12. 12 ↩The embedded quotation 'Exquisivit te facies mea; faciem tuam, Domine, requiram' is a direct echo of Psalm 26:8 (Vulgate), rendered here in the voice of the praying soul.
  13. 13 ↩Continues the quotation from Psalm 26:8 (Vulgate). 'Lord of hosts' (Dominus virtutum) is a standard divine title in the Psalms.
  14. 14 ↩Echoes Psalm 83:3 (Vulgate) and Psalm 104:3 (Vulgate): 'Laetetur cor quaerentium Dominum.'
  15. 15 ↩The phrase 'intrem in gaudium Domini mei' echoes Psalm 15:11 (Vulgate) / Acts 2:28: 'adimplebis me laetitia cum vultu tuo.'
  16. 16 ↩Direct quotation of Psalm 117:20 (Vulgate).

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