When Your Glory Is
Seen, I Shall be Satisfied
It is fitting that
the end of all our desires, namely eternal life coincides with the words at the
end of the creed, “Life everlasting. Amen.”
The first point about
eternal life is that man is united with God. For God himself is the reward and
end of all our labours: I am your protector and your supreme reward. This union consists in seeing
perfectly: At present we see through a glass, darkly;
but then we shall see face to face.
Next it consists in
perfect praise, according to the words of the prophet: Joy
and happiness will be found in it, thanksgiving and words of praise.
It also consists in
the complete satisfaction of desire, for there the blessed will be given more
than they wanted or hoped for. The reason is that in this life no one can fulfill
his longing, nor can any creature satisfy man’s desire. Only God satisfies, he
infinitely exceeds all other pleasures. That is why man can rest in nothing but
God. As Augustine says: You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our
heart can find no rest until it rests in you.
Since in their
heavenly home the saints will possess God completely, obviously their longing
will be satisfied, and their glory will be even greater. That is why the Lord
says: Enter into the joy of your Lord. Augustine adds: The
fullness of joy will not enter into those who rejoice, but those who rejoice
will enter into joy. I shall be satisfied when your glory is seen, and
again: He who satisfies your desire with good things.
Again, eternal life
consists of the joyous community of all the blessed, a community of supreme
delight, since everyone will share all that is good with all the blessed.
Everyone will love everyone else as himself, and therefore will rejoice in
another’s good as in his own. So it follows that the happiness and joy of each
grows in proportion to the joy of all.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
From a Conference of Saint Thomas Aquinas
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