Liii. Of Eternal Happiness
LIII. OF ETERNAL HAPPINESS
(A)
Will the elect immediately enter heaven after their sentence has been pronounced?
Yes.
Will the happiness of the elect be increased by the fact that their bodies are now united to their souls?
Yes, they will have an increase of accidental happiness, their essential happiness consisting in the vision of God (XCIII. 1).
Will there be distinct places for the elect in heaven?
Yes, for the degree of charity or of grace will determine the degree of glory (XCIII. 2, 3).
In this assembly of the elect will men have something that the angels will not have?
Yes, for men will form the Church triumphant, but the angels will not have the same relation to Jesus Christ, who is the King of the Church triumphant (XCV. 1, 2, 4).
In what will this difference consist?
In this, that the elect belonging to the human race resemble Jesus Christ, who has the same human nature; but this will never be so with the angels. The elect therefore will have certain intimate relations with Jesus Christ which the angels have not.
(B)
What will be the result of this intimate relation between the Church triumphant and Jesus Christ?
The result will be that on its entrance into heaven Almighty God will bestow upon it the most inestimable gifts which are called the dowry of the blessed (XCV. 1).
What is this dowry?
It is threefold in the glorified soul from which it is reflected, as it were, in the body under the form of the four properties whereby the body is glorified (of these latter we have already spoken); this dowry will consist in the vision, possession, and fruition of the divine essence (XCV. 5).
(C)
May one say that the elect in heaven will be invested, as it were, with a royal dignity?
Yes, because the beatific vision unites them to God, and thus they participate in the divinity of God; and since God is the immortal King of ages, the elect participate in this sovereign royalty and its glory (XCVI. 1).
Is it then by reason of this that the blessed are said to receive a crown in heaven?
Yes, it is for this precisely (XCVI. 1).
(D)
Do the blessed also have what is called an aureola?
Yes; but although the crown is common to all, only certain ones will have an aureola (XCVI. 1).
What is the reason of this difference?
It comes to this: the crown is the result or the resplendency of essential happiness which consists in the vision of God; whereas an aureola is a resplendency of an accidental order caused by the joy of certain of the elect on account of certain works they performed while on earth which were specially meritorious (XCVI. 1).
Will the angels have aureolas?
No, for they had no such meritorious works to accomplish (XCVI. 9).
What kind of meritorious works did certain of the elect perform which gives them the right to an aureola?
Some were martyrs, others virgins, and others preached the Gospel (XCVI. 5, 6, 7).
Why will these three kinds of good works merit an aureola?
Because they make men resemble Jesus Christ in a special way in so far as He was victorious over the flesh, the world, and the devil (ibid.).
Are there not in the Sacred Scriptures words which concern the eternal happiness of the elect in heaven?
Yes, in the Apocalypse of St. John, chap. xxii., ver. 5, we read these words: "Night shall be no more: and they shall not need the light of the lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall enlighten them, and they shall reign for ever and ever."