(LifeSiteNews) — “One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars. For star differeth from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.” (1 Cor. 15:41)
So writes St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians.
At the end of time, all of the elect will shine in glory before the throne of God, but some will shine more brightly than others.
Not everyone’s degree of glory will be the same.
This doctrine may be new or surprising to some people – but reflecting on it can help us in our spiritual lives. This is The John-Henry Westen Show.
We all know that at the end of time, there will be a fundamental separation between the sheep and the goats, the elect and the damned. It will be heaven or hell for all eternity.
The fundamental joy of heaven is the beatific vision, to see God face to face.
For all eternity:
His servants shall serve him. And they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And 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. (Rev. 22:2-5)
In the sight of God, redeemed mankind will find eternal bliss:
Things no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart conceived, the welcome God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Cor. 2:9-10)
On the other hand, the fundamental horror of hell is to be separated from God for all eternity, and never to attain the destiny for which we were created.
All souls in heaven are perfectly happy.
But not every soul in heaven has the same degree of glory.
Some souls are granted a greater participation in the beatific vision, in the light of glory than others.
This is because, while all the elect died loving God, some loved Him more than others.
The more love, the more glory.
St. Thomas Aquinas wrote:
He shares more fully in the light of glory who possesses the greater love… he who has more love will see God more perfectly and be more blessed. (Summa Theologiae I, q.12, a.6)
The greatest degree of glory in heaven belongs to Our Lady because she loved God the most.
Every day brings the opportunity to attain greater glory in heaven through the love of God, who will reward us for every action performed for love of Him.
In fact, so great is God’s love for us, that, first, He gives us the grace to be able to love Him, and then second, He rewards us for cooperating with that grace.
It is impossible to merit anything from God, except by means of the grace which He bestows on us.
So, if we want to be more closely united to God in the beatific vision, what should we do here on earth?
First, we must stay in friendship with Him, in the state of sanctifying grace.
As Christ Himself said:
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. (Jn. 15:5)
And St. Paul tells us:
If I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries and all knowledge… and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my good to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. (1 Cor. 13:1-2)
Now, the state of charity and the state of sanctifying grace are one and the same thing.
Unless we abide in Christ, by His divine charity, we cannot perform meritorious acts.
But if we are in the state of grace then every single morally good act that we perform – without exception – is meritorious and will increase our degree of glory in heaven.
But what is a morally good act?
A morally good act is an act which accords with reason, with the eternal law of God which directs the whole universe, and which we come to know through the natural law written in our hearts, and through the divine law revealed by God to the Catholic Church.
When a person is in the state of grace, all morally good acts increase his or her friendship with God and state of glory in heaven.
A morally bad act is an act which goes against reason, an act whereby we go against the voice of God made known to us by our conscience and by the teaching of the Church.
All morally bad acts damage our friendship with God and deserve to be punished by His divine justice. Some morally bad acts are incompatible with remaining in His friendship. These are mortal sins, and they separate us from God.
Therefore, every free action performed by a person in the state of grace does one of three things:
- It is morally good and increases our friendship with God and our glory in heaven.
- It is morally bad and damages our friendship with God – this is a venial sin.
- It is morally bad and destroys our friendship with God – this is a mortal sin.
The soul which dies in mortal sin will go to hell, and none of its merits will do it any good.
It is essential therefore to remain in God’s grace by not committing mortal sin. But should we commit a mortal sin we should not despair, but instead immediately beg God for mercy and for the grace of repentance and go to confession as soon as we can.
However, God is so good and merciful that when the soul in mortal sin repents, God not only forgives the person their sins, but will once again reward all the merits gained throughout their life.
Here then is a wonderful truth that we should think about often:
Every ordinary action we perform is meritorious if we are in the state of sanctifying grace and will mean our eternal happiness will be greater.
Simple daily tasks increase our eternal bliss, if done in friendship with God!
However, not all actions are equally meritorious. The degree of merit depends on how much love for God we have.
READ: The Church officially teaches you won’t be fat in heaven
The more love, the more merit.
So we must do the things which will increase our love for Him.
This means first and foremost to pray. Every true prayer draws us closer to God and increases the love for God in our souls.
The meritorious nature of prayer is made clear one of the Fifteen Promises of the Rosary, traditionally held to have been delivered to Alan de la Roche. It reads:
The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.
And in order to help us grow in love, God has ordained the sacraments. Frequent attendance at Mass, reception of Holy Communion, and regular confession are indispensable means of grace.
In fact, the Church has a treasury of means to help us grow in love for God: sacraments, sacramentals, prayers, Sacred Scripture, relics, pilgrimages, the writings of the Fathers, Doctors, and theologians, and much more.
We must make use of these things.
And we mustn’t forget that the merits of the elect don’t just benefit them. The treasury of Christ and His saints are available to us and to the Holy Souls in Purgatory to wipe out the remaining temporal punishment that is due for our venial sins or absolved mortal sins.
God in His mercy will look on their merits and remit our punishment, for a small act of love on our part. These small acts of love are called indulgences. We can obtain indulgences for ourselves and for the Holy Souls.
In this way, the glory of the saints is not just for their good, but for the good of the elect of God on earth.
As St. Thomas Aquinas taught:
The abundance of those merits is so great as to surpass all the temporal punishment due from the faithful on earth, and that particularly owing to the merit of Christ.
And he continued:
The saints, whose satisfactory works are superabundant, did not perform them for one particular person… but in general for the whole Church, according to the words of St. Paul, ‘I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and make up in my flesh what is lacking to the sufferings of Christ, on behalf of his body which is the Church.’ And so these merits become the property of the whole Church. (Summa Theologiae III, Suppl., q.25, a.1)
Truly the Catholic Church is a communion of the saints and has all the means to free us from sin and give us great glory in heaven!
But let us make use of the means she gives us!
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