Thomism is an enormous school of thought in the Church. St Thomas Aquinas is best known for his work Summa Theologica, a Theological-Philosophical treatise on more or less anything imaginable! You get the famous five ways of proving God's existence, you get his system of hierarchy of Laws (Eternal, Divine, Natural and Human) the list goes on. Summa Theologica was considered as the official philosophical text by the Church until the Second Vatican Council in the sixties but it still remains as a core text for many seminaries. He is famously quoted for saying "everything I have written seems like straw compared to what I have seen." after a conversation he was known to have with Christ.
When he was to be canonised, the Devil's advocate team argued that there were no reported miracles. But a cardinal replied "there were as many miracles as the articles in Summa Theologica; thousands." He was pronounced a Saint by the See of Avignon at that time.
Beatific Vision from Dante's Divine Comedy, Gustave Dore
Interestingly, a medieval view depicted so exquisitely in the Divine Comedy by Dante, was that there is such thing as a limit to Theology. When Dante ascends to the highest sphere of Heaven (Empyrean), Beatrice, his guide and a lover from childhood (who embodies human reason) could not take him to Empyrean as "Theology has reached its limit." so in her stead, St Bernard of Clairvaux, a spiritual giant in contemplative life, leads him to Empyrean where he prays to Our Lady for Dante. Then he sees God face-to-face (which is what we may call a Beatific Vision) and experiences the Love in its true form, the very Love that "turns the Sun and all the other stars." Beatific Vision, indeed, is something that cannot be obtained through human reason alone. However excellent in virtue and strength it may be, human reason is never enough for the enjoyment eternal of God, St Thomas Aquinas's supreme ultimate goal for human existence.
The question we must ask ourselves here though, since this blog is dedicated to Our Lady, is that whether Our Lady would have had such Theology and Revelation. One thing is for sure; Our Blessed Lord would have had Beatific Vision as He was living amongst us two thousand years ago. The Eternal word of God that took flesh would have seen everything in its truest form in an intuitive manner. This started to sound almost platonic but you see what I mean!
But what about Our Lady? One teaching we can employ is that human beings can only be given Beatific Vision at the consummation of their earthly lives. And I suppose it makes sense. Our soulful selves are limited by our bodily existence and Beatific Vision is an intuitive faculty to see God face-to-face, the Infinite. I suspect it could even be called the final Marriage of souls to their Eternal Bridegroom in that no more will this soul be separated from God and will be irrevocably betrothed to the Bridegroom. For such thing as Marriage, we have a great Theologian to quote, Dietrich Von Hildebrand.
"But two human beings can also turn to face one another, and in touching one another, in an interpenetrating glance, give birth to a mysterious fusion of their souls. They become conscious of one another, and making the other the object of his contemplation and responses, each can spiritually immerse himself in the other. This is the I-thou relationship, in which the partners are not side by side, but face to face. "
Botticini, Assumption of the Virgin, National Gallery
Hm... I still do not know if Our Lady would have had Beatific Vision. She would have had the Original Integrity in that Her Reason would have perfectly controlled Her bodily self, Her enjoyment of pleasures only limited to what we define as legitimate. She is the human being closest to God. I am guessing also from Divine Comedy (since it is known to reflect Medieval Theology quite faithfully) that Our Lady would not just have had human reason to speculate upon God but also something of a revelation or intuition to aid Her by the fact that She was in Empyrean with God in Divine Comedy. Lastly, I have always held the view that Our Lady would not have suffered bodily death before being taken up to Heaven as death is a handmade of sin and She had none! One person who did not die before being taken up to Heaven was Elijah and he was a prophet so God's revelation was something of his specialty. But that still does not mean he would have had Beatific Vision! If there is anybody who knows the answer to this subject, please let me know!
Parting gift for today is Stabat Mater by Vivaldi, sung by a Canadian called Mary-Nicole Lemieux. Stabat Mater is a short hymn we sing during Via Crucis. I think her rendition of this piece is the best amongst the ones I have listened to. And since we have passed Laetare Sunday, I thought it would have been useful to remind you that it is extremely important that we go to Via Crucis every friday of Lent and if you have not yet taken part in it this Lent, may I urge you to go and receive Plenary Indulgence ! (with usual conditions)
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