108. Divine Beatitude and the Trinity: Object and Act
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Lecture Notes
Main Topics #
Divine Beatitude and Its Nature #
- Beatitude is the perfect good of an intellectual nature, achieved primarily through understanding rather than love
- The distinction between beatitude as object (what is understood: God) and as act (the creature’s understanding)
- God is blessed essentially; creatures are blessed by participating in the act of understanding God
- Augustine: “Blessed is the one who knows you, even if ignorant of other things”
Understanding vs. Love #
- All knowledge as such is good (even knowledge of evil); all love is not necessarily good (love of evil is bad)
- Therefore knowledge is superior to love in the order of perfection
- If knowledge were perfected (seeing God as He is), love would necessarily be perfected
- Seeing God as He is: one cannot help but love Him; this love necessarily directs the will to God’s will
Object vs. Act Distinction Applied to Beatitude #
- On the side of the object: God alone is beatitude, for one is blessed only in understanding God
- On the side of the act of understanding: Beatitude is a created thing in blessed creatures; in God it is His uncreated understanding
- This resolves the objection that beatitude cannot be other than God while also explaining how beatitudes differ in degree (“star differs from star in clarity”)
Perfection in Heaven Without Defect #
- A defect (in the strict sense) means lacking something one ought to have
- Those in heaven lack nothing they ought to have according to God’s providential plan for them
- Different degrees of beatitude do not constitute defects: God calls each soul to its proper place in heaven
- Analogy of Zini the composer: “I’d be a very poor Mozart, but as it is, I’m a very good Zini”
False vs. True Beatitude #
- False beatitudes fall short of true beatitude and thus are not in God
- Whatever likeness to true beatitude false beatitudes possess—however tenuous—pre-exists eminently in God’s beatitude
- God possesses the perfections sought in false happiness in a spiritual rather than bodily way:
- Pleasure: Joy in himself and all things
- Wealth: Complete sufficiency
- Power: Omnipotence
- Dignity: Rule of the whole universe
- Fame: Wonder of every creature understanding Him
Etymology and the Language of Beatitude #
- Happiness (from “hap”/luck): suggests fortune or chance
- Felicity (felicitas; from felix, fruitful): suggests the natural result of virtuous deeds, like fruit produced by a plant
- Beatitude (beatitudo): emphasizes perfection achieved through understanding and virtue, with overtones of being blessed by a superior being (God)
- These terms capture different aspects: luck, natural fruits of virtue, and divine blessing
The Order of Teaching (Ordo Doctrinae) #
- Thomas emphasizes that beginners are impeded by the multiplication of useless questions and by things not being treated “according to the order of teaching” (secundum ordinem doctrinae)
- The order of teaching (doctrinae) is the same as the order of learning (disciplinae)
- For the treatise on the Trinity: things must be learned in this order:
- Origin (procession of one divine person from another)
- Relations (arising from origin; e.g., Father-Son)
- Persons (distinguished by relations)
- This pedagogical order reflects how understanding builds: one must grasp procession before understanding relations, and relations before understanding distinct persons
Distinction Between Summa Theologiae and Summa Contra Gentiles #
- In Summa Contra Gentiles: Books I-III treat what can be known by reason and faith; Book IV treats only faith (Trinity, Incarnation, Eschatology)
- In Summa Theologiae: Trinity is considered immediately after God’s essence and operations, making the structure more like God’s own knowledge (God knows all things by knowing Himself)
- Both works ultimately divide God’s consideration into: God in Himself, God as Maker, God as End
Key Arguments #
Beatitude and Divine Simplicity #
Objection: Beatitude involves aggregation of multiple goods; God is simple; therefore beatitude cannot belong to God.
Response: The multiple goods found in creatures exist in God in a united way through simplicity; God’s beatitude is not a composition of goods but the one simple divine essence.
Beatitude as Object vs. Act #
Objection 1: If beatitude were other than God, then God’s beatitude would be greater and lesser than Himself (since beatitudes differ in degree).
Response: Distinguish: as object, beatitude is God Himself (one, unchanging); as act, beatitude is the creature’s created understanding (which admits of degrees of perfection). The object is not greater or lesser, but creatures’ participations in understanding differ.
Objection 2: Beatitude seems to consist in love, not understanding, since the end (beatitude) is the object of will.
Response: The object is understood before it is willed. Divine beatitude is primarily the act of understanding (God understanding Himself), in which the divine will perfects itself.
False Beatitudes Contained in Divine Beatitude #
Objection: False beatitudes contain defects; God cannot contain defects; therefore false beatitudes are not in God’s beatitude.
Response: False beatitudes, insofar as they fall short from true beatitude, are not in God. But insofar as they have likeness to true beatitude (however remote), that likeness pre-exists in God in a superior, eminent way.
Important Definitions #
Beatitude (beatitudo) #
- The perfect good of an intellectual nature
- Consists formally in the act of understanding
- Has two aspects: (1) its object (God), and (2) the act itself (understanding)
- In God: both are identical with His essence
- In creatures: the object (God) is uncreated; the act of understanding is created
Procession (processio) #
- The proceeding of one divine person from another (e.g., Son from Father, Holy Spirit from Father and Son)
- The foundation upon which divine relations and persons are distinguished
Relation (relatio) #
- Arises from procession: because the Son proceeds from the Father, we speak of the “relation” of Son to Father
- Distinguishes the divine persons
Examples & Illustrations #
The Glass and the Mug #
Berquist illustrates the concept of perfection without defect: If I give you a small glass of beer and him a large mug, both full, you might complain of having less. But both glasses are full according to their capacity. Similarly, different saints have different degrees of beatitude (“different sized cots in heaven”), but each is completely full of what God intends for them and lacks nothing they should have.
Zini the Composer #
When asked why he didn’t write more like Mozart, Zini replied: “I’d be a very poor Mozart, but as it is, I’m a very good Zini.” This illustrates that in heaven, each blessed soul perfects its own nature without imitating a higher state it was not called to, and thus lacks nothing appropriate to its state.
The Hierarchies of Goods in False Happiness #
Boethius identifies five goods sought in false happiness, each of which God possesses eminently:
- Pleasure → God has joy in Himself and all things
- Wealth → God has complete sufficiency
- Power → God has omnipotence
- Dignity → God rules the entire universe
- Fame → God is admired by every creature that understands Him
The Wonder of Understanding God #
Even metaphorical understanding of God arouses wonder (the more you understand Him, the more you admire Him). The analogy: “There’s no finger, He can move the whole sun and moon and stars.” This shows that false happiness seeking admiration has a shadow of truth, which God possesses perfectly.
Notable Quotes #
“Blessed is the one who knows you, even if he is ignorant of other things.” — Augustine, Confessions Book V (quoted by Thomas)
“All knowledge as such is good… all love is not good. Because love of the good is good, and love of the bad is bad.” — Berquist’s analysis of knowledge vs. love
“Star differs from star in clarity.” — St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 15 (cited as objection to God being the sole beatitude)
“Never affirm, seldom deny, always distinguish.” — Dominican maxim (on Thomas’s method)
“The man who does bad is mistaken.” — Aristotle and Proverbs (on why perfected knowledge ensures perfected love)
Questions Addressed #
Does beatitude belong to God? #
Answer: Yes. God is blessed essentially (by His own essence), whereas creatures are blessed through the act of understanding. Beatitude as the perfect good of intellectual nature belongs to God in an eminent, unique way.
Is beatitude identical with God’s essence? #
Answer: Partially. On the side of the object of beatitude (what is understood), beatitude is identical with God Himself. On the side of the act of beatitude (understanding itself), beatitude in creatures is something created, though in God the act is identical with His essence. Thus beatitude is simultaneously God and something other than God—depending on what aspect (object or act) is being considered.
How can different saints have different beatitudes if beatitude is God and God is unchanging? #
Answer: The object of beatitude (God) is one and unchanging. The created act of understanding, however, admits of degrees of perfection. Different saints understand God with different degrees of clarity and intensity. This is why “star differs from star in clarity,” yet no one in heaven is defective (each has the full understanding God intends for them).
Does God’s beatitude contain all beatitudes, including false ones? #
Answer: False beatitudes, insofar as they fall short from true beatitude, are not in God. But whatever they possess of likeness to true beatitude—however tenuous—pre-exists in God’s beatitude in a superior way. God has the perfection of both contemplative life (continual, most certain understanding of Himself and all things) and active life (governance of the whole universe). What is sought in false happiness (pleasure, wealth, power, dignity, fame) God possesses in a spiritual, eminent manner.
What is the proper order for teaching the Trinity? #
Answer: (1) First, understand procession or origin—how one person proceeds from another. (2) Second, understand relations arising from these processions—Father, Son, Holy Spirit are distinguished by their relations. (3) Third, understand the persons themselves, which are constituted by these relations. This order follows the natural order in which understanding builds: procession is the foundation, relations arise from it, and persons are understood through relations.