Fr. Thomas Tyn, O.P.

Reflections on the Relationship Between Faith and the Beatific Vision

We present the talk in which, through a video, Fr. Giovanni Cavalcoli, O.P., offers an exposition of the thought of the Servant of God, Fr. Thomas Tyn, regarding the journey of the human mind from faith to the beatific vision, within the context of the Thomistic Conference in Argentina, specifically the XLVIII Semana Tomista – Congreso Internacional Vida Terrenal y Vida Eterna, El Legado de Santo Tomás a los 750 Años de su Muerte, held in Buenos Aires from September 2 to 6, 2024.

Introduction

Good morning, I am Fr. Giovanni Cavalcoli, a Dominican from Fontanellato, in Parma (Italy). I will begin my brief lecture entitled: From Faith to Vision in the Thought of Thomas Tyn: An Overview

Fr. Thomas Tyn demonstrates how the spiritual dynamism that animates the transition from the practice of faith to the attainment of the beatific vision is driven by charity. In one of his lectures from the course on charity, Fr. Thomas states:

"Faith and the vision are distinct supernatural intelligible lights. Faith and the beatific vision are thus distinct from each other, yet their regulatory role with respect to charity does not differ. Friendship love transcends whether something is present or absent, seen or unseen, possessed or not possessed. Why do I say this? Because, as St. Paul affirms, charity remains the same both here on earth and in the eternal homeland of heaven. Charity does not change. Unique among the theological virtues, it acts as a bridge between heaven and earth precisely because the charity we possess on earth will also be ours in heaven. Faith will disappear, prophecy will cease. Hope no longer exists in heaven. Why? Because in heaven there is possession. One does not hope for what one already possesses! It would be absurd to say, ‘I hope for what I already have.’ No, what I possess, I no longer hope for: I delight in having it. I do not hope for it. Thus, you see, in the eternal homeland of heaven, there is the enjoyment of God, but no longer hope in God. There is no faith in God. There is the vision of God."

We unite ourselves with God through charity even now, although our intellect has not yet fully grasped the essence of the One we love. Nevertheless, we see and love Him indirectly in our neighbor. We love Him directly for His own sake in prayer and liturgy. We feel His presence in our conscience. We come to know Him indirectly through study, meditation, and theology.

Fr. Thomas continues:

"In this sense, in the heavenly homeland, faith will transform into vision, which is an intellectual habit different from faith. Both are supernatural, but one differs from the other. Charity, however, remains the same. Now, how can Charity remain the same if the intellectual light that presents the Beloved Good—namely, the Divine Good that is Charity—changes? How can Charity remain the same if it is first governed by Faith and then by Vision? Note that every good Thomist implicitly presupposes the principle ‘nihil volitum nisi praecognitum’ (nothing is willed unless it is first known). Thus, one might say: ‘When my intellect presents God to me in the obscurity of Faith, I should have one kind of Charity, one Love of God, and when it presents God clearly seen, I should have another kind of Charity!’ But no, Charity remains the same, even though the intellectual habits differ. How is it possible that Charity remains the same? Precisely because of its affective nature, which is distinct from the intellect. The affectivity of charity transcends the explicit awareness of presence or absence. In other words, if friendship is true, it does not adhere to the saying ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ This is why, in the present state of the wayfarer, Charity is superior to Faith: because Faith, through its conceptual nature, diminishes God. Charity, in aspiring toward God, transcends itself, respecting God in His transcendence. Things will be different in the state of the Beatific Vision, a Vision that is not conceptually mediated, but in which God becomes immediately present to the intellect, as something directly intelligible by it. There, naturally, the preeminence of the intellectual faculties over the volitional faculties will be restored. Thus, the Vision precedes Charity, but Charity precedes Faith.”

Faith establishes our relationship with God within the limited capacity of our intelligence, confining our concept of God to the boundaries of our minds. In contrast, Charity allows us to transcend ourselves, enabling us, through our will, to possess God in Himself at the culmination of our act of love, in the infinity of His Being. In knowledge, we cannot surpass the concept. This is the illusion of false mystics or exaggerated apophaticism. They believe they ascend to higher realms when, in fact, they descend into a sentimentalism that may obscure even sinful emotions. Indeed, when the concept is absent, knowledge does not elevate but instead diminishes to that of animals, which, lacking conceptual understanding, know only through imagination and sense.

Fr. Thomas continues:

“Notice well how St. Thomas is a voluntarist ‘secundum quid.’ I think St. Thomas would not reprimand me for this qualification because he is, in himself, a clear intellectualist—there is no doubt about it. St. Thomas always asserts that, in itself, the intellect prevails over the will. Therefore, intellectual habits should, in themselves, take precedence over volitional habits. In particular, faith should prevail over charity. Yet it does not.”

In defining Thomas as an "intellectualist," Fr. Tyn does not intend to express any reproach, as do those philosophers or theologians who fail to appreciate the value of the intellect; rather, he aims to praise it. He employs the term as a sound evaluation of the intellect. In this regard, it is worth noting that, as is well-known, for Thomas, the act of the intellect is superior to the act of the will, both in terms of the quality of the action and the value of the object.

Intellect and Will in the Transition from Faith to Vision

Regarding the quality of action, the intellect and the will move about one another; however, while the intellect moves the will toward its end, which is the good, the will does not inherently move the intellect toward the good but only insofar as the act of the intellect is one good among others. Thus, it moves the intellect almost accidentally.

Moreover, St. Thomas observes that the intellect directs the will by specifying the object of will, which is the good. The will prompts the intellect to exercise its act, which is the knowledge of the truth. Now, specifying the object of an act is a more significant action than merely prompting the exercise of an act defined by that object, just as the end has primacy over what tends toward the end. Therefore, the intellect is a superior power to the will.

As for the object of the intellect, it is, as Thomas states, simpler, more absolute, and more abstract than that of the will. He asserts:

“The object of reason is more noble than the object of appetite. Reason apprehends something in universals, whereas appetite tends toward things that exist in particulars.”

What does being "simpler, more absolute, and more abstract" mean? It is important to note that for Thomas, "the abstract" (ab-tractum) is not the vague specter or medieval remnant that many today imagine; rather, the abstract represents an ontological, theoretical, and moral value. It refers to that which is "ab-tractum," meaning that which is grasped by itself through an extractive operation. It is considered "drawn out," obtained, or derived by separating it from the subject in which it resides. It is "ab-solutum," loosened, free, and emerging (or transcendent), above and independent from the inferior, from which it is prescinded and, consequently, abstracted. It is simple in that it is "one," unifying, and free from multiplicity.

We understand this from the following explanation of Aquinas:

“It is a more perfect thing, speaking simply in an absolute sense, to have within one's spirit the nobility of an external reality than to compare oneself to a noble thing existing outside.”
"Habere sé nobilitatem alterius rei perfectius est simpliciter absolute loquendo, quam se comparare rei nobiliori extrinsecae."

A further interpretive rendering might refine this idea:

“It is more perfect to internalize and reflect within one’s spirit the excellence of an external reality, rather than merely engaging in an external comparison.”

(Translator’s note: This second version is added to illuminate the participatory nature of nobility implied by Aquinas, which contrasts with external, relational forms of perfection.)

This corresponds to the fact that “the object of the intellect is the very reason for the good (ratio boni) that is appetible, the reason of which resides in the intellect, while the appetible good—whose reason is in the intellect—is the object of the will. The more something is simple and abstract, the more noble and elevated it is in itself. The "bonum" refers to the concrete, the good entity that exists in its singularity. The "ratio boni" is the abstract reason of goodness, the essence grasped by the intellect in its universality, abstracting from that given "bonum" captured by the will. It is noteworthy that this "bonum" is not merely a particular concrete thing among others but can also refer to God, the very Subsistent Goodness. The intellect, through the concept of God, reason, and faith, internalizes within itself and in consciousness the Divine Essence represented or conceived. However, the Will of Charity enables the human subject to transcend itself in the present life, truly uniting with God, the Supreme Good, through Charity.

Let us quote St. Thomas:

“However, under certain conditions (secundum quid), and in relation to another, the will can sometimes be higher than the intellect. This is because it may happen that the object of the will is higher than that of the intellect. In such cases, the act of the will has greater value than the act of the intellect.”

In line with these words, St. Thomas states elsewhere:

“The operation of the intellect is completed inasmuch as the intended is within the intelligencer, and thus the nobility of the operation of the intellect is considered in relation to the measure of the intellect. Conversely, the operation of the will, as well as that of any other appetitive power, is completed in the inclination of the will toward that reality as the end of its operation. For this reason, among things that are below us, knowledge is better than affection; but regarding things above us, loving them is better than knowing them. This is why Charity is a virtue superior to Faith.”

Given the condition of the pilgrim human being and the conceptual obscurity of Faith, Charity is superior to Faith. However, this does not occur because the intellect is inferior to the will, but because, in this case, the object of the intellect is superior to the intellect itself. Faith represents a form of knowledge in which the intellect is unable to offer its fullest service or express its best faculties, as its object does not compel it and apprehends it indirectly. Moreover, the intellect is not proportionate to the object, which is infinite, while the intellect is finite. The conceptual intellect, such as that of Faith, internalizes the object and thereby proportionates it to its finiteness.

In contrast, the will—in Charity—does not suffer from these drawbacks. Therefore, in grasping the object, Charity surpasses the performance of the intellect. Indeed, Charity apprehends God immediately, not through a representation but in Himself, in His infinite reality. According to the Dogma of the Beatific Vision, defined by Benedict XII in 1336:

“The souls of the deceased in Paradise see the Divine Essence in an intuitive or Beatific Vision, without the mediation of any creature concerning the object, but immediately, clearly, and openly. Thus, they enjoy the Divine Essence, and through such vision and enjoyment, they are truly blessed and possess eternal rest and life” (animae sanctorum hominum … vident et videbunt divinam essentiam visione intuitiva et etiam faciali, nulla mediante creatura in ratione obiecti visi se habente, sed divina essentia immediate se nude clare et aperte eis ostendente; quodque sic videntes eadem divina essentia perfruuntur nec non quod ex tali visione et fruitione eorum animae qui iam decesserunt sunt vere beatae et habent vitam et requiem aeternam).

It is interesting to note that in 1351, a synod of dissenting bishops in Constantinople canonized the doctrine of Gregory Palamas, who posits that the blessed do not see the Divine Essence—unknown to them—but rather behold its energies. This doctrine implies a distinction between "Divine Essence" and "energies," revealing an ignorance of what the Divine Essence truly is. The essence is the very Subsistent Being, the Pure Act of Being. In contrast, energy refers to emanative activity. The Spirit can indeed be likened to a fire that illuminates and warms; however, in God, Being coincides with Acting, so that to see the Act is to see the Being. Therefore, when it comes to God, the Pure Act of Being, we must set aside this imaginative construct, which, despite its allure, pertains only to Divine Activity "ad extra" about creation and not to the Divine Being in itself. Instead, Palamas's doctrine views "energies" as divine action directed toward us. This action does not belong to the essence but is an effect of the Free Divine Will that ordains the world.

Father Thomas continues:

“But where the superiority of the will over the intellect is, so to speak, nullified by the presence of God to the human intellect, immediately and without conceptual mediation will re-emerge the natural preeminence of the intellect over the will.”

In this case, it is the intellect, not the will, that directly contacts the divine object, while the will retains the task and function of enjoying the consequence of intellectual vision. Thus, it is no longer a matter— as it is in the present life—of putting into practice moral truth, the precepts of the Lord. This practice has already been fulfilled.

At this conclusive point in our journey of Faith and Charity, the will loses the primacy it holds in the present life, where it is better to love God than merely to know Him. Indeed, knowing or understanding without practice would serve no purpose. However, in heaven, where God is seen without the mediation of Faith, seeing becomes more important than loving, even though here the soul perfectly loves what it knows. Nonetheless, at this moment, the soul has nothing else to do concerning God but to see Him, and therefore seeing surpasses loving, which remains—as it reaches the pinnacle of joy—only as a simple fruit of seeing. Simultaneously, nothing prevents the blessed from acting for the good of the earthly Church. In the Beatific Vision, love for God does not add anything to seeing Him, as if it were granting the subject something beyond the simple act of seeing; rather, love is a mere consequence of seeing, much like the pleasure of consuming good food follows from the act of eating. What we are concerned with is not the pleasure of eating but the intake of nourishing food. Now, by seeing God, we are completely satisfied. We need not do anything else or love anything else. We do not need to add an act of love because we already perfectly possess what we love. Love is already included in the Beatific Vision, which is why it does not need to be complemented by love.

Charity as the Soul of the Transition from Faith to Vision

In Lesson 6 of the course on charity, Father Thomas discusses

“the specific nature of charity as being a participation in the divine good, the beatific good, serving as a path toward the vision of the face of God.”

Charity is a foretaste of the Beatific Vision. The Charity we experience now is essentially the same as what we will enjoy in heaven, because—like the other two theological virtues—it is not acquired through a natural inclination and the repetition of acts, as is the case with natural virtues; rather, it is received from God as a perfect habit, so that this progress, if it can indeed be called progress, consists in removing all sins committed against it, rooting it ever more deeply in the soul like a fire that blazes.

Fire is always fire. The things it engulfs increase as the flame grows. Charity is not a building we must construct ourselves; it is a dwelling that is given to us already completed. We must simply inhabit it more and more dignifiedly.

In Lessons 8 and 10 on charity, Father Thomas discusses the elevation of humanity to the Vision of God:

“In this elevation, in this relating—on the part of God—of rational creatures to Himself, God, as the object to be contemplated, establishes the order of participation (participatio divinae naturae). Thus, the Amicable Good, common to both God and us who love Him with the love of Charity, is this: to possess in some way the Intention of the Divine Essence. It is the Intentio, in the sense of “tending toward,” both intellectually and affectively, possessing the Intention of the Divine Essence. Only this Intentio Divinae Essentiae is possessed by God alone by essence or identity. We possess it by participation, as we are knowing and loving subjects directed toward that object, but we are never identical with that object, even in the Beatific Vision properly realized. In this sense, obviously, since the foundation of this Communis Unio, this communion between God and us is the Intention of the Divine Essence, and since this same Intention exists by Essence—i.e., fully—only in God, there is no doubt that the principle of this Ordo Caritatis, in this order of friendship, is God, and only God. Thus, there is an extremely compelling metaphysical reason why the first object of love in the order of beings is God, precisely because the reason for friendship—namely, the Divine Essence—exists fully and essentially only in God. In rational creatures, even the most sublime, this intention of the divine essence is realized only participatively, which means limitatively. Always keep in mind the concept of participatio as (etymologically) intended: partem capere, partem relinquere, that is, taking only in part. (Translator's note: 'etymologically' is added to clarify the focus on the original meaning of the term). Participation always implies partiality. The first protagonist—relative to me—of the vision of God is still myself. It is my intellect that contemplates God, and therefore, even if another saint may have a greater intensity of contemplation of God, the one that concerns me personally is indeed my contemplation.”

Let us now consider the following words of Father Thomas on the relationship between “Faith and Charity,” delivered during a conference for the Sant'Alberto Magno Institute of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena in Bologna during the 1983-84 academic year. These reflections illuminate his thoughts on the subject we are discussing.

“In Faith, the formal object—that for which one believes—is the very First Divine Truth itself, for Faith gives its assent only to the truths revealed by God and therefore relies on the cognitive means of divine revelation. In contrast, the material object—what is believed—consists of multiple truths that, to be the object of Faith's assent, must be ordered to God. By considering the effects of the divine, a person is assisted in striving for the enjoyment of God, who is its cause. Thus, the Object of Faith is the First Truth, as there is nothing that enters into Faith that is not in some way ordered to God. Similarly, medicine considers many things, but all are directed toward the health of man. The proper mode of human knowledge is reasoning, that is, through complex propositions or combinations of concepts. Thus, man understands complexly even truths that are simple in themselves. What is believed—God in mystery—is therefore something absolutely simple. While the believer adapts the object to themselves by forming a complex statement or propositions, articles of Faith. Nothing can be the object of cognitive capacity without being known in the light of such a faculty: for example, color is seen only in sensible light, which is the object of sight. Since the cognitive light of Faith is the infallible First Truth, it follows that everything contained within Faith excludes any falsity and is infallibly true, supported by the same Divine Light, as stated in Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is the assent of the intellect to what is believed.

This assent can derive from the immediate evidence (principles) or mediated evidence (conclusions) of the object, or from a deliberate choice that inclines one way rather than another. If, despite such a choice, doubt remains—the fear of the opposite—then one has an opinion; whereas, without such doubt, one possesses Faith. Faith, therefore, concerns mysteries, truths not manifested to knowledge itself, due to the nature of the object. It may happen that what is believed by one is known by another. In the present life, we believe in the Trinitarian mystery, but the saints in heaven do not believe; they see it clearly. Even in the current state, certain implicit truths of faith—such as the very existence of God—are believed by some, while scientifically known by others. The mysteries commonly proposed for the Faith of all are also believed by all in the present life—for example, the Trinity and the Incarnation.

The act of Faith is thinking with assent, as Saint Augustine says. However, by “thinking,” we do not mean every intellectual activity but rather the search that leads, if verified without certainty of assent, to doubt—indecision on both sides—or suspicion—an inclination toward one side due to a slight indication—or opinion—an inclination with fear of the opposite. To believe shares with science, understanding, and firm adherence to one side. Nonetheless, knowledge remains objectively obscure. The intellect gives assent under the motion of the will supported by grace. On the part of the intellect, one 'believes God' (credere Deum), inasmuch as the truths believed are connected with God. One 'believes God' (credere Deo) inasmuch as faith is motivated by divine revelation. On the part of the will, one 'believes in God' (credere in Deum) – that is, in view of God – as the Ultimate End of human life. Only the rational creature reaches the True and Universal Good and is therefore naturally ordered to God; by free Divine Choice, it is ordered to God supernaturally. Since true beatitude consists in the supernatural vision of the Divine Essence, it is necessary for man to be instructed by divine revelation to reach this end, as Saint John says: “Everyone who has heard from the Father and learned from him comes to me.” This doctrine is reached subsequently, but from the very beginning, one must be submissive to God as disciples of the Divine Teacher (trust).”

The Essence of Beatitude

Father Thomas, along with Saint Thomas, asks what constitutes true beatitude for man and responds:

“The Beatific Vision, that is, the immediate intellectual vision by the soul in grace after death, without intermediate representations of the Divine Essence, along with the resulting joy and enjoyment of the will, eternally satisfied by the good possessed and loved.”

As Father Thomas says,

“God is seen face to face, that is, seen clearly. The quidditative vision of God is the possession of God—stable, definitive, perfect, and irrevocable (irreplaceable).

The beatific vision, Father Tyn states in Lesson Nine of the “Course on the Ultimate End means:

“To contemplate the Essence of God, that Mystery hidden in eternal ages in God, as Saint Paul says: to have the essential vision of God, of the mysterious essence of God. Not of God as He appears as the author of nature, but of God as He is hidden within Himself in the mystery of His essence.”

Father Tyn distinguishes a Metaphysical Essence of Beatitude from a Physical Essence. The former pertains to the formal constitutive aspect, in its purity and specificity. The latter is what falls within the immediate and necessary consequence, so much so that without it, Beatitude would not exist.

Along with Saint Thomas, Father Tyn holds that to constitute Beatitude according to the Metaphysical Essence—namely, the Beatific Vision—the intellectual act is sufficient. The act of willing, enjoying, and loving enters into the physical definition. It is the intellect that attains the goal; the will enjoys once the intellect has reached the vision.

Fr. Giovanni Cavalcoli, OP

Fontanellato, September 30, 2024

source:

https://padrecavalcoli.blogspot.com/p/limportanza-di-san-tommaso-daquino-e-di.html