This gradual development of our nature to its perfection, in the natural order, illustrates the wonderful supernatural perfection which the power of God will work in us both in the Beatific Vision and in the glorious resurrection of the body. For, however great and elevated we may then be, our now existing natural powers will neither be changed nor destroyed.
I have been thus careful in explaining these things, because we are now to study the transforming power of the Beatific Vision upon the soul, as well as the glory of the spiritualized body in which we shall again be clothed on the resurrection day.
According to the angelic doctor, the human soul bears a threefold resemblance to God.* She is like God by nature, by grace, and by glory. The likeness to God by nature is found in all men, but is imperfect. The likeness by grace is far more perfect, and is found in the just only; while it is seen in its full perfection in the blessed. We shall, therefore, endeavor to fathom the meaning of St. John, when he says, "We shall be like Him: because we shall see him as He is;" as well as the saying of St. Peter, who asserts that we shall be "made partakers of the divine nature." Let us begin by a little illustration.
* … Imago Dei tripliciter potest considerari in homine. Uno quidem modo secundum quod homo habet aptitudinem naturalem ad intelligendum et amandum Deum. Et hæc aptitudo consistet, in ipsa natura mentis, quæ est communis omnibus hominibus. Alio modo secundum quod actu vel habitu Deum cognoscit et amat, sed tamen imperfecte. Et hæc est imago per conformitatem gratiæ. Tertio modo secundum quod homo Deum actu cognoscit et amat perfecte. Et attenditur imago secundum similitudinem gloriæ. Prima ergo invenitur in omnibus hominibus. Secunda vero in justis tantum. Tertia vero solum in beatis.—S. Thomas, p. 1, q. 93, art. 4.
Suppose you enter an artist's studio, just as he has drawn the outlines of a portrait. All the essential features are there—the shape of the head, the eyes, ears, mouth, and whatever else is necessary to constitute the human face; and it already bears a striking resemblance to the man who is sitting for his portrait. You return in a few days, and, though it is yet far from being finished, the coloring has added so much that it is far more beautiful and perfect than when you first saw it. Again, you see it when it is completely finished, framed, and exposed to public view. How perfect! how life-like it is! It actually seems to live and breathe. How vast a deference between this exquisitely finished painting and the mere outlines you first saw! This illustration teaches us, better than abstract words could do, how the human soul is like God from the very first, and how that likeness gradually increases by grace and the practice of virtue, until it receives the last touch and finish in the Beatific Vision.
From the very first moment of her existence, the soul is like to God, because she is a spirit, and therefore immortal. She is endowed with intelligence, free-will, memory, and whatever else belongs to a spiritual substance. Evidently, this is already the image of God, though, compared with what it will be by grace and the Beatific Vision, it is as yet nothing more than the mere outlines.
Next comes baptism, by which the soul is raised to the supernatural state. She is washed with the blood of Jesus, and clothed with the robe of innocence, which, if we may use the expression, begins the coloring or beautifying process. Faith, hope, and charity are infused into her, by which she is enabled to lead a supernatural life. Then come other sacraments, which have for their object to wash away stains, remove imperfections, and to nourish, strengthen, beautify, and gradually develop a greater resemblance to God.
But there is an immense difference between the senseless image we saw on the canvas and the soul. The portrait is a lifeless image, which is totally passive, and has, therefore, nothing whatever to do with its gradual growth and its resemblance to the original. Not so with the soul. She is a living and rational image of the eternal God, and has the power to aid very materially in her gradual development, and in her greater resemblance to the original which is God. Not only has she the power, but also the strict obligation of co-operating with God, in perfecting what He began without her co-operation Hence, while of herself she is incapable of having even a good thought, aided by the grace of God she not only has good thoughts and desires, but also the strength to carry them into effect. With God's assistance, she can and does reproduce in herself the virtues which Jesus taught and practised—His humility, purity, meekness, obedience, patience, and resignation to God's will. Especially does she reproduce His life of love—love or God and love for man.
As soon as this divine charity becomes the mainspring of her actions, everything she does develops in her a greater resemblance to God. Then, not only prayer, the sacraments, pious reading, and other spiritual exercises, but voluntary mortifications, temptations from the devil, the world, and the flesh—even eating, drinking, and innocent recreations—all help powerfully to develop and perfect in her the image of God. For, as St. Paul tells us, "To them that love God, all things work together unto good."*
* Rom. viii. 28.