• Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
The Texas Catholic
The Texas Catholic

Dallas, Texas

Today is Sunday, January 29, 2023
  • Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
Home
Word To Enkindle

Father Esposito: Finding holiness: the goal of all saints and souls

Friday, November 3, 2017

By Father Thomas Esposito
Special to The Texas Catholic

St. Thomas Aquinas and Dante are the most famous among the many theologians who have speculated about the nature of Heaven.

While they certainly could not speak from personal experience while standing on this side of death, they rightly emphasized that our perpetual vision of God must be based on our capacity to receive that infinite reality.

Often described in terms of light, the radiance of God’s essence is so overwhelming to the human mind that we could absorb but a tiny sliver of that blinding light. Yet our eternal souls were made to experience this very vision; we were created, after all, to enjoy the love and knowledge of God, sharing in the eternal relationship of love between the Son and the Father sealed by the Holy Spirit. The holy ones yearn for that direct sight of God while veiled by the life of the flesh.

Hints of that beatific vision are given frequently in the Scriptures. The most popular image of eternal bliss is a wedding banquet, a great feast in which the joy of one person attending multiplies the joys for everyone else. An overlooked testimony about Heaven is the narration of Moses’ encounters with the Lord on Mount Sinai. After receiving the Law on the mountaintop, Moses’ face is so transfigured with the divine luminosity as he descends that he must veil himself in the presence of the Israelites. He had conversed with God “face to face, as one person speaks with another” (Exodus 33:11), and he mediates that unique experience to the people he has led out of Egypt.

Just a few verses later, however, in response to Moses’ request to see the fullness of His glory, the Lord replies, “But my face you cannot see, for no one sees me and still lives” (Exodus 33:20). Moses is thus given privileged access to God, a glimpse into the divine Face reserved for those who cross the threshold of death and enter the blessed state of Heaven- but his vision is only a finite fraction of the infinite God.

God grants this privilege to Moses that he might mediate that blinding light, that divine presence, to the Israelites. The earthly vocation of the saints is highlighted here: they channel the overwhelming love of God to people capable of receiving only a portion of that love, intercede for those mired in sin or despairing of God’s help, stand in the breach left by the ravages of infidelity or indifference, and fight on God’s behalf so that others may be emboldened to do the same, sanctifying themselves in the process.

The death of God’s holy ones, of course, is only the beginning of true life, for they will see God “as He is” (1 John 3:2), to the full satisfaction of their souls’ capacity to take in the immensity of uncreated light. Though their joy is in no way affected by our desire to join them, they nevertheless desire to share their vision of God with us. They no longer suffer (passio), but they do extend their compassion (compassio) to us so that their joy may be ours. For that reason, the saints are powerful intercessors as we make our way down the road they have already traveled. We likewise owe prayers and encouragement to those souls who still stand in need of final purification, of that ultimate opening of their eyes to receive the fullness of heavenly light God wishes to give them.

The feasts of All Saints and All Souls fall together every year as a reminder that the divine life of Heaven is for everyone, and that the salvation of one can and should spark the desire of all for that same salvation. Everyone is created to be a saint; every eye is meant to be filled with the light proper to it, whether earthly or heavenly. The example of the saints, who shine with the reflected glory of the Lord, must illumine our own spiritual eyes so that we might desire that same ability to enkindle and enlighten those who still walk in the valley of darkness and the shadow of death.

Father Thomas Esposito, O.Cist., is a theologian and monk at the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Dallas in Irving. His column appears occasionally in The Texas Catholic.

  • Tags
  • Cistercian
  • Columnist
  • Father Thomas Esposito
  • The Texas Catholic
  • Word to Enkindle
Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article War brings only death, cruelty, pope says at U.S. military cemetery
Previous article Finding Joy as the Voice of the Friars for 25 Years

Related Posts

Bishop's Annual Appeal: Your gift can impact countless lives Columnists
Thursday, January 26, 2023

Bishop's Annual Appeal: Your gift can impact countless lives

Father Dankasa: Parents as family spiritual leaders Columnists
Friday, January 13, 2023

Father Dankasa: Parents as family spiritual leaders

Father Esposito: Praying with the O Antiphons Columnists
Saturday, December 17, 2022

Father Esposito: Praying with the O Antiphons

Texas Catholic Classics

A look at the five Dallas law enforcement officers who gave their lives while protecting citizens during a mass shooting in downtown Dallas in July 2016.

 

How a child with special needs inspired a high school volleyball team, community and a family who heeded God’s call to protect life.

 

After a young runner collapsed at a Dallas marathon, grace and providence unfolded for those involved in the valiant effort to help her.

   

In the summer of 2016, 50 students and 25 chaperones from Dallas Catholic high schools traveled to Nicaragua for a 10-day mission trip.

 

Early on a November morning, Kenndrick Mendieta bounded from the gym at Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep toward the campus’ athletic fields as clouds lifted on a fresh new day.

 

Subscribe

Get the award-winning Texas Catholic delivered to your door. Use the menu below to subscribe now.


Subscription length




 

Photo Gallery

Click here to find your favorite Texas Catholic photographs.

The Texas Catholic Newspaper

Catholic Diocese of Dallas
Michael Gresham, Editor

3725 Blackburn Street
Dallas, Texas 75219
(214) 379-2800

Our Affiliated Sites

Texas Catholic Youth

Revista Católica

Legal and Other

Contact us

Terms of service

Privacy policy

Site map

Site powered by TexasCatholicMedia

© 2013-2019 The Texas Catholic Publishing Company. All rights reserved.