What is Truth? Beatific Vision

St. Thomas Aquinas uses the term Beatific Vision to refer to the afterlife in the presence of God. He suggests that in the presence of God, in relationship with God, one has access to Truth and Beauty in a way that cannot be experienced within the earthy dimensions. Aquinas imagined a vision of God. A Beautiful vision in which we would kneel in awe. But the Beatific Vision can also be thought of as a capacity to “see” the other and the self for what we Truly are: the Authentic Self. By viewing God for who God Truly is, and by recognizing that one is made in the image and likeness of God, one recognizes the Truth of oneself. It is in this relationship with the Transcendent Divinity that one sees oneself… one’s Authentic Self. Similarly, one possesses the Beatific Vision to see the other’s Eternal Loveliness.  We start to become the Lover and the Beloved that we were made to be. The eternal dignity of humankind, then, can fully be recognized within the context of a relationship with the divine, as the divine exists outside the dimensions of time and space.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Fort Collins, Colorado (P. Smith)