The Beatific Vision is the immediate and direct knowledge of God that the angels and the souls of the just enjoy in Heaven. 1 It is called “beatific” because in beholding God face-to-face, the created intelligence finds perfect happiness and fulfillment. 1

The Beatific Vision is a supernatural gift, beyond the natural capacity of the human intellect. 2 While reason cannot prove its possibility, it also cannot demonstrate its impossibility. 2 The Beatific Vision is a mystery, a mode of perception that we cannot fully comprehend. 2

There is a twofold beatitude: the natural and the supernatural. 2 The natural beatitude is the perfect analogous knowledge of God and the corresponding love, which man is entitled to by nature. 2 The supernatural beatitude, however, is the immediate vision of the Divine Essence, which surpasses the natural capacity of the human intellect. 2

The primary object of the Beatific Vision is God Himself, in His entirety and perfections. 2 The blessed see the Divine Essence by direct intuition and necessarily see all the persons of the Holy Trinity. 2 They also have a distinct knowledge of individual possible things, to the extent that God wishes to grant them this knowledge. 2

Importantly, the Beatific Vision is not the uncreated act of God’s own intellect, but a created act inherent in the soul. 2 It is a gift that God graciously bestows, as He opens up His mystery to man’s immediate contemplation and gives him the capacity for it. 3

In summary, the Beatific Vision is the ultimate goal of human existence, the supreme happiness that God calls us to in Heaven, where we will behold Him face-to-face and find perfect fulfillment. 1 3

References

1. Catholic Encyclopedia Beatific Vision
2. Catholic Encyclopedia Heaven
3. CCC 1028
4. Catholic Encyclopedia Knowledge of Jesus Christ
5. CCC 1719

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