F. J. Boudreaux

“ Jesus is the King of heaven; Mary is the Queen. She certainly comes next to Jesus in dignity and merit, and her glory is, therefore, next to His in splendor and magnificence. She is the woman of whom the beloved disciple speaks when he says: "And a great wonder appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars."* This certainly expresses the highest glory and splendor imaginable. Human words can say nothing more; for our highest ideas of glory are borrowed from those beautiful worlds that shine above us in the blue ether. ”

“ When that happy day dawns, you will leave this world; your eyes will be opened by the light of glory, and you will see God as He is, in all his glory and magnificence. You will also see yourself as you are, adorned with the jewels of the many graces He has bestowed upon you. You will also see the beautiful angels and saints, clothed with the beauty of God himself, standing around his throne to hear the sentence that is to admit you into their society. This sight of the Living God, and of all the magnificence which surrounds Him, will fill your soul with a perfect knowledge of him ”

“ Thus, like very gods, they shine to all eternity in the divine brightness. By these same acts they expand themselves into immensity, so as to be co-equal and co-extensive, as far as may be, to so great a good, that they may take it in, and comprehend it all. They linger not outside, as it were upon the surface of it; but they go down into its profound depths, and enter into the joy of their Lord; some more, some less, according to the magnitude of the light of glory imparted to each. Immersed in this abyss, they lose themselves, and all created things ”

“ Impassibility implies the total loss of the power of suffering. What an enormous capacity we have for suffering! The power of receiving pleasure through our senses is only as a drop in the ocean, when compared to our manifold capacities for suffering, in every faculty of the soul, in every organ, member, and nerve of our frame. Every one of them is susceptible of tortures, which, while endured, make the enjoyment of life and its pleasures impossible. A violent headache or a burning fever drives a man almost to distraction, and destroys any pleasure he might otherwise experience. ”

“ He, who at first had been her joy, changed and became the cause of her deepest sorrow and wretchedness.
Oh, how differently shall we fare in our heavenly home! For the objects of our love there are not mutable, as in this world. He who is the very source of our exceeding happiness, is the eternal, immutable God. When He shall have united us to himself, and made us "partakers of the Divine Nature," he never will change in our regard, tire of us, despise us, and cast us away from him, as creatures do. ”

“ We are active by nature. Action, therefore, both of mind and body, is a law of our being, which cannot be changed, without radically changing, or rather destroying our whole nature. As glory perfects our whole nature, instead of destroying it, it follows that in heaven we shall be far more active than we can possibly be here below; for there all our powers will exist in their highest perfection. Therefore, the intellect, elevated and strengthened by the light of glory, will continue to think and to contemplate the truth; for such is the natural action of the human intellect. ”

“ Yes, she sees herself lying in the bosom of the Eternal, with His mysterious love brooding over her, and giving her existence in the fulness of time. This is truly and emphatically, for her, a Beatific Vision. It is vain for us to endeavor to fathom the exquisite happiness which this vision of God's love produces in the soul. For, if the mere smile of a king has the power of infusing joy into the heart of a poor and insignificant person, what shall we say of the smile of God, who is the King of kings? ”

“ Each one has its own size, velocity, beauty, and glory. You even soar far beyond the discoveries of science, and you gaze with delight upon millions of shining worlds, which the most powerful telescope never did, and never can, reach. You can, moreover, in the twinkling of an eye, calculate with astonishing precision the day, the hour, the minute, yea, the very second, at which an eclipse will occur. Gazing upon the heavens, which hitherto had given you so little satisfaction, now becomes the source of the most exquisite and rational pleasure. ”

“ Suppose you could say, with truth, "Every one of my acquaintances loves me with the purest charity; and every stranger who is introduced to me, loves me immediately with the purest affection. I have no enemies; no, not one. No one is ever envious or jealous of me; no one ever says an unkind word of me, nor has any one even an unkind thought of me. All seem to take a singular pleasure in speaking well of me, and in doing me all manner of kind services; and, in return, I sincerely love all, and take a singular delight in doing good to all." ”

“ Build up all you can of pure pleasure, and you will never reach any more than the dimmest and faintest shadow of the reality. Gaze upon the glorious body of Jesus Christ, the most perfect and lovely that ever came from the hand of God. It is the very sun that gives beauty to the whole of heaven. Then contemplate the transcendent beauty of the Immaculate Mother, who, next to Jesus, is clothed with the greatest glory. Feed your eyes upon that countless multitude of saints. They are all beautiful, because they have all risen with a body glorified after the likeness of Christ's glorious body. ”

“ Not only is there a difference in the degrees of enjoyment, but there is a gulf between the highest and the lowest in heaven. It is, moreover, an impassable gulf, which the lowest can never cross so as to reach the highest happiness of heaven. It were far easier for the lowest and most uncouth servant-maid in a king's palace to reach the dignity and glory of a queen, than it is for the lowest in heaven to reach the most intimate degree of union with God. Each one is happy in the degree and sphere which his life has deserved for him; but in that degree each one will and must remain forever. ”

“ Beauty of feature and form gradually fade away; elasticity of limb gives way to the decrepitude of old age, and finally the whole frame becomes a burden under which nature groans and totters, until it falls into the gloomy grave, where corruption destroys every remaining vestige of beauty, and even of the human form. On the resurrection day, we not only shall rise in splendor and perfection of form, but we shall also be transferred to another world, whose laws are in perfect harmony with the laws of life, and into which corruption shall never enter. ”

“ There is the possession and enjoyment of all things that are desirable. There nothing will remain to be longed for, or sought for any more; for all will firmly possess and exquisitely enjoy every good thing in God. There the occupation of the saints will be to contemplate the infinite beauty of God, to love His infinite goodness, to enjoy his infinite sweetness, to be filled to overflowing with the torrent of his pleasures, and to exult with an unspeakable delight in his infinite glory, and in all the good things which he and they possess. ”

“ Paul is not that we see through a glass by transmitted light, as when we look through a telescope, but as when we see an image reflected in a mirror. Let us suppose a man so circumstanced in this world that he has never seen the sun, nor his light, except as reflected in the moon. He has heard of his immense size, and his bewildering distance from us; of his dazzling splendor, and keen, life-imparting power, whereby he gives life, growth, and beauty to every living thing. To this man, the moon is a mirror wherein the sun is imperfectly reflected ”

“ It is called supernatural, because it comes from God alone; for no man ever can bestow faith upon himself. Here, then, the light of faith and the Light of glory resemble each other, inasmuch as they both come immediately from God, and elevate man above himself. But they vastly differ in intensity; for by faith we see God imperfectly and unsatisfactorily, whereas by the Light of glory we see God as he is in himself. Faith, therefore, is as the first faint blush of the morning, while the Light of glory is as the sun shining in his meridian splendor. ”

“ That loving heart, which is purer than the sun's brightest rays, is filled to overflowing with the most exquisite joys emanating from the very bosom of the most Holy Trinity.
While on earth, no one ever loved God and man as He did; and now there is none in all the heavens who is equally loved in return, both by God himself and the bright throngs that surround this throne. No man, therefore, ever did, or ever can enjoy a happiness so pure, so exquisite, and in so eminent a degree as He does. ”

“ This is an image of what takes place in the Beatific Vision. While she was in this world, God had polished that soul, by the sacraments and by sufferings; and now that she is in His presence, and sees him as he is, she shines and sparkles in his light with unspeakable splendor. She reflects and absorbs the divine light and beauty of God. She is like God, because she sees Him as he is; she is made a partaker of the divine nature, while she retains her own human nature and personal identity. ”

“ After the ascension of Jesus, she shut herself up in a grotto, where she wept and did bitter penance during the remainder of her days. When her last hour was come, the angels descended from heaven, and took her pure soul to the bosom of Jesus. Her intense love and her penitential tears deserved for her a "crown of justice." They beautified and glorified her far above many a one who never sinned grievously; for she is crowned with the high honors of heaven, and enjoys a union with Jesus far more intimate than many who never offended God. ”

“ Let it go to the counting-house of the merchant, to the desk of the banker—and they will know that there is another and a truer wealth more worthy of their ambition. Let the great ones of the earth learn from it that their honors are a deceit and a snare; that one sigh for Eternity, one moment spent in the service of God, purchase greater glory than all the crowns and sceptres of earth can bestow. ”

“ The most gifted mind is bewildered and lost in those millions and billions of ages. It seems as if that little bird never would come to the last atom; and to us, children of time, that vast duration seems like an eternity. And yet, if such a revelation were made to the blessed, they would again sorrow and mourn: the tears would again flow from their eyes, because the canker-worm that eats away all earthly happiness would have found entrance into heaven. ”

“ In a word, let all study this precious volume:—Catholics and Protestants, the learned and the ignorant, the old and the young, the innocent youth still arrayed in the spotless garment of his baptismal purity, and the unhappy sinner who has grown old in wickedness and whose soul has lost almost all hope of peace;—there is instruction for all, comfort and joy, encouragement and hope for all if they will but make a proper use of such means as God has given them, and live here without forgetting that they are destined for a glorious hereafter. ”

“ Never shall they see the dawn of a day when father and mother must bid farewell—a long and sad farewell—to their heart-broken children, because "death shall be no more." Nevermore will there come a day upon which affectionate children must print the last kiss upon the cold and pallid cheek of their dying parents, because "death shall be no more." Never more shall we see our kindred and friends slowly descending into the grave, nor hear the cold and cruel clods of earth falling upon them, because "death shall be no more." "Death is swallowed up in victory. ”

“ We shall see her clothed with a surpassing beauty, adorned with the gems of grace and good works, and shining in the presence of God like a very star. This sight of ourselves and of our exceeding beauty will kindle in us none other than sentiments of unbounded gratitude to God, who is the giver of our existence and of all that we possess. Here again, as well as in the knowledge of God, the human intellect will rest satisfied; because its thirst for the complete knowledge of self will be quenched in the Beatific Vision. ”

“ It is indeed, as one of its reviewers so happily calls it, "The spiritual Geography of heaven, giving us such a knowledge of that blessed country, as we can acquire at this distance," and showing forth its beauties, its loveliness, its thousandfold bliss in a manner so clear, so winning, so unconquerably attractive, that earth pales into insignificance before those dazzling splendors, and our hearts long to be where our real treasure is. ”

“ What shall we say of the joy, the happiness that flow into the soul, when He presses her to his bosom, gives her the kiss of peace, and calls her his own beloved child? What shall we say of her exceeding happiness, when He makes her a partaker of his divine nature, and unites her to himself more intimately than two creatures ever could be united in this world? ”

“ We must ever remember that no creature, either here or hereafter, can give perfect happiness to man. Wherefore, in our meditations on heaven, we must beware of making its chief happiness consist in delightful music, social intercourse with the saints, or in the pleasures enjoyed through the glorified senses, however pure and refined we may imagine them to be. This, then, is the first error to be avoided, and with much care; not only because it is untrue, but because also it lowers the beatitude of heaven, which consists essentially in the vision, love, and enjoyment of God himself. ”