Summa in a Year Day 304: Vision of the Damned
Mar 6, 2026
Explores whether saints’ happiness increases after the final judgment and how resurrected bodies affect beatitude. Discusses heavenly mansions and how differing charity leads to varying degrees of reward. Considers if the blessed perceive the damned, whether pity is possible, and how saints relate to divine justice and punishment.
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Resurrected Body Expands Beatitude
- The saints' happiness increases after the resurrection not by intensity but by extent.
- Aquinas explains the separated soul is fully satisfied yet lacks the body's participation, so beatitude overflows to include the resurrected body.
Many Mansions Reflect Degrees Of Glory
- Heaven contains many mansions corresponding to diverse degrees of beatitude and merit.
- Austin cites John 14, Matthew 16, and the Council of Florence to show varying clarity of seeing God depends on differences in merit.
Charity Determines Heavenly Merit
- Degrees of charity determine degrees of merit and thus the mansions of heaven.
- Aquinas links moral worth to the end of actions, arguing charity as the habitual love that grounds meritorious acts and differing beatitude.
