Imagine now a man whose inward eye, thoroughly cleansed by divine grace, has never let itself be sullied by the poisoned breath of any passion. This man may have been only an illiterate, uneducated villager, for whom the humble instruction he received obediently from the Church sufficed. He closes his corporeal eyes upon the murky light of this earth and, like a captive who, on coming out of the dark kingdom of shadows, saw, for the first time the golden rays of the daylight star, this man, freed from the ties of his body, is inundated in a strange, dazzling light, he is laid on the threshold of all science and every splendour. All those imperfect images which prevented him from contemplating the truth openly are consumed in the fire of the divine light. The holy obscurities of faith vanish: Heaven, nature and God are enigmas no longer for this king of glory. In the twinkling of an eye, he comprehends both the entirety and every detail of this palace of creation, now his inheritance and domain; with a single glance, he takes in its immensity. He fathoms the properties, secrets and innermost forces of the elements; with a single turn of his thoughts, he visits those huge globes in the firmament, which are so distant that they escape our knowledge and calculations. The tree of knowledge displays the rich collection of its fruits before him, he feeds and quenches his thirst from this ever-luxuriant fountain. He no longer feels any thirst for knowledge, and for him there is no more night, no more doubt, no more curiosity or searching. Oh! with what envy will the wise men of this world, who spend their time devising futile theories and forget God for the sake of indulging in speculation and useless research, then regard the just man who loved God and set his heart on true wisdom!

The smallest reflection of his knowledge will throw into the shade all the discoveries and all the conquests of humanity since the beginning of time.

In this life we would succumb beneath such an abundant flow of light; the economy of our constitution would be destroyed and our vital functions suspended.

Yet this knowledge of created being is less than a drop of water in comparison with a science of a superior order. The spirits of the elect enter into contact with the world of spirits; they see the beauty of the blessed souls, illuminated by the divine likeness, adorned with charity and its attendant virtues, as with a nuptial robe; they see the cherubim, inflamed with their ardent love, the principalities and the dominations with their strength, and the seraphim, arrayed with immaterial wings with which they veil themselves in the presence of the majesty of the Lamb; unaided by sounds and audible words, they engage in ineffable conversation with them. Their luminous, subtle and impassible bodies offer no obstacle to the activity of the intellect and the exercise of their faculties. [286]

[286] Pure spirits have a language which, although not audible or corporeal, is nonetheless quite intelligible; it occurs when an act of their will directs their thought towards him to whom they wish to make it known. Thus, they can speak to one without speaking to others, and without being heard or understood by all. Angelic language seems to be quite simply transmission of a thought, by an act of will, towards some other spirit, who then alone has knowledge of it. (Petau: De Angelis, book 1, chapter XII, nos. 7 and 11)

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The End of This Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life

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