Is there any progression in Heaven?

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Say two people make it in Heaven; One is of a position we’ll call the “Royal Council”, and the other is a common servant. Would that common servant remain such forever, or could they eventually progress up the hierarchy and eventually join the council? The Bible mentions the Disciples having positions of power, so it would seem they exist–so would peoples’ Heavenly status be static or changeable?
 
the last hired were paid as the first hired so one may not need a progression.
 
Although I would disagree with the underlying idea of people in heaven somehow being “promoted” to greater positions in heaven…

Yes, the souls in heaven do progress in their knowledge of God, until the Final Judgement.

Yes, the status of the souls in heaven is changeable, indeed ever-changing and ever-growing; again, until the Final Judgement when all change will cease.

http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5092.htm#article3
 
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori told a story shared with him by a superior of the Jesuit order about a different superior who appeared to him after his death and gave a detailed report about what sort of treatment different people could expect in heaven. According to the departed superior, the rewards of heaven are not equal for all who enter, but all who enter are equally satisfied:

“Now I am in heaven, Philip II, king of Spain, is in heaven as well. We both are enjoying the eternal rewards of paradise, but they are very different for us. My happiness is much greater than his, for it is not like when we were still on earth, for then he was royalty and I was a commoner. We were as far apart as the earth and sky, but now it has been reversed: As lowly as I was compared to the king on earth, I now exceed him in glory in heaven. However, we are both happy, and our hearts are completely satisfied.”

Exactly how it should be! I’m likely never going to be on par with St. Francis of Assisi; however, I would be quite content milling about and socializing with everyone.
 
JoeVig said:
How bonafide is the info on “newadvent?
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In this particular case, very much so.

I provided a link to the Summa Theologica, admittedly the Supplement.

New Advent is merely the portal. The Summa is certainly considered reliable theology. 😉
 
Does it even matter?
I mean, if you’re in Heaven, you’ve got it made–forever!
No tears, no worries, no suffering forever!!!
Here’s a riddle for ya:
You know what they call the “least” in Heaven?
“Saint”
 
Is there a direct relation between Earthly status and Heavenly status? Would a humble King be lower than a humble commoner if they both loved God the same? Or is it that status inevitably affects love therefore the positions are changed?
 
It depends on the individual.
I find your preoccupation with ‘status’ troubling. Why should you care who is ‘where’ in heaven? What makes you think God is less ‘just’ than you?
 
Cruciferi said:
are equ
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St. Jude has a privilege in heaven. So, some souls have rights that other souls in heaven do not have.

Also, martyrs have the privilege of the aura.

Some say that each time one looks upon the consecrated host his position in heaven is heightened.
 
I get where you’re coming from, but at that point we won’t care. If you’re higher than me, I’ll rejoice in that, and vice versa. Your status (according to our way of thinking) won’t take anything away from me.
We’ll all be united in God.
It’s hard for us to picture this, because in this life, we do compete for resources and status, and there isn’t enough to fill everyone’s greed and wants.
But Heaven isn’t “this world, only bigger”.
 
If you’re in Heaven, why would you want or need anything else?
 
stpurl said:
It depends on the individual.

I find your preoccupation with ‘status’ troubling. Why should you care who is ‘where’ in heaven? What makes you think God is less ‘just’ than you?
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?
If my intention of my life means having less of God in the afterlife, why would I not want to know the circumstances, to accommodate my life around such?
BornInMarch said:
If you’re in Heaven, why would you want or need anything else?
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If one can potentially have more of God, why would they not want to accommodate their lives for such
 
Imagine you spend your life serving God. Imagine that as much as you know/serve/love God on earth, it increases the size of your cup. Someone like Mother Teresa might have a 50-oz Double Big Gulp cup because she spent so much time serving God. Someone like me… my cup might be more like a shot glass, because I’m nowhere near as generous and loving and giving as Mother Teresa.

When we die and attain heaven, our cups don’t change size anymore. We’re no longer able to increase our merit. But our cups are both perfectly full of happiness, being able to enjoy the beatific vision. So Mother Teresa has her Double Big Gulp of happiness, because she has far more capacity to enjoy God’s love than I cultivated for myself while I was on earth. But I still have my shot glass that I’m perfectly happy with— and I don’t envy Mother Teresa her greater capacity.
 
Why don’t you simply try to do the best you can now and not worry about whether you’re as good as St X, or whether you’ll be better than that pesky stpurl.

Hopefully in heaven you’ll laugh about your earthly misconceptions and enjoy what God has given you.
 
Just as different angels have different natural capacities for understanding so too it seems with souls on the basis of their earthly merit or presumably God’s own design at their moment of creation.

Whether this is the same question that you are asking about “status” may be another matter.

Aquinas seems open to some possibilities after the Judgement other than his own personal position that:
(a) those creatures of higher degree will no longer assist those beneath them in understanding God;
(b) all will see God’s essence as fully as they can.

Personally I do not believe Aquinas denies the possibility of change in knowledge after judgement re seeing God’s essence.

If we assert that:
(a) we will know God as fully as our finite natures allow
(b) understanding increases capacity to understand.

Then it follows that we are like rivers in flood constantly at full capacity yet also undermining and breaking our banks and scouring out the riverbed and so ever increasing the amount of water we deliver to the sea at any given instance.
And if others do so likewise then how can we catch up?
And does it matter if we are all as full of God as our current natures allow?

I suppose its just two different ways of understanding the Beatific Vision - one is dynamic, the other static.
 
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