Perfect Happiness

[dcdurel]

The Church teaches in the catechism:
27. The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness never stops searching for
30. Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, “an upright heart”, as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God .
45. Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness:

1. Revelation makes known to us the state of original holiness and justice of man and woman before sin: **from their friendship with God flowed the happiness of their existence in paradise. **
2. They (believers) proclaim the Good News to those who do not know it, in order to consolidate, complete, and raise up the truth and the goodness that God has distributed among men and nations, and to purify them from error and evil “for the glory of God, the confusion of the demon, a**nd the happiness man.” **[361]

THE DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS
1718. The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it:
“We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated. How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you.” St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 20: *PL 32, 791)
“God alone satisfies” St. Thomas Aquinas

1. The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude*. This vocation is addressed to each individual personally, but also to the Church as a whole, the new people made up of those who have accepted the promise and live from it in faith.
   *Definition of beatitude: “State of ultimate bliss”.
2. The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement - however beneficial it may be - such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good of all love:
3. The Beatitudes take up and fulfill God’s promises from Abraham on by ordering them to the Kingdom of heaven. **They respond to the desire for happiness that God has placed in the human heart. **
4. The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men’s activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.
5. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The Beatitudes reveal an order of happiness grace, of beauty and peace. Jesus celebrates the joy of the poor, to whom the Kingdom already belongs: The Word speaks of voluntary humility as “poverty in spirit”; the Apostle gives an example of God’s poverty when he says: “For your sakes he became poor.”
6. Desire for true happiness frees man from his immoderate attachment to the goods of this world so that he can find his fulfillment in the vision and beatitude of God. “The promise [of seeing God] surpasses all beatitude… In Scripture, to see is to possess… Whoever sees God has obtained all the goods of which he can conceive.” [343]
7. Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS. It shares in the blessed happiness of the pure of heart who love God in faith before seeing him in glory.

 

[dcdurel]

Heaven: (From the Catechism)
661. This final stage stays closely linked to the first, that is, to his descent from heaven in the Incarnation. Only the one who “came from the Father” can return to the Father: Christ Jesus. [537] “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” [538] Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the “Father’s house”, to God’s life and happiness. [539] Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us. [540] 024. This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed - is called “heaven.” Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness. **
1028. Because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as he is, unless he himself opens up his mystery to man’s immediate contemplation and gives him the capacity for it. The Church calls this contemplation of God in his heavenly glory “the beatific vision”: How great will your glory and happiness be, to be allowed to see God, to be honored with sharing the joy of salvation and eternal light with Christ your Lord and God,… to delight in the joy of immortality in the Kingdom of heaven with the righteous and God’s friends.
1045. For man, this consummation will be the final realization of the unity of the human race, which God willed from creation and of which the pilgrim Church has been “in the nature of sacrament.” [634] Those who are united with Christ will form the community of the redeemed, “the holy city” of God, “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” [635] She will not be wounded any longer by sin, stains, self-love, that destroy or wound the earthly community. [636] The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion.**
In hope, the Church prays for “all men to be saved.” [94] She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven: Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end. [95]

Hell
Hell’s principal punishment consists of eternal separation from God in whom alone man can have the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.

 

[Flame4]

Do you believe in Perfect Happiness?

Ya I do, in heavan. What is perfect happiness? I imagine it is God and being in perfect communion with him. God does want us to be happy. That is one reason he wants us to be holy, because it will make us happy.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

The Church teaches in the catechism:…
dcdurel;6542799:

Heaven: (From the Catechism)…

You found the word “happiness” quite often,
But how does the Catechism distinguish,
Between Perfect Happiness,
And imperfect happiness,
Because that is the issue.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

You found the word “happiness” quite often,
But how does the Catechism distinguish,
Between Perfect Happiness,
And imperfect happiness,
Because that is the issue.

You’re right dcdurel,
No place in the Catechism,
Does it distinguish between
Perfect Happiness and,
Imperfect happiness.

Therefore,
The Catechism could be misleading,
It may even suggest,
Perfect Happiness = imperfect happiness…

The Church teaches in the catechism:

1. The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness

.

So we would need another official source,
To determine what the official teaching
Of the Catholic Church teaches,
Which can be found in the,
Summa Theologica
(Catholic dogma).

“The perfection of hope lies not in achieving what it hopes for, but in embracing its standards, namely the God on whose help it relies… Eternal happiness does not enter into the heart of man perfectly, for en route to it we have no specific idea of what kind of life it is; but we have a general idea of it as the most perfect good, and so we hope for it.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation.

I know St. Thomas Aquinas has been ridiculed and mocked,
By many who call themselves catholic,
For writing the Summa Theologica,
But may God forgive you,
For your own sake.

 

[davidv]

You’re right dcdurel,
No place in the Catechism,
Does it distinguish between
Perfect Happiness and,
Imperfect happiness.

Therefore,
The Catechism could be misleading,
It may even suggest,
Perfect Happiness = imperfect happiness…

So we would need another official source,
To determine what the official teaching
Of the Catholic Church teaches,
Which can be found in the,
Summa Theologica
(Catholic dogma).

I know St. Thomas Aquinas has been ridiculed and mocked,
By many who call themselves catholic,
For writing the Summa Theologica,
But may God forgive you,
For your own sake.

The “Summa…” is not Catholic dogma.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

The “Summa…” is not Catholic dogma.

I understand that the canonization of a saint
Requires associated miracles and,
The Summa was one of those miracles so,
We accept it as Catholic dogma.
So, how do we distinguish between,
Belief and false accusation?

 

[Psychotheosophy]

I understand that the canonization of a saint
Requires associated miracles and,
The Summa was one of those miracles so,
We accept it as Catholic dogma.
So, how do we distinguish between,
Belief and false accusation?

Miracles can lead us what to believe.

Since,

Psalm 27:2; Isaiah 9:18-20; Isaiah 49:26; Micah 3:3; 2 Samuel 23:15-17; and Revelations 17:6, 16.

Then,

“As John A. O’Brian put it, ‘the phrase ‘to eat the flesh and drink the blood’, when used figuratively among the Jews, as among the Arabs today, meant to inflict upon a person some injury, especially by calumny or by false accusation. To interpret the phrase figuratively them would be to make our Lord promise life everlasting to the culprit for slandering and hating Him, which would reduce the whole passage to utter nonsense.’ Christ would be saying, ‘He that reviles me has eternal life.’”

Catholicism and Fundamentalism
By
Karl Keating

So, a miracle would need to accompany these words
Associated with eating and drinking Him,
In gaining eternal life…

“For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”

John 6:55-56

Which Jesus did not withhold…

“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my body of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”

Matthew 26:26-28

A miracle draws our attention,
By being out of the ordinary.

So, ordinarily, we believe that,
The earth, as with all material,
Is not God.

“We read that Balaam was thus at fault when, against God’s will, he determined to go and curse the Israelites; consequently, God being angered, desired to kill him. (Numbers 22:22-23)… but even from performing them without God’s grace, as in those who prophesied their fancies and spoke of visions manufactured by either themselves or the devil. When the devil observes their attachment to these wonders, he opens a wide field and provides ample material for the endeavors and meddles extensively. And these individuals with such means spread wide their sails, become shamelessly audacious, and abound in prodigious works.”

The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book III, Chapter 31
By
St. John of the Cross

Since a “miracle” can be from God, the devil, or men (such as illusionists),
How do we tell the difference?

 

[davidv]

I understand that the canonization of a saint
Requires associated miracles and,
The Summa was one of those miracles so,

Who declared this a miracle and when?

We accept it as Catholic dogma.

I don’t.

So, how do we distinguish between,
Belief and false accusation?

They are different kinds of things.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

I don’t.
davidv;6551180:

The “Summa…” is not Catholic dogma.

So, you don’t believe that,
The Summa is Catholic dogma,
Because it’s not.

You seem to be correcting me a lot,
Which would go against your belief system.
Are you correcting me?

They are different kinds of things.

Right,
But the question is,
“How” are they different kinds of things?

Belief and false accusation are related.
We can believe Christ or falsely accuse Christ.
Which is the same dilemma presented to Pontius Pilate.

I really do appreciate your ability to dialogue,
It’s really too bad that you’re always being pushed aside
By others who are more violent.

 

[davidv]

So, you don’t believe that,
The Summa is Catholic dogma,
Because it’s not.

It is not dogma, because it is the work of a individual, a very brilliant one, I might add, but not the Church. Much of the Church’s understanding is based on Thomas’s work. However, his works are not a part of Church teaching. Studying his works provides additional grounding as to why the Churches teaching is what it is.

You seem to be correcting me a lot,
Which would go against your belief system.

On the contrary, fraternal correction is one of the spiritual works of mercy. It often seems to me that you hold to some fairly significant misconceptions of Catholism.

Are you correcting me?

Yes. Hopefully in a way that in not disrespectful and is constructive.

Right,
But the question is,
“How” are they different kinds of things?

Belief and false accusation are related.
We can believe Christ or falsely accuse Christ.
Which is the same dilemma presented to Pontius Pilate.

I really do appreciate your ability to dialogue,
It’s really too bad that you’re always being pushed aside
By others who are more violent.

In the context of Religion:
Belief is of the type; an of assent of the will when presented with a proposal.
False accusation is of the type; an action, initiated from within.

I see at least two major differences: passive (belief) vs. active (accusation) and external stimulus (belief) vs. internal stimulus (accusation).

 

[spockrates]

Perfect Happiness (God).

So,
If a man suffers physically,
And hopes to be healed,
Then would he be,
Perfectly happy?

I’d say no. No one hopes for what he already has. To be in the perfect presence of the perfect God is to have the perfect happiness for which one used to hope. So, I believe, the virtue of Hope must die so that she might be resurrected as something more like–well–perfect joy. Moreover, to have this perfect joy, is to have the perfect benefits of such, which includes being made perfectly whole. Don’t you agree?

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

(Revelations 21:4)

 

[spockrates]

…
So we would need another official source,
To determine what the official teaching
Of the Catholic Church teaches,
Which can be found in the,
Summa Theologica
(Catholic dogma).
…

Well, then, tell me more of this Summa Theologica, my good Psycho friend, so that I too might know how to achieve perfect happiness, and prove that the Rolling Stones were wrong when they sang that “I can’t get no satisfaction”!

 

[Psychotheosophy]

I really do appreciate your ability to dialogue,
It’s really too bad that you’re always being pushed aside
By others who are more violent.

Like Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:24),
And Saul (Acts 7:58)

It is not dogma, because it is the work of a individual

So,
An individual’s proposal,
Must always submit to,
A crowd’s proposal?

(Or perhaps a crowd of one’s own religion?)

On the contrary, fraternal correction is one of the spiritual works of mercy.

So,
We should always accept the Truth (that which is without logical contradiction)
And always avoid error (that which has logical contradiction)?

I’d say no. No one hopes for what he already has.

So davidv,

Do you you agree that,
A man who suffers physically
Never hopes to be healed physically?

 

[davidv]

Like Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:24)
And Saul (Acts 7:58)

So,
An individual’s proposal,
Must always submit to,
A crowd’s proposal?

(Or perhaps a crowd of one’s own religion?)

Depends on the topic. A scientist submits his individual proposal to a group of his peers. An employee submits his individual proposal to his manager. An authority is needed to critique and approve the proposal.
For Catholic religious topics, this authority is the Magisterium.

So,

We should always accept the Truth (that which is without logical contradiction)

Correct, however Truth is the person of Jesus. (John 14:6)

And always avoid error (that which has logical contradiction)?

This seems to be the best course.

So davidv,

Do you you agree that,
A man who suffers physically
Never hopes to be healed physically?

No I don’t agree with that. One can always hope to be free of a disorder.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

For Catholic religious topics, this authority is the Magisterium.

Issued by the authority of Pope Benedict XV in 1917 (not Benedict XVI)…

Canon 589: Religious who have already studied their humanities should devote themselves for two years at least to philosophy and for four years to theology, following the teaching of St. Thomas (cf. Canon 1366) in accordance with the instructions of the Holy See.

Canon 1366: The study of philosophy and theology and the teaching of these sciences to their students must be accurately carried out by Professors (in seminaries, etc.) according to the arguments, doctrine, and principles of St. Thomas which they are inviolately to hold.

St. Thomas taught that,
The Church is only symbolically the Body of Christ and,
The Church is not literally the Body of Christ.

Did another Magisterium authorize that,
The Church is literally the Body of Christ?

Was the Magisterium’s authority of 1917,
Only applicable to the generation of 1917?

No I don’t agree with that. One can always hope to be free of a disorder.

So,
You disagree with this…?

I’d say no. No one hopes for what he already has. To be in the perfect presence of the perfect God is to have the perfect happiness for which one used to hope. So, I believe, the virtue of Hope must die so that she might be resurrected as something more like–well–perfect joy. Moreover, to have this perfect joy, is to have the perfect benefits of such, which includes being made perfectly whole. Don’t you agree?

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

(Revelations 21:4)

 

[spockrates]

…
So,
You disagree with this…?

Why, yes I do! However, if you have reason to doubt, please let’s talk it out.

 

[Monica4316]

I doubt I could ever see “perfect” happiness until the day I was physically in our LORD’s arms, and rest my eyes on HIS…

ICXC NIKA.

Sometimes I feel the same way

 

[davidv]

Issued by the authority of Pope Benedict XV in 1917 (not Benedict XVI)…

No. Issued to the apostles by God, in the person of Jesus.

St. Thomas taught that,
The Church is only symbolically the Body of Christ and,
The Church is not literally the Body of Christ.

It seems to me that neither symbol nor literal are adequate it describing the Church as Body of Christ.

From the Catechism

787 From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission, joy, and sufferings.215 Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him: "Abide in me, and I in you. . . . I am the vine, you are the branches."216 And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him."217

788 When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his disciples orphans. He promised to remain with them until the end of time; he sent them his Spirit.218 As a result communion with Jesus has become, in a way, more intense: "By communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation."219
789 The comparison of the Church with the body casts light on the intimate bond between Christ and his Church. Not only is she gathered around him; she is united in him, in his body. Three aspects of the Church as the Body of Christ are to be more specifically noted: the unity of all her members with each other as a result of their union with Christ; Christ as head of the Body; and the Church as bride of Christ.
"One Body"
790 Believers who respond to God’s word and become members of Christ’s Body, become intimately united with him: "In that body the life of Christ is communicated to those who believe, and who, through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his Passion and glorification."220 This is especially true of Baptism, which unites us to Christ’s death and Resurrection, and the Eucharist, by which "really sharing in the body of the Lord, . . . we are taken up into communion with him and with one another."221 791 The body’s unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: "In the building up of Christ’s Body there is engaged a diversity of members and functions. There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the Church."222 The unity of the Mystical Body produces and stimulates charity among the faithful: "From this it follows that if one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with him, and if one member is honored, all the members together rejoice."223 Finally, the unity of the Mystical Body triumphs over all human divisions: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."224

Did another Magisterium authorize that,
The Church is literally the Body of Christ?

See above

Was the Magisterium’s authority of 1917,
Only applicable to the generation of 1917?

The Magisterium’s authority is timeless. It instructions may not be. Dogma is, disciplines are not.

So,
You disagree with this…?

Yes I disagree in a way. The virtue of hope is a hope for eternal life in heaven with God. None of has had it, but it is described to us Jesus through His teachers.

 

[Psychotheosophy]

No. Issued to the apostles by God, in the person of Jesus.

No…?

“The Pope possesses full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole Church, not merely in matters of faith and morals, but also in Church discipline and in the government of the Church.”

Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma
Dr. Ludwig Ott

However, the instructions for naming a pope is not Dogma.

When you say, “person of Jesus” (the second person of the Holy Trinity),
Are you involving the Body of Christ (through the hypostatic union)?
If the Church is literally the Body of Christ, then
It would change the meaning of the word, “people”
(The Holy Trinity is three persons, one God),
Which replaced the word, “men”
In many religious texts.

It seems to me that neither symbol nor literal are adequate it describing the Church as Body of Christ.

Then what’s left?
Are you saying that,
The Church is symbolically
And literally the Body of Christ?

From the Catechism

The Catechism’s primary objective was not to condemn errors…

The (Vatican) Council was not first of all to condemn the errors of the time, but above all to strive calmly to show the strength and beauty of the doctrine of faith…In this spirit, on January 25, 1985, I convoked an extraordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the 20th anniversary of the close of the Council…On that occasion the Synod Fathers stated: “Very many have expressed the desire that a catechism or compendium of all catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals be composed, that it might be, as it were, a point of reference for the catechisms or compendiums that are prepared in various regions.”

Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum
On The Publication Of The Catechism Of The Catholic Church
Prepared Following The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council

By

Pope John Paul II

(In the front of the Catechism)

So, as I said before…

We would need another official source,
To determine what the official teaching
Of the Catholic Church teaches,
Which can be found in the,
Summa Theologica.

See above

I don’t think you answered my question.

By many who call themselves catholic
davidv;6568817:

The Magisterium’s authority is timeless. It instructions may not be. Dogma is, disciplines are not.

My apologies if I offended you,
Conscientious objection to instructions (but not Dogma),
Is permissible within the Catholic Church,

Yes I disagree in a way. The virtue of hope is a hope for eternal life in heaven with God. None of has had it, but it is described to us Jesus through His teachers.

In what way do you agree?

Here’s my take…

“Evil exists where good is lacking; so God in knowing every good thing, must also know evil, just as in seeing light we also see darkness. To know a thing by way of something else is an imperfect way of knowing it if the thing can be known in itself. But evil cannot be known in itself, since it is nothing but a lack of good; it can only be defined or known by way of good.”

Summa Theologica: A Concise Translation

Happiness = Goodness = Existence​

All “men” are happier,​

If they remember being healed,​

And do not remember being sick.​

Since all “men” naturally desire Happiness,
Then all “men” naturally desire to know Happiness and not know unhappiness.
If Happiness were a lack of unhappiness,

Then Happiness is not a something,​

But is a lack of a something,​

And it would be hopeless,​

To have happiness,​

But instead,​

nothing.​