Catechism of the Catholic Church

428 Part Three 1719 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. III. C hristian B eatitude 1720 The New Testament uses several expressions to charac- terize the beatitude to which God calls man: — the coming of the Kingdom of God; 16 — the vision of God: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”; 17 — entering into the joy of the Lord; 18 — entering into God’s rest: 19 There we shall rest and see, we shall see and love, we shall love and praise. Behold what will be at the end without end. For what other end do we have, if not to reach the kingdom which has no end? 20 1721 God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us “partakers of the divine nature” and of eternal life. 21 With beatitude, man enters into the glory of Christ 22 and into the joy of the Trinitarian life. 1722 Such beatitude surpasses the understanding and powers of man. It comes from an entirely free gift of God: whence it is called supernatural, as is the grace that disposes man to enter into the divine joy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” It is true, because of the greatness and inexpressible glory of God, that “man shall not see me and live,” for the Father cannot be grasped. But because of God’s love and goodness toward us, and because he can do all things, he goes so far as to grant those who love him the privilege of seeing him. . . . For “what is impossible for men is possible for God.” 23 16 Cf. Mt 4:17. 17 Mt 5:8; cf. 1 Jn 2; 1 Cor 13:12. 18 Mt 25:21-23. 19 Cf. Heb 4:7-11. 20 St. Augustine, De civ. Dei 22, 30, 5: PL 41, 804. 21 2 Pet 1:4; cf. Jn 17:3. 22 Cf. Rom 8:18. 23 St. Irenaeus, Adv. haeres. 4, 20, 5: PG 7/1, 1034-1035. 1950 1027 260 1028 294