2026/10/12
269. The Gospel of John and the Priesthood of the New Covenant: The Beatific Vision of St Paul
In the previous issue, Distinction and Discernment II, we discussed how the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation, using the metaphor of a "river," show that we believers, by "distinguishing" between ourselves—who desire to cooperate with the Holy Spirit—and "human information," are granted the opportunity to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and may share in the blessing of beatific vision, abundant fruitfulness and healing. In this process, one does not fall into a sense of becoming like God—arising from the exhilaration that stirs a desire for self-transcendence—nor into a sense of having experienced union with Christ. Much less does one find ecstasy there. The "beatification" of the beatific vision lies in beholding the Gospel. It is intuited when the Holy Spirit draws the Gospel from our memory and our voice announces it; for the voice with which we speak bears witness to what our own senses have perceived.
It is when we seize the opportunity to collaborate with the Holy Spirit that we make Jesus' words our own: "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you" (Jn 14:20). This is made easier by practising daily the training of the Book of Revelation, which helps us to distinguish between ourselves desiring to collaborate with the Holy Spirit and "human information." Collaborating with the Holy Spirit means experiencing what Jesus Himself said: "The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works" (14:10). So, training is essential. Through training, we can see ourselves collaborating with the Holy Spirit and share in Jesus' words: "I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you."
In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul writes the following regarding visions of the Lord and revelations. "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven -- whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows" (2 Cor. 12:2). The "fourteen years ago" may refer to the time he converted. Paul clearly received an intense impression when he seized the opportunity to collaborate with the Holy Spirit, sent in Jesus’ name, because he repeats the same account (cf. 12:3). It continues: "This man was caught up into Paradise -- whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows -- and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter" (12:3-4). "Things that cannot be told, which man may not utter" were the Gospel that would come to be recorded in the New Testament. Since the message he had heard anticipated the future, he could understand it but could not put it into words.
Paul seized the opportunity to work in collaboration with the Holy Spirit and was granted a beatific vision. However, the issue here is that he writes that he was "caught up to the third heaven" and that "he was caught up into Paradise." At that time, or perhaps later, he must have realised that a certain ecstasy accompanied his experience. Paul confesses this openly, without concealment, for he had a strategy for dealing with the severe circumstances then facing the Corinthian community. Paul was staking everything he had on overcoming that situation. He continued: "On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me" (2 Cor 12:5–6).
He also wrote, "And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me" (2 Cor 12:7-8). He calmly perceived the sense of ecstasy that clung to each of his revelatory experiences, likening it to a "thorn." And he conveys to us the Lord's words given to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (12:9), and encourages us, saying, "I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong" (12:9-10).
Paul saw things beyond the beatific vision. He saw future believers partaking in the experience of perfect union with Christ during the perfected Liturgy of the Mass and being guided to the special "discernment" of the Holy Spirit. From his testimony below, we understand that Paul knew that once the words of Jesus appeared in the Gospels through the composition of the New Testament, His words would freely make themselves present in every age.
"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Cor 11:23–26).
Maria K. M.
