According to what we have been saying, the essence of the beatific vision, to which man is destined as his last end, does not consist so much in mere contemplation of God as in the feeling he experiences through that contemplation...and his resultant possession of the Godhead. Here also, just as happened in regard to suffering, Perfect Joy is a kind of ultimate afterwards. It must be understood that, with respect to Eternal Life, the words before and after possess a natural or intentional character, and by no means make reference to temporality.

            St. John the Evangelist points out that first comes the vision of the Bridegroom, and afterwards, following as a logical consequence, transformation into Him: Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that, when he appears, we shall be like to him, for we shall see him just as he is (1 Jn 3:2). Which does not mean that the Seraphim of Assisi is mistaken in his reasoning.

            For it is true that patience for love of Jesus not only produces Christian joy, but in fact--as was said earlier--no other way has been discovered that leads to that joy more certainly and more quickly. So much so that one can say, quite simply, that in practice there is no other way. And to this one must add that, although in the present age, Christian joy is not yet the consummated joy of the Kingdom, this fact should not be an obstacle to its being considered Perfect Joy--even though, of course, it is only a relative perfection.

            The same thing applies here as happens in divine-human love, to which Perfect Joy is intimately linked because it is its first and most direct fruit. This love passes through a prior phase of first fruits and pledges until it reaches its definitive fulfillment in the Kingdom: once again the dynamic of not yet and already. Yet, we can say that in this previous stage it can already be considered, at least once it has reached some degree of development, most perfect and true. Of course, it must be remembered that we are subjected here to human ways of talking; ways that, despite natural limitations, correspond to truth and, consequently, are validly used; otherwise mutual understanding among human beings would be virtually impossible.

            Christian patience is therefore not the same thing as Perfect Joy. But, given that the former is found just one step away from the latter, and bearing in mind that one can be regarded as the direct cause and effect of the other, one ought to admit with ease that Christian patience already shares in the luminosity, glory and ineffable bliss of Perfect Joy (cf. Rom 5: 3-4; 2 Cor 11:30; 12: 5-9; Gal 6:14).

            In the same way, to the extent that someone draws closer to a source of light its clarity becomes greater for him, and darkness is left behind. It is also helpful to apply to joy the development that applies in love: in the sense that the earnests and first fruits in this present age are what they are in relation to the immensity that is to come, but given that love is totality, what one receives now is already so magnificent that it defies description and defeats our imagination. That is why St. Paul has to use the via negationis in his attempt to describe the joy of heaven: Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him (1 Cor 2: 9, quoting Is 64: 3). Well may it be said that if these conclusions are not accepted, the problem of the Beatitudes (in itself complex), becomes more arduous and difficult still. For it is within them that the important aporia of the joy/sadness binomial and its role in the Revelation can be perceived in all its clarity.