Breviloquium

Part VII. On the Repose of the Final Judgement

265 PART VII PART VII ON THE REPOSE OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT CHAPTER 1 THE JUDGMENT IN GENERAL 1. We have now briefly spoken of the Trinity of God, the creation of the world, the corruption of sin, the incarnation of the Word, the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the sacramental remedy. It remains for us, in seventh and last place, to treat the repose of the final judgment.1 In this regard, the following sums up what we must hold: that there will undoubtedly be a universal judgment, in which God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, will judge the living and the dead, the good and the wicked, rendering to each person according to what his or her merits 1 I have used “repose” to translate the Latin status, which for Bonaventure connotes more than a neutral “state.” As he says elsewhere, “quiet is more noble than motion. . . .Therefore, if the world after the resurrection will be in the most perfect disposition, all bodies then will rest [in God].” In 4 Sent., 44.2.3.2; 48.2.2 (IV, 501, 561-562), trans. Caroline Walker Bynum, The Resurrection of the Body (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 250. Bynum observes, “the goal of desire is its own cessation. As the celestial spheres will cease to rotate at the end of time, so too the soul will cease to yearn; stasis is the condition of heaven.” Ibid. 265 PART VII PART VII ON THE REPOSE OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT CHAPTER 1 THE JUDGMENT IN GENERAL 1. We have now briefly spoken of the Trinity of God, the creation of the world, the corruption of sin, the incarnation of the Word, the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the sacramental remedy. It remains for us, in seventh and last place, to treat the repose of the final judgment.1 In this regard, the following sums up what we must hold: that there will undoubtedly be a universal judgment, in which God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, will judge the living and the dead, the good and the wicked, rendering to each person according to what his or her merits 1 I have used “repose” to translate the Latin status, which for Bonaventure connotes more than a neutral “state.” As he says elsewhere, “quiet is more noble than motion. . . .Therefore, if the world after the resurrection will be in the most perfect disposition, all bodies then will rest [in God].” In 4 Sent., 44.2.3.2; 48.2.2 (IV, 501, 561-562), trans. Caroline Walker Bynum, The Resurrection of the Body (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 250. Bynum observes, “the goal of desire is its own cessation. As the celestial spheres will cease to rotate at the end of time, so too the soul will cease to yearn; stasis is the condition of heaven.” Ibid. 266 ST. BONAVENTURE’S BREVILOQUIUM deserve.2 In this judgment there will be an opening of books, that is, of consciences, revealing the merits and demerits of all persons, both to themselves and to others. This will happen by virtue of the power of the Book of Life,3 the Incarnate Word. In the form of his divinity, the Word will be beheld by the good alone, while both good and wicked shall see the Word in human form. It is in this form [i.e., the risen Christ] that he will pronounce sentence ; in this same form, “he will appear terrible to the reprobate, but mild to the righteous.”4 2.The reason for this may be explained as follows.The First Principle, by the fact of being first, exists of itself, by itself, and for itself. It is thus the efficient, formal, and final cause: creating, governing, and perfecting all things. It creates in accord with the loftiness of its power, governs in accord with the rectitude of its truth, and perfects in accord with the plenitude of its goodness. Now, the loftiness of the highest power requires that some creatures be produced that are not only vestiges, but also images; creatures that are not only irrational, but also rational; creatures that are moved not only by natural instinct, but also by free will. But a creature made to the image of God has 2 Cf. Matt 16:27; 25:31, Rev 22:12. On the material in this chapter, see In 4 Sent...