fine the Light of glory to be, "A supernatural
intellectual power infused into the soul, by which she is enabled to
see God, which she never could do by her own unassisted natural
powers."* It is called supernatural, because it is not a natural
talent or power of our nature, as the talent for poetry, music,
painting, and others, all of which may be developed and highly
improved by study. But the Light of glory is an elevation, expansion,
or development of the mind, which comes directly from God, and is, in
no sense, the result of human endeavors, except in so far as it has
been deserved by a holy life. We shall understand better the meaning
of the Light of glory by an illustration.

* Per lumen gloriae intelligitur qualitas creata, et habitus virtusque
intellectualis supernaturalis, ac per se infusa intellectui, qua
redditur proxime potens et habilis ad videndum Deum.... Ita D.
Thomas, sicque ratione probatur: Ut virtutes infusae requiruntur, ut
eorum actus fiant connaturali modo, nempe a principio intrinseco et
proportionato, ita etiam lumen ut fiat visio. Cum enim activitas ex
parte intellectus sit in suo ordine deficiens et imperfecta, ideo
oportet ut lumen illi virtutem conferat altioris ordinis,
supernaturalem et actui proportionatam per quam elevatur ad
efficiendam visionem cum illo. Suarez, de Deo, cap. xiv.

Let us suppose that you never could learn mathematics or astronomy.
In spite of the most intense application, you never could master even
the multiplication table; and when you gazed upon the heavens, you
could never see there any more beauty and magnificence than does the
untutored savage. But, on a sudden, there is a flash of light from
above, and your mind is enlightened far beyond its natural capacity,
and you can see all the heavenly bodies as they are. You now know
their names, motions, distances, laws, and relations to each other,
and to the whole universe. Formerly, they appeared all alike, except
the sun and the moon; but now, you see that no two of them are alike.
Each one has its own size, velocity, beauty, and glory. You even soar
far beyond the discoveries of science, and you gaze with delight upon
millions of shining worlds, which the most powerful telescope never
did, and never can, reach. You can, moreover, in the twinkling of an
eye, calculate with astonishing precision the day, the hour, the
minute, yea, the very second, at which an eclipse will occur. Gazing
upon the heavens, which hithe