ature; but perfects it."*
Therefore, when Scripture tells us that "we shall be changed," we
must not imagine that we shall be changed into angels, or into some
other nature different from the human. The change means a
supernatural elevation and perfection of our whole nature, and not
its destruction. The transition or change of the child into the man
neither changes nor destroys the faculties of his mind nor the senses
of his body; neither does it create new powers or faculties which he
had not before. His gradual growth into manhood only develops and
perfects what the hand of God had placed in his nature on the day of
his creation.

* Quamdiu manet natura aliqua, manet operatio eius. Sed beatitudo non
tollit naturam, cum sit perfectio eius. Ergo non tollet naturalem
cognitionem et dilectionem.... Semper autem oportet salvari primus in
secunda. Unde oportet quod natura salvetur in beatitudine. Et
similiter quod in actu beatitudinis salvetur actus naturae.--S.
Thomas, p. 1, q. 62, art. 7.

This gradual development of our nature to its perfection, in the
natural order, illustrates the wonderful supernatural perfection
which the power of God will work in us both in the Beatific Vision
and in the glorious resurrection of the body. For, however great and
elevated we may then be, our now existing natural powers will neither
be changed nor destroyed.

I have been thus careful in explaining these things, because we are
now to study the transforming power of the Beatific Vision upon the
soul, as well as the glory of the spiritualized body in which we
shall again be clothed on the resurrection day.

According to the angelic doctor, the human soul bears a threefold
resemblance to God.* She is like God by nature, by grace, and by
glory. The likeness to God by nature is found in all men, but is
imperfect. The likeness by grace is far more perfect, and is found in
the just only; while it is seen in its full perfection in the
blessed. We shall, therefore, endeavor to fathom the meaning of St.
John, when he says, "We shall be like Him: because we shall see him
as He is;" as well as the saying of St. Peter, who asserts that we
shall be "made partakers of the divine nature." Let us begin by a
little illustration.

* ... Imago Dei tripliciter potest considerari in homine. Uno quidem
modo secundum quod homo habet aptitudinem naturalem ad intelligendum
et amandum Deum. Et haec aptitudo consistet, in ipsa natura mentis,
quae est comm