e bright angel stood before him, to reveal the
secrets of God, he says: "And I fell down before his feet to adore
him. But he saith to me: See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant,
and of thy brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus. Adore God."*
St. Augustine says that "the angel was so beautiful and glorious that
St. John actually mistook him for God, and would really have given
him divine worship, had not the angel prevented it by declaring who
he was."

* Apoc. xiv.

From all this, we begin to see what St. John means when he tells us
that we shall be like God, "because we shall see Him as he is." Our
likeness to God was begun on the very first day of our existence. It
was gradually developed by God's grace and the sacraments; and by our
own co-operation with all the helps of God. But during life, the
process of development was slow--so very slow, that we were at times
tempted to think it had ceased altogether. But in the Beatific Vision
the process is rapid as a flash. The soul is suddenly transformed
into that degree of likeness to God which she has deserved by a holy
life. She is made like to God, because she sees Him as he is. It is
this glorious vision which contains in itself this transforming
power, and which assimilates the soul to God.

In this world a deformed man may gaze upon a beautiful object without
becoming beautiful thereby; the poor man gazes upon the rich man, but
remains as poor as ever; and the ignorant man gazes upon the
philosopher, and nevertheless remains as ignorant as before. Not so
in heaven. The vision of God has a transforming power; that is, it
has the power of communicating to the beholder attributes which he
had not before, or possessed only in the germ. Thus the soul, because
she sees God as He is, is filled to overflowing with all knowledge;
she becomes beautiful with the beauty of God, rich with his wealth,
holy with his holiness, and happy with his own unutterable happiness.
In a word, by the vision of God, she is made a partaker of the divine
nature, and, like a very god, she shines unto all eternity in the
divine brightness.

A diamond, carefully cut and perfectly polished, glitters and shines
in the sun with exceeding brilliancy. It not only reflects the light,
but also absorbs it into itself, so as to shine even in the dark with
the light it has absorbed. It actually becomes, as it were, a little
sun, shining with its own light. It is thus become a partaker of the
su