Sect. 135Natural Destiny of Rational Creatures—their Position in the UniverseNatural Destiny of Rational Creatures—their Position in the Universe

I. The qualities of rational beings sufficiently indicate that they are destined to a higher end than irrational creatures. Made to the image and likeness of God, they are able and are destined to glorify God and to work out their own happiness. In as far as this destination is made possible and is required by their nature, and in as far as its attainment realizes only the minimum of the idea which God was bound to have when creating rational beings, it is called “the natural destination or end of rational creatures.” In the same way, the dispositions necessarily made by God for the attainment of this end are called “the natural order of rational creatures.”

The supernatural order, which is the object of theology, cannot be rightly understood without an exact and well-defined notion of the natural order upon which the supernatural is based.

1. The natural final destiny of rational creatures involves, first of all, that they are necessarily called to an eternal, personal, and individual life, and, consequently, to everlasting existence, at least in their spiritual part. Their spiritual substance is in itself incorruptible and indestructible, and this natural excellence makes them essentially worthy of eternal conservation on the part of God. The immortality of the soul has been defined by the Fifth Council of Lateran. Reason alone, however, can also prove it. The destination of rational creatures to glorify God is in itself an eternal object; moreover, a happiness corresponding with the natural aspirations of rational beings could not be realized for one moment if its perpetual duration was not guaranteed.

2. The second element in the final destination natural to rational creatures is that they should not remain for ever in a state of motion and unrest, but should, unless they make themselves unworthy of it, enter into a state of definitive, everlasting perfection, in which they are made like to God, and thus secure perfect rest and complete satisfaction of all their natural aspirations—in one word, their salvation. To make salvation secure, it is also necessary that the will of the saved should be exempt from the danger of sinning.

3. The measure and the kind of final perfection naturally attainable by rational creatures must be determined in accordance with their essential active forces, because their final perfection is a complete and permanent development of these forces. Nothing can be naturally intended for a state which it cannot attain by the forces of its own nature. But everything that tends to its perfection by exercising its forces and thus developing itself, is dependent partly on a supply of external nourishment, partly on the fostering influence of God. Hence it is not impossible that the final perfecting of rational creatures, whose intellectual life is under a direct Divine influence, should require a special intervention on the part of God. This intervention, however, can only consist in help given to the positive development of the forces existing in nature, which may take place by the simple removal of all the obstacles by which their working is now impeded. Consequently the knowledge, and love of God, which make up the substance of natural blessedness, are only such as the created intellect and will can attain without the aid of supernatural illumination and elevation.

4. The attainment of final perfection is proposed by God to His rational creatures as a reward for their own exertions. Nevertheless, except in the case of a special promise on the part of God, the creature has no strict right to a reward. The creature’s title to a reward is founded upon the right which they who live up to the excellence of their nature have to the attainment of such perfection as their nature is able and is destined to attain. The claim is natural in so far, and only in so far, as God, by giving a rational nature, gives or promises everything necessary to its development.

II. These considerations lead us to the concept of the “natural order,” in which rational creatures are placed by the very fact of creation. The root, or fundamental principle, of the natural order is, that creatures endowed with reason are destined to receive their final perfection in God and through God to the extent required by their character of rational creatures and creatures of God. Formally, the order consists in the dispositions or ordinances made by God for the attainment by creatures of their natural end, i.e. the laws which govern the operations of creatures, and those which God Himself observes in leading them to their final perfection. Materially, the order consists in the goods either bestowed by God on creatures as means to their final complement, or acquired, produced, or utilized by them in carrying out the laws of their order. It should be noted, however, that, within the limits of the natural order, some scope is left as to the use of means to the end, so that God, without going against the established order, can intervene positively and even supernaturally.

It is an error, unhappily widespread in recent times, to hold that the order of rational creatures actually in force is nothing but the natural order. Such, however, is not the fact. In the beginning God set before His rational creatures a supernatural end, and placed them in a supernatural relation to Himself, and thus founded the supernatural order. This order, after being disturbed by sin, could only be restored by the still greater mystery of the elevation of human nature to a personal union with the Son of God.