Insufficiency of Wealth in Achieving the Perfect Blessedness – »Visio Dei«: Aquinasʼ View on the Problem of Wealth and the Role of the Church

Jakob Piletič

Insufficiency of Wealth in Achieving the Perfect Blessedness – »Visio Dei«: Aquinasʼ View on the Problem of Wealth and the Role of the Church

Keywords: blessedness, happiness, »beatitudo«, Thomas Aquinas, »viso Dei«, beatific vision of God, wealth

Abstract:
In the present article we seek to show and proof the insufficiency of wealth in achieving the blessedness, according to the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Beatitude is twofold: imperfect which is achievable by ethical way of life, and perfect which represents – through the love for God and neighbor – a completion of the human life and leads to the beatific vision of God. The Church has a mission of helping her faithful to obtain that blessedness, firstly by her magisterium, but also by liturgy and moral example. For her mission, the Church after all needs some wealth, although wealth should not become her aim and goal or telos, but solely a tool for her pastoral and charitable work.

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