In today’s presentation, I will begin by exploring the first two chapters of Pope Paul VI’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum (hereafter referred to as DV). Then, I will briefly explore the three transcendental properties of beauty, truth, and goodness—which are indirectly referred to in DV. Finally, I will tersely examine Saint Bonaventure’s text The Soul’s Journey into God to show how Jesus reveals these transcendental properties. Let us begin by looking at DV’s preface which states: “‘We announce to you the eternal life which dwelt with the Father and was made visible to us. What we have seen and heard we announce to you, so that you may have fellowship with us and our common fellowship be with the Father and His Son…show more content… paragraphs 2-6). For the sake of brevity and succinctness, I will explore only the significant points that each of these paragraphs highlights. In paragraph two, the revelation of God in the person Jesus is the result of God’s will. God the Father, out of love for us, wants humanity to share in his triune nature. Jesus’ words and deeds reveal “the deepest truth about God” and that he is the personified Truth (par. 2). Christ is also “the mediator and the fullness of all revelation” (Ibid.). Paragraph three focuses on the fact that God reveals Himself in creation and then to Israel through Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. This section of DV draws attention to the notion that revelation is not something which happens in history, rather it is history in the making. During the Old Testament period, The Lord spoke in words to Israel; however, in New Testament times, He speaks in the person of the Word. Paragraph four points out that the Son dwells among us so that he can reveal “the innermost being of God,” which is love, truth, goodness, and beauty (par. 4). Jesus, according to this paragraph, perfected and fulfilled revelation through his words, deeds, death, and resurrection which resulted in the establishment of a “new and definitive covenant” (Ibid.). The essential point that can be gleaned from this paragraph is that “we now await no further new public…show more content… Beauty takes place, according to Hans Urs von Balthasar, when beholding and being enraptured meet, which occurs in Christ. The transcendental property of truth is that which can be known by a person; whereas the transcendental property of goodness, is that which completes us by satisfying a need with each of us. Beauty is able to harmonize truth and goodness into a disinterested unity that is not prejudiced or biased. Beauty makes the truth worth knowing and the good worth carrying. Beauty makes love and prayer possible in a person. Beauty, however, cannot be limited to that which pleases the senses. Beauty has the power to change lives and to allow a person to see the moral dimension of his life. In order for a person to perceive beauty its truest and fullest form, a person needs to have their physical eyes (which perceive beauty first) transformed into spiritual eyes. As DV mentioned in paragraph four, the Holy Spirit is able to open the mind’s eye to see the primal form which unites God and humanity in the most profound intimacy. The primal form of beauty is none other than God in the person of Jesus who is Beauty
