Reply Obj. 1:  Hope regards future happiness as the last end:  yet it may also regard the assistance of grace as that which leads to that end, according to Ps. 27:7:  “In Him hath my heart hoped, and I have been helped.”

Reply Obj. 2:  Although sometimes the wicked do not undergo temporal punishment in this life, yet they suffer spiritual punishment.  Hence Augustine says (Confess. i):  “Thou hast decreed, and it is so, Lord—­that the disordered mind should be its own punishment.”  The Philosopher, too, says of the wicked (Ethic. ix, 4) that “their soul is divided against itself . . . one part pulls this way, another that”; and afterwards he concludes, saying:  “If wickedness makes a man so miserable, he should strain every nerve to avoid vice.”  In like manner, although, on the other hand, the good sometimes do not receive material rewards in this life, yet they never lack spiritual rewards, even in this life, according to Matt. 19:29, and Mk. 10:30:  “Ye shall receive a hundred times as much” even “in this time.”

Reply Obj. 3:  All these rewards will be fully consummated in the life to come:  but meanwhile they are, in a manner, begun, even in this life.  Because the “kingdom of heaven,” as Augustine says (loc. cit.), can denote the beginning of perfect wisdom, in so far as “the spirit” begins to reign in men.  The “possession” of the land denotes the well-ordered affections of the soul that rests, by its desire, on the solid foundation of the eternal inheritance, signified by “the land.”  They are “comforted” in this life, by receiving the Holy Ghost, Who is called the “Paraclete,” i.e. the Comforter.  They “have their fill,” even in this life, of that food of which Our Lord said (John 4:34):  “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me.”  Again, in this life, men “obtain” God’s “Mercy.”  Again, the eye being cleansed by the gift of understanding, we can, so to speak, “see God.”  Likewise, in this life, those who are the “peacemakers” of their own movements, approach to likeness to God, and are called “the children of God.”  Nevertheless these things will be more perfectly fulfilled in heaven. ________________________

THIRD ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 69, Art. 3]

Whether the Beatitudes Are Suitably Enumerated?

Objection 1:  It would seem that the beatitudes are unsuitably enumerated.  For the beatitudes are assigned to the gifts, as stated above (A. 1, ad 1).  Now some of the gifts, viz. wisdom and understanding, belong to the contemplative life:  yet no beatitude is assigned to the act of contemplation, for all are assigned to matters connected with the active life.  Therefore the beatitudes are insufficiently enumerated.

Obj. 2:  Further, not only do the executive gifts belong to the active life, but also some of the directive gifts, e.g. knowledge and counsel:  yet none of the beatitudes seems to be directly connected with the acts of knowledge or counsel.  Therefore the beatitudes are insufficiently indicated.