Visio Dei

Visio Dei

“No man ever saw God and lived”; and yet I shall not live till I see God;

And when I have seen Him I shall never die.

What have I ever seen in this world that hath been truly the same thing that it seemed to me?

I have seen marble buildings, and a chip, a crust, a plaster, a face of marble hath peeled off, and I see brick-bowels within.

I have seen beauty, and a strong breath from another tells me that complexion is from without, not from a sound constitution within.

I have seen the state of princes, and all that is but ceremony; and I would be loath to put a master of ceremonies to define ceremony and tell me what it is, and to include so variousa thing as ceremony in so constant a thing as a definition.

I see a great officer, and I see a man of mine own profession, of great revenues, and I see not the interest of the money that was paid for it, I see not the pensions nor the annuities that are charged upon that office or that church.

As he that fears God fears nothing else, so he that sees God sees everything else.

When we shall see God sicuti est, as He is, we shall see all things sicuti sunt, as they are;
for that’s their essence, as they conduce to His glory.

We shall be no more deluded with outward appearances: for when this sight which we intend here comes, there will be no delusory thing to be seen.

All that we have made as though we saw in this world will be vanished, and I shall see nothing but God, and what is in Him.

(John Donne)