degree of heavenly glory is an almost infinite good. St. Thomas of Aquin and St. Chrysostom, speaking of sanctifying grace, say that the least degree of heavenly glory, such as that apportioned to a child who dies just after baptism, is an immensely greater and more precious good than all possible goods of the whole world, even if God were to create millions of new worlds, and fill them with all sorts of delights; so that if the choice were given me between the supreme authority of all these worlds, with all the power, dignity, wealth, and pleasure that can be imagined in order to enable me to fill such a position, for not a hundred but a thousand millions of years in perfect peace, without trouble or annoyance of any kind; if I had to choose between this and the very lowest degree of glory in heaven, then without the least hesitation, if I acted rightly, I should take that lowest degree in preference to all this authority and prosperity on earth. The reason of this is evident: countless worlds with all their goods are after all only natural and finite things, but the good that is possessed and enjoyed in heavenly glory is the infinite God Himself; the authority over millions of worlds might last a thousand millions of years, but it must come to an end some time or other, while the glory of heaven can never diminish, and must last forever.
What a great good must not then be a still higher and higher degree of that glory! Now, my dear brethren, if the lowest degree of glory is so valuable, what shall we say of twenty, a hundred, a thousand, of millions of degrees of greater and greater glory in heaven, which any one as long as he lives may work for and attain by the grace of God? If, for instance, one piece of silver is worth a shilling, tow pieces of the same kind are double that value, and ten of them are ten times as much, a hundred are a hundred times more valuable, a thousand a thousand times, a million a million times; in the same way I say that a single degree of heavenly glory is such a precious treasure that it should not be bartered for countless worlds and worldly joys, then the second degree of glory is twice as precious, the hundredth, thousandth degree of increase is a hundred, a thousand times greater in value, and is a good that will last forever, and so on, according to the increase. Who can then understand or grasp the immensity of that good which consists in the increase of merit on earth and of eternal glory in heaven?
The saints in heaven understand this.
St. Theresa, who saw in a vision a small ray of the glory of the blessed, was so captivated by it and filled with astonishment that she afterwards acknowledged that not only does