“The soul, for the immediate vision of God, requires the light of glory.”

God has created each of us all with a special purpose. Each one us us was created with a particular task. One way to define sin is to say that we sin when we turn away from that task to which God calls us. After all, God is the potter of our clay bodies, and as a potter determines the use of a vessel so to does God determine our use. When we turn away from our use, and try to be a chamber pot instead of a wine jug, God's glory departs from us.

Put another way, when one looks away from a light, one fails to see the light. When the moon is at your back, you cannot see the moon. So too is our journey on this earth. When we turn from the path God has set for us, we abandon and lose the light of His glory. Hence, through sin (that turning away from the path God set for us) we have tripped up and fell in the mud. We soiled and marred ourselves such that we have lost God's glory in our life. Rather than looking up at the moon, our face is in the mud and roots of the earth – therefore we cannot see the moon's radiance.

God in His mercy restores that light to those who turn back to Him. If you turn around and look at the moon, you again see its light. If you are cleaned out, you can again be used for wine. The act of turning around is no small task. In this world few (e.g. Moses, Mary, and some of Jesus' Disciples) of us have been able to make that turn and see the face of God. For most of us, if we receive a vision of God will be upon our death. Regardless as to if we first see Him here in this world or in the one to come, we will certainly need our lack of glory repaired. Without the light of glory one cannot see God. Luckily for us, God Himself will provide the necessary glory to have the vision of Him (cf. Isaiah, Baruch and Revelation).

This dogma then, states the very obvious. It states that upon our death, we need the grace of God to illumine our view of God. God has all the glory, but we need Him to give us some if we are to be able to see Him. This dogma and the previous together show how a simpleton in a dark room needs both light to see a chair and a brain to understand that what a chair is. It is a practical expression of just how far God is above us.

Further Reading: The Transfiguration of Christ (Matthew 17:1-8).