Who Finds Comfort in God

IT is well to consider who they are that feel comforted by the thought of God. Not those, degraded, who continually vex God, and to whom it is said : “Woe, ye rich, unto you, for you have received your consolation ;” but such as can say with truth : “ My soul hath refused to be com forted.” Well may those who have not yet the joy of the Beloved's presence fix their gaze upon the future ; and they who disdain to accept of any thing from the stream of passing pleasure, enjoy abundantly, in hope, those joys which shall last for ever. Such are they who seek the face of the Lord, the God of Jacob, and not themselves. The thought of God is sweet to those who sigh after Him, and with every breath recall His presence ; but, far from appeasing their hunger for Him, it increases it. This He foretold in the words : “They that eat Me shall yet hunger,” and, as if c he spake that hungers : “ I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall appear.” Yet happy are they even now who hunger and thirst after justice, for only they shall be filled. Woe to you, O perverse, wicked race ; woe to you, senseless and besotted people, who do not love the thought of Him, but dread His appearing. Good right ye have to fear, because ye will not now escape from the net of the fowler; for they that will “become rich fall into the snares of the devil.” In that day ye shall not fail to fall under the awful, aye and hopeless sentence : “ Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.” But how sweet, how tender is that promise which we hear the Church make every day in remembrance of the Passion : “ He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath everlasting life ; “ which implies, he that honours My death, and after My example mortifies his flesh upon earth, shall have eternal life ; or, if you suffer with Me, you shall also reign with Me. Nevertheless, even to this day, many hearing those words turn and go away sorrowful, saying by their deeds, if not with their lips : “ This is a hard say ing, who can bear it?” They who, in place of keeping their hearts pure and being faithful to God, love better to set their affections upon uncertain treasures, cannot abide the mention of the Cross ; the mere thought of the Passion seems intolerable to them. How will such endure the sentence of the Judge : “ Go, ye cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels “? These words will crush, like a vast rock, those upon whom they fall. But the Saints shall be blest. Like the Apostle, they have no ambition but to ''please God while absent from Him, and still to please Him when they shall be present.” They also shall hear their sentence : “ Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you.” In that day those who have not kept their hearts aright will, too late, feel how sweet and light is the yoke and burden of Christ, which they proudly refused to bear, through the hard ness of their heart, as if it were a vile and crushing weight. It is impossible, poor slaves, to toil for this world's riches, and also to glory in the Cross of our Saviour Jesus Christ ; at the same time to desire and labour for earthly things and to taste the sweetness of our Lord. Very fearful you will certainly find Him one day, the thought of whom has never been your joy.

But the believing soul sighs with all her heart after God, and dwells upon the thought of Him ; she glories in the disgrace of the Cross, so long as she cannot see her Saviour face to face. She is as the dove of Christ, and she enjoys sleep and rest in the midst of the goods that He has bestowed on her. Her wings are white as silver through the purity and innocence which belong, O Lord Jesus, to the desire of Thine ineffable sweet ness ; and moreover her hope is that, in the glory reflected from Thy face, her “feathers will shine like gold,” and she will overflow with joy and be inundated with light from Thy countenance in the rapture of the Saints. Good reason has she, there fore, to say now with delight: “His left hand is under my head, and His right shall embrace me.” His left hand is the memory of that love whose great ness none can ever equal, by which He laid down His life for those whom He loved. His right hand is the beatific vision He has promised to His own, and the content with which He will fill and crown them when they shall enjoy His divine presence. It is written in the Psalms: “At Thy right hand there are delights even to the end.” His right hand is therefore justly made the figure of that divine and deifying, that inconceivable felicity which belongs to the vision of God. In like manner the left hand is as the seat of that amazing charity of which I have spoken, of which we can never think too much, for it is upon this hand that the Bride lays her head and rests until this iniquity shall pass away. We may understand her head to mean the intention of her soul, which she leans upon the arm of her Spouse, lest through weakness she might fall away to mere earthly attractions ; for the earthly and corruptible burden of the body weighs heavily upon the soul, and drags it down from thoughts to which she cannot fail to rise' if she rests upon the contemplation of mercy, to which she had so little claim, love so lavish and so amply proved, gentleness and sweetness so persevering and so exquisite, such unimagined honour. Is it possible that these should not exalt the mind that meditates upon them, detaching it from all un worthy affection, sinking deeper and deeper into it, and making it scorn all which cannot be relished without renouncing these higher enjoyments ? Their sweetness, like rare scents, attracts her ; she quickens her step blithely, and her heart is all aflame with love. The sense of being loved so tenderly makes her fancy herself cold, though love be her very life. What return is it for a love that comes down from so high, and is so marvellous, if a poor grain of dust be all consumed with grati tude and love? Was not the Majesty of heaven the first to love? Has it not revealed itself as wholly devoted to the work of saving her? For “ God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” This is clearly written of God the Father. And again: “He hath delivered His soul to death;” this is said of the Son. And of the Holy Spirit we read : “ The Paraclete whom My Father will give you in My name, He will teach you all things, and will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” Hereby we see that God loves us, and loves us with His whole being; for the Blessed Trinity altogether loves us, if we dare so to speak of the infinite incomprehensible Being who is one and indivisible.