Chapter 4: Of Those Who Find Comfort In The Recollection Of God, Or Are Fittest For His Love
Chapter 4: Of Those Who Find Comfort In The Recollection Of God, Or Are Fittest For His Love
But there is a distinction in the generation that receives comfort in the recollection of God. For it is not that perverse and crooked generation to whom it was said, "Woe unto you who are rich; for you have received your consolation" (Luke 6:24), but that which can truly say "My soul refused to be comforted" Psalm (77:2). For this we completely believe, when it is added, "I am mindful of God, and am comforted." It is right that those who receive not delight from his presence, may have in mind future things, and that those who refuse to be comforted by the affluence of passing things, should receive joy from being mindful of eternity. And this is the generation of those who seek the Lord, seeking not the things that are their own, but the face of the God of Jacob.
To those who long for the presence of the God, the thought of him is sweet, yet they are not satiated, but hunger ever more for him who will satisfy them, as he who is our food testifies of himself, saying, "they who eat me shall still hunger" (Ecclus.24:21); and he who was fed said, "I will be satisfied when your glory appears." Yet blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, since they, and not others shall be filled. Woe to you, wicked and perverse generation; woe to you, foolish and unwise people, who hate Christ's memory, and dread His presence! And rightly so: for you do not seek deliverance from the snare of the hunter; for "they who wish to be rich in this world fall into the devil's snare," (1 Timothy 6:9) nor shall that escape that dreadful sentence. O dreadful sentence indeed, O hard saying: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire!" (Matthew 25:41) How much harder to bear than that other saying which we repeat daily in church, in memory of the Passion: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life" (John 6:54), i.e., whoever honors my death and after my example mortifies his members which are upon the earth (Colossians 3:5) has eternal life, i.e., "If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him" (2 Timothy 2:12). And yet many even today recoil from these words and go away, saying not by words, but by deeds, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" (John 6:60).
Thus "the generation that sets not their heart aright, and whose spirit trusts not in God" (Psalm 78:8), but places its hopes rather in uncertain riches, is disturbed at the very name of the cross, and judges the memory of the passion intolerable. How can such sustain the burden of that fearful sentence, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels?" "On whomsoever that stone shall fall, it will grind him to powder" (Luke 20:18); but "the generation of the faithful shall be blessed" (Psalm 112:2), since, like the apostle, they labor that whether present or absent they may be accepted by the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:9). Finally they shall hear, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34).
In that day those who set not their hearts aright will feel, too late, how easy is Christ's yoke to which they would not bend their necks, and how light is his burden, in comparison with the pains they must then endure. You wretched slaves of Mammon, you cannot simultaneously glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the treasures of money: you cannot simultaneously go after gold and taste and see how sweet the Lord is. If you have not felt joy at his memory, you will feel wrath at his presence.
But the faithful soul longs and pants for God, and rests sweetly in the memory of him. Until the glory of his face is revealed, she glories in the reproach of the Cross. Like the Bride, the dove of Christ, that is covered with silver wings (Psalm 68:13), white with innocence and purity, she reposes in the thought of thine abundant kindness, Lord Jesus; and above all she longs for that day when in the joyful splendor of thy saints, gleaming with the radiance of the Beatific Vision, her feathers shall be like gold, resplendent with the joy of thy countenance.
Rightly then she may exult and say, "His left hand is under my head and His right hand embraces me." The left hand signifies the memory of that love, than which there is no greater love, to lay down His life for his friends; and the right hand is the Beatific Vision which he has promised to his own, and the delight they have in his presence. Concerning this the psalmist sings with joy, "At thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore" (Psalm 16:11): rightly, then, we may explain the right hand as that divine and deifying joy of His presence.
Rightly too is that wondrous and ever-memorable love symbolized as His left hand, upon which the Bride rests her head until iniquity be done away: for he sustains the purpose of her mind, lest it should be turned aside to earthly, carnal desires. For the flesh wars against the spirit: "The corruptible body presses down the soul and the earthly tabernacle weighs down the mind that thinks upon many things" (Wisdom 9:15). What could result from the contemplation of compassion so marvelous and so undeserved, favor so free and so well attested, kindness so unexpected, clemency so unconquerable, grace so amazing, except that the soul should withdraw from all sinful affections, reject all that is inconsistent with God's love, and yield herself wholly to heavenly things? It is no wonder that the Bride, moved by the perfume of these unctions, runs swiftly, all on fire with love, yet reckons herself as loving all too little in return for the Bridegroom's love.
And rightly, since it is no great matter that a little dust should be all consumed with love of that Majesty which loved her first and which revealed itself as wholly bent on saving her. For "God so loved the world that he gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
This sets forth the Father's love. But "He has poured out His soul unto death," was written of the Son (Isaiah 53:12). And of the Holy Spirit it is said, "The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in My name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26).
It is plain, therefore, that God loves us, and loves us with all His heart; for the Holy Trinity altogether loves us, if we may venture so to speak of the infinite and incomprehensible Godhead who is essentially one.