there is hope that the rest of the body will follow." Give God thanks, for having vouchsafed to call you to His holy service, and contemplate the happiness that will accompany the reward of your fidelity to that service.
II. " Heavenly happiness," as divines observe, from Boetius, " is a state made perfect by the concurrence of every good." In heaven no evil can assail you, and there will be nothing wanting for which you can possibly wish. " There" (writes St. Gregory), " there will be light without eclipse, joy without sighs, desire without pain, love without sorrow, satiety without cloying, safety without danger, life without death, health without impairment, and so of every other kind of happiness, without the mixture of any evil, from which nothing in this life is free."
III. All this excess of happiness will be eternal and cannot be lost. After uncounted millions of ages, these joys will be equally intense and equally new. " Your joys," says Christ, "no man shall take from you." (John xvi. 22.) Reflect how different are the enjoyments of this life; how full of fear, how mixed with sorrow, how surrounded with anxiety and danger, and finally, how brief. Of earthly joys St. Bernard writes, "While they are possessed, they burthen; while they are loved, they defile; and when they are passed, they torment." Examine your past life and see if this be not an accurate description of all your unlawful enjoyments. If it be, then prefer the joys of heaven to all that this wretched earth can give.
