" Laughter I counted error, and to mirth I said, why art thou vainly deceived?" (Eccles. ii. 2.) Reflect how, on the contrary, you are continually seeking your own satisfaction and enjoyment, and how to these you frequently sacrifice your content.
II. Consider the example of Jesus Christ on this subject. St. Chrysostom writes: " You will often find Christ weeping, but never laughing." And Solomon remarks: "The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of fools where there is mirth." (Eccles. vii. 5.) Reflect what reasons you have to imitate the example of so great a master, and rank yourself with the wise, rather than the foolish.
III. Consider the reward attached to mourning. " They shall be comforted," in this life with Divine enlightenment and the testimony of a good conscience, and in the next, " they shall be inebriated," O God, " with the plenty of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure." (Ps. xxxv. 9.) Lament, therefore, your own and your neighbors' sins, for they, who sow in tears, shall reap in joy. On the contrary, "Wo to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep," (Luke, vi. 25.) as it is written in the Apocalypse, " As much as she hath glorified herself, and hath been in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give unto her." (Apoc. xviii. 7.)
SATURDAY
The Fourth Beatitude.
I. "Blessed are they, that hunger and thirst after justice." These pious souls desire everything, without exception, to be fulfilled, which justice and our obligations
