ings here; therefore I must and will bear with joy what I now have to bear. My dear brethren, if in the midst of torments the mere sight of heaven and the Saviour therein caused St. Stephen such great joy, how indescribable must be the consolation and exultation of the just on that day when, freed from all tribulation, they shall see the whole heavens opened, and Christ in His majesty and glory surrounded with angels? when they shall hear His sweet voice calling and inviting them into His heaven: “Come, ye blessed of My Father”?[1] This joyful invitation shall form the subject of to-day’s meditation.
Plan of Discourse.
The invitation of the elect to heaven should be an incentive to all of us to endure joyfully any labor or trouble, cross or suffering that may occur in the service of God. Such is the whole subject.
Judge of the living and the dead! we beg of Thee through Thy dearest Mother and our holy guardian angels, to impress this loving invitation so deeply on our hearts that we may be encouraged so to live in future as to be amongst the number of the elect who are to hear that invitation.
Impossible to understand what the joy of the elect will be on hearing this sentence. When the sheep shall have been separated from the goats, the just from the wicked, each one according to his rank, which depends solely on his merit, being placed in the position assigned to him; when the books of conscience have been opened and the works of men, bad and good, have been juridically examined and published before heaven and earth down to the least idle word and the most secret thought, “then shall the King say to them that shall be on His right hand:” (lift up your eyes and heads, O chosen souls! hear the last sentence, the desirable invitation for which your bodies, long rotting in the earth, but now glorified, have been waiting so eagerly)—then shall the sovereign Judge with benignant countenance and in a most loving manner turn to His chosen children and say to them: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”[2] O comforting words! Before we consider them in due order, think, my dear brethren, how joyfully they must resound in the ears and minds of the just. But
