Chapter 7. The First Means of Attaining to the Kingdom of God.

LET us now consider what is necessary to be done, in order that we may possess this most blessed and happy kingdom. But we need not say much on this point, since the King of heaven himself came upon earth to teach us ; and thus, as our Master and Leader, he has pointed out to us four most excellent and secure means. The first is : " Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you/' Our end is the kingdom of God, which kingdom will be given to us if we arrive there by the way pointed out to us by our Leader. Now, the " justice" of this kingdom is the mark at which we ought to aim, if we wish to gain the reward. For Cassian, in his first " Colloquy," teaches the end is one thing and thejmark another; the mark is the sign to which the arrows are directed, the end is the reward which those receive who reach that mark. Now, the mark proposed by God for our actions is "justice," and the reward the kingdom of heaven. But the justice of God is not

goods and evils of this life with those of the next, the world would become a desert, because there would be no one that would attend to the affairs of this life. (See the "Spirit" of St. Liguori.)

the justice of the Scribes and the Pharisees, which consisted merely in the external ob servance of the law ; nor is it the justice of the philosophers, which, corrupted by sin, did not extend beyond the light of reason. But it is the justice of the Gospel which teaches us, "to love God with our whole heart, with our whole soul, with our whole strength, and our neighbour (though our enemy) as ourselves." Of this end St. Paul speaks : " You have your fruit ^ unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting." (Romans, chap. vi. 22.) This is the lesson, therefore, which our Master teaches us, " First of all to seek the kingdom of God and His justice:" ^ that is, our chief con cern and only desire should be directed, not towards temporal goods, but to obtain the kingdom of heaven, by a perfect and most diligent observance of this first and greatest commandment. But because few do this, therefore " many are called, but few are chosen ;" for many live in such a manner that the kingdom of heaven is but a secondary consideration with them, and the justice of God an indifferent object, as if our Lord had said, " Seek first the kingdom of this ivorld and its pleasures, and the kingdom of God shall be added unto you." But not so insignificant is the king dom of God, that it should be forced or those who prefer everything else to its pos session. But if we wish to learn an eas;y way to obtain the justice of God, whict

most truly and certainly leads to this king dom, let us hear Christ, our Teacher: " Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their nil. Is it then, O Lord, so easy to find justice with thee, that it is sufficient only to hunger and thirst" after it? Truly blessed would all the poor be, if, merely by being hungry and thirsty after money, they could be so filled with it as to desire nothing more. But one is quite different from the other. For they who hunger sad. thirst after justice— that is, they who seek justice as anxiously and as eagerly as those who suffer from thirst and desire water, or from hunger and desire food— these always think of jfistice, they aspire after it and what is far better, they ask it of God with many and unceasing tears. Such petitions Uod always listens to with joy ; and He so falls them with the riches of His justice, that, being satiated thereby, they produce the words and the works of justice. But money is not such a good that he who desires it, or asks it of God, is immediately heard ; for many abuse their riches, but justice no one can abuse. In fine, justice is like wisdom, of which St. James speaks: " If any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him. 0 unspeakable clemency of our Lord, who more easily and willingly grants what is necessary tor us, than we ask or desire it from Him ! It,

therefore, we stand in need of ^ the wisdom of the saints, or of the gifts of justice, both of which are necessary for us to obtain the kingdom of heaven, let us ask them of God from our heart, seriously, with sighs and tears, and we shall surely obtain them. God giveth to all that ask in this manner ; nor doth He repel any one, or give^ cove tously or moderately, but bountifully : neither doth He rebuke us, as if He were angry that we besought Him so often. What can we say, then ? Who can bring excuse for his ignorance or infirmity in the day of judgment ? Seek only after justice, and ask it of God, and thou shalt be so filled that no more wilt thou desire the delights of the flesh, nor the allurements of honours, or of any other earthly good ; but thou wilt live in this world so justly, soberly, and piously, as to arrive in the next at an eternal kingdom.