Hope and Heaven

There are some persons in this world who hope too much, and others who do not hope enough.

■ i

We wish to go to Heaven, but in all ease and comfort, without giving ourselves any trouble to get there ; this is not the way of the saints.

What would you say of a man who should till his neighbor’s field and leave his own uncultivated ? Ah ! this is just what you are doing. You dig continually in the conscience of others and leave your own conscience fallow. At the hour of death, what will not be our regret at having thought so much about others and so little about ourselves ! for we must render an account not of others, but of ourselves.

, We have always two secretaries, the demon who writes down our bad deeds, in order to accuse us, and our Guardian Angel, who records the good, in order to justify us at the Day of Judgment.

The demon amuses us until the last moment, just as one amuses a culprit, while awaiting the arrival of the officers who are to arrest him. When they seize him, he cries out, he struggles against them, but, nevertheless, they hold him fast.

When the record of our deeds is laid before God how little that is truly agreeable to Him, will even our best acts contain ! So many imperfections, so many thoughts of self-love, of human satisfaction, of sensual pleasure, of selfishness, will be found mingled with them ! They were good in appearance, but in appearance only, like those fruits which owe their apparent ripeness to the ravages of a worm.

What would you say of a father who treated a r good child and a naughty child alike ? You would say, “ This father is not just. ” Nor would God be just if He made no difference between those who serve and those who offend Him.

Thje earth is a bridge over which we pass from one shore of eternity to the other ; it is merely a foundation for our feet to rest upon.

In dying, we make restitution : we restore to earth what it gave us. ... A little pinch of dust — behold what we shall all become ! Is this much to be proud of ?

We resemble those little piles of sand heaped up in the road by the wind, appearing for a moment, turning round and round and immediately swept away. . . . Our dead brethren are already reduced to this handful of ashes.

For our body, death is only a purification.

In this world, we must labor, we must combat. We shall have ample time for rest in eternity.

Did we fully comprehend our happiness, we could almost say that we are more fortunate than the saints in Heaven. They live upon their income ; they can gain nothing more, while we, we can augment our treasure every moment.

What would you say of a person who should fill his house with a supply of perishable provisions, which must be thrown away because they will spoil, and yet who should make no attempt to collect gold, diamonds, or other precious stones that are imperishable and which would make his fortune ? . . . This is just what we do, we attach ourselves to matter, to that which must perish, and give no thought to the acquisition of Heaven, the only true treasure.

Go from place to place, from kingdom to kingdom, from grandeur to grandeur, from pleasure to pleasure, you will not find your happiness in any of these things. The entire world can no more satisfy an immortal soul than can a pinch of meal put into the mouth of one who is famishing, revive him.

What bliss is not that of the just when, at the end of the world, the soul embalmed with the perfumes of Heaven shall come to seek its body, that once more united they may enjoy God, during all eternity ! Then our bodies will come forth from the earth, like linen which has passed through the wash. . . . The bodies of the just shall shine in Heaven as magnificent diamonds, as globes of love !

What a cry of joy will resound through the air when the soul unites itself to its glorified body, now no longer an instrument of sin, nor an occasion of suffering for it ! In the balm of love will it revel, as the bee amid the flowers. Behold the soul embalmed for all eternity !

V **

hi, , h