Even in this life, God rewards and provides for those who practice His Virtues
4 min • Digitized on December 18, 2021
From The Sinner’s Guide, page 124
By Venerable Louis of Granada
If you still tell me that the path of virtue is rugged, that its duties are difficult, I beg you to consider the abundant and powerful aids which God gives you.
Such are the infused virtues, interior graces, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the sacraments of the New Law, with other divine favors, which are to us like sails to a ship, or wings to a bird, to help us on our voyage to eternity.
Reflect upon the very name and nature of virtue. It is a noble habit, which, like all other habits, ought to make us act with facility and pleasure.
Remember also that Christ has promised His followers not only the riches of glory, but those of grace: the former for the life to come, the latter for this present life. “The Lord,” says the prophet, “will give grace and glory.” [Ps. lxxxiii. 12.] The treasures of grace are for this life, and the riches of glory are for the next.
Consider further with what care God provides for the necessities of all creatures. How generously He supplies even the smallest creatures with all that is necessary to the end for which they were created!
Is it not unreasonable, then, to think that He will disregard the necessities of man, the most important of which is virtue, and leave him a prey to his weak will, his darkened understanding, and his corrupt nature?
The world and the prince of darkness are most assiduous in procuring vain pleasures and joys for those who serve them. Can you doubt, then, that God will grant refreshment, light, and peace to His faithful in the midst of the labors performed for Him?
What did God wish to teach us by the words of the prophet? “You shall return, and shall see the difference between the just and the wicked, and between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.” [Malach. iii. 18.] Was it not that if we would be converted we would see and know, even in this life, the rewards of the good, “the difference between the just and the wicked”?
We would behold the contrast between the true riches of the just and the poverty of the wicked; between the joy of the former and the misery of the latter; between the peace of the one and the conflicts of the other; between the light with which the good are surrounded, and the darkness by which the wicked are enveloped.
Experience will show you the real value of virtue and how far it exceeds your former anticipations.
Upon another occasion God replied in like manner to men who, having been deceived by appearances, ridiculed the virtuous, saying: “Let the Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your joy.” [Isaias lxvi. 5.] After depicting the torments which God’s justice prepares for the wicked, Isaias thus describes the happiness reserved for the just:
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her. That you may suck, and be filled with the breasts of her consolation; that you may milk out, and flow with delights, from the abundance of her glory.
For thus saith the Lord: Behold I will bring upon her as it were a river of peace, and as an overflowing torrent, the glory of the gentiles, which you shall suck; you shall be carried at the breasts, and upon the knees they shall caress you.
As one whom the mother caresseth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And you shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb, and the hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants. [Isaias lxvi. 10-15.]
Yes, “the hand of the Lord shall be known to His servants”; for as men by the beauties and wonders of the universe judge of the infinite beauty and omnipotence of God, so shall the just recognize the infinite love and goodness of God in the incomparable joys and favors which He will bestow upon them.