The Just enjoy the sweetest, loveliest joys especially during Prayer
3 min • Digitized on January 7, 2022
From The Sinner’s Guide, page 160
By Venerable Louis of Granada
That it is particularly in prayer that just souls enjoy these divine consolations is a truth we now wish to prove.
This God Himself tells us: “The children of the stranger that adhere to the Lord, to worship Him, and to love His name, to be His servants; every one that keepeth the Sabbath from profaning it, and that holdeth fast My covenant, I will bring them into My holy mount, and will make them joyful in My house of prayer.” [Isaias lvi. 6, 7.]
Hence St. Lawrence Justinian tells us that the hearts of the just are inflamed in prayer with love for their Creator; that they are frequently raised above themselves and transported in spirit to the abode of the Angels, where, in presence of their God, they unite their praise to that of the celestial choirs.
They weep and rejoice, for the sighs of their exile mingle with the anticipations of their blessed country. They feast, but are never filled. They drink, but are never satisfied. They unceasingly long to be transformed into Thee, O Lord! Whom they contemplate with faith, Whom they adore wdth humility, Whom they seek with desire, Whom they possess and enjoy through love.
The powers of their mind are inadequate to comprehend this happiness which penetrates their whole being, yet they tremble to lose it. Even as Jacob wrestled with the Angel, so do their hearts struggle to retain this divine sweetness amid the turmoil and trouble of this world, crying out with the Apostle: “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” [St. Matt. xvii. 4.]
When inflamed with this divine fire the soul longs to be freed from her prison of clay 1. She waters her bread with her tears, that the hour of her deliverance may not be delayed. She mourns that she has learned so late the enjoyment of these treasures which God has prepared for all men.
She longs to proclaim them in public places, crying to the deluded victims of this world: “O unhappy people, senseless men! Whither are you hastening? What is the object of your search? Why will you not seek happiness at its source? ‘Taste and see that the Lord is sweet; blessed is the man that hopeth in Him.’” [Ps. xxxii. 9.]
“What have I, O Lord! in Heaven, and besides Thee what do I desire upon earth? For Thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away; Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.” [Ps. lxxii. 25, 26.]
1 “Not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed” as St. Paul says. For the flesh is good, as God made all things good; but Original Sin has made it a source of anguish for us, since it so often tries to draw us away from God. We will feel such great relief when we are freed from that burden by the flesh becoming completely subordinate to the soul in the Resurrection of the Just.