ВЕСЕЛЬЕ

If one who hopes to receive an inheritance or achieve high power, not only at the time of receiving, but even before actually receiving it, is enlivened by hope and during all this time becomes delighted with expectation, then imagine in what state should be one who expects the eternal and immortal Kingdom and such blessings as “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no one has entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9). That's why he says: “You have filled my heart with joy” (Ps. 4:8). It was the action of the greatest Providence of God that He prepared and communicated such goodness even then. If people who are more rude, carnal and tied to the earth do not heed this, then discontent and confusion arise not from the Promised One, but from their ignorance. And he did not simply say: You filled my heart with joy, but: my heart, expressing that its joy did not come from external objects, not from slaves, not from gold and silver, not from clothes, not from a luxurious table, not from the greatness of power, not from the splendor of the home. This is fun not of the heart, but of the eyes alone. Many of those who have acquired these benefits even consider life not to be worth living; they carry a cave of sorrows in their souls, exhausted from many worries and tormented by constant fear. But my joy, he says, is not in this, but in the rational heart, the disembodied soul, thinking about the incorporeal. If real blessings please you, then understand from them the Providence of God; but learn all the more from future blessings, the more excellent, constant and unchangeable they are. If the fact that you enjoy wealth and prosperity convinces you of the existence of God’s Providence, then all the more let heavenly wealth lead you to such a conviction. And if you say: why are those blessings only in hope and unknown? - then I will say that we believers consider these expected benefits to be more known than visible benefits: such is the conviction of faith. If you also say: why don’t we receive reward here? - then I will say that here is a time of labor and exploits, and there - crowns and awards. And it was the work of God’s Providence that labors and exploits were determined for this life, short and fleeting, and rewards and crowns were postponed until life immortal and ageless (2). You might be interested in: