Noah's Ark III
The difference between the love of God and the
love of the world is this: the love of this world seems at the outset sweet, but
has a bitter end; the love of God, by contrast, is bitter to begin with, but is
full of sweetness in its end. This, in a most beautiful allegorical sense for
it was uttered of our Bridegroom's wedding is shown by the Gospel when it says:
'Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and only after men have
drunk well that which is inferior; but thou hast kept the good wine until now.'
Every man, that is, carnal man, does indeed set forth good wine at the
beginning, for he finds a certain spurious sweetness in his pleasure. But once
the rage of his evil longing has saturated his mind, then he provides inferior wine
to drink, because a sudden pricking of conscience assails his thought, which
till now had enjoyed a spurious delight, and grievously torments him. Our
Bridegroom, on the other hand, offers the good wine last when He allows the
heart, which He intends to fill with the sweetness of His love, first to pass beneath
the bitter harrow of afflictions; so that, having tasted bitterness, it may
quaff with greater eagerness the most sweet cup of charity. And this is 'the
first sign' which Jesus made in His
disciples presence and they believed on
Him; for the repentant sinner first begins to trust God's mercy when he feels his
heart cheered by the consolation of the Holy Spirit after long weariness of
grief.
Let us then see what we can do to attain the love
of God, for He will integrate and stabilize our hearts, He will restore our peace
and give us ceaseless joy. But nobody can love that which he does not know; and
so, if we desire to love God, we must first make it our business to know Him,
and this especially since He cannot be known without being loved. For so great is
the beauty of His loveliness that no one who sees Him can fail to love Him. A
man who wants to make himself acquainted with another person's character and
inmost thoughts gets on to friendly terms with him, and is often at his house
and in the company of those who are his intimates. And if he
perceives this man's affairs to be well and wisely ordered, he at once becomes
the more certain of his excellence, and immediately considers him worthy of his
love because he knows that he has found such patent proofs of his worth.
Let us likewise, therefore, inquire where God dwells,
where His abode may be; let us interrogate His friends concerning Him. If He is
wise, if He is faithful, then He merits praise. If He is kind, if He is
merciful, if He is humble, then He merits love. He is wise, if He governs His
house well. He is faithful, if it is not in Him to deceive those who serve
Him. If He freely pardons those who sin, then He is kind. If He is pitiful to persons
in affliction, then He is merciful. And He is lowly, if He rules His subjects
not by oppressing but by helping them.
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