Meditations

TRUE JOY. I looked upon laughter as a dream, and I said to joy, Why do you deceive me? Ecclesiastes 2.2. The world rejoices as do sick persons who are in the throes of delirium, or as do sleepers who have pleasant dreams. People thrash about, but only in vain, because they are committed to a hollow image, a passing figure, a fleeting shadow. When we are in that state, we rejoice, but only because we are deceiving ourselves into believing we possess many things, when actually we do not possess anything at all. If we have sought after the world's joy, when we awake from death, we will find ourselves empty-handed. And then, how ashamed we will be of our joy! How terrible, therefore, for people who find false comfort in this world, that will exclude them from true comfort. So let us never stop saying to the vain and fleeting joy inspired by this world, Why do you deceive me so rudely? Nothing is worthy of giving us joy except our blessed hope. Everything else, because it is not founded on that hope, is only a dream.