There are three things which, besides the pleasure that the will receives from the good apprehended by the intellect, will beget the greatest joys properly within the will itself. One is the most ardent and inextinguishable love of God and of neighbor: for love is the chief seasoning of all lovable things. He who loves judges all that he loves to be most beautiful and best; and therefore he rejoices greatly in their sight and company, and grieves inconsolably at their absence or loss. We see parents, who by nature love their children dearly, believe them to be most beautiful, most gifted, most prudent, although they are often deformed and destitute of talent and judgment; and if the choice were given them, they would not exchange their children for any others judged by other men to be better and more beautiful. We often see men too, smitten with love for deformed persons — whether by some enchantment or by some chance — whom they judge it most delightful to be with, and most wretched to be torn away from. And this surely nothing causes but love — the seasoning, as we said, of all things lovely. Since these things are so, how great and of what kind will be the pleasure of the blessed, when they shall dwell forever with God and with all the blessed, whom they will always love most ardently — and who are not by a false judgment but most truly most beautiful and best, and from whom they know they will never be torn away? On the contrary, one of the greatest torments of hell will be to dwell forever with those whom they most hate, and by whom they know they were ensnared by a thousand wiles.
A second thing that will beget great joy in the will of the blessed will be a certain incomparable rest, and a satiety without loathing, which will render them peaceful and content in every way. For here on earth there is no one content with his lot, no one who does not desire many things which he cannot obtain. Hence all live famished, all thirsty, all restless. Nor should this seem strange, since our soul is capable of an infinite and everlasting good, while created things are small and frail, and cannot long endure. What a joy, then, will it be for the man who sees himself set in that place where he will live wholly content in every respect — where he will desire nothing, fear nothing, feel the want of nothing, and strive for nothing more? O peace that surpasses all understanding, which the world cannot give, and which is found only in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the peaceful and great King! For you our pilgrimage sighs — our pilgrimage, which, full of temptations and anxieties, rests a little only in the remembrance and expectation of you.
A third thing that brings great joy to the blessed will is justice — and a perfect justice, more perfect than the original justice in Adam. That justice subjected the lower part to the higher only so long as the higher was subject to God; but this subjects the lower part to the higher, and the higher to God, with a most firm and indissoluble bond. That was like a garment of wool or of linen; this is like a garment of pure silk, or of gold, which makes the will most beautiful and lovely to God, and to itself, and to the Angels, and to all the blessed. This is that perfect justice which admits no stain, not even a venial one, so that of the soul clothed in such a garment it may be said: "Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee" (Song 4:7). It encloses within itself all the virtues, which have no imperfection mingled in them. And how great a delight and gladness this justice brings, the Wise Man bears witness in Proverbs when he says: "A secure mind is like a continual feast" (Prov. 15:15). But that mind alone is secure which conscience never gnaws at, because through perfect justice it is so established in good that it cannot slip even for a moment. Witness also is the Apostle Paul, who says: "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17).
Where the holy Apostle plainly teaches that the kingdom of heaven indeed comprises great pleasure within itself, but that this lies not in the delight of the palate and the filling of the belly, as carnal and sensual men might wish; but in justice, which begets in the soul a solid peace and a true joy. For he who is perfectly just has nothing in his heart that rebukes him, nor anything in his actions that can be rebuked by others. Hence arises a most solid and most sweet peace with God, and with himself, and with all others. And hence is born an ineffable joy in the Holy Spirit, to which no earthly or temporal gladness can be compared.