When the soul shall have once entered into the happy kingdom of God, there shall be nothing to molest her. “Nihil est quod nolit.” “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more; for the former things are passed away. And he that sat on the throne said: Behold, I make all things new”—Apoc., xxi. 4, 5. In Heaven there is no infirmity, no poverty, no distress; there are no longer the vicissitudes of days and nights, nor of cold and heat; but a perpetual day always serene, an eternal spring always delightful. There are no persecutions, no envy. In that kingdom of love, all love each other tenderly, and each rejoices in the good of the others as if it were his own. There are no fears; because the soul, being confirmed in grace, can no longer sin, nor lose her God. “Behold, I make all things new.” Every thing is new; every thing gives consolation and content. “Totum est quod velit.”
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But the joys we have been hitherto considering, are the least of the blessings of Heaven. The good which constitutes Heaven is God himself, the sovereign good. “Totum quod expectamus,” says St. Augustine, “duae syllabae sunt—Deus.” The reward which God promises us, is not merely the beauty, the harmony, and the other joys of this blessed city; the chief reward is God himself,—that is, to see and love God face to face. “I am thy reward exceeding great”—Gen., xv. 1.
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What sweetness does not a soul experience when, by a ray of light, God unfolds to her in prayer his goodness, the mercies he has shown her, and the love which Jesus Christ has borne, and still bears, to her! In such moments, the soul melts and faints away through love. Yet in this life we do not see God as he is: we see him only in the dark. “We now see through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face”—I. Cor., xiii. 12. At present there is a veil before our eyes, and God is seen only with the eyes of faith; but what shall be our joy when the veil shall be removed, and we shall see God face to face? We shall then see the infinite beauty of God, his infinite greatness, his justice, his perfection, his amiableness, and his infinite love for us.