Page:PracticeOfChristianAndReligiousPerfectionV1.djvu/38

 ing to  his  birth,  quality,  and  profession,  longs  very  much  for some civil,  military,  or  ecclesiastical  preferment. Scarce, however, does  he  obtain  the  object  of  his  desire,  when  he  begins  to contemn  it,  and  to  fix  his  eyes  on  something  else,  which,  when obtained, he  is,  in  like  manner,  as  soon  weary  of:  in  short, unable to  regulate  his  ambition  or  to  set  bounds  to  his  desires, he still  gapes  after  something  new,  and  never  rests  satisfied  with what he  has. But it  is  not  so  in  spiritual  things. For when we have  them  not,  we  feel  for  them  disrelish  and  aversion;  but when once  we  possess  them,  it  is  then  we  begin  to  know  their value; it  is  then  we  set  still  higher  value  on  them,  and  the more we  taste  them,  the  more  earnestly  we  seek  after  them. The reason  of  this  difference,  says  this  great  saint,  is,  that  the enjoyment of  temporal  goods  unfolds  to  us  their  vanity  and emptiness; so  that  not  finding  in  them  the  satisfaction  we hoped  for,  we  contemn  what  we  possess;  and  expecting  to  find in something  else  the  content  we  seek  after,  we  suffer  ourselves to be  carried  away  by  new  desires. But still  we  deceive  ourselves— these  new  desires  will  meet  the  same  fate  as  the  others. For, as  we  are  not  made  for  this  world,  there  is  in  it  nothing, which can  fully  satiate  our  appetite. This is  what  our  Saviour taught the  Samaritan  woman,  when  he  told  her,  "  Whoever drinks  of  this  water  shall  thirst  again"  (John,  iv.  13);  because all the  pleasures  of  this  life  cannot  quench  the  thirst  of  man, who is  created  for  heaven. But as  to  spiritual  goods  and pleasures, we  never  love  or  desire  them  so  much,  as  when  we possess  them;  because  then  we  best  know  their  value,  and  the more perfectly  we  possess  them,  the  greater  is  our  desire  and thirst after  them. The same  St.  Gregory  says,  it  is  not  to  be wondered,  that  we  do  not  desire  spiritual  things,  when  so  far from having  experienced  how  sweet  they  are,  we  have  not  even begun to  taste  them:  "For  how  can  any  one  love  that  he  is ignorant  of?" (Hom. 16.)    The  Apostle  St.  Peter  also  says,  "If nevertheless  you  have  tasted  how  sweet  the  Lord  is"  (1  Pet  ii. 3) ;  and  the  Royal  Prophet,  "  Taste  and  see  how  sweet  the  Lord is." (Ps. xxxiii.  9.)   Because  when  once  we  begin  to  taste the Lord,  and  to  relish  spiritual  things,  we  shall  experience such sweetness  in  them,  as  to  render  our  desires  of  them  insatiable. By these  words,  then,  "those  who  eat  me  shall  yet hunger,  and  those  who  drink  me  shall  yet  thirst,"  we  must understand, that  the  more  assiduously  we  apply  ourselves  to