bosom.”[1] Oh, truly a painful sight! Unhappy wretch that I am! he must have exclaimed; Abraham was rich as I was during life, and by making a proper use of his wealth gained eternal happiness; my riches have hurled me into hell, because I made a bad use of them! Lazarus was formerly a poor beggar, whom I looked on as less than my dog, and he now rejoices in Abraham’s bosom, and is a child of everlasting glory and happiness, while I lie here in the abyss of hell! O joys! of which I cannot hope for a single drop during eternity! O flames! in which I have to burn forever without hope of release! O lost heaven! that I am forced to contemplate against my will! O eternal dwelling-place of hell! in which I shall have to remain forever! “The rich man,” says St. John Chrysostom, “immersed in torments, has only his eyes at liberty, that he may see the other’s happiness, and be thus all the more punished.”[2] And the same can be said of every lost soul.
Again: as hatred and envy toward an enemy is one of the fiercest of passions. From this painful recollection and consideration of the loss of heaven comes another torture for the damned; for they are filled with the most bitter hatred and envy on account of the happiness of the elect, as I have explained on a former occasion. Envy and jealousy, my dear brethren, is one of the lowest passions that fills the heart with gall, and gnaws at it incessantly, especially when one cannot moderate the violence of the passion, nor hinder the happiness that excites it, but is on the contrary obliged to look on with unwilling eyes while his rival enjoys every delight. All other inordinate passions disturb the heart, but they bring with them some consolation and pleasure, while envy that arises from sorrow «t another’s good fortune is a torment without any alleviation, a trouble without any comfort, as St. Cyprian says: “It is an irremediable calamity to hate a man because he is happy.”[3] We find examples enough of this in Holy Writ. Cain, the first-born of men, could not bear his brother Abel. Why? Because Abel’s sacrifices were pleasing to God, whilst his were rejected. “The Lord had respect to Abel and to his offerings. But to Cain and his offerings He had no respect.”[4] This filled him with such chagrin that his counte-
- ↑ Elevans autem oculos suos, cum esset in tormentis, vidit Abraham a longe, et Lazarum in sinu ejus.—Luke xvi. 23.
- ↑ Dives totus in tormentis oculos solos liberos habet, ut alterius lætitiam possit aspicere, qua magis torqueatur.—S. Chrys. Hom. de Dio.
- ↑ Calamitas sine remedio est, odisse felicem.—S. Cypr. L. de Zelo.
- ↑ Respexit Dominus ad Abel, et ad munera ejus. Ad Cain vero et ad munera illius non respexit.—Gen. iv. 4.
