Meditation for May 22, Joy in the Truth

A writer who was far from the truth but who was tormented by a desire to possess it, put these words on the lips of two of his characters to express the state of his soul:
"Speak to me, tell me what is on your mind. What do you need?"

The other lowered his eyes and answered: "What I need you cannot give me."

"What is it then?"

"Peace, joy, an immortal soul and God."

What a torment it must be to be perpetually groping in the dark, reaching toward a ray of hope which continually evades the grasp; to be shut in an opaque enclosure with no means of escape, to be as a caged squirrel at bay turning with ever increasing swiftness without finding a means of escape.

To know, to possess the truth, not to wander perpetually with­out the faintest idea of where one is going, but on the contrary to expand in the light; not an inert, cold light, but an ardent, com­forting light, warm because it is living; because it is not a mere abstraction but a Person, He even who said: I am the Light, and of whom it can be said, Deus est caritas, God is charity; He is perfect Love, infinite Love.

"O God, I thank You for having been until this time the sunshine of my life. It is like the gift of sight. I have enjoyed it without remem­bering to thank You for it. In the future I want to be more attentive, and even more exultant in my joy; I wish to sing Your infinite Goodness - this is true joy."

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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)