same way it is true that the delights
of contemplation here on earth are imperfect compared with the
delights of contemplation in that home, of which latter joys the
Psalmist says: _Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy
pleasure._[394] Yet, none the less, the contemplation of Divine
things here on earth is, although imperfect, far more perfect
than any other subject of contemplation howsoever perfect it may
be, and this by reason of the excellence of what we contemplate.
Whence the Philosopher says[395]: "It may indeed be the case
that with regard to such noble existences and Divine substances
we have to be content with insignificant theories, yet even
though we but barely touch upon them, none the less so ennobling
is such knowledge that it affords us greater delight than any
other which is accessible to us." Hence, too, S. Gregory says:
"The contemplative life has its most desirable sweetness which
uplifts the soul above itself, opens the way to heavenly things,
and makes spiritual things plain to the eyes of the soul."

4. Lastly, bodily injuries are a hindrance to delight. But contemplation
is productive of bodily injuries, for we read in Genesis[396] that
Jacob, after saying _I have seen God face to face, ... halted on his
foot ... because He touched the sinew of his thigh and it shrank_.
Whence it would seem that the contemplative life is not pleasurable.

But after that contemplation Jacob halted on one foot because,
as S. Gregory says, "it must needs be that as the love of this
world grows weaker, so a man grows stronger in his love of God,"
and consequently, "when once we have known the sweetness of God,
one of our feet remains sound while the other halts; for a man
who halts with one foot leans only on the one that is
sound."[397]

"Tu esto nostrum gaudium
Qui es futurus Praemium.
Sit nostra in Te gloria
Per cuncta semper saecula!"

* * * * *

_S. Gregory:_ Between the delights of the body and those of the heart
there is ever this difference that the delights of the body are wont,
when we have them not, to beget a keen yearning for them; but when we
have them and eat our fill, they straightway beget disgust for them, for
we are sated therewith. Spiritual joys, on the contrary, when we have
them not are a weariness, but when we have them we desire them still