137 part i: sunday meditations for the entire year the hand of God, which were demolished by the cleverness of the same very cunning and infernal Ulysses.33 Yet is it not true that even the angels have sung: “[O]n earth peace to men” (Lk 2:14) [DRB]? However, lest you think that upon the coming of the God-Man to earth peace was given to all men, they added that it was granted only to “men of good will.” Now for you, I wish that this Lord whom you just received will lead you to resurrection! May you rise from your imperfections, for now is the hour to arise from sleep (cf. Rom 13:11). May He bring about the ruin and destruction of those things that infernal architect, the demon, fabricated in your heart and mind. May He destroy them, and may He repair and restore the destroyed foundations of the Holy Spirit. 2. “and a sword will pierce through your own soul” (Lk 2:35). Divine Wisdom interweaves joy with sorrow, and sorrow with joy in this manner: Sometimes He fills the senses with the sweetest honey, and at other times He pours into them the bitterest gall. Do you want to know the reason why He does this? It is so that the soul is not corrupted amidst sweet things. Just as we salt some foods for preservation, even so the most wise Creator and Ruler of all things alternates the bitter with the sweet, and sweet with the bitter. Thus, after pleasant [f.12v] delights and refreshing pleasures, He strikes our soul with the hard hammer of afflictions, that it may not become stained with the filth of pride due to the enjoyment of constant prosperity; and may endure unhurt, uninjured, and uncorrupted after being “seasoned” with long and even continuous calamities. The most chaste Virgin herself, the Mother of God experienced this same thing. Amid festive joys, the most wise God pierced her soul with the sword of sorrow. Each of her special joys was 33 St. Stanislaus compares the infernal demon to Ulysses (Odysseus), who was known as the “cunning warrior” and “author of the deception that ruined Troy,” i.e., this refers to the trick “of the Trojan horse”; cf. Gaetano De Sanctis, Enciclopedia Italiana, vol. XXXIV, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma 1937, pp. 630-632 (s.v. Ulisse). [Hereafter Enciclopedia Italiana will be abbreviated as EI.] Cf. Parandowski, pp. 255-257.
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