Paschale Gaudium [pp. 808-813]

PA SCHA,4LE G,4 UDIUM.
Again more south; and the trees bear fruit-the apple, the
pear, the cherry, and the plum. You must go more south still
if you seek the delicate fruits-the orange, the lemon, theo olive,
and the fig, and the home of the vine between the parallels of
latitude thirty and fifty. Arrive at last at the torrid zone; and
the vegetation there is characterized by a wealth, variety, and
magnificence nowhere else to be found. Under the beams of
the tropical sun the most juicy fruits and the most powerful
aromatics arrive at their perfection. The largest trees there are
adorned with flowers larger, more beautiful, more odoriferous
than those of herbaceous plants in our own zone. The sun is
life to man as well as to plant. The old man says, "If I can
only get through the winter I shall be all right." Some of
ourselves no doubt look to the coming summer to restore to
health some loved one. The wealthy invalid seeks a southern
clime when the first step of winter is heard. He goes to Nice
or Madeira and, seated in an easy chair where the sun's rays
may fall on him, finds relief if not cure. We, who must pass
our winter far from the genial south, what do we do? Just as
we eat preserved fruits, so we bask in preserved sunshine. In
short, we light a fire, and extract the sun-warmth which is
enchained in the coal.
Jesus is the life of the world as well as its light. I restrict
myself to proving that he is the life of man. Life is the intrinsic principle of movement; and the principle is perfect only
when it is in actual movement; and the highest movement is
that of intellection. Hence, Aristotle says, in his Ethics, that
intellection is life of the highest grade. But, as has been
shown, the light of our intellect which, in its actual working, is
our highest natural life, is a participation of the light of Jesus.
Jesus is our life too in the supernatural order of grace; for
grace is a participation of his Sonship, the dwelling and working of his spirit in us; so that St. Paul could say, "I live now,
no, not I, but Christ liveth in me." Jesus is our life in the
order of glory also. Even pagan Aristotle knew that man's
beatitude lay in the exercise of his highest faculty, the speculative intellect, on the highest object, the infinite good. In the
after-life of bliss there will be a "comprincipium" of native intelligence and of light of glory, and, through this medium,
union with the highest object —the Summum Bonum. This is
essential life, eternal life. "This," said our Saviour, "is eternal
life, that men may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent." And the "light of glory" is yet
another and a fuller participation of the light of Jesus; and the
I 894.1
8 II