Andrew shall honor thee. Now thou makest thy litanies to them; but then it will be as it was when Peter and Thomas and Nathanael and the sons of Zebedee were together, and Jesus came in the midst and dined with them. The saints shall be one family with thee. They will walk with thee, and sit with thee, and call thee by name, and tell thee the secrets of Paradise. And the angels shall honor thee. Now thou addressest thy angel guardian on bended knee; but then he will say to thee: "See thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus." And the Church on earth shall praise thee. As long as time shall last, she shall make mention of thee as one of those who rejoice with Christ in His glorious kingdom, and, clothed in white, follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. {261} Yes, and the wicked and the devils shall honor thee. Now they may affect to despise you--now they may persecute you and trouble you; but then they will be forced to do you honor, and, groaning within themselves for anguish of spirit, and amazed at the suddenness of your unexpected salvation, shall say: _These are they whom we had sometime in derision, and for a parable if reproach. We fools esteemed their life madness and their end without honor. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints_." [Footnote 29] [Footnote 29: Wisd. v. 3, 4, 5.] Such, my brethren, are the joys of heaven, or, rather, such is the faintest and poorest idea of the joys of heaven. Men seek for wealth as the means of defending themselves from the ills of life, but there is perfect rest only in heaven. Men seek for pleasure, but earthly joys are short and unsatisfactory; the pleasures at God's right hand are for ever sure. Men seek for honor, but the real honor comes from God alone. And these are within the reach of each one of you. When Father Thomas of Jesus, was dying in captivity, his friends came around his bedside, and expressed their regret that he should die, away from his home, and their hope that the King of Spain would even yet ransom him; but the holy man replied: "I have a better country than Spain, and the ransom has long been paid. That country is heaven, that ransom is the blood of Christ." The Holy Church says: "When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers." Yes! by the blood of Christ, by the sacrament of baptism, the gates of heaven are opened before us. The path is straight and plain. If by sin we have strayed from it, by penance we have been recalled to it, and now there is nothing to do but to advance and persevere, and heaven is ours. {262} Will you draw back, Christian? Will you, by mortal sin, throw away that immortal crown? No drunkard or adulterer, nothing that is defiled, can enter there. There is only one road that leads to heaven--the road of Christian obedience. Will you renounce your