Day 182 - Psalms 33, 66

“Rejoice,” therefore, “in the Lord, O you righteous,” not when the interests of your home are flourishing, not when you are in good health of body, not when your fields are filled with all sorts of fruits, but when you have the Lord—such immeasurable Beauty, Goodness, Wisdom. Let the joy that is in him suffice for you.… For the just person, the divine and heavenly joy is lasting, since the Holy Spirit dwells in him once and for all. “But the firstfruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace.” [Gal 5:22.] Therefore, “rejoice in the Lord, O you just.” The Lord is like a place capable of containing the just, and there is every reason for one who is in him to be delighted and to make merry. Moreover, the just person becomes a place for the Lord when he receives God in himself.… Let us, then, who are in the Lord and who, as much as we are able, observe closely his wonders, so draw joy to our hearts from the contemplation of them—St Basil the Great