XXX. Animue sanctorum plenum gaudium nondum habent.

XXX. Animue sanctorum plenum gaudium nondum habent.

But just as the old Law was veiled, the new one sees clearly; so too, the souls of the saints, having shed their earthly dwellings, do not yet possess full joy, as they do not see the Father's face in its fullness; for it would be impossible for a partial being to fully see what is whole. But when their souls have received their bodies and are whole, they will see what is complete and perfect, and from then on they will not change, just as the new Law sees perfectly what the old Law could not discern, nor will it ever be changed into anything else. The call of the new people in tribulation will not fail. From the knees to the shins, the earth supports us, because just as the knees carry a person, and the shins provide strength to the feet, so God carries everything and strengthens all things, giving strength to the earth so that it can support the other creatures, since that very strength is the foundation of all other beings. For the earth is like a knee and like the shins of other creatures; it carries the rest of creation, just as wheels and axles carry a chariot, and it directs water this way and that so it can flow. For if the earth were not interposed between air and water, the air would not allow the water to flow out. But just as a knee sometimes bends, yet is held firm by the shins, so too the earth is sometimes led in another way by creatures when it does not properly fulfill its duty; yet it will not fall, because God's strength restores it to its rightful order. So too, the calling of the new people, made known throughout the whole world in the lifting up of the Gospel and strengthened in that same manifestation, will feel sweat in many tribulations, when its knees are shaken in the Antichrist; but even so, having strength in its loins, it will not fall, because its confidence is in its head. For just as His head, having lived among earthly things without sin, appeared to men to be changed in His passion, so too did He withdraw from them, just as knees bend; and just as He remains steadfast in His strength, so the Church, transformed in the new Law, will bend somewhat under the weight of a terrible destroyer, but it will regain its strength and thus remain invincible. 22