“Sinners themselves admit the magnitude of their misery, as we read in the Book of Wisdom:

“We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we did not know. What has pride profited us? Or what advantage has the boasting of riches brought us?

All those things are passed away like a shadow … and as a ship that passes through the waves, and when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found nor the path of its keel in the waters; or as when a bird flies through the air, of the passage of which no mark can be found, but only the sound of the wings beating the light air, and parting it by the force of her flight.

… So we also being born, right away cease to be and have been able to show no mark of virtue, but are consumed in our wickedness.”

The Great Dominican, Venerable Louis of Granada writes,

“Consequently, as the good in this life enjoy a kind of paradise and yet look forward to another, so the sinners have a hell in this life and await another in the life to come.

If it were merely a question of the pains and labors of this life, that would not be cause for excessive fear. Yet, there are also dangers to the soul, and these are much harder to bear because they touch us more vitally. Thus, we read in Scripture: “He shall rain snares upon sinners.”

Since sinners have so little guard over their hearts and senses, and are so careless in avoiding the occasions of sin, how can they avoid walking into countless dangers?

This is why God rains snares upon the wicked; snares in their youth and snares in their old age; snares in riches and in poverty; snares in honor and snares in dishonor; snares in their association with other men and snares in solitude; snares in adversity and snares in prosperity. Who, then, will not fear such a dangerous world? Who will not be afraid to walk unarmed among so many enemies and unprotected amid so many occasions of sin? Who will consider himself secure?

To this multitude of snares and dangers we may add yet another misery which makes them even greater: the blindness and darkness of worldly persons, which is fittingly symbolized by the darkness recorded in the land of Egypt during the time of Moses. So dense was this darkness that for three days no man could see his neighbor nor move out of the place where he was. This is the same darkness which the world suffers, only it is much worse.

What greater blindness than for so many men to believe as they do and yet to live as they do? What greater blindness than to think so much of men and take so little notice of God? Knowing for certain that we must die and that the moment of death will determine our state for all eternity, what greater blindness could there be than to live as carelessly as if we were to live forever? What greater blindness than to forego the heritage of heaven for the satisfaction of our feelings? Men have eyes sharper than an eagle’s for the things of this world but are blinder than moles in regard to the things of heaven.”

… the innocent [are] mistreated, the guilty excused, the good despised, sinners honored and praised, the poor and humble oppressed, and human respect esteemed above virtue. You will see that laws are flouted, truth is ignored, shame is lost, the arts are corrupted, political office is abused, and the states of life are perverted. You will see how evil men, by means of corruption, theft, deceit, and other unlawful deeds, acquire great wealth and are feared and praised by all, while others, who scarcely deserve to be called men, are chosen for high office. You will see that men love and worship their money more than they do God and for its sake they violate every human and divine law, so that nothing remains of justice but its name…

These and many others are the miseries and evils that accompany the wretched happiness of this world, and through them you can perceive how much more bitterness than sweetness it carries with it. Besides being brief and wretched, the happiness of this world is also filthy, because it makes men carnal and impure; it is brutish, because it makes men beasts; it is foolish, because it makes men fools and often deprives them of reason; and it is faithless and treacherous, because when we are enjoying it most, it leaves us and vanishes into the air.

This is the fruit of the world; this is the merchandise that it sells; this is the treatment that one receives on every side. So St. Bernard said that were it not for the hope we have of obtaining a better life, this world would seem little better than hell itself…So, if God alone is man’s last end and true happiness, it is impossible for man to find true happiness outside of God…A man who desires what is not worth desiring, deceives himself…All this is proof of the hypocrisy of the world. Hypocrites strive to cover up their faults, and in this way, worldly men try to hide the true misery that they suffer. The first try to pass themselves off as saints, when in reality they are sinners; the second try to appear happy, when in reality they are wretched…

If we cannot find true happiness in this world but only in God, why don’t we seek it in Him? “Cross the earth and the sea, or travel where you will,” says St. Augustine, “wherever you go, you will be miserable if you do not go to God.”

— The Quest for Happiness, Venerable Louis of Granada