Job 38:33

"Do you know the changes of the sky? Must we take this passage in bad part, and apply it to those who have known God, and have not glorified Him as God? They did not wish to make him live in them; they have been changed, and vanished into the vanity of their thoughts. Will we give it a better meaning? For all we will be resurrected, but we will not all be changed. There will be some that will change, since it says, "And we will change (2). When the righteous will change, it will be the sky that will undergo a change. Heaven indeed is the throne of God (3); Moreover, Wisdom is the Word of God, and the Word was God; but the throne of wisdom is the soul of the righteous. Perhaps it is better to adopt the two explanations, because it is not said: the change, but the changes of the sky. "Or those who are fulfilled in the same way on the earth? As the changes of the heavens have their influence on all things below; thus the righteous, when they change either in evil or in good, produce on carnal men the same impression of good or evil.

Knowest thou the course of heaven, and wilt thou set down the reason thereof on the earth? To know the course of heaven, is to see the secret predestinations of the heavenly disposals. But to set down the reason thereof on the earth is to lay open before the hearts of men the causes of such secrets. To set down, namely, the reason of heaven on the earth, is either to examine the mysteries of the heavenly judgments, by consideration, or to make them manifest in words. Which certainly no one can do who is placed in this life. For, to pass from little to greater things, who can understand what is the secret reason, that a just man frequently returns from a trial, not only unavenged, but even punished besides, and that his wicked adversary escapes, not only without punishment, but even victorious? Who can understand why one man, who plots for the deaths of his neighbours, survives, and another, who would be likely to preserve the lives of many, dies? One man, who is only eager to do hurt, attains the height of power, another only desires to defend the injured, and yet he himself is lying under oppression. One man wishes for leisure, and is involved in innumerable occupations, another wishes to be engaged in employments, and is compelled to be disengaged. One beginning badly is drawn on from worse to worse, even to the end of his life; another beginning well, proceeds through a long period of time to the increase of his merits. But, on the other hand, one, who is an evil liver, is spared for a long time, in order that he may improve; but another seems to be living properly, but continues in this life till he breaks out into evil ways. One, who has been born in the error of unbelief, perishes in his error; another, who has been born in the soundness of the Catholic faith, is perfected in the soundness of the Catholic faith. But, on the other hand, one, who has come forth from the womb of a Catholic Mother, is swallowed up, at the close of his life, in the gulph of error, but another terminates his life in Catholic piety, who, born in misbelief, had sucked in the poison of error with his mother's milk. One both wishes, and is able, to aim at the loftiness of holy living; another is neither willing nor able. One wishes, and is not able; another is able, and is not willing. Who then can examine into these secrets of the heavenly judgments? Who can understand the…