Verse 24. — 'Before I eat, I sigh.' 14. Often the contemplation of joy follows upon tears. — For to eat belongs to the soul when it is fed by contemplations of the light on high. He sighs therefore before he eats, because he is first afflicted by the groans of tribulation, and afterward he is filled with the refreshment of contemplation. For unless he sighs, he does not eat; because whoever does not humble himself in this exile through the laments of heavenly desires does not taste the joys of the eternal homeland. For they are fasting from the food of truth who rejoice in this poverty of their pilgrimage. But he who eats does sigh, because those whom the love of truth affects the refreshment of contemplation also feeds. The Prophet ate while sighing, when he said:
'My tears have been my bread' (Ps. xli, 4). For the soul is fed by its own mourning, when by weeping it is raised up to the joys on high; and inwardly indeed it endures the groans of its own grief, yet by that very thing it receives the food of refreshment, whereby the force of love flows forth through tears. Whence blessed Job still pursues this same force of tears, adding: