Preparation for Death - Consideration XVII

Abuse of Divine Mercy.

“Knowest thou not that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?” – Rom. ii. 4.

FIRST POINT.
God is Merciful, but He is also Just.

We read in the parable of the cockle, that the servants of the good man of the house, seeing that it had grown up in the field along with the wheat, wished to pluck it up. Wilt thou, said they, that we go and gather it up?¹ No, replied the master; suffer it to grow up, and then it shall be gathered and cast into the fire. In the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it in bundles to burn.² In this parable we see, on the one hand, the patience with which the Lord treats sinners; and on the other, the rigor with which he chastises the obstinate. St. Augustine says that the devil deludes men in two ways, by despair and hope.³ After the sinner has offended God, the enemy, by placing before his eyes the terror of divine justice, tempts him to despair; but before he sins, the devil encourages him to sin with the hope of divine mercy. Hence the saint gives to all the following advice: “After sin, hope for mercy; before sin, fear justice”⁴ He who abuses God’s mercy to offend him, is undeserving of mercy. God shows mercy to those who fear him, but not to those who avail themselves of his mercy to banish the fear of God from their hearts. Abulensis says that he who offends justice may have recourse to mercy; but to whom can he have recourse, who offends mercy itself?

It is hard to find a sinner so sunk in despair as to wish for his own damnation. Sinners wish to sin, without losing the hope of salvation. They sin and say: God is merciful, I will commit this sin, and will afterward confess it. They say, observes St. Augustine, “God is good, I will do what I please.”⁵ Behold, the language of sinners: but, O God, such too was the language of so many who are now in hell.

Say not, says the Lord, that the mercies of God are great; that however enormous your sins may be, you will obtain pardon by an act of contrition. And say not: The mercy of the Lord is great: He will have mercy on the multitude of my sins.⁶ Say it not, says. the Lord; and why? For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners.⁷ The mercy of God is infinite; but the acts of his mercy, or his mercies are finite. God is merciful, but he is also just. “I am just and merciful,” said our Lord to St. Bridget; “but sinners regard me only as merciful.”⁸ St. Basil writes that sinners wish to consider God only as good and merciful. To bear with those who avail themselves of the mercy of God to offend him, would not, says Father M. Avila, be mercy, but a want of justice. Mercy is promised, not to those who abuse it, but those who fear God. And His mercy, said the divine mother, to those that fear Him.⁹ Against the obstinate, threats of just retribution have been pronounced; and, says St. Augustine, as God is not unfaithful to his promises, so he is not a liar in his threats.¹⁰

Beware, says St. John Chrysostom, when the devil, not God, promises you divine mercy, that he may induce you to commit sin. “Never attend to that dog that promises to you the mercy of God.”¹¹ ”Woe,” says St. Augustine, “to him who hopes in order to sin.”¹² Oh! how many, says the saint, has this vain hope deluded and brought to perdition! “They who have been deceived by this shadow of vain hope cannot be numbered.”¹³ Miserable the man who abuses the mercy of God to offer new insults to his majesty! St. Bernard says that Lucifer’s chastisement was accelerated, because he rebelled against God with the hope of escaping punishment. King Manasses sinned; he afterward repented, and obtained pardon. His son Ammon, seeing that his father’s sins were so easily forgiven, abandoned himself to a wicked life with the hope of pardon: but for Ammon there was no mercy. Hence, St. John Chrysostom asserts that Judas was lost because he sinned through confidence in the benignity of Jesus Christ.¹⁴ In fine, God bears, but he does not bear forever. Were God to bear forever with sinners, no one would be damned: but the most common opinion is that the greater part of adults, even among Christians, are lost. Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are that go in thereat.¹⁵

According to St. Augustine, he who offends God with the hope of pardon “is a scoffer, not a penitent.”¹⁶ But St. Paul tells us that God does not allow himself to be mocked.¹⁷ To continue to offend God as often and as long as the sinner pleases, and afterward to gain heaven, would be to mock God. For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap.¹⁸ He that sows sin, has no reason to hope for anything else than chastisement and hell. The net with which the devil drags to hell almost all Christians who are damned, is the delusion by which he leads them into sin with the hope of pardon. Sin freely, he says to them; for, after all your iniquities, you will be saved. But God curses the man that sins with the hope of mercy. The hope of sinners after sin is pleasing to God, when it is accompanied with repentance; but the hope of the obstinate is an abomination to the Lord.¹⁹ As the conduct of a servant who insults his master because he is good and merciful, irritates the master, so such hope provokes God to inflict vengeance.

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my God I have been one of those who have offended Thee because Thou wert bountiful to me. Ah, Lord! wait for me, do not abandon me. I am sorry, O infinite Goodness! for having offended Thee, and for having so much abused Thy patience. I thank Thee for having waited for me till now. Henceforth I will never more betray Thee, as I have hitherto done. Thou hast borne with me so long, that Thou mightest one day see me a lover of Thy goodness. Behold, this day has, I hope, arrived: I love Thee above all things, and esteem Thy grace more than all the kingdoms of the world: rather than lose it, I am ready to forfeit life a thousand times. My God! for the love of Jesus Christ, give me holy perseverance till death, along with Thy holy love. Do not permit me ever again to betray Thee, or to cease to love Thee. Mary! thou art my hope: obtain for me this gift of perseverance, and I ask nothing more.

SECOND POINT.
The Sinner Abandoned by God.

Some will say: God has hitherto shown me so many mercies, I hope he will treat me with the same mercy for the future. But I answer: And will you insult God again, because he has been so merciful to you? Then, says St. Paul, do you thus despise the mercy and patience of God? Do you not know that the Lord has borne with you to this moment, not that you may continue to offend him, but that you may weep over the evil you have done? Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and patience and long-suffering? Knowest thou not that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?²⁰ If through confidence in the divine mercy you continue to sin, the Lord will cease to show mercy. Except you be converted, says David, he will brandish his sword.²¹ Revenge is mine, and I will repay thee in due time.²² God waits; but when the time of chastisement arrives, he waits no longer, but executes vengeance.

Therefore the Lord waiteth that he may have mercy on you.²³ God waits for sinners, that they may amend: but when he sees that the time given to bewail their sins is employed in multiplying crimes, he then calls the very time to judge them. He hath called against me the time.²⁴ “The very time,” says Gregory, “comes to judge.”²⁵ Thus the very time given, and the very mercies shown to sinners, will serve to make God chastise them with greater rigor, and abandon them sooner. We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed: let us forsake her.²⁶ And how does God abandon sinners? He either sends them a sudden death, and makes them die in sin, or he deprives them of his abundant graces, and leaves them with the sufficient grace, with which they can, but will not, save their souls. The blindness of their understanding, the hardness of their heart, the evil habits which they have contracted, will render their salvation morally impossible; and thus they will be, if not absolutely, at least morally abandoned. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted.²⁷ Oh! what a chastisement! When the master of the vineyard takes away its hedges, and leaves it open to men and to beasts, does he not show that he abandons it? It is thus that God acts when he abandons the soul: he takes away the hedge of holy fear, and of remorse of conscience, and leaves it in darkness. And then all the monsters of crime will enter the soul. Thou hast appointed darkness, and it is night: in it shall all the beasts of the wood go about.²⁸ And the sinner, abandoned in that obscurity, will despise the grace of God, heaven, admonitions, and excommunications; and will make a jest of his own damnation. The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, contemneth.²⁹

God will not chastise the sinner in this life; but, not to be punished in this world will be the greatest chastisement of the wicked. Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice.³⁰ On this passage St. Bernard says, “This mercy I do not wish for: it is above all wrath.”³¹ Oh! what a chastisement is it when God abandons the sinner into the hands of his sins, and appears not to demand any further account of them! According to the multitude of his wrath he will not seek him.³² God appears not to be enraged against sinners. My jealousy shall depart from you, and I will cease and be angry no more.³³—He appears to allow them all that they desire in this life. I let them go according to the desires of their heart.³⁴ Miserable the sinner that prospers in this life! His prosperity is a sign that God waits to make him a victim of his justice for eternity. Why, said Jeremias, doth the way of the wicked prosper? He answers: Gather them together as sheep for a sacrifice.³⁵ There is no punishment greater than that which God inflicts, when he permits a sinner to add sin to sin. Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity . . . let them be blotted out of the book of the living.³⁶ In explaining these words, Bellarmine says that “there is no punishment greater than when sin is the punishment of sin.”³⁷ It would be a smaller punishment to be struck dead by the Lord after their first sin; for, by dying afterward they will suffer as many hells as they have committed sins.

Affections and Prayers.

My God! I know that in my miserable state I have deserved to be deprived of Thy grace and light: but seeing the light which Thou now givest me, and feeling that Thou now callest me to repentance, I have just reason to hope that Thou hast not as yet abandoned me. And since, O Lord! Thou hast not abandoned me, multiply Thy mercies on my soul, increase Thy light, increase my desire to serve and love Thee. Change me, O omnipotent God! and from being a traitor and rebel, make me a great lover of Thy goodness, that I may one day enter heaven to praise Thy mercies for all eternity. Thou dost then wish to pardon me, and I desire nothing but the pardon of my sins and the gift of Thy love. I am sorry, O infinite Goodness! for having so often offended Thee. I love Thee, O Sovereign Good! because Thou commandest me to love Thee; I love Thee, because Thou well deservest my love. Ah, my Redeemer, through the merits of Thy blood, give Thy love to a sinner whom Thou hast loved so ardently, and whom Thou hast borne with so patiently for so many years: I hope for every grace from Thy mercy. I hope to love Thee always till death, and for eternity. The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever.³⁸ I will praise Thy mercy, O my Jesus. I will forever praise thy mercy, O Mary! who hast obtained for me so many graces; I acknowledge that I have received them all through thy intercession. Continue, O my Mother! to assist me by thy prayers, and to obtain for me holy perseverance.

THIRD POINT.
Unfortunate is he who allows the Time of Mercy to pass by.

It is related in the life of Father Louis La Nusa, that in Palermo there were two friends, who went one day to take a walk. One of them, called Cæsar, who was a comedian, seeing the other oppressed with melancholy, said: How long is it since you were at confession? Is it on account of your long absence from the sacraments that you are so much troubled? Listen to me: “Father La Nusa told me one day that God gave me twelve years to live, and that if, within that period, I did not amend, I should die an unhappy death. I have since traveled through so many parts of the world; I have had many attacks of sickness, one of which brought me to the brink of death; but, in this month the twelve years will be completed, and I now feel better than in any part of my past life.” He then invited his friend to hear, on Saturday, a new comedy, which he had composed. But what happened? On Saturday, the 24th of November, 1688, as he was going on the stage, he was seized with apoplexy, and died suddenly. He expired in the arms of a female comedian, and thus the comedy ended. But let us make the application to ourselves. Brother, when the devil tempts you again to sin, if you wish to be lost, you have it in your power to commit sin: but do not then say that you wish to be saved. As long as you wish to sin, regard yourself as damned, and imagine that God writes the sentence of your damnation, and that he says to you: What is there that I ought to do more for my vineyard, that I have not done to it?³⁹ Ungrateful soul, what more ought I to do for you, that I have not done? But, since you wish to be lost, go into eternal fire; the fault is your own.

But you will say, Where then is the mercy of God? Ah, unhappy soul! do you not feel that God has shown you mercy in bearing with you for so many years, after so many sins? You should remain forever prostrate on the earth, thanking him for his mercy, and saying: The mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed.⁴⁰ By committing a single mortal sin, you have been guilty of a greater crime than if you had trampled under foot the first monarch in the world. You have been guilty of so many mortal sins, that if you had committed against your brother the injuries which you have offered to God, he would not have borne with you. God has not only waited for you, but he has so often called you and invited you to pardon. What is there that I ought to have done more?⁴¹ If God had stood in need of you, or if you had conferred a great favor upon him, could he show you greater mercy? If, then, you offend him again, you will change his mercy into wrath and vengeance.

If, after the master had given it another year to produce fruit, the fruitless fig-tree still remained barren, who could expect that the Lord would have allowed it more time, or would not have cut it down? Listen, then, to the admonition of St. Augustine; “O fruitless tree! the axe is deferred; be not secure: you will be cut down.”⁴² Your punishment, says the saint, has been delayed, but not taken away; if you abuse any longer the divine mercy, You shall be cut down: in the end vengeance will fall upon you. What do you wait for? Will you wait till God sends you to hell? But should he send you there, you already know that your ruin is irreparable! The Lord is silent, but he is not silent forever: when the time of vengeance arrives he no longer holds his peace. These things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee. I will reprove thee, and set before thy face.⁴³ I will place before your eyes the mercies I have shown you, and will make these very mercies judge and condemn you.

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my God! unhappy me, should I henceforth be unfaithful to Thee, and betray Thee again after the light Thou now givest me. This light is a sign that Thou wishest to pardon me. I repent, O Sovereign Good! of all the injuries I have done Thee because they have offended Thee, who art infinite goodness. In Thy blood I hope for pardon, and I hope for it with certainty; but should I again turn my back upon Thee, I would deserve a hell created on purpose for myself. And what makes me tremble, O God of my soul! is, that I may again lose Thy grace. I have so often promised to be faithful to Thee, and have afterward rebelled against Thee. Ah, Lord! do not permit it; do not ever abandon me to the great misfortune of seeing myself again Thy enemy. Send me any chastisement, but not this. Do not permit me to be separated from Thee. Shouldst Thou see that I shall again offend Thee, strike me dead, rather than permit so great an evil. I am content to suffer the most cruel death, sooner than have to weep over the misery of being again deprived of Thy grace. Do not permit me to be separated from Thee. I repeat this prayer, O my God: grant that I may repeat it always. Do not permit me to be separated from Thee.⁴⁴ I love Thee, my dear Redeemer! I do not wish to be separated from Thee. Through the merits of Thy death, give me an ardent love, which will bind me so closely to Thee, that I may never more be able to dissolve the union. O Mary, my mother! I fear that if I again offend God, thou too wilt abandon me. Assist me, then, by thy prayers; obtain for me holy perseverance and the love of Jesus Christ.

1“Vis, imus et colligimus ea?” – Matt. xiii. 24.

2“In tempore messis dicam messoribus: colligite primum zizania, et alligate ea in fasciculos ad comburendum.” – Ibid. 30.

3“Desperando et sperando.” – In Jo. tr. 33.

4Post peccatum, spera misericordiam; ante peccatum, pertimesce justitiam.

5“Bonus est Deus, faciam quod mihi placet.” – In Jo. tr. 33.

6“Ne dicas: Miseratio Domini magna est, multitudinis peccatorum meorum miserebitur.” – Ecclus. v. 6.

7“Misericordia enim et ira ab illo cito proximant, et in peccatores respicit ira illius.” – Ibid.

8“Ego sum justus et misericors; peccatores tantum misericordem me existimant.” – Rev. l. 1, c. 5.

9“Misericordia ejus . . . timentibus eum.” – Luke, i. 50

10“Qui verus est in promittendo, verus est in minando.” – De vera Pœnit. c. 7.

11“Cave ne unquam canem illum suscipias, qui misericordiam Dei pollicetur.” – Scal. spir. gr. 6.

12“Sperat ut peccet, væ a perversa spe.” – In Ps. 144.

13“Dinumerari non possunt, quantos hæc inanis spei umbra deceperit.” – Serm. 154, E. B. app.

14“Fidit in lenitate magistri.” – In Mat. hom. 83.

15“Lata porta, et spatiosa via est, quæ ducit ad perditionem, et multi sunt qui intrant per eam.” – Matt. vii. 13.

16“Irrisor est, non pœnitens.” – Ad Frat. in er. s. 11.

17“Deus non irridetur.” – Gal. vi. 7.

18“Quæ seminaverit homo, hæc et metet.” – Ibid. 8.

19“Et spes illorum, abominatio.” – Job, xi. 20.

20“An divitias bonitatis ejus et patientim contemnis? Ignoras quoniam benignitas Dei ad pœnitentiam te adducit?” – Rom. ii. 4.

21“Nisi conversi fueritis, gladium suum vibrabit,” – Ps. vii. 13.

22“Mea est ultio, et ego retribuam in tempore.” – Deut. xxxii. 35.

23“Propterea expectat Dominus, ut misereatur vestri.” – Isa. xxx. 18.

24“Vocavit adversum me tempus.” – Lam. i. 15.

25Ipsum tempus ad judicandum venit.

26“Curavimus Babylonem, et non est sanata; derelinquamus eam.” – Jer. li. 9.

27“Auferam sepem ejus, et erit in direptionem.” – Isa. v. 5.

28“Posuisti tenebras, et facta est nox: in ipsa pertransibunt omnes bestiæ silvæ.” – Ps. ciii. 20.

29“Impius, cum in profundum venerit peccatorum, contemnit.” – Prov. xviii. 3.

30“Misereamur impio, et non discet justitiam.” – Isa. xxvi. 10.

31“Misericordiam hanc ego nolo; super omnem iram miseratio ista.” – In Cant. s. 42.

32“Secundum multitudinem iræ suæ non quæret.” – Ps. ix. 4.

33“Auferetur zelus meus a te, et quiescam, nec irascar amplius.” – Ezek. xvi. 42.

34”Et dimisi eos secundum desideria cordis eorum.” – Ps. lxxx. 13.

35“Quare via impiorum prosperatur? . congrega eos quasi gregem ad victimam.” – Jer. xii. 1.

36“Appone iniquitatem super iniquitatem . . . Deleantur de libro viventium.” – Ps. lxviii. 28.

37Nulla pœna major, quam cum peccatum est pœna peccati.

38“Misericordias Domini in æternum cantabo.” – Ps. lxxxviii. 2.

39“Quid est quod debui ultra facere vineæ meæ, et non feci ei?” – Isa. v. 4.

40“Misericordiæ Domini, quia non sumus consumpti.” – Lam. iii. 22.

41Quid est quod debui ultra facere?

42“Eia, arbor infructuosa, dilata est securis; noli esse secura, amputaberis.” – Serm. 110, E. B.

43“Hæc fecisti, et tacui; existimasti, inique, quod ero tui similis; arguam te, et statuam contra faciem tuam.” – Ps. xlix. 21.

44Ne permittas me separari a te.

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Preparation for Death - Consideration XVI

The Mercy of God.

“Mercy exalteth itself above judgment.” – St. James, ii. 13.

FIRST POINT.
God Waits for the Sinner.

Good is naturally diffusive—that is, inclined to communicate its good even to others. But God, who is by nature infinite goodness, as St. Leo expresses himself,¹ has an infinite desire to impart his own felicity to us; and therefore his inclination is, not to chastise, but to show mercy to all. To punish is, according to Isaias, a work opposed to the inclination of God. He shall be angry . . . that he may do His work, His strange work: His work is strange to Him.² And when the Lord chastises in this life, he does it in order to show mercy in the next. O God . . . Thou hast been angry, and hast had mercy on us.³ He appears angry that we may enter into ourselves and detest our sins. Thou hast shown Thy people hard things; Thou hast made us drink the wine of sorrow.⁴ And when he sends us any chastisement, he does it because he loves us, and wishes to deliver us from eternal punishment. Thou hast given a warning to them that fear Thee, that they may flee from before Me bow, that Thy beloved may be delivered.⁵ And who can sufficiently admire and praise the mercy of God toward sinners in waiting for them, in calling them, and in receiving them when they return Oh! how great is the mercy of God in waiting for our repentance! My brother, when you offended God, he could have struck you dead; but he waited for you, and instead of chastising you, he conferred favors upon you, he preserved your life, and provided for you. He pretended not to see your sins, that you might repent. Thou overlookest the sins of men for the sake of penance.⁶ But, O Lord, how does it happen that Thou canst not bear to behold a single sin, and beholdest so many of them in silence? Thou canst, not look on iniquity; why lookest Thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest Thy peace?⁷ Thou beholdest the blasphemer, the unchaste, the vindictive man, multiplying iniquities from day to day; and Thou dost not chastise him: and why so much patience. Therefore the Lord waiteth that He may have mercy on thee.⁸ God waits for sinners, that they may amend, and that thus he may pardon and save them.

St. Thomas says, that all creatures, fire, the earth, air, water, by a natural instinct, would wish to punish and to take vengeance on the injuries done to their Creator.⁹ But God in his mercy restrains them. But, O Lord! Thou waitest for these impious wretches, that they may see their wickedness: but dost not Thou see that they ungratefully take advantage of Thy mercy to offend Thee still more? Thou hast been favorable to the nation: Thou hast been favorable to the nation: art Thou glorified?¹⁰ And why so much patience? Because God wills not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live.¹¹ O patience of God! St. Augustine goes so far as to say that God, were he not God, would be unjust on account of his excessive patience toward sinners.¹² To wait for those who abuse patience to become more insolent, appears to be an injustice to the divine honor. “We sin,” continues the holy Doctor, “we adhere to sin.”¹³ Some make peace with sin, and sleep in sin for months and years. “Gaudemus de peccato”—We rejoice at sin; others go so far as to boast of their wickedness; and Thou art appeased.¹⁴ We provoke Thee to anger—Thou invitest us to mercy.¹⁵ We appear to be engaged with God in a contest in which we labor to provoke him to chastise our guilt; and he invites us to pardon.

Affections and Prayers.

Ah, my Lord! I know that I deserve to be at this moment in hell. Hell is my house.¹⁶ But through Thy mercy, I am not now in that place of woe, but I am here at Thy feet, and feel that Thou wishest and commandest me to love Thee. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.¹⁷ I hear Thee tell me that Thou wilt pardon me if I repent of the injuries I have done Thee. Yes, my God: since Thou wishest me, a miserable rebel against Thy majesty, to love Thee, I love Thee with my whole heart, and I feel more regret for the outrages I have offered to Thee, than for any evil that could have befallen me. Ah! enlighten me, O infinite Goodness; make me sensible of the wrongs I have done Thee. I will no longer resist Thy calls. I will give no more displeasure to a God who has loved me so tenderly, who has pardoned me so often and with so much love. Ah! that I had never offended Thee, my Jesus; pardon me, and grant that, from this day forward, I may love nothing but Thee: that I may live only for Thee, who didst die for me; that I may suffer for Thy love, since Thou hast suffered so much for the love of me. Thou hast loved me from eternity; Grant that for eternity I may burn with Thy love. I hope for all things, O my Saviour, through Thy merits; I trust also in thee, O Mary; save me by thy intercession.

SECOND POINT.
God Calls the Sinner.

Consider, moreover, the mercy of God in calling the sinner to repentance. When Adam rebelled against the Lord, and hid himself from his face, behold, God, having lost Adam, goes in search of him, and calls him as it were with tears. Adam, where art thou?¹⁸ “These,” says Father Pereira in his commentary on this passage, “are the words of a father seeking a lost son.”¹⁹ My brother, God has often done the same to you. You fled from God, and he sought after you, calling you at one time by his inspiration, at another by remorse of conscience, now by sermons, again by tribulations, and by the death of your friends. Speaking of you, Jesus appears to say: I have labored with crying: my jaws are become hoarse.²⁰ My son, I have almost lost my voice in calling you to repentance. Remember, O sinners, says St. Teresa, that that Lord who will one day be your judge, is now calling you to return to him.

Dearly beloved Christian, how often have you been deaf to the calls of God? You deserved that he should call you no more; but your God has not ceased to call you, because he wishes to make peace with you, and to save you. Who was it that called you? A God of infinite majesty. And what were you but a miserable fetid worm! Why did he call you? For no other purpose than to restore to you the life of grace which you had lost? Return ye and live.²¹ To acquire the divine grace, it would be but little to live in a desert during your entire life. God offered to give you his grace at each moment, if you wished to obtain it by making an act of contrition, and you refused. And after all this, God has not abandoned you, he has gone in search of you, as it were weeping, and saying: Son, why will you bring yourself to perdition? And why will you die, O house of Israel?²² When man commits a mortal sin, he banishes God from his soul. The wicked have said to God, Depart from us.²³ But what does God do? He places himself at the door of that ungrateful heart. Behold, I stand at the gate and knock.²⁴ He even appears to entreat the soul to allow him to enter. Open to Me, my sister.²⁵ He grows weary praying for admission. I am weary of entreating thee.²⁶ Yes, says St. Denis, the Areopagite, God follows sinners like a despised lover, entreating them not to destroy their souls.²⁷ And this precisely the Apostle meant when he wrote to his disciples. For Christ, I beseech you to be reconciled to God.²⁸ In explaining this passage, St. John Chrysostom makes a beautiful reflection “Christ himself entreats you; but what does he entreat you to do? To be reconciled to God; for it is not God that acts like an enemy, but you.”²⁹ The saint’s meaning is, that the sinner has not to labor in order to move God to make peace with him; for he, and not God, refuses peace.

Ah! this good Lord goes every day in search of so many sinners, continually saying to them: Ungrateful souls, do not fly away any longer; tell me why you fly away from me? I love your welfare, and desire nothing else than to make you happy. Why will you destroy yourselves? But, O Lord, what is it Thou dost? Why so much patience and so much love toward these rebels? What good dost Thou expect from them? It redounds but little to Thy honor to show such an excess of love for the miserable worms that fly away from Thee. What is a man, that Thou shouldst magnify him? or why dost Thou set Thy heart upon him.³⁰

Affections and Prayers.

Behold, O Lord! at Thy feet an ungrateful soul, imploring mercy. Father, forgive me. I call Thee Father, because Thou wishest me thus to call Thee. My Father, pardon me. I do not deserve pity, for I have treated Thee with ingratitude because Thou bast been bountiful to me. Ah, my God! through that goodness which did not allow Thee to abandon me when I fled from Thee, receive me, now that I return to Thee. Give me, O my Jesus! a great sorrow for the offences I have offered to Thee, and give me the kiss of peace. I am sorry above all things for the injuries I have done Thee; I detest and abhor them, and I unite this hatred and abhorrence to that which Thou, O my Redeemer! didst feel for them in the garden of Gethsemane. Ah! pardon me through the merits of that blood which Thou hast shed for me in the garden. I promise firmly never more to depart from Thee, and to banish from my heart every affection which is not for Thee. My Jesus, my love! I love Thee above all things: I wish always to love Thee, and love Thee alone: give me strength to execute this good will, make me all Thine. O Mary, my hope after Jesus! thou art the Mother of mercy: pray to God for me, and have pity on me.

THIRD POINT.
God Receives the Sinner with Kindness.

The princes of the earth disdain even to look at the rebel who comes to ask pardon; but God acts not in this manner with us: He will not turn away His face from you, if you return to Him.³¹ God cannot turn away his face from those who return and cast themselves at his feet: no; for he himself invites them, and promises to receive them as soon as they come. Return to Me, saith the Lord, and I will receive thee.³² Turn to Me . . . and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of Hosts.³³ Oh! with what love and tenderness does God embrace the sinner that returns to him. This love and tenderness Jesus Christ wished to give us to understand by the parable of the sheep, which the shepherd, when he found it, placed on his shoulders. Doth he not lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing; and coming home, call together his friends and neighbors, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.³⁴ The Redeemer adds: There shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance.³⁵ This tenderness the Saviour declared more fully in the parable of the prodigal son; in which he tells us that he is the father who, when he saw his lost son returning, runs to meet him, and before his son utters a word, embraces and kisses him, and in embracing him, almost swoons away through tenderness of consolation. And running to him he fell upon his neck and kissed him.³⁶

The Lord promises that, if sinners repent, he will even forget their sins, as if they had never offended him. If the wicked do penance . . . living he shall live. . . . I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done.³⁷ He even goes so far as to say, Come and accuse Me, saith the Lord; if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow.³⁸ As if he said: Sinners, come and accuse Me; if I do not pardon you, reprove me, upbraid me with having been unfaithful to my promises. But no; God knows not how to despise an humble and contrite heart.

The Lord glories in showing mercy and granting pardon to sinners. And therefore shall He be exalted sparing you.³⁹ And how long does he defer pardon? Not an instant: he grants it immediately. Weeping, says the Prophet Isaias, thou shalt not weep; He will surely have pity on thee.⁴⁰ Sinners, exclaims the prophet, you have not long to weep; at the first tear the Lord will be moved to pity: At the voice of thy cry, as soon as He shall hear, He will answer thee.⁴¹ God does not treat us as we treat him: we are deaf to the calls of God: but as soon as he shall hear, he will answer thee; the very instant you repent and ask forgiveness, God answers and grants your pardon.

Affections and Prayers.

O my God! against whom have I rebelled? Against Thee, who art so good, against Thee that hast created me, and died for me. After so many acts of treason, Thee hast borne with me. Ah! the thought of the patience Thou hast had with me ought to make me live always on fire with Thy love. And who would have borne so long as Thou hast the injuries which I have done Thee? Miserable shall I be, should I ever again offend Thee, and condemn myself to hell! I already see that Thy mercy can bear with me no longer. I am sorry, O Sovereign Good! for having offended Thee. I love Thee with my whole heart: I am resolved to give Thee all the remainder of my life. Hear me, O Eternal Father! through the merits of Jesus Christ: give me holy perseverance and Thy love: hear me, O my Jesus! for the sake of the blood which Thou hast shed for me. We therefore beseech Thee, assist Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy precious blood.⁴² O Mary, my Mother look upon me, “turn thy eyes of mercy to us,” and draw me entirely to God.

1Deus cujus natura bonitas.

2“Irascetur, ut faciat opus suum, alienum opus ejus . . . peregrinum est opus ejus ab eo.” – Isa. xxviii. 21.

3Deus, iratus es, et misertus es nobis.” – Ps. lix. 3.

4“Ostendisti populo tuo dura; potasti nos vino compunctionis.” – Ps. lix. 5.

5“Dedisti metuentibus te significationem, ut fugiant a facie arcus, ut liberentur dilecti tui.” – Ps. lix. 6.

6“Dissimulas peccata hominum propter pœnitentiam.” – Wis. xi. 24.

7“Respicere ad iniquitatem non poteris; quare respicis super iniqua agentes, et taces?” – Habac. i. 13.

8“Propterea expectat Dominus, ut misereatur vestri.” – Isa. xxx. 18.

9“Creatura enim tibi Factori deserviens, exardescit in tormentum adversus injustos.” – Wisd. xvi. 24.

10“Indulsisti genti, Domine, indulsisti genti; numquid glorificatus es?” – Isa. xxvi. 15.

11“Nolo mortem impii, sed ut convertatur et vivat.” – Ezek. xxxiii. 11.

12“Deus meus, pace tua dicam: nisi quia Deus es, injustus esses.” – De Vis. inf. l. 1. c. 5.

13Nos peccavimus, inhæremus peccato.

14Et tu placatus es?

15Nos te provocamus ad iram, tu autem conducis nos ad misericordiam.

16“Infernus domus mea est.” – Job, xvii. 13.

17“Diliges Dominum Deum tuum.” – Deut. vi. 5.

18“Adam, ubi es?” – Gen. iii. 9.

19Sunt verba patris quærentis filium suum perditum.

20“Laboravi clamans, raucæ factæ sunt fauces meæ.” – Ps. lxviii. 4.

21“Revertimini, et vivite.” – Ezek. xviii. 32.

22“Et quare tnoriemini, domus Israel?” – Ezek. xviii. 31.

23“Dixerunt Deo: Recede a nobis.” – Job, xxi. 14.

24“Ecce sto ad ostium, et pulso.” – Apoc. iii. 20.

25“Aperi mihi, soror mea.” – Cant. v. 2.

26“Laboravi rogans.” – Jer. xv. 6.

27“Deus etiam a se aversos amatorie sequitur, et deprecatur ne pereant,” – Ad Demoph.

28“Obsecramus pro Christo, reconciliamini Deo.” – 2 Cor. v. 20.

29Ipse Christus vos obsecrat. Quid autem obsecrat? Reconciliamini Deo. Non enim ipse inimicitias gent, sed vos.

30“Quid est home qua magnificas eum? aut quid apponis erga eum cor tuum?” – Job, vii. 17.

31“Non avertet faciem suam a vobis, si reversi fueritis ad eum.” – 2 Par. xxx. 9.

32“Revertere ad me, dicit Dominus, et ego suscipiam te.” – Jer. iii. 1.

33“Convertimini ad me, . . et convertar ad vos, dicit Dominus.” – Zac. i. 3.

34“Imponit in humeros suos gaudens. Congratulamini mihi, quia inveni ovem meam quæ perierat.” – Luke, xv. 5.

35Gaudium erit in cœlo super uno peccatore pœnitentiam agente.

36“Accurrens cecidit super collum ejus et osculatus est eum.” – Luke, xv. 20.

37“Si impius egerit pœnitentiam . . . vita vivet . . . omnium iniquitatum ejus . . . non recordabor.” – Ezek. xviii. 21.

38“Venite et arguite me, dicit Dominus: si fuerint peccata vestra ut coccinum, quasi nix dealbabuntur.” – Isa. i. 18.

39“Exaltabitur parcens vobis.” – Isa. xxx. 18.

40“Plorans nequaquam plorabis; miserans miserebitur tui,” – Isa. xxx. 19.

41“Ad vocem clamoris tui, statim ut audierit, respondebit tibi.” – Ibid.

42Te ergo quæsumus, tuis famulis subveni, quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.

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Preparation for Death - Consideration XV

The Malice of Mortal Sin.

“I have brought up children and exalted them; but they have despised me.” – Isaias, i. 2.

FIRST POINT.
The Sinner Insults God.

What does the sinner do when he commits mortal sin? He insults God, he dishonors him, he afflicts him. In the first place, mortal sin is an insult offered to God. The malice of an insult is, as St. Thomas says; estimated from the condition of the person who receives, and of the person who offers, the insult. It is sinful to offend a peasant; it is more criminal to insult a nobleman; but to treat a monarch with contempt and insolence, is a still greater crime. Who is God? He is Lord of lords, and King of kings.¹ He is a being of infinite majesty, before whom all the princes of the earth and all the saints and angels are less than an atom of sand. As a drop of a bucket. . . as a little dust.² The Prophet Osee adds, that compared with the greatness of God, all creatures are as insignificant as if they did not exist. All nations, he says, are before Him as if they had no being at all.³ Such is God; and what is man? He is, according to St. Bernard, a heap of worms, the food of worms, by which he shall be soon devoured. He is miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.⁴ Man is a miserable worm, that can do nothing: he is so blind that he knows nothing, and so poor and naked that he possesses nothing. And this miserable worm voluntarily insults a God! “Vile dust,” says the same St. Bernard, “dares to provoke such tremendous majesty.”⁵ The angelic Doctor, then, had just reason to say that the sin of man contains, as it were, an infinite malice. And St. Augustine calls sin “an infinite evil.”⁶ Hence, were all men and angels to offer themselves to death and annihilation, such an offering would not satisfy for a single sin. God punishes sin with the pains of hell; but all theologians teach that this chastisement is less than sin deserves.⁷

And what punishment can be sufficient for a worm who assails his Lord? God is the Lord of all, because he has created all. All things are in Thy power . . . Thou hast made heaven and earth and all things.⁸ All creatures obey God. The winds, says St. Matthew, and the sea obey Him. Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which fulfil His will.⁹ But when man sins, what does he do? He says to God, Lord, I will not serve Thee. Thou hast broken My yoke; thou hast burst My bonds; thou saidst: I will not serve.¹⁰ The Lord says to him: Seek not revenge; take not that property which belongs to another; abstain from that unchaste gratification. But man answers: I will have revenge; I will take possession of that property; I will indulge in that forbidden pleasure. Like Pharaoh, when Moses, on the part of God, commanded him to allow the people to go into the desert, the sinner answers: Who is the Lord, that I should hear His voice, and let Israel go?¹¹ The sinner says the same—Lord, I know Thee not, I will do what I please; in a word, he insults the Lord to his face, and turns his back upon him. Mortal sin is precisely a turning away from God. Of this the Lord himself complains. Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord; thou art gone backward.¹² You have, says God, been ungrateful to me; you have turned back upon me; you are gone backward. God has declared that he hates sin. Hence, he cannot but hate the sinner who commits it. But to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike.¹³ In committing sin, man dares to declare himself the enemy Of God, and to contend single-handed with the Lord. He hath, says Job, strengthened himself against the Almighty.¹⁴ What would you say if you saw an insect attack an armed soldier? God is the Omnipotent Being, who, by a nod, has created heaven and earth out of nothing. And if he wishes, he can, by another act of his will, destroy all creatures. The Almighty Lord, who, at a beck, can utterly destroy . . . the whole world.¹⁵ In consenting to sin, the sinner stretches out his arms against the Lord. He hath, says Job, stretched out his hand against God. He hath run against Him with his neck raised up and is armed with a fat neck.¹⁶ He raises his neck, that is, he swells with pride, and runs to insult God; he arms himself with a fat neck, that is, with ignorance; for a fat neck is the symbol of ignorance—of that ignorance which makes the sinner say, What harm have I done? What great evil is that sin which I have committed? God is merciful—he pardons sinners. What an insult! What temerity! What blindness!

Affections and Prayers.

Behold, O my God! at Thy feet the rash and daring rebel who has had the temerity and the audacity to insult Thee so often to Thy very face, and to turn his back upon Thee. Thou hast said: Cry to me, and I will hear.¹⁷ Hell is too little for me; this I already know. But, remember, O Lord! that I am more sorry for having offended Thee, who art infinite goodness, than I would be for the loss of all my property and of my life. Ah, Lord! pardon me, and do not permit me ever to offend Thee more. Thou hast waited for me that I may forever bless Thy mercy and love Thee. Yes, I bless Thee, I love Thee, and I hope, through the merits of Jesus Christ, that I shall never again be separated from Thy love; Thy love has rescued me from hell: it is by Thy love that I am to be preserved from sin for the future. I thank Thee, my Lord! for the light And the desire Thou givest me to love Thee forever. Ah! take possession of my whole being—of my soul and body—of my powers and senses—of my will and liberty. I am Thine—save me. Thou art my only good; Thou art alone amiable: may Thou also be my only love. Give me fervor in loving Thee. I have offended Thee grievously. Hence, it is not enough for me to love Thee. I wish to love Thee ardently, in order to compensate for the injuries I have done Thee. From Thee, who art omnipotent, I hope for this love. I also hope for it through thy prayers, O Mary! which are powerful before God.

SECOND POINT.
The Sinner Dishonors God.

The sinner not only insults, but he also dishonors God. By the transgression of the law thou dishonorest God.¹⁸ Yes; for he renounces God’s grace, and for a miserable pleasure he tramples on the friendship of God. Were man to forfeit the divine friendship in order to gain a kingdom, or even the entire world, he should do a great evil; for the friendship of God is more valuable than the world and even a thousand worlds. But for what does the sinner insult the Lord? Wherefore hath the wicked provoked God?¹⁹ For a little earth, for the gratification of revenge, for a beastly pleasure, for the indulgence of vanity or caprice. They violated Me among My people for a handful of barley and a piece of bread.²⁰ When the sinner deliberates whether he will give or refuse his consent to sin, he, as it were, takes in his hand a balance and examines whether the grace of God has more or less weight than the indulgence of his passion, vanity, or pleasure; and when he consents to sin, he declares that his passion, vanity, or pleasure is of greater value than the friendship of God. Behold the Lord covered with shame by the sinner!

Contemplating the greatness and majesty of God, David said, Lord, who is like to Thee?²¹ But seeing sinners compare and prefer a miserable gratification to his friendship, the Lord exclaimed, To whom have you likened Me, or made Me equal?²² Then, he says, was that vile pleasure of greater value than my grace?—Thou hast cast Me of behind thy back.²³ Were you to forfeit a hand, or ten dollars, or even a much smaller sum, you would not have committed that sin. Then, says Salvian, is God alone so contemptible in your eyes, that he deserves to be despised for the indulgence of a passion, or for a miserable gratification?

Moreover, by offending God for the sake of his pleasure, the sinner makes that pleasure his god, by making it his last end. St. Jerome says: “What a person desires, if he worships it, is to him a god. A vice in the heart is an idol on the altar.”²⁴ Hence St. Thomas says: “If you love delights, delights are your god.”²⁵ And according to St. Cyprian, “Whatever man prefers to God, that he makes a god to himself.”²⁶ When Jeroboam rebelled against the Lord, he endeavored to draw the people with him into idolatry. Hence, he placed before them his idols, saying: Behold thy gods, O Israel.²⁷ It is thus the devil acts; he represents a certain pleasure to the sinner, and says: “Make this your god: behold this pleasure, this revenge is your god: adhere to them and forsake the Lord.” And in consenting to sin, the sinner obeys the devil, and in his heart adores as his god the pleasure in which he indulges.²⁸

If the sinner dishonors God he surely does not dishonor him in his presence! Oh! he insults and dishonors God to his very face; for God is present in all places. Do I not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?²⁹ This, sinners know, and still they dare to provoke God before his eyes. They provoke Me to anger before My face.³⁰

Affections and Prayers.

Thou, then, my God! art an infinite good, and I have frequently exchanged Thee for a miserable pleasure, which I had scarcely indulged when it vanished. But Thou, though despised by me, now offerest me pardon if I wish for it, and Thou promisest to give me Thy grace, if I repent of having offended Thee. Yes, my Lord! I repent with my whole heart of having outraged Thee so grievously: I detest my sins above all things. Behold! I already return to Thee, as I hope, and Thou already receivest me, and embracest me as Thy child. I thank Thee, O infinite Goodness! but assist me now, and do not permit me ever again to banish Thee from my heart. Hell will not cease to tempt me; but Thou art more powerful than hell. I know that I shall never more abandon Thee, if I always recommend myself to Thee. The grace, then, which I ask is, that I may always recommend myself to Thee, and that I may always say to Thee, as I now do, Lord, assist me; give me light, give me strength, give me perseverance, give me paradise; but above all, give me Thy love, which is the true paradise of souls. I love Thee, O infinite Goodness! and I wish always to love Thee. Hear me for the love of Jesus Christ. Mary, thou art the refuge of sinners: assist, by thy prayers, a sinner who wishes to love thy God.

THIRD POINT.
The Sinner Afflicts God.

The sinner insults God, he dishonors God, and fills the heart of God with grief and bitterness. There is nothing more galling than to be treated with ingratitude by a person tenderly loved and highly favored. Whom does the sinner assail? He insults a God who has created him, and has loved him so as to give his blood and his life for his salvation; and by committing mortal sin he banishes God from his heart. God comes to dwell in the soul that loves him. If any one love Me . . . My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him.³¹ Mark the words—We will make Our abode with him. God comes to dwell forever in the soul; he never departs from it, unless he is driven away. According to the Council of Trent, “He deserts not the soul, unless he is deserted.”³² But, O Lord! Thou knowest that the ungrateful sinner will, in a few moments, banish Thee: why dost Thou not instantly depart from him? Wilt Thou wait until he expels Thee? Abandon him; depart from him before he offers Thee this great insult. “No,” says the Lord, “I will not depart until he himself chases Me away.”

Then, in consenting to sin, the soul says to God: Lord, depart from me. The wicked, says Job, have said to God, Depart from us.³³ The sinner, according to St. Gregory, says the same, not in words, but by acts. The sinner knows that God cannot dwell with sin; in yielding to sin, he sees that God must depart; hence, by his conduct he says to God: Since Thou canst not remain in me along with my sin, depart—farewell. And through the very door by which God leaves the soul, the devil enters. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there.³⁴ In baptizing an infant, the priest commands the devil to depart. “Go out from him, unclean spirit, and make room for the Holy Ghost.”³⁵ Yes; for the soul, by receiving the grace of God, becomes his temple. Know you not, says St. Paul, that you are the temple of God?³⁶ But, in consenting to sin, man does the very contrary: he says to God, who is in his soul: “Go out from me, O Lord, make room for the devil.”³⁷ Of this the Lord complained to St. Bridget, saying, that he is treated by the sinner as a king expelled from his throne. “I am like a monarch banished from his own dominions: and in my place the worst of plunderers is chosen.”³⁸

What pain should you feel if you received a grievous insult from a person on whom you had lavished favors? This is the pain which you have given to your God who laid down his life for your salvation. The Lord calls heaven and earth to pity him on account of the ingratitude of sinners. Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth. . . . I have brought up children and exalted them, but they have despised Me.³⁹ In a word, by their iniquities sinners afflict the heart of God. But they provoked to wrath and afflicted the Spirit of the Holy One.⁴⁰ God is not susceptible of pain; but were he capable of sorrow, a single mortal sin should, as Father Medina teaches, be sufficient to make him die through pure grief. “Mortal sin would, were it possible, destroy God himself, because it would be the cause of infinite sadness in God.”⁴¹ Thus, as St. Bernard says, “Sin, as far as in it lies, destroys God.”⁴² In committing mortal sin, the sinner, as it were, gives poison to God, and does all in his power to deprive him of life. The sinner, says David, hath provoked the Lord.⁴³ And according to St. Paul, he tramples on the Son of God. For he despises all that Jesus Christ has done and suffered in order to take away the sins of the world.

Affections and Prayers.

Then, my Redeemer, as often as I have sinned, I have banished Thee from my soul, and have done what would, were it possible for Thee to die, have taken away Thy life. I now hear Thee ask: What evil have I done Thee? Tell Me. What displeasure have I given Thee that thou shouldst offer Me so many insults? Lord, Thou hast given me existence, and hast died for me. Behold the evil Thou hast done me. What answer then can I make? I say that I have deserved a thousand hells; Thou hast just ground for sending me to everlasting torments. But remember the love which made Thee die on the cross for my salvation: remember the blood which Thou hast shed for my sake, and have mercy on me. But I know that Thou dost not wish that I despair; on the contrary Thou makest me feel that Thou standest at the door of my heart, and that by Thine inspirations Thou knockest for admission. I stand at the gate and knock. Thou tellest me to open—Open to Me, my sister. Yes, my Jesus: I banish sin from my soul; I am sorry for it with my whole heart, and I love Thee above all things. Enter, O my love! the gate is open; enter, and never more depart from me. Bind me to Thyself by Thy love, and do not permit me to be ever separated from Thee. No, my God! we will never again be disunited; I embrace Thee and unite Thee to my heart; give me holy perseverance. “Ne permittas me separari a Te.” Mary, my Mother, assist me always; pray to Jesus for me; obtain for me this favor, that I may never more lose his grace.

1“Dominus dominorum est, et Rex regum.” – Apoc. xvii. 14.

2“Quasi stilla situlæ . . . pulvis exiguus.” – Isa. xl. 15.

3“Omnes gentes, quasi non sint, sic sunt coram eo.” – Isa. xl. 17.

4“Miser, et pauper, et cæcus, et nudus.” – Apoc. iii. 17.

5“Tam tremendam majestatem audet irritare pulvisculus.” – In Cant. s. 16.

6“Peccatum quamdam infinitatem habet ex infinitate divinæ majestatis.” – P. 3. q. 1, a. 2.

7Citra condignum.

8“In ditione tua cuncta sunt posita. . . . Tu fecisti cœlum et terram.” – Esth. xiii. 9.

9“Venti et mare obediunt ei.” – Matt. viii. 27. “Ignis, grando, nix, glacies . . . faciunt verbum ejus.” – Ps. cxlviii. 8.

10“Confregisti jugum meum . . et dixisti: non serviam.” – Jer. ii. 20.

11“Quis est Dominus, ut audiam vocem ejus? . . . Nescio Dominum.” – Exod. v. 2.

12“Tu dereliquisti me, dicit Dominus; retrorsum abiisti.” – Jer. xv. 6.

13“Similiter autem odio sunt Deo impius et impietas ejus.” – Wis. xiv. 9.

14“Contra Omnipotentem roboratus est.” – Job, xv. 25.

15“Ex nihilo fecit illa Deus.” – 2 Mach. vii. 28. “Potest . . . et universum mundum uno nutu delere.” – Ibid. viii. 18.

16“Tetendit adversus Deum manum suam. . . . Cucurrit adversus eun erecto collo et pingui cervice armatus est.” – Job, xv. 25.

17“Clama ad me, et exaudiam te.” – Jer. xxxiii. 3.

18“Per prævaricationem legis Deum inhonoras.” – Rom. ii. 23.

19“Propter quid irritavit impius Deum?” – Ps. x. 13.

20“Violabant me . . . propter pugillum hordei et fragmen panis.” – Ezek. xiii. 19.

21“Domine, quis similis tibi?” – Ps. xxxiv. 10.

22“Cui assimilastis me, et adæquastis? dicit Sanctus.” – Isa. xl. 25.

23“Projecisti me post corpus tuum.” – Ezek. xxiii. 35.

24“Unusquisque quod cupit et veneratur, hoc illi deus est.” – In Ps. lxxx.

25Si amas delicias. deliciæ dicuntur deus tuus.

26“Quidquid homo Deo anteponit, sibi deum facit.” – De Dup. Mart.

27“Ecce dii tui, Israel.” – 3 Kings, xii. 28.

28Vitium in corde, est idolum in altari.

29“Cœlum et terram ego impleo.” – Jer. xxiii. 24.

30“Ad iracundiam provocat me ante faciem meam semper.” – Isa. lxv. 3.

31“Si quis diligit me . . . Pater meus diliget eum, et ad eum veniemus, et mansionem apud eum faciemus.” – John, xiv. 23.

32“Non deserit, nisi deseratur.” – Sess. 6, cap. 11.

33“Dixerunt Deo: Recede a nobis.” – Job, xxi. 14.

34“Tunc vadit, et assumit septem alios spiritus secum nequiores se, et intrantes habitant ibi.” – Matt. xii. 45.

35Exi ab eo, immunde spiritus, et da locum Spiritui Sancto.

36“Nescitis quia templum Dei estis?” – 1 Cor. iii. 16.

37Exi a me, Domine, da locum diabolo.

38“Sum tamquam rex a proprio regno expulsus, in cujus loco latro pessimus electus est.” – Rev. l. 1. c. 1.

39“Audite, cœli; auribus percipe, terra: Filios enutrivi, et exaltavi; ipsi autem spreverunt me.” – Isa. i. 2.

40“Ipsi autem ad iracundiam provocaverunt, et afflixerunt spiritum Sancti ejus.” – Isa. lxiii. 10.

41“Peccatum mortale, si possibile esset, destrueret ipsum Deum, eo quod causa esset tristitiæ in Deo infinitæ.” – De Satisf. q. 1.

42“Peccatum, quantum in se est Deum perimit.” – In temp. Pasch. s. 3.

43“Exacerbavit Dominum peccator.” – Ps. x. 4. “Qui Filium Dei conculcaverit.” – Heb. x. 29.

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