Sermons of St. Alphonsus de Liguori

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Book of Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori offered by TAN Books (pages 58-64)

 

 

SERMON V.   SUNDAY WITHIN THE OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY

 

IN WHAT TRUE WISDOM CONSISTS

 
 

" Behold, this CHILD is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel." LUKE ii. 34.

 

 

SUCH was the language of holy Simeon when he had the consolation to hold in his hands the infant Jesus. Among other things which he then foretold, he declared that "this child was set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel." In these words he extols the lot of the saints, who, after this life, shall rise to a life of immortality in the kingdom of bliss, and he deplores the misfortune of sinners, who, for the transitory and miserable pleasures of this world, bring upon themselves eternal ruin and perdition. But, notwithstanding the greatness of his own misery, the unhappy sinner, reflecting only on the enjoyment of present goods, calls the saints fools, because they seek to live in poverty, in humiliation, and self-denial. But a day will come when sinners shall see their errors, and shall say. “We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour." (Wis. v. 4.) We fools; behold how they shall
confess that they themselves have been truly fools. Let us examine in what true wisdom consists, and we shall see, in the first point, that sinners are truly foolish, and, in the second, that the saints are truly wise.

First Point. Sinners are truly foolish.

1. What greater folly can be conceived than to have the power of being the friends of God,  and to wish to be his enemies? Their living in enmity with God makes the life of sinners unhappy in this world, and purchases for them an eternity of misery hereafter St. Augustin relates that two courtiers of the emperor entered a monastery of hermits, and that one of them began to read the life of St. Anthony. "He read, ” says the saint, "and his heart was divested of the world." He read, and, in reading, his affections were detached from the Earth.

Turning to his companion he exclaimed: ”What do we seek? The friendship of the emperor is the most we can hope for. And through how many perils shall we arrive at still greater danger? Should we obtain his friendship, how long shall it last ?" Friend, said he, fools that we are, what do we seek? Can we expect more in this life, by serving the emperor, than to gain his friendship? And should we, after many dangers, succeed in making him our friend, we shall expose ourselves to greater danger of eternal perdition. What difficulties must we encounter in order to become the friend of Caesar!”But, if I wish, I can in a moment become the friend of God." I can acquire his friendship by endeavouring to recover his grace. His divine grace is that infinite treasure which makes us worthy of his friendship. “For she is an infinite treasure to men, which they that use become the friends of God” (Wis. vii. 14.)

2. The Gentiles believe it impossible for a creature to become the friend of God; for, as St. Jerome says, friendship makes friends equal. "Amicitia pares accipit, aut pares facit." But Jesus Christ has declared, that if we observe his commands we shall be his friends. “You are my friends, if you do the things I command." (John xv. 14.)

3. How great then is the folly of sinners, who, though they have it in their power to enjoy the friendship of God, wish to live in enmity with him! The Lord does not hate any of his creatures: he does not hate the tiger, the viper, or the toad. ”For thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which thou hast made." (Wis. xi. 25.) But he necessarily hates sinners. ”Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity." (Ps. v. 7.) God cannot but hate sin, which is his enemy and diametrically opposed to his will; and therefore, in hating sin, he necessarily hates the sinner who is united with his sin. “But to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike. ” (Wis. xiv. 9.)

4. The sinner is guilty of folly in leading a life opposed to the end for which he was created. God has not created us, nor does he preserve our lives, that we may labour to acquire riches or earthly honours, or that we may indulge in amusements, but that we may love and serve him in this world, in order to love and enjoy him for eternity in the next. “And the end life everlasting." (Rom. vi. 22.) Thus the present life, as St. Gregory says, is the way by which we must reach Paradise, our true country. ”In the present life we are, as it were, on the road by which we journey to our country." (St. Greg. hom. xi. in Evan.)

5. But the misfortune of the greater part of mankind is, that instead of following the way of salvation, they foolishly walk in the road to perdition,. Some have a passion for earthly riches; and, for a vile interest, they lose the immense goods of Paradise: others have a passion for honours; and, for a momentary applause, they lose their right to be kings in Heaven:  others have a passion for sensual pleasures; and, for transitory de lights, they lose the grace of God, and are condemned to burn for ever in a prison of fire. Miserable souls! if, in punishment of a certain sin, their hand was to be burned with a red-hot iron, or if they were to be shut up for ten years in a dark prison, they certainly would abstain from it. And do they not know that, in chastisement of their sins, they shall be condemned to remain for ever in Hell, where their bodies, buried in fire, shall burn for all eternity? Some, says St. John Chrysostom (Hom. de recup. Laps.), to save the body, choose to destroy the soul; but, do they not know that, in losing the soul, their bodies shall be condemned to eternal torments?”If we neglect the soul, we cannot save the body"

6. In a word, sinners lose their reason, and imitate brute animals, that follow the instinct of nature, and seek carnal pleasures without ever reflecting on their lawfulness or unlawfulness.

But to act in this manner is, according to St. Chrysostom, to act not like a man, but like a beast. ”Hominem ilium dicimus" says the saint, "qui imaginem hominis salvam retinet: qua autem est imago hominis? Rationalem esse" To be men we must be rational: that is, we must act, not according to the sensual appetite, but according to the dictates of reason. If God gave to beasts the use of reason, and if they acted according to its rules, we should say that they acted like men. And it must, on the other hand, be said, that the man whose conduct is agreeable to the senses, but contrary to reason, acts like a beast. He who follows the dictates of reason, provides for the future. "Oh! that they would be wise, and would understand, and would provide for their last end." (Deuter. xxxii. 29.) He looks to the future that is, to the account he must render at the hour of death, after which he shall be doomed to Hell or to Heaven, according to his merits, ”Non est sapiens” says St. Bernard, ”qui sibi non est." (Lib. de consid.)

7. Sinners think only of the present, but regard not the end for which they were created. But what will it profit them to gain all things if they lose their last end, which alone can make them happy. ”But one thing is necessary." (Luke x. 42.) To attain our end is the only thing necessary for us: if we lose it, all is lost. What is this end? It is eternal life. “Finem vero vitam æternam." During life, sinners care but little for the attainment of their end. Each day brings them nearer to death and to eternity; but they know not their destination. Should a pilot who is asked whither he is going, answer that he did not know, would not all, says St. .Augustine, cry out that he was bringing the vessel to destruction?”Fac hominem perdidisse quo tendit, et dicatur ei: quo is? et dicat, nescio: nonne iste navem ad naufragium perducet ?" The saint then adds: ”Talis est qui currit præter viam." Such are the wise of the world, who know how to acquire wealth and honours, and to indulge in every kind of amusement, but who know not how to save their souls. How miserable the rich glutton, who, though able to lay up riches and to live splendidly, was, after death, buried in Hell! How miserable Alexander the Great, who, after gaining so many kingdoms, was condemned to eternal torments? How great the folly of Henry the Eighth, who rebelled against the Church, but seeing at the hour of death that his soul should be lost, cried out in despair: ”Friends, we have lost all!" O God, how many others now weep in Hell, and exclaim: ”What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the toasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow." (Wis. v. 8.) In the world we made a great figure we enjoyed abundant riches and honours; and now all is passed away like a shadow, and nothing remains for us but to suffer and weep for eternity. St. Augustine says, that the happiness which sinners enjoy in this life is their greatest misfortune, “Nothing is more calamitous than the felicity of sinners, by which their perverse will, like an internal enemy, is strengthened." (Ep. v. ad Marcellin.)

8. In fine, the words of Solomon are fulfilled with regard to all who neglect their salvation:  ”Mourning taketh hold of the end of joy." (Prov. xiv. 13.) All their pleasures, honours, and greatness, end in eternal sorrow and wailing. “Whilst I was yet beginning, he cut me off." (Is. xxxviii. 12.) Whilst they are laying the foundation of their hopes of realizing a fortune, death comes, and, cutting the thread of life, deprives them of all their possessions, and sends them to Hell to burn for ever in a pit of fire. What greater folly can be conceived, than to wish to be transformed from the friend of God into the slave of Lucifer, and from the heir of Paradise to become, by sin, doomed to Hell? For, the moment a Christian commits a mortal sin, his name is written among the number of the damned! St. Francis de Sales said that, if the angels were capable of weeping, they would do nothing else than shed tears at the sight of the destruction which a Christian who com mits mortal sin brings upon himself.

9. Oh! how great is the folly of sinners, who, by living in sin, lead a life of misery and discontent! All the goods of this world cannot content the heart of man, which has been created to love God, and can find no peace out of God. What are all the grandeurs and all the pleasures of this world but "vanity of vanities!" (Eccl. i. 2.) What are they but “vanity and vexation of spirit?” (Ibid. iv. 16.) Earthly goods are, according to Solomon, who had experience of them, vanity of vanities; that is mere vanities, lies, and deceits. They are also a”vexation of spirit :" they not only do not content, but they even afflict the soul; and the more abundantly they are possessed, the greater the anguish which they produce. Sinners hope to find peace in their sins; but what peace can they enjoy?”There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord." (Is. xlviii. 22.) I abstain from saying more at present on the unhappy life of sinners: I shall speak of it in another place. At present, it is enough for you to know that God gives peace to the souls who love him, and not to those who despise him. Instead of seeking to be the friends of God, sinners wish to be the slaves of Satan, who is a cruel and merciless tyrant to all who submit to his yoke. "Crudelis est et non miserebitur." (Jer. vi. 23.) And if he promises delights, he does it, as St. Cyprian says, not for our welfare, but that we may be the companions of his torments in hell: ”Ut habeat socios pœna, socios gehenæ”.

Second Point. The saints are truly wise.

10. Let us be persuaded that the truly wise are those who know how to love God and to gain Heaven. Happy the man to whom God has given the science of the saints. "Dedit illi scientiam sanctorum” (Wis. x. 10.) Oh! how sublime the science which teaches us to know how to love God and to save our souls! Happy, says St. Augustine, is the man "who knows God, although he is ignorant of other things." They who know God, the love which he merits, and how to love him, stand not in need of any other knowledge. They are wiser than those who are masters of many sciences, but know not how to love God. Brother Egidius, of the order of St. Francis, once said to St. Bonaventure: Happy you, Father Bonaventure, who are so learned, and who, by your learning, can become more holy than I can, who am a poor ignorant man. Listen, replied the saint: if an old woman knows how to love God better than I do, she is more learned and more holy than I am. At hearing this, Brother Egidius exclaimed: ”poor old woman! poor old woman! Father Bonaventure says that, if you love God more than he does, you can surpass him in sanctity."

11. This excited the envy of St. Augustine, and made him ashamed of himself. ”Surgunt indocti," he exclaimed, "et rapiunt cœlum." Alas! the ignorant rise up, and bear away the kingdom of Heaven; and what are we, the learned of this world, doing? Oh! how many of the rude and illiterate are saved, because, though unable to read, they know how to love God; and how many of the wise of the world are damned! Oh! truly wise were St. John of God, St. Felix of the order of St. Capuchins, and St. Paschal, who were poor lay Franciscans, and unacquainted with human sciences, but learned in the science of the saints. But the wonder is, that, though worldlings themselves are fully persuaded of this truth, and constantly extol the merit of those who retire from the world to live only to God, still they act as if they believed it not.

12. Tell me, brethren, to which class do you wish to belong to the wise of the world, or to the wise of God? Before you make a choice, St. Chrysostom advises you to go to the graves of the dead! "Proficiscamur ad Sepulchra” Oh! how eloquently do the sepulchres of the dead teach us the science of the saints and the vanity of all earthly goods!”For my part," said the saint, ”I see nothing but rottenness, bones, and worms. ” As if he said: Among these skeletons I cannot distinguish the noble, the rich, or the learned; I see that they have all become dust and rottenness: thus all their greatness and glory have passed away like a dream.

13. What then must we do? Behold the advice of St. Paul: "This, therefore, I say, brethren: the time is short: it remaineth that . . . they that use this world BE as if they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away." (1 Cor. vii. 29-31.) This world is a scene which shall pass away and end very soon . "The time is short." During the days of life that remain, let us endeavour to live like men who are wise, not according to the world, but according to God, by attending to the sanctification of our souls, and by adopting the means of salvation; by flying dangerous occasions; by practising prayer; joining some pious sodality; frequenting the sacraments; reading every day a spiritual book; and by daily hearing Mass, if it be in ourpower; or, at least, by visiting Jesus in the holy sacrament of the altar, and some image of the most holy Mary. Thus we shall be truly wise, and shall be happy for time and eternity.
 
 

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Book "Sermons of St. Aphonsus Liguori - For All the Sundays of the Year available at TAN Books - page 64-70

SERMON VI.  MALICE OF MORTAL SIN

"Behold, Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 1 Luke ii. 48

MOST holy Mary lost her Son for three days: during that time she wept continually for having lost sight of Jesus, and did not cease to seek after him till she found him. How then
does it happen that so many sinners not only lose sight of Jesus, but even lose his divine grace; and instead of weeping for so great a loss, sleep in peace, and make no effort to recover so great a blessing? This arises from their not feeling what it is to lose God by sin. Some say: I commit this sin, not to lose God, but to enjoy this pleasure, to possess the property of another, or to take revenge of an enemy. They who speak such language show that they do not understand the malice of mortal sin. What is mortal sin? First Point. It is a great contempt shown to God. Second Point. It is a great offence offered to God.

First Point. Mortal sin is a great contempt shown to God.

1. The Lord calls upon Heaven and Earth to detest the ingratitude of those who commit mortal sin, after they had been created by him, nourished with his blood, and exalted to the dignity of his adopted children. ”Hear, O ye Heavens, and give ear, Earth; for the Lord hath spoken. I have brought up children _ and exalted them; but they have despised me." (Isa. i. 2.) Who is this God whom sinners despise?; He is a God of infinite majesty, before whom all the kings of the Earth and all the blessed in Heaven are less than a drop of water or a grain of sand. As a drop of a bucket, . . . as a little dust. ” (Isa. xl. 15.) In a word, such is the majesty of God, that in his presence all creatures are as if they did not exist. ”All nations are before him as if they had no being at all." (Ibid. xl. 17.) And what is man, who insults him? St. Bernard answers: ”Saccus vermium, cibus vermium." A heap of worms, the food of worms, by which he shall be devoured in the grave. ”Thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Apoc. iii. 17.) He is so miserable that he can do nothing, so blind that he knows nothing, and so poor that he possesses nothing. And this worm dares to despise a God, and to provoke his wrath. ”Vile dust," says the same saint, ”dares to irritate such tremendous majesty." Justly, then, has St. Thomas asserted, that the malice of mortal sin is, as it were, infinite: ”Peccatum habet quandam infinitatem malitiae ex infinitatem divine majestatis." (Par. 3, q. 2, a. 2, ad. 2.) And St. Augustine calls it an infinite evil. Hence Hell and a thousand Hells are not sufficient chastisement for a single mortal sin.

2. Mortal sin is commonly defined by theologians to be”a turning away from the immutable good." St. Thom., par. 1, q. 24, a. 4; a turning ones back on the sovereign good. Of this God complains by his prophet, saying: ”Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord; thou art gone backward. ” (Jer. xv. 6.) Ungrateful man, he says to the sinner, I would never have separated myself from thee; thou hast been the first to abandon me: thou art gone backwards; thou hast turned thy back upon me.

3. He who contemns the divine law despises God; because he knows that, by despising the law, he loses the divine grace. "By transgression of the law, thou dishonourest God." (Rom. ii. 23.) God is the Lord of all things, because he has created them. ”All things are in thy power... Thou hast made Heaven and Earth." (Esth. xiii. 9.) Hence all irrational creatures the winds, the sea, the fire, and rain obey God, ”The winds and the sea obey him." (Matt. viii. 27.)”Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which fulfil his word." (Ps. cxlviii. 8.) But man, when he sins, says to God: Lord, thou dost command me, but I will not obey; thou dost command me to pardon such an injury, but I will resent it; thou dost command me to give up the property of others, but I will retain it; thou dost wish that I should abstain from such a forbidden pleasure, but I will indulge in it. ”Thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst: I will not serve." (Jer. ii. 20.) In fine, the sinner when he breaks the command, says to God: I do not acknowledge thee for my Lord. Like Pharaoh, when Moses, on the part of God, commanded him in the name of the Lord 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 ?" (Exod. v. 2.)

4. The insult offered to God by sin is heightened by the vileness of the goods for which sinners offend him. ”Wherefore hath the wicked provoked God." (Ps. x. 13.) For what do so many offend the Lord? For a little vanity; for the indulgence of anger; or for a beastly pleasure. ”They violate me among my people for a handful of barley and a piece of bread." (Ezec. xiii. 19.) God is insulted for a handful of barley for a morsel of bread! God! why do we allow ourselves to be so easily deceived by the Devil?”There is," says the Prophet Osee, “a deceitful balance in his hand." (xii. 7.) We do not weigh things in the balance of God, which cannot deceive, but in the balance of Satan, who seeks only to deceive us, that he may bring us with himself into Hell. ”Lord," said David, ”who is like to thee ?" (Ps. xxxiv. 10.) God is an infinite good; and when he sees sinners put him on a level with some earthly trifle, or with a miserable gratification, he justly complains in the language of the prophet: ”To whom, have you likened me or made me equal? saith the Holy One." (Isa. xl. 25.) In your estimation, a vile pleasure is more valuable than my grace. Is it a momentary satisfaction you have preferred before me?”Thou hast cast me off behind thy back." (Ezec. xxiii. 35.) Then, adds Salvian, ”there is no one for whom men have less esteem than for God." (Lib. v., Avd. Avar.) Is the Lord so contemptible in your eyes as to deserve to have the miserable things of the Earth preferred before him?

5. The tyrant placed before St. Clement a heap of gold, of silver, and of gems, and promised to give them to the holy martyr if he would renounce the faith of Christ. The saint heaved a sigh of sorrow at the sight of the blindness of men, who put earthly riches in comparison with God. But many sinners exchange the divine grace for things of far less value; they seek after certain miserable goods, and abandon that God who is an infinite good, and who alone can make them happy. Of this the Lord complains, and calls on the Heavens to be astonished, and on its gates to be struck with horror: ”Be astonished O ye Heavens, at this; and ye gates thereof, be very desolate, saith the Lord." He then adds: ”For my people have done two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jer. ii. 12 and 13.) We regard with wonder and amazement the injustice of the Jews, who, when Pilate offered to deliver Jesus or Barabbas, answered: ”Not this man, but Barabbas." (John xviii. 40.) The conduct of sinners is still worse; for, when the Devil proposes to them to choose between the satisfaction of revenge a miserable pleasure and Jesus Christ, they answer: "Not this man, but Barabbas." That is, not the Lord Jesus, but sin.

6. ”There shall be no new God in thee," says the Lord. (Ps. Ixxx. 10.) You shall not abandon me, your true God, and make for yourself a new god, whom you shall serve. St. Cyprian teaches that men make their god whatever they prefer before God, by making it their last end; for God is the only last end of all: ”Quidquid homo Deo anteponit, Deum sibi facit." And St. Jerome says: ”Unusquisque quod cupit, si veneratur, hoc illi Deus est. Vitium in corde, est idolum in altari." (In Ps. Ixxx.) The creature which a person prefers to God, becomes his God. Hence, the holy doctor adds, that as the Gentiles adored idols on their altars, so sinners worship sin in their hearts. When King Jeroboam rebelled against God, he endeavoured to make the people imitate him in the adoration of idols. He one day placed the idols before them, and said: "Behold thy gods, Israel!" (3 Kings xii. 28.) The Devil acts in a similar manner towards sinners: he places before them such a gratification, and says: Make this your God. Behold! this pleasure, this money, this revenge is your God: adhere to these, and forsake the Lord. When the sinner consents to sin, he abandons his Creator, and in his heart adores as his god the pleasure which lie indulges. ”Vitium in corde est idolum in altari. ”

7. The contempt which the sinner offers to God is increased by sinning in God’s presence. According to St. Cyril of Jerusalem, some adored the sun as their god, that during the night they might, in the absence of the sun, do what they pleased, without fear of divine chastisement. "Some regarded the sun as their God, that, after the setting of the sun, they might be without a God." (Catech. iv.) The conduct of these miserable dupes was very criminal; but they were careful not to sin in presence of their god. But Christians know that God is present in all places, and that he sees all things. ”Do not I fill Heaven and Earth? saith the Lord," (Jer. xxiii. 24); and still they do not abstain from insulting him, and from provoking his wrath in his very presence: “A people that continually provoke me to anger before my face." (Isa. Ixv. 3.) Hence, by sinning before him who is their judge, they even make God a witness of their iniquities: ”I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord." (Jer. xxix. 23.) St. Peter Chrysologus says, that, “the man who commits a crime in the presence of his judge, can offer no defence." The thought of having offended God in his divine presence, made David weep and exclaim: ”To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee." (Ps. i. 6.) But let us pass to the second point, in which we shall see more clearly the enormity of the malice of mortal sin.

Second Point. Mortal sin is a great offence offered to God.

8. There is nothing more galling than to see oneself despised by those who were most beloved and most highly favoured. Whom do sinners insult? They insult a God who bestowed so many benefits upon them, and who loved them so as to die on a cross for their sake; and by the commission of mortal sin they banish that God from their hearts. A soul that loves God is loved by him, and God himself comes to dwell within her. ”If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him." (John xiv. 23.) The Lord, then, never departs from a soul, unless he is driven away, even though he should know that she will soon banish him from her heart. According to the Council of Trent, ”he deserts not the soul, unless he is deserted." 9. When the soul consents to mortal sin she ungratefully says to God: Depart from me. “The wicked have said to God: Depart from us." (Job xxi. 14.) Sinners, as St. Gregory observes, say the same, not in words, but by their conduct. ”Recede, non verbis, sed moribus." They know that God cannot remain with sin in the soul: and, in violating the divine commands, they feel that God must depart; and, by their acts they say to him: since you cannot remain any longer with us, depart farewell. And through the very door by which God departs from the soul, the Devil enters to take possession of her. When the priest baptizes an infant, he commands the demon to depart from the soul: ”Go out from him, unclean spirits, and make room for the Holy Ghost." But when a Christian consents to mortal sin, he says to God: Depart from me; make room for the Devil, whom I wish to serve.

10. St. Bernard says, that mortal sin is so opposed to God, that, if it were possible for God to die, sin would deprive him of life;”Peccatum quantum in se est Deum perimit." Hence, according to Job, in committing mortal sin, man rises up against God, and stretches forth his hand against him: ”For he hath stretched out his hand against God, and hath strengthened himself against the Almighty." (Job. xv. 25.)

11. According to the same St. Bernard, they who wilfully violate the divine law, seek to deprive God of life in proportion to the malice of their will;”Quantum in ipsa est Deum perimit propria voluntas." (Ser. iii. de Res.) Because, adds the saint, self-will”would wish God to see its own sins, and to be unable to take vengeance on them." Sinners know that the moment they consent to mortal sin, God condemns them to Hell. Hence, being firmly resolved to sin, they wish that there was no God, and, consequently, they would wish to take away his life, that he might not be able to avenge their crime. “He hath," continues Job, in his description of the wicked, ”run against him witb his neck raised up, and is armed with a fat neck." (xv. 26.) The sinner raises his neck; that is, his pride swells up, and he runs to insult his God; and, because he contends with a powerful antagonist, ”he is armed with a fat neck."“A fat neck" is the symbol of ignorance, of that ignorance which makes the sinner say: This is not a great sin; God is merciful; we are flesh; the Lord will have pity on us. O temerity! illusion! which brings so many Christians to Hell.

Moreover, the man who commits a mortal sin afflicts the heart of God. “But they provoked to wrath, and afflicted the spirit of the Holy One." (Isaias Ixiii. 10.) "What pain and anguish would you not feel, if you knew that a person whom you tenderly loved, and on whom you bestowed great favours, had sought to take away your life! God is not capable of pain; but, were he capable of suffering, a single mortal sin would be sufficient to make him die through sorrow. ”Mortal sin," says Father Medina, ”if it were possible, would destroy God himself: because it would be the cause of infinite sadness to God." As often, then, as you committed mortal sin, you would, if it were possible, have caused God to die of sorrow; because you knew that by sin you insulted him and turned your back upon him, after he had bestowed so many favours upon you, and even after he had given all his blood and his life for your salvation. (An act of sorrow, etc.}

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Book of Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori offered by TAN Books (pages 71-78)

SERMON VII. SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

ON THE CONFIDENCE WITH WHICH WE OUGHT TO RECOMMEND OURSELVES TO THE MOTHER OF GOD

“And the wine failing, the Mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine” JOHN ii. 3

IN the Gospel of this day we read that Jesus Christ, having been invited, went with his holy mother to a marriage of Cana of Galilee. ”The wine failing, Mary said to her divine Son:
”They have no wine." By these words she intended to ask her Son to console the spouses, who were afflicted because the wine had failed. Jesus answered: "Woman, what is it to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come." (John ii. 4.) He meant that the time destined for the performance of miracles was that of his preaching through Judea. But, though his answer appeared to be a refusal of the request of Mary, the Son, says St. Chrysostom, resolved to yield to the desire of the mother. ”Although he said, my hour is not yet come, he granted the petition of his mother." (Hom, in ii. Joan.) Mary said to the waiters: ”Whatever he shall say to you, do ye." Jesus bid them fill the water-pots with water the water was changed into the most excellent wine. Thus the bride groom and the entire family were filled with gladness.  From the fact related in this day’s gospel, let us consider, in the first point, the greatness of Mary’s power to obtain from God the graces which we stand in need of; and in the second, the tenderness of Mary’s compassion, and her readiness to assist us all in our wants.

* In a notice to the reader, prefixed to the Glories of Mary, St. Alphonsus explains the sense in which he wished his doctrine regarding the privileges of the Blessed Virgin to be understood. He concludes this explanation in the following words: "Then, to say all in a few words, the God of all holiness, in order to glorify the Mother of the Redeemer, has decreed and ordained, that her great charity should  pray for all those for whom her Divine Son has paid and offered the most superabundant price of his precious blood, in which alone is our salvation, life, and resurrection? And on the foundation of this doctrine, and inasmuch as they accord with it, I have intended to lay down my propositions, which the saints, in their affectionate colloquies with Mary, and in their fervent discourses upon her, have not hesitated to assert." Glories of Mary. Monza Edition, vol. i., pp. 11, 12.

In the third chapter of the first volume (pp. 123, 124), St. Alphonsus compares the hope which we place in the Blessed Virgin to the confidence which a person has in a minister of state whom he asks to procure a favour from his sovereign. "Whatsoever Mary obtains for us, she obtains it through the merits of Jesus Christ, and because she prays in the name of Jesus Christ." Glories of Mary, vol. i., p. 188.

“Mary, then, is said to be omnipotent in the manner in which omnipotence can be understood of a creature; for a creature isincapable of a divine attribute. Thus she is omnipotent, inasmuch as she obtains by her prayers whatever she asks. ”Ibid., p. 223.

To obtain favours through the intercession of Mary, by practising devout exercises in her honour, "the first condition is, that we performour devotions with a soul free from sin, or, at least, with a desire to give up sin." "If a person wish to commit sin with the hope of beingsaved by the Blessed Virgin, he shall thus render himself unworthy and incapable of her protection." Glories of Mary, vol. ii., pp. 325,
326.


First Point. The greatness of Mary‟s power to obtain from God for us all the graces we stand in need of.

1. So great is Mary’s merit in the eyes of God, that, according to St. Bonaventure, her prayers are infallibly heard. "The merit of Mary is so great before God, that her petition cannot be rejected." (De Virg., c. iii.) But why are the prayers of Mary so powerful in the sight of God? It is, says St. Antonine, because she is his mother. “The petition of the mother of God
partakes of the nature of a command, and therefore it is impossible that she should not be heard." (Par. 4, tit. 13, c. xvii., 4.) The prayers of the saints are the prayers of servants; but the prayers of Mary are the prayers of a mother, and therefore, according to the holy doctor, they are regarded in a certain manner as commands by her Son, who loves her so tenderly. It is then impossible that the prayers of Mary should be rejected.

2. Hence, according to Cosmas of Jerusalem, the intercession of Mary is all-powerful. ”Omnipotens auxilium tuum, Maria” It is right, as Richard of St. Lawrence teaches, that the
son should impart his power to the mother. Jesus Christ, who is all-powerful, has made Mary omnipotent, as far as a creature is capable of omnipotence; that is, omnipotent in obtaining from him, her divine Son, whatever she asks. ”Cum autem eadem sit potestas filii et matris ab omnipotente filio, omnipotens mater facta est." (Lib. 4, de Laud. Virg.)

3. St. Bridget heard our Saviour one day addressing the Virgin in the following words: ”Ask from me whatever you wish, for your petition cannot be fruitless." (Rev. 1. 1, cap. iv.) My mother, ask of me what you please; I cannot reject any prayer which you present to me;”because since you refused me nothing on earth, I will refuse you nothing in Heaven."
(Ibid.) St. George, Archbishop of Nicomedia, says that Jesus Christ hears all the prayers of his mother, as if he wished thereby to discharge the obligation which he owes to her for
having given to him his human nature, by consenting to accept him for her Son. ”Filius, exolvens debitum petitiones tuas implet." (Orat. de Exitu Mar.) Hence, St. Methodius,
martyr, used to say to Mary: ”Euge, euge, quæ debitorum habeas filium, Deo enim universi debemus, tibi autem ille debitor est." (Orat, Hyp. Dom.) Rejoice, rejoice, holy virgin; for thou  hast for thy debtor that Son to whom we are all debtors; to thee he owes the human nature which he received from thee.

4. St. Gregory of Nicomedia encourages sinners by the assurance that, if they have recourse to the Virgin with a determination to amend their lives, she will save them by her intercession. Hence, turning to Mary, he exclaimed: "Thou hast insuperable strength, lest the multitude of our sins should overcome thy clemency." O mother of God, the sins of a Christian, however great they may be, cannot overcome thy mercy. “Nothing," adds the same saint, ”resists thy power; for the Creator regards thy glory as his own." Nothing is impossible to thee, says St.  Peter Damian: thou canst raise even those who are in despair to hopes of salvation. ”Nihil tibi impossibile, quæ etiam desperates in spem salutis potes relevare." (Ser. i. de Nat. B.V.)

5. Richard of St. Lawrence remarks that, in announcing to the Virgin that God has chosen her for the mother of his Son, the Archangel Gabriel said to her: “Fear not, Mary; for thou hast  found grace with God." (Luke i. 30.) From which words the same author concludes: ”Cupientes invenire gratiam, quæramus inventricem gratiæ." If we wish to recover lost
grace, let us seek Mary, by whom this grace has been found. She never lost the divine grace; she always possessed it. If the angel declared that she had found grace, he meant that she had found it not for herself, but for us miserable sinners, who have lost it. Hence Cardinal Hugo exhorts us to go to Mary, and say to her: O blessed lady, property should be restored to those who lost it: the grace which thou hast found is not thine for thou hast never lost the grace of God but it is ours; we have lost it through our own fault: to us, then, thou oughtest to restore it. "Sinners, who by your sins have forfeited the divine grace, run to the Virgin, and say to her with confidence: Restore us to our property, which thou hast found."

6. It was revealed to St. Gertrude, that all the graces which we ask of God through the intercession of Mary, shall be given to us. She heard Jesus saying to his divine mother:
“Through thee all who ask mercy with a purpose of amending their lives, shall obtain grace." If all Paradise asked a favour of God, and Mary asked the opposite grace, the Lord would hear Mary, and would reject the petition of the rest of the celestial host. Because, says Father Suarez, ”God loved the Virgin alone more than all the other saints." Let us, then, conclude this first point in the words of St. Bernard: ”Let us seek grace, and let us seek it through Mary; for she is a mother, and her petition cannot be rejected." (Serm. de Aquæd.) Let us seek through Mary all the graces we desire to receive from God, and we shall obtain them; for she is a mother, and her son cannot refuse to hear her prayers, or to grant the graces which she asks from him.

Second Point. On the tender compassion of Mary, and her readiness to assist us in all our wants.

7. The tenderness of Mary’s mercy may be inferred from the fact related in this day’s Gospel. The wine fails the spouses are troubled no one speaks to Mary to ask her Son to console them in their necessity. But the tenderness of Mary’s heart, which, according to St. Bernardine of Sienna, cannot but pity the afflicted, moved her to take the office of advocate, and, without being asked, to entreat her Son to work a miracle. ”Unasked, she assumed the office of an advocate and a compassionate helper." (Tom. 3, ser. ix.) Hence, adds the same saint, if, unasked, this good lady has done so much, what will she not do for those who invoke her intercession? "Si hoc non rogata perfecit, quid rogata perficiet ?"

8. From the fact already related, St. Bonaventure draws another argument to show the great graces which we may hope to obtain through Mary, now that she reigns in Heaven. If she was so compassionate on earth, how much greater must be her mercy now that she is in Paradise?”Great was the mercy of Mary while in exile on earth; but it is much greater now that she is a queen in Heaven; because she now sees the misery of men." (St. Bona. in Spec. Virg., cap. viii.) Mary in Heaven enjoys the vision of God; and therefore she sees our wants far more clearly than when she was on earth; hence, as her pity for us is increased, so also is her desire to assist us more ardent. How truly has Richard of St. Victor said to the Virgin: “So tender is thy heart that thou canst not see misery and not afford succour." It is impossible for this loving mother to behold a human being in distress without extending to him pity and relief.

9. St. Peter Damian says that the Virgin”loves us with an invincible love." (Ser, i. de Nat. Virg.) How ardently soever the saints may have loved this amiable queen, their affection fell
far short of the love which Mary bore to them. It is this love that makes her so solicitous for our welfare. The saints in Heaven, says St. Augustine, have great power to obtain grace from who recommend themselves to their prayers; but as Mary is of all the saints the most powerful, so she is of all the most desirous to procure for us the divine mercy: ”Sicut
omnibus sanctis potentior, sic omnibus est pro nobis sollicitior."

10. And, as this our great advocate once said to St. Bridget, she regards not the iniquities of the sinner who has recourse to her, but the disposition with which he invokes her aid. If he comes to her with a firm purpose of amendment she receives him, and by her intercession heals his wounds, and brings him to salvation. ”However great a mans ,sins may be, if he shall return to me, I am ready instantly to receive him. Nor do I regard the number or the enormity of his sins, but the will with which he comes to me; for I do not disdain to anoint and heal his wounds, because I am called, and truly am, the mother of mercy."

11. The blessed Virgin is called a”fair olive tree in the plains:" "Quasi oliva speciosa in campis." (Eccl. xxiv. 19.) From the olive, oil only comes forth; and from the hands of Mary
only graces and mercies flow. According to Cardinal Hugo, it is said that she remains in the plains, to show that she is ready to assist all those who have recourse to her: ”Speciosa in
campis ut omnes ad earn confugiant." In the Old Law there were five cities of refuge, in which not all, but only those who had committed certain crimes, could find an asylum; but in
Mary, says St. John Damascene, all criminals, whatever may be their offences, may take refuge. Hence he calls her”the city of refuge for all who have recourse to her." Why, then,
says St. Bernard, should we be afraid to approach Mary? She is all sweetness and clemency; in her there is nothing austere or terrible: ”Quid ad Mariam accedere trepidat humana
fragilitas? Nihil austerum in ea, nihil terribile, tota sauvis est."

12. St. Bonaventure used to say that, in turning to Mary, he saw mercy itself receiving him. “When I behold thee, O my lady, I see nothing but mercy. ” The Virgin said one day to St. Bridget: ”Miser erit, qui ad misericordiam cum possit, non accedit." Miserable and miserable for eternity shall be the sinner who, though he has it in his power during life to come to me, who am able and willing to assist him, neglects to invoke my aid, and is lost, ”The devil”says St. Peter, ”as a roaring lion goeth about seeing whom he may devour." (1 Pet. v. 8.) But, according to Bernardine a Bustis, this mother of mercy is constantly going about in search of sinners to save them. "She continually goes about seeking whom she may save." (Maril. par. 3, ser. iii.) This queen of clemency, says Richard of St. Victor, presents our petitions, and begins to assist us before we ask the assistance of her prayers;”Velocius
occurrit ejus pietas quam invocetur, et causas miserorum anticipat." (In Can., c. xxiii.) Because, as the same author says, Mary’s heart is so full of tenderness towards us, that she
cannot behold our miseries without affording relief. ”Nee possis miserias scire, et non sub venire."

13. Let us, then, in all our wants, be most careful to have recourse to this mother of mercy, who is always ready to assist those who invoke her aid. ”Invenies semper paratam auxiliari,"  says Richard of St. Lawrence. She is always prepared to come to our help, and frequently prevents our supplications: but, ordinarily, she requires that we should pray to her, and is offended when we neglect to ask her assistance. ”In te domina peccant," says St. Bonaventure, ”non solum qui tibi injuriam irrogant, sed etiam qui te non rogant." (In Spec. Virg.) Thou, blessed lady, art displeased not only with those who commit an injury against thee, but also with those who do not ask favours from thee. Hence, as the same holy doctor teaches, it is not possible that Mary should neglect to succour any soul that flies to her for protection; for she cannot but pity and console the afflicted who have recourse to her. ”Ipsa enim non misereri ignorat et miseris non satisfacere."

14. But, to obtain special favours from this good lady, we must perform in her honour certain devotions practised by her servants; such as, first, to recite every day at least five decades of the Rosary; secondly, to fast every Saturday in her honour. Many persons fast every Saturday on bread and water: you should fast in this manner at least on the vigils of her seven principal festivals. Thirdly, to say the three Aves when the bell rings for the Angelus Domini; and to salute her frequently during the day with an Ave Maria, particularly when you hear a clock strike, or when you see an image of the Virgin, and also when you leave or return to your house. Fourthly, to say every evening the Litany of the Blessed Virgin before you go to  rest; and for this purpose procure an image of Mary, and keep it near your bed. Fifthly, to wear the scapular of Mary in sorrow, and of Mount Carmel. There are many other devotions practised by the servants of Mary; but the most useful of all is, to recommend yourself frequently to her prayers. Never omit to say three Aves in the morning, to beg of her to preserve you from sin during the day. In all temptations have immediate recourse to her, saying: “Mary, assist me." To resist every temptation, it is sufficient to pronounce the names  of Jesus and Mary; and if the temptation continues, let us continue to invoke Jesus and Mary, and the devil shall never be able to conquer us.

15. St. Bonaventure calls Mary the salvation of those who invoke her: "salus te invocantium." And if a true servant of Mary were lost (I mean one truly devoted to her, who wishes to  amend his life, and invoke with confidence this advocate of sinners), this should happen either because Mary would be unable or unwilling to assist him. But, says St. Bernard, this is impossible: being the mother of omnipotence and of mercy, Mary cannot want the power or the will to save her servants. Justly then is she called the salvation of all who invoke her aid. Of this truth there are numberless examples: that of St. Mary of Egypt will be sufficient. After leading for many years a sinful and dissolute life, she wished to enter the church of Jerusalem in which the festival of the holy cross was celebrated. To make her feel her miseries, God closed against her the door which was open to all others: as often as she endeavoured to enter, an invisible force drove her back. She instantly perceived her miserable condition, and remained in sorrow outside the church. Fortunately for her there was an image of most holy Mary over the porch of the church. As a poor sinner she recommended herself to the divine mother, and promised to change her life. After her prayer, she felt encouraged to go into the church, and, behold! the door which was before closed against her she now finds open: she enters, and confesses her sins. She leaves the church, and, under the influence of divine inspiration, goes into the desert, where she lived for forty-seven years, and became a saint.

[Hildegard of Bingen]

SERMON VIII.   THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

On the Remorse of the Damned

" But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." MATT. viii. 12.

     IN the Gospel of this day it is related that, “when Jesus Christ entered into Capharnaum, there came to him a centurion beseeching him" to cure his servant, who lay sick of the palsy. Jesus answered: "I will come and heal him." No," replied the centurion, ”I am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed." (v. 8.) Seeing the centurion’s faith, the Redeemer instantly consoled him by restoring health to his servant; and, turning to his disciples, he said: ”Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." By these words our Lord wished to signify, that many persons born in infidelity shall be saved, and enjoy the society of the saints, and that many  who are born in the bosom of the Church shall be cast into Hell, where the worm of conscience, by its gnawing, shall make them weep bitterly for all eternity. Let us examine the  remorses of conscience which, a damned Christian shall suffer in Hell.

    First remorse, arising from the thought of the little which he required to do in order to save his soul. Second remorse, arising from the remembrance of the trifles for which he lost his
soul. Third remorse, arising from the knowledge of the great good which he has lost through his own fault.


First remorse of the damned Christian, arising from the thought of the little which he required to do in order to save his soul.

1 . A damned soul once appeared to St. Hubert, and said, that two remorse’s were her most cruel executioners in Hell: the thought of the little which was necessary for her to have done in this life to secure her salvation; and the thought of the trifles for which she brought herself to eternal misery. The same thing has been said by St. Thomas. Speaking of the reprobate, he says: “They shall be in sorrow principally because they are damned for nothing, and because they could most easily have obtained eternal life." Let us stop to consider this first source of remorse; that is, how few and transitory are the pleasures for which all the damned are lost.

Each of the reprobate will say for eternity: If I abstained from such a gratification; if in certain circumstances I overcame human respect; if I avoided such an occasion of sin such a
companion, I should not now he damned; if I had frequented some pious sodality; if I had gone to confession every week; if in temptations I had recommended myself to God, I would  not have relapsed into sin. I have so often proposed to do these things, but I have not done them. I began to practise these means of salvation, but afterwards gave them up; and thus I am lost.

2. This torment of the damned will be increased by the remembrance of the good example given them by some young companions who led a chaste and pious life even in the midst of the world. It will be still more increased by the recollection of all the gifts which the Lord had bestowed upon them, that by their co-operation they might acquire eternal salvation; the gifts of nature health, riches, respectability of family, talents; all gifts granted by God, not to be employed in the indulgence of pleasures and in the gratification of vanity, but in the sanctification of their souls, and in becoming saints. So many gifts of grace, so many divine lights, holy inspirations, loving calls, and so many years of life to repair past disorders. But they shall for ever hear from the angel of the Lord that for them the time of salvation is past. “The angel whom I saw standing, swore by Him that liveth for ever and ever. . . . that time shall be no longer." (Apoc. x. 6.)

3. Alas! what cruel swords shall all these blessings received from God be to the heart of a poor damned Christian, when he shall see himself shut up in the prison of Hell, and that
there is no more time to repair his eternal ruin! In despair he will say to his wretched companions: “The harvest is past; the summer is ended; and we are not saved." (Jer. viii. 20.)
The time, he will say, of gathering fruits of eternal life is past; the summer, during which we could have saved our souls, is over, but we are not saved: the winter is come; but it is an
eternal winter, in which we must live in misery and despair as long as God shall be God.

4. O fool, he will say, that I have been! If I had suffered for God the pains to which I have submitted for the indulgence of my passions if the labours which I have endured for my own damnation, had been borne for my salvation, how happy should I now be! And what now remains of all past pleasures, but remorse and pain, which now torture, and shall torture me for eternity? Finally, he will say, I might be for ever happy and now .[ must be for ever miserable. Ah! this thought will torture the damned more than the fire and all the other torments of Hell.


Second remorse of the damned, arising from the remembrance of the trifles for which they lost their souls.

5 Saul forbid the people, under pain of death, to taste food. His son Jonathan, who was then young being hungry, tasted a little honey. Having discovered that Jonathan had violated the command, the king declared that he should die. Seeing himself condemned to death, Jonathan said with tears: ”I did but taste a little honey, and behold I must die." (1 Kings xiv. 43.) But the people, moved to pity for Jonathan, interposed with his father, and delivered him from death. For the unhappy damned there is no compassion; there is no one to intercede with God to deliver them from the eternal death of Hell. On the contrary, all rejoice at the just punishment which they suffer for having wilfully lost God and Paradise for the sake of a transitory pleasure.

6. After having eaten the pottage of lentiles for which he sold his right of primogeniture, Esau was tortured with grief and remorse for what he had lost, and "roared out with a great cry." (Gen. xxvii. 34.) Oh! how great shall be the roaring and howling of the damned, at the thought of having lost, for a few poisonous and momentary pleasures, the everlasting
kingdom of Paradise, and of being condemned for eternity to a continual death!

7. The unfortunate reprobate shall be continually employed in reflecting on the unhappy cause of their damnation. To us who live on earth our past life appears but a moment ~ but a  dream. Alas! what will the fifty or sixty years which they may have spent in this world appear to the damned, when they shall find themselves in the abyss of eternity, and when they shall have passed a hundred and a thousand millions of years in torments, and shall see that their miserable eternity is only beginning, and shall be for ever in its commencement? But have the fifty years spent on this earth been full of pleasures? Perhaps the sinner, living in enmity with God, enjoyed uninterrupted happiness in his sins? How long do the pleasures of sin last? Only for a few minutes; the remaining part of the lives of those who live at a distance from God is full of anguish and pain. Oh! what will these moments of pleasure appear to a damned soul, when she shall find herself in a pit of fire?

8. ”What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things have passed away like a shadow." (Wis. v. 8.) Unhappy me! each of the damned shall say, I have lived on earth according to my corrupt inclinations; I have indulged my pleasures; but what have they profited me? They have lasted but for a short time; they have made me lead a life of bitterness and disquietude; and now I must burn in this furnace for ever, in despair, and abandoned by all.


Third remorse of the damned, arising from the knowledge of the great good which they have lost by their own fault.

9. A certain queen, blinded by the ambition of being a sovereign, said one day: ”If the Lord gives me a reign of forty years, I shall renounce Paradise." The unhappy queen reigned for  forty years; but now that she is in another world, she cannot but be grieved at having made such a renunciation. Oh! how great must be her anguish at the thought of having lost the kingdom of Paradise for the sake of a reign of forty years, full of troubles, of crosses, and of fears! ”Plus cœlo torquetor, quam gehenna," says St. Peter Chrysologus. To the damned the voluntary loss of Paradise is a greater loss than the very pains of Hell.

10. The greatest pain in Hell is the loss of God, that sovereign good, who is the source of all the joys of Paradise. ”Let torments," says St. Bruno, ”be added to torments, and let them not be deprived of God." (Serm, de Jud. fin.) The damned would be content to have a thousand Hells added to the Hell which they suffer provided they were not deprived of God; but their Hell shall consist in seeing themselves deprived for ever of God through their own fault. St. Teresa used to say, that when a person loses, through his own fault, a trifle a small sum of money, or a ring of little value the thought of having lost it through his own neglect afflicts him and disturbs his peace. What then must be the anguish of the damned in reflecting that they have lost God, a good of infinite value, and have lost him through their own fault?

11. The damned shall see that God wished them to be saved, and had given them the choice of eternal life or of eternal death. "Before man is life and death, that which he shall choose shall be given to him." (Eccles." xv. 18.) They shall see that, if they wished, they might have acquired eternal happiness, and that, by their own choice, they are damned. On the day of judgment they shall see many of their companions among the elect; but, because they would not put a stop to their career of sin, they have gone to end it in Hell. “Therefore we have erred," they shall say to their unhappy associates in Hell; we have erred in losing Heaven and God through our own fault, and our error is irreparable. They shall continually exclaim: “There is no peace for my bones because of my sins." (Ps. xxxvii. 4.) The thought of having been the cause of their own damnation produces an internal pain, which enters into the very bones of the damned, and prevents them from ever enjoying a moments repose. Hence, each of them shall be to himself an object of the greatest horror. Each shall suffer the pain threatened by the Lord: “I will set THEE before thy face." (Ps. xlix. 21.)

12. If, beloved brethren, you have hitherto been so foolish as to lose God for a miserable pleasure, do not persevere in your folly. Endeavour, now that you have it in your power, to repair your past error. Tremble! Perhaps, if you do not now resolve to change your life, you shall be abandoned by God, and be lost for ever. When the Devil tempts you, remember Hell, the thought of Hell will preserve you from that land of misery. I say, remember Hell and have recourse to Jesus Christ and to most holy Mary, and they will deliver you from sin, which is the gate of Hell.

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Book of Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori offered by TAN Books (pages 83-88)

SERMON IX. FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

DANGERS TO ETERNAL SALVATION

“And when he entered into the boat, his disciples followed him; and, behold, a great tempest arose in the sea." MATT. viii. 23, 24.

On the greatness of the dangers to which our eternal salvation is exposed, and on the manner in which we ought to guard against them.

1. In this days Gospel we find that, when Jesus Christ entered the boat along with his disciples, a great tempest arose, so that the boat was agitated by the waves, and was on the
point of being lost. During this storm the Saviour was asleep; but the disciples, terrified by the storm, ran to awake him, and said: ”Lord, save us: we perish." (v. 25.) Jesus gave them courage by saying: “Why are ye fearful, ye of little faith? Then rising up, he commanded the winds and the sea, and there came a great calm." Let us examine what is meant by the boat in the midst of the sea, and by the tempest which agitated the sea.

2. The boat on the sea represents man in this world. As a vessel on the sea is exposed to a thousand dangers to pirates, to quicksands, to hidden rocks, and to tempests; so man in this life is encompassed with perils arising from the temptations of Hell from the occasions of sin, from the scandals or bad counsels of men, from human respect, and, above all, from the bad passions of corrupt nature, represented by the winds that agitate the sea and expose the vessel to great danger of being lost.

6. Thus, as St. Leo says, our life is full of dangers, of snares, and of enemies: “Plena omnia periculis, plena laqueis: incitant cupiditates, insidiantur illecebræ; blandiuntur lucra." (S.
Leo, serm. v, de Quad.) The first enemy of the salvation of every Christian is his own corruption. "But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and
allured." (St. James i. 14.) Along with the corrupt inclinations which live within us, and drag us to evil, we have many enemies from without that fight against us. We have the devils,
with whom the contest is very difficult, because they are “stronger than we are." ”Bellum grave, ” says Cassiodorus, ”qui cum fortiore." (In Psal. v.) Hence, because we have to contend with powerful enemies, St. Paul exhorts us to arm ourselves with the divine aid: ”Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the Devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places." (Eph.vi. 11, 12.) The Devil, according to St. Peter, is a lion who is continually going about roaring, through the rage and hunger which impel him to devour our souls. ”Your adversary, the  Devil, like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter, v. 8,) St. Cyprian says that Satan is continually lying in wait for us, in order to make us his slaves: ”Circuit demon nos singulos, et tanquam hostis clauses obsidens muros explorat et tenat num sit pars aliqua minis stabilis, cujus auditu ad interiora penetretur." (S. Cyp. lib. de zelo,
etc.)

4. Even the men with whom we must converse endanger our salvation. They persecute or betray us, or deceive us by their flattery and bad counsels. St. Augustine says that, among the faithful there are in every profession hollow and deceitful men. "Omnis professio in ecclesia habet fictos." (In Ps. xciv.) Now if a fortress were full of rebels within, and encompassed by enemies from without, who is there that would not regard it as lost? Such is the condition of each of us as long as we live in this world. Who shall be able to deliver us from so many powerful enemies? Only God: “Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it." (Ps. cxxvi. 2.)

5. What then is the means by which we can save our souls in the midst of so many dangers? It is to imitate the holy disciples to have recourse to our Divine Master, and say to him: ”Save us; we perish." Save us, Lord; if thou do not we are lost. When the tempest is violent, the pilot never takes his eyes from the light which guides him to the port. In like manner we should keep our eyes always turned to God, who alone can deliver us from the many dangers to which we are exposed. It was thus David acted when he found himself assailed by the dangers of sin. ”I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me." (Ps. cxx. 1.) To teach us to recommend ourselves continually to him who alone can save us by his grace, the Lord has ordained that, as long as we remain on this earth, we should live in the midst of a continual tempest, and should be surrounded by enemies. The temptations of the Devil, the persecutions of men, the adversity which we suffer in this world, are not evils: they are, on the contrary, advantages, if we know how to make of them the use which God wishes, who sends or permits them for our welfare. They detach our affections from this earth, and inspire a disgust for this world, by making us feel bitterness and thorns even in its honours, its riches, its delights, and amusements. The Lord permits all these apparent evils, that we may take away our affections from fading goods, in which we meet with so many dangers of perdition, and that we may seek to unite ourselves with him who alone can make us happy.

6. Our error and mistake is, that when we find ourselves harassed by infirmities, by poverty, by persecutions, and by such tribulations, instead of having recourse to the Lord, we turn to men, and place our confidence in their assistance, and thus draw upon ourselves the malediction of God, who says, ”Cursed be the man who trusteth in man." (Jer. xvii. 5.) The Lord does not forbid us, in our afflictions and dangers, to have recourse to human means; but he curses those who place their whole trust in them. He wishes us to have recourse to himself before all others, and to place our only hope in him, that we may also centre in him all our love.

7. As long as we live on this earth, we must, according to St. Paul, work out our salvation with fear and trembling, in the midst of the dangers by which we are beset. "Cum metu et
tremore vestram salutem opera mini." (Phil. ii. 12.) Whilst a certain vessel was in the open sea a great tempest arose, which made the captain tremble. In the hold of the vessel there
was an animal eating with as much tranquillity as if the sea were perfectly calm. The captain being asked why he was so much afraid, replied: If I had a soul like the soul of this brute, I too would be tranquil and without fear; but because I have a rational and an immortal soul, I am afraid of death, after which I must appear before the judgment-seat of God; and therefore I tremble through fear. Let us also tremble, beloved brethren. The salvation of our immortal souls is at stake. They who do not tremble are, as St. Paul says, in great danger of being lost;  because they who fear not, seldom recommend themselves to God, and labour but little to adopt the means of salvation. Let us beware: we are, says St. Cyprian, still in battle array, and still combat for eternal salvation. "Adhuc in acie constituti de vita nostra imicamus." (S. Cypr., lib. 1, cap. i.)

8. The first means of salvation, then, is to recommend ourselves continually to God, that he may keep his hands over us, and preserve us from offending him. The next is, to cleanse the soul from all past sins by making a general confession. A general confession is a powerful help to a change of life. When the tempest is violent the burden of the vessel is diminished, and each person on board throws his goods into the sea in order to save his life. folly of sinners, who, in the midst of such great dangers of eternal perdition, instead of diminishing the burden of the vessel that is, instead of unburdening the soul of her sins load her with a greater weight. Instead of flying from the dangers of sin, they fearlessly continue to put themselves voluntarily into dangerous occasions; and, instead of having recourse to God’s mercy for the pardon of their offences, they offend him still more, and compel him to abandon, them.

9. Another means is, to labour strenuously not to allow ourselves to become the slaves of irregular passions. ”Give me not over to a shameless and foolish mind." (Eccl. xxiii. 6.) Do
not, Lord, deliver me up to a mind blinded by passion. He who is blind sees not what he is doing, and therefore he is in danger of falling into every crime. Thus so many are lost by
submitting to the tyranny of their passions. Some are slaves to the passion of avarice. A person who is now in the other world said: Alas! I perceive that a desire of riches is
beginning to rule over me. So said the unhappy man; but he applied no remedy. He did not resist the passion in the beginning, but fomented it till death, and thus at his last moments left but little reason to hope for his salvation. Others are slaves to sensual pleasures. They are not content with lawful gratifications, and therefore they pass to the indulgence of those that are forbidden. Others are subject to anger; and because they are not careful to check the fire at its commencement, when it is small, it increases and grows into a spirit of revenge.

10. ”Hi hostes cavendi," says St. Ambrose, ”hi graviores tyranni. Multi in persecutione publica coronati, in hac persecutione ceciderunt." (In Ps. cxviii. serm. 20.) Disorderly
affections, if they are not beaten down in the beginning, become our greatest tyrants. Many, says St. Ambrose, after having victoriously resisted the persecutions of the enemies of the faith, were afterwards lost because they did not resist the first assaults of some earthly passion. Of this, Origen was a miserable example. He fought for, and was prepared to give
his life in defence of the faith; but, by afterwards yielding to human respect, he was led to deny it. (Natalis Alexander, His. Eccl., tom. 7, dis. xv., q. 2, a. 1.) We have still a more
miserable example in Solomon, who, after having received so many gifts from God, and after being inspired by the Holy Ghost, was, by indulging a passion for certain pagan, women,  induced to offer incense to idols. The unhappy man who submits to the slavery of his wicked passions, resembles the ox that is sent to the slaughter after a life of constant labour. During their whole lives worldlings groan under the weight of their sins, and, at the end of their days, fall into Hell.

11. Let us conclude. When the winds are strong and violent, the pilot lowers the sails and casts anchor. So, when we find ourselves assailed by any bad passion, we .should always
lower the sails; that is, we should avoid all the occasions which may increase the passion and should cast anchor by uniting ourselves to God, and by begging of him to give us strength not to offend him.

12. But some of you will say, What am I to do? I live in the midst of the world, where my passions continually assail me even against my will. I will answer in the words of Origen:
“Donee quis in tenebris sæculanbus manet et in negotiorum obscuritate versatur, non potest servire Domino. Exeundum est ergo de Egypto, relmquendus est mundus, non loco sed ammo." (Hom. 111. in Exod.) The man who lives in the darkness of the world and in the midst of secular business, can with difficulty serve God. Whoever then wishes to insure his  eternal salvation, let him retire from the world, and take refuge in one of those exact religious communities which are the secure harbours in the sea of this world. If he cannot actually leave the world, let him leave it at least in affection, by detaching his heart from the things of this world, and from his own evil inclinations: "Go not after thy lusts," says the Holy Ghost, "but turn away from thy own will." (Eccl. xviii. 30.) Follow not your own concupiscence; and when your will impels you to evil, you must not indulge, but must resist its inclinations.

13. "The time is short: it remaineth that they also who have wives be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as it they rejoiced not; and  they that buy, as if they possessed not; and they that use this world, as if they used it not; for the fashion of this world passeth away”(1 Cor. vii. 29, etc.) The time of life is short; we should then prepare for death, which is rapidly approaching; and to prepare for that awful moment, let us reflect that everything in this world shall soon end. Hence, the Apostle tells those who suffer in this life to be as if they suffered not, because the miseries of this life shall soon pass away, and they who save their souls shall be happy for eternity; and he exhorts those who enjoy the goods of this earth to be as if they enjoyed them not, because they must  one day leave all things; and if they lose their souls, they shall be miserable for ever.

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Book of Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori offered by TAN Books (pages 89-95)

SERMON X.    FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

ON THE PAINS OF HELL

" Gather up first the cockle, and bind into bundles to burn." MATT. xiii. 30.

I shall first speak of the fire, which is the principal pain that torments the senses of the damned, and afterwards of the other pains of hell.

1. BEHOLD! the final doom of sinners who abuse the divine mercy is, to burn in the fire of hell. God threatens hell, not to send us there, but to deliver us from that place of torments. ”Minatur Deus gehennem, ”says St. Chrysostom, ”ut a gehenna liberet, et ut firmi ac stabiles evitemus minas." (Hom. v. de Pœnit.) Remember, then, brethren, that God gives you Today the opportunity of hearing this sermon, that you may be preserved from hell, and that you may give up sin, which alone can lead you to hell.

2. My brethren, it is certain and of faith that there is a hell. After judgment the just shall enjoy the eternal glory of Paradise, and sinners shall be condemned to suffer the everlasting
chastisement reserved for them in hell. "And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting." (Matt. xxv. 46.) Let us examine in what hell consists. It is what the rich glutton called it a place of torments. “In hunc locum tormentorum." (Luc. xvi. 28.) It is a place of suffering, where each of the senses and powers of the damned has its proper torment, and in which the torments of each person will be increased in proportion to the forbidden pleasures in which he indulged. “As much as she hath glorified herself and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her." (Apoc. xviii. 7.)

3. In offending God the sinner does two evils: he abandons God, the sovereign good, who is able to make him happy, and turns to creatures, who are incapable of giving any real
happiness to the soul. Of this injury which men commit against him, the Lord complains by his prophet Jeremiah: "For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the
fountain of living waters, and have digged to themselves cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jer. ii. 13.) Since, then, the sinner turns his back on God, he shall be
tormented in hell, by the pain arising from the loss of God, of which I shall speak on another occasion [see the Sermon for the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost], and since, in offending God, he turns to creatures, he shall be justly tormented by the same creatures, and principally by fire.

4. ”The vengeance on the flesh of the ungodly is fire and worms." (Eccl vii. 19.) Fire and the remorse of conscience are the principal means by which God takes vengeance on the flesh of the wicked. Hence, in condemning the reprobate to hell, Jesus Christ commands them to go into eternal fire. : ”Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire." (Matt. xxv. 41.) This fire, then, shall be one of the most cruel executioners of the damned.

5. Even in this life the pain of fire is the most terrible of all torments. But St. Augustine says, that in comparison of the fire of hell, the fire of this earth is no more than a picture compared with the reality, “In cuius comparatione noster hie ignus depictus est. ” Anselm teaches, that the fire of hell as far surpasses the fire of this world, as the fire of the real exceeds that of painted fire. The pain, then, produced by the fire of hell is far greater than that which is produced by our fire because God has made the fire of this earth for the use of man, but he has created the fire of hell purposely for the chastisement of sinners; and therefore, as Tertullian says, he has made it a minister of his justice. ”Longe alius est ignis, qui usui humano, alms qui Dei justitiæ deservit." This avenging fire is always kept alive by the wrath of God. ”A fire is kindled in my rage. ” (Jer. xv 14)

6 "And the rich man also died, and he was buried in hell." (Luke xvi. 22.) The damned are buried in the fire of hell; hence they have an abyss of fire below, an abyss of fire above, and an abyss of fire on every side. As a fish in the sea is surrounded by water, so the unhappy reprobate are encompassed by fire on every side. The sharpness of the pain of fire may be inferred from the circumstance, that the rich glutton complained of no other torment. ”I am tormented in this flame." (Ibid, v 23.)

7 The Prophet Isaias says that the Lord will punish the guilt of sinners with the spirit of fire. “If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion by the spirit of burning" (iv.
4). ”The spirit of burning" is the pure essence of fire. All spirits or essences, though taken from simple herbs or flowers, are so penetrating, that they reach the very bones. Such is the fire of hell. Its activity is so great, that a single spark of it would be sufficient to melt a mountain of bronze. The disciple relates, that a damned person, who appeared to a religious, dipped his hand into a vessel of water; the religious placed in the vessel a candlestick of bronze, which was instantly dissolved.

8. This fire shall torment the damned not only externally, but also internally. It will burn the bowels, the heart, the brains, the blood within the veins, and the marrow within the bones. The skin of the damned shall be like a caldron, in which their bowels, their flesh, and their bones shall be burned. David says, that the bodies of the damned shall be like so many furnaces of fire. ”Thou shalt make them as an oven of fire in the time of thy anger." (Ps. xx. 10.)

9. O God! certain sinners cannot bear to walk under a strong sun, or to remain before a large fire in a close room; they cannot endure a spark from a candle; and they fear not the fire of hell, which, according to the Prophet Isaias, not only burns, but devours the unhappy damned. ”Which of you can dwell with devouring fire. ”(Isaias xxxiii. 14.) As a lion devours a lamb, so the fire of hell devours the reprobate; but it devours without destroying life, and thus tortures them with a continual death. Continue, says St. Peter Damian to the sinner who indulges in impurity, continue to satisfy your flesh; a day will come, or rather an eternal night, when your impurities, like pitch, shall nourish a fire within your very bowels. "Venit dies, imo nox, quando libido tua vertetur in picem qua se nutriet perpetuus ignis in visceribus tuis." (Epist. 6.) And according to St. Cyprian, the impurities of the wicked shall boil in the very fat which will issue from their accursed bodies.

10, St. Jerome teaches, that in this fire sinners shall suffer not only the pain of the fire, but also all the pains which men endure on this earth. “In uno igne omnia supplicia sentient in
inferno peccatores." (Ep. ad Pam.) How manifold are the pains to which men are subject in this life. Pains in the sides, pains in the head, pains in the loins, pains in the bowels. All these  together torture the damned.

11. The fire itself will bring with it the pain of darkness; for, by its smoke it will, according to St. John, produce a storm of darkness which shall blind the damned. ”To whom the storm of darkness is reserved for ever." (St. Jude 13.) Hence, hell is called a land of darkness covered with the shadow of death. ”A land that is dark and covered with the mist of death a land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death, and no order but everlasting horror dwelleth." (Job x. 21, 22.) To hear that a criminal is shut up in a dungeon for ten or twenty years excites our compassion. Hell is a dungeon closed on every side, into which a ray of the sun or the light of a candle never enters. Thus the damned”shall never see light." (Ps xlviii. 20.) The fire of this world gives light, but the fire of hell is utter darkness. In explaining the words of David, ”the voice of the Lord divideth the flame of fire," (Ps. xxviii. 7,) St. Basil says,  that in hell the Lord separates the fire that burns from the flame which illuminates, and therefore this fire burns, but gives no light. B. Albertus Magnus explains this passage more  concisely by saying that God”divides the heat from the light." St. Thomas teaches, that in hell there is only so much light as is necessary to torment the damned by the sight of their associates and of the devils: “Quantum sufficit ad videndum ilia quæ torquere possunt." (3 p., q. 97, art. 5.) And according to St. Augustine, the bare sight of these infernal monsters excites sufficient terror to cause the death of all the damned, if they were capable of dying. “Videbunt monstra, quorum visio postet illos occidere."

12. To suffer a parching thirst, without having a drop of water to quench it, is intolerably painful. It has sometimes happened, that travellers who could procure no refreshment after a  long journey, have fainted from the pain produced by thirst. So great is the thirst of the damned, that if one of them were offered all the water on this earth, he would exclaim: All
this water is not sufficient to extinguish the burning thirst which I endure. But, alas! the unhappy damned shall never have a single drop of water to refresh their tongues. “He cried
out and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. ” (St. Luke xvi. 24.) The rich glutton has not obtained, and shall never obtain, this drop of water, as long as God shall be God.

13. The reprobate shall be likewise tormented by the stench which pervades hell. The stench shall arise from the very bodies of the damned. “Out of their carcasses shall arise a stink." (Isaiah xxxiv. 3.) The bodies of the damned are called carcasses, not because they are dead (for they are living, and shall be forever alive to pain), but on account of the stench which they exhale. Would it not be very painful to be shut up in a close room with a fetid corpse? St. Bonaventure says, that if the body of one of the damned were placed in the earth, it would, by its stench, be sufficient to cause the death of all men. How intolerable, then, must it be to live for ever in the dungeons of hell in the midst of the immense multitudes of the damned! Some foolish worldlings say: If I go to hell, I shall not be there alone. Miserable fools! do you not see that the greater the number of your companions, the more insufferable shall be your torments? “There," says St. Thomas, ”the society of the reprobate shall cause an increase and not a diminution of misery." (Suppl., q. 86, art. 1.) The society of the reprobate augments their misery, because each of the damned is a source of suffering to all the others. Hence, the greater their number, the more they shall mutually torment each other. ”And the people," says the prophet Isaias, “shall be ashes after a fire, as a bundle of thorns they shall be burnt with fire." (Isa. xxxiii. 12.) Placed in the midst of the furnace of hell, the damned are like so many grains reduced to ashes by that abyss of fire, and like so many thorns tied together and wounding each other.

14. They are tormented not only by the stench of their companions, but also by their shrieks and lamentations. How painful it is to a person longing for sleep to hear the groans of a sick man, the barking of a dog, or the screams of an infant. The damned must listen incessantly to the wailing and howling of their associates, not for a night, nor for a thousand nights, but for all eternity, without the interruption of a single moment.

15. The damned are also tormented by the narrowness of the place in which they are confined; for, although the dungeon of hell is large, it will be too small for so many millions
of the reprobate, who like sheep shall be heaped one over the other. “They are," says David, "laid in hell like sheep." (Ps. xlviii. 15.) We learn from the Scriptures that they shall be
pressed together like grapes in the winepress, by the vengeance of an angry God. ”The winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty." (Apoc. xix. 15.) From this
pressure shall arise the pain of immobility. “Let them become unmoveable as a stone." (Exod. xvi. 16.) In whatever position the damned shall fall into hell after the general judgment,
whether on the side, or on the back, or with the head downwards, in that they must remain for eternity, without being ever able to move foot or hand or finger, as long as God shall be God. In a word, St. Chrysostom says, that all the pains of this life, however great they may be, are scarcely a shadow of the torments of the damned. ”Hæc omnia ludicra sunt et risus ad ilia supplicia: pone ignem, ferrum, et bestias, attamen vix umbra sunt ad ilia tormenta." (Hom, xxxix. ad pop. Ant.)

16. The reprobate, then, shall be tormented in all the senses of the body. They shall also be tormented in all the powers of the soul. Their memory shall be tormented by the
remembrance of the years which they had received from God for the salvation of their souls, and which they spent in labouring for their own damnation; by the remembrance of so many graces and so many divine lights which they abused. Their understanding shall be tormented by the knowledge of the great happiness which they forfeited in losing their souls, heaven, and God; and by a conviction that this loss is irreparable. Their will shall be tormented by seeing that whatsoever they ask or desire shall be refused. "The desire of the wicked shall perish." (Ps. cxi. 10.) They shall never have any of those things for which they wish, and must for ever suffer all that is repugnant to their will. They would wish to escape from these torments and to find peace; but in these torments they must for ever remain, and peace they shall never enjoy.

17. Perhaps they may sometimes receive a little comfort, or at least enjoy occasional repose? No, says Cyprian: ”Nullum ibi refrigerium, nullum remedium, atque ita omni tormento
atrocius desperatio." (Serm. de Ascens.) In this life, how great soever may be the tribulations which we suffer, there is always some relief or interruption. The damned must remain for ever in a pit of fire, always in torture, always weeping, without ever enjoying a moments repose. But perhaps there is some one to pity their sufferings? At the very time that they are so much afflicted the devils continually reproach them with the sins for which they are tormented, saying: Suffer, burn, live for ever in despair: you yourselves have been the cause of your destruction. And do not the saints, the divine mother, and God, who is called the Father of Mercies, take compassion on their miseries? No;”the sun shall be darkened, and the  moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven." (Matt. xxvi. 29.) The saints, represented by the stars, not only do not pity the damned, but they even rejoice in the vengeance inflicted on the injuries offered to their God. Neither can the divine mother pity them, because they hate her Son. And Jesus Christ, who died for the love of them, cannot pity them, because they have despised his love, and have voluntarily brought themselves to perdition.

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Book of Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori offered by TAN Books (pages 95-105)

SERMON XI. SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY. - ON THE DEATH OF THE JUST.

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened." MATT. xiii. 33.

IN this days gospel we find that a woman, after putting leaven in the dough, waits till the entire is fermented. Here the Lord gives us to understand that the kingdom of heaven that is, the attainment of eternal beatitude is like the leaven. By the leaven is understood the divine grace, which makes the soul acquire merits for eternal life. But this eternal life is obtained only when”the whole is leavened ;" that is, when the soul has arrived at the end of the present life and the completion of her merits. We shall, then, speak Today of the death of the just, which we should not fear, but should desire with our whole souls. For, says St. Bonaventure, “Triplex in morte congratulatio, hominem ab omni labore, peccato, et periculo liberari." Man should rejoice at death, for three reasons First, because death delivers him from labour that is, from suffering the miseries of this life and the assault of his enemies. Secondly, because it delivers him from actual sins. Thirdly, because it delivers him from the danger of falling into hell, and opens Paradise to him.

First Point. Death delivers us from the miseries of this life, and from the assaults of our enemies.

1. What is death? St. Eucherius answers, that “death is the end of miseries." Job said that our life, however short it may be, is full of miseries, of infirmities, of crosses, of persecutions, and fears. “Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries." (Job xiv. 1.) What, says St. Augustine, do men who wish for a prolongation of life on this earth desire but a prolongation of suffering ?" “Quid est diu vivere nisi diu tor queri." (Serm. xviL de Serb. Dom.) Yes; for, as St. Ambrose remarks, the present life was given to us not for repose or enjoyment, but for labour and suffering, that by toils and pains we may merit Paradise. ”Hæc vita homini non ad quitem data est, sed ad laborem." (Serm. xliii.) Hence the same holy doctor says, that, though death is the punishment of sin, still the miseries of this life are so great, that death appears to be a relief rather than a chastisement: ”Ut mors remediuni videatur esse, non poena. ”

2. To those who love God, the severest of all the crosses of this life are the assaults of hell to rob them of the divine grace. Hence St. Denis the Areopagite says, that they joyfully meet death, as the end of their combats, and embrace it with gladness, because they hope to die a good death, and to be thus freed from all fear of ever again falling into sin. ”Divino gaudio et mortis terminum tanquam ad finem certaminum tendunt, non amplius metuentus pervertii." (De Hier. Eccl., cap. vii.) The greatest consolation which a soul that loves God experiences at the approach of death, arises from the thought of being delivered from so many temptations, from so many remorses of conscience, and from so many dangers of offending God. Ah! says St. Ambrose, as long as we live, "we walk among snares." We walk continually in the midst of the snares of our enemies, who lie in wait to deprive us of the life of grace. It was the fear of falling into sin that made St. Peter of Alcantara, in his last moments, say to a lay brother who, in attending the saint, accidently touched him: ”Brother, remove, remove from me, for I am still alive and in danger of being lost." The thought of being freed from the danger of sin by death consoled St. Teresa, and made her rejoice as often as she heard the clock strike, that an hour of the combat was past. Hence she used to say: ”In each moment of life we may sin and lose God." Hence the news of approaching death filled the saints not with sorrow or regret, but with sentiments of joy; because they knew that their struggles and the dangers of losing the divine grace were soon to have an end.

3. ”But the just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest." (Wis. iv. 7.) He who is prepared to die, regards death as a relief. If, says St. Cyprian, you lived in a house whose roof and walls were tottering and threatening destruction, would you not fly from, it as soon as possible? In this life everything menaces ruin to the poor soul the world, the devils, the flesh, the passions, all draw her to sin and to eternal death. It was this that made St. Paul exclaim: ”Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. vii. 24.) Who shall deliver me from this body of mine, which lives continually in a dying state, on account of the assaults of my enemies? Hence he esteemed death as a great gain, because it brought to him the possession of Jesus Christ, his true life. Happy then are they who die in the Lord: because they escape from pains and toils, and go to rest. ”Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labours." (Apoc. xiv. 13.) It is related in the lives of the ancient fathers, that one of them who was very old, when dying, smiled, while the others wept. Being asked why he smiled, he said: “Why do you weep at seeing me go to rest? Ex labore ad requiem vado, et vos ploratis ?" At the hour of death, St. Catherine of Sienna said to her sisters in religion: Rejoice with me: for I leave this land of suffering, and am going to the kingdom of peace. The death of the saints is called a sleep that is, the repose which God gives to his servants as the reward of their toil”When he shall give sleep to his beloved, behold the inheritance of the Lord." (Ps. cxxvi. 2.) Hence the soul that loves God neither weeps nor is troubled at the approach of death, but, embracing the crucifix, and burning with love, she says: ”In peace in the self same I will sleep and I will rest." (Ps. iv. 9.)

4. That "Proficiscere de hoc mundo," (" Depart, Christian soul, from this world,") which is so appalling to sinners at the hour of death, does not alarm the saints. ”But the souls of the just are in the hands of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them." (Wis. iii. 1.) The saint is not afflicted, like worldlings, at the thought of being obliged to leave the goods of this earth, because he has kept the soul detached from them. During life, he always regarded God as the Lord of his heart and as the sole riches which he desired: ”What have I in heaven? and, besides thee, what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart and the God that is my portion for ever." (Ps. Ixxxii. 25, 26.) He is not afflicted at leaving honours, because the only honour which he sought was, to love and to be loved by God. All the honours of this world he has justly esteemed as smoke and vanity. He is not afflicted at leaving his relatives, because he loved them only in God. In his last moments he recommends them to his heavenly Father, who loves them more than he does. And having a secure confidence of salvation, he hopes to be better able to assist his relatives from Paradise, than on this earth. In a word, what he frequently said during life, he continues to repeat with greater fervour at the hour of death”My God and my all."

5. Besides, his peace is not disturbed by the pains of death; but, seeing that he is now at the end of his life, and that he has no more time to suffer for God, or to offer him other proofs of love, he accepts those pains with joy, and offers them to God as the last remains of life; and uniting his death with the death of Jesus Christ, he offers it to the Divine Majesty.

6. And although the remembrance of the sins which he has committed will afflict, it will not disturb him; for, since he is convinced that the Lord will forget the sins of all true penitents, the very sorrow which he feels for his sins, gives him an assurance of pardon. ”If the wicked do penance. ... I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done." (Ezec. xviii. 21 and 22.) "How," asks St. Basil, "can anyone be certain that God has pardoned his sins? He may be certain of pardon if he say: I have hated and abhorred iniquity." (In Reg. inter. 12.) He who detests his sins, and offers to God his death in atonement for them, may rest secure that God has pardoned them. ”Mors," says St. Augustine, ”quæ in lege naturæ erat poona peccati in lege gratiæ est hostia pro peccato." (Lib. iv. de Trin. c. xxii.) Death, which was a chastisement of sin under the law of nature, has become, in the law of grace, a victim of penance, by which the pardon of sin is obtained.

7. The very love which a soul bears to God, assures her of his grace, and delivers her from the fear of being lost. ”Charity casteth out fear." (1 John iv. 18.) If, at the hour of death, you are unwilling to pardon an enemy, or to restore what is not your own, or if you wish to keep up an improper friendship, then tremble for your eternal salvation; for you have great reason to be afraid of death; but if you seek to avoid sin, and to preserve in your heart a testimony that you love God, be assured that he is with you: and if the Lord is with you, what do you fear? And if you wish to be assured that you have within you the divine love, embrace death with peace, and offer it from your heart to God. He that offers to God his death, makes an act of love the most perfect that is possible for him to perform; because, by cheerfully embracing death to please God, at the time and in the manner which God ordains, he becomes like the martyrs, the entire merit of whose martyrdom consisted in suffering and dying to please God.

Second Point. Death frees us from actual sins.

8. It is impossible to live in this world without committing at least some slight faults. ”A just man shall fall seven times: ” (Prov. xxiv. 16.) He who ceases to live, ceases to offend God. Hence St. Ambrose called death the burial of vices: by death they are buried, and never appear again. ”Quid est mors nisi sepultura vitorum?" (De Bono Mort. cap. iv.) The venerable Vincent Caraffa consoled himself at the hour of death by saying: now that I cease to live, I cease for ever to offend my God. He who dies in the grace of God, goes into that happy state in which he shall love God for ever, and shall never more offend him. ”Mortuus," says the same holy doctor, ”nescit peccare. Quid tanto pere vita mistam desideramus, in qua quanto diutius quis fuerit, tanto majori oneratur sarcina peccatorum." How can we desire this life, in which the longer we live, the greater shall be the load of our sins?

9. Hence the Lord praises the dead more than any man living: ”I praised the dead rather than the living." (Eccl. iv. 2.) Because no man on this earth, however holy he may be, is exempt from sins. A spiritual soul gave directions that the person who should bring to her the news of death, should say: ”Console yourself, for the time has arrived when you shall no longer offend God."

10. St. Ambrose adds, that God permitted death to enter into the world, that, by dying, men should cease to sin: "Passus est Dominus subintrare mortem ut culpa cessaret." (Loco cit.) It is, then, a great error to imagine that death is a chastisement for those who love God. It is a mark of the love which God bears to them , because he shortens their life to put an end to sin, from which they cannot be exempt as long as they remain on this earth. ”For his soul pleased God: therefore he hastened to bring him out of the midst of iniquities." (Wis. iv. 14.)

Third Point. Death delivers us from the danger of falling into hell, and opens Paradise to us.

11. ”Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints." (Ps. cxv. 16.) Considered according to the senses, death excites fear and terror; but, viewed with the eye of faith, it is consoling and desirable. To the saints it is as amiable and as precious, as it appears terrible to sinners. ”It is precious," says St. Bernard, ”as the end of labours, the consummation of victory, the gate of life." The joy of the cup-bearer of Pharaoh, at hearing from Joseph that he should soon be released from prison, bears no comparison to that which a soul that loves God feels on hearing that she is to be liberated from the exile of this earth, and to be transported to the enjoyment of God in her true country. The Apostle says, that, as long as we remain in the body, we wander at a distance from our country in a strange land, and far removed from the life of God: ”While we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord." (2 Cor. v. 6.) Hence, St. Bruno teaches, that our death should not be called death, but the beginning of life. ”Mors dicenda non est, sed vitæ principium." And St. Athanasius says: ”Non est justis mors sed translatio." To the just, death is but a passage from the miseries of this earth to the eternal delights of Paradise. O desirable death! exclaimed St. Augustine; who is there that does not desire thee? For thou art the term of evils, the end of toils, and the beginning of everlasting repose!”O mors desirabilis, malorum finis, laboris clausula, quietis principium."

12. No one can enter into heaven to see God without passing through the gate of death. ”This is the gate of the Lord the just shall enter into it." (Ps. cxvii. 20.) Hence, addressing death, St. Jerome said: ”Aperi mini soror mea." Death, my sister, if you do not open the gate to me, I cannot enter to enjoy my God. And St. Charles Borromeo, seeing in his house a picture of death with a knife in the hand, sent for a painter to cancel the knife, and substitute for it a key of gold; because, said the saint, it is death that opens Paradise. Were a queen confined in a dark prison, how great would be her joy at hearing that the gates of the prison are open, and that she is to return from the dungeon to her palace! It was to be liberated by death from the prison of this life that David asked, when he said: ”Bring my soul out of prison." (Ps. cxli. 8.) This, too, was the favour which the venerable Simeon asked of the infant Jesus, when he held him in his arms: ”Now thou dost dismiss thy servant." (Luke ii. 29.)”As if detained by force," says St. Ambrose, ”he asked to be dismissed." Simeon sought to be delivered by death, as if he had been compelled by force to live on this earth.

13. St. Cyprian says, that the sinner who shall pass from temporal to eternal death, has just reason to be afraid of death. "Mori timeat, qui ad secundum mortem de hac morte transibit." But he who is in the state of grace and hopes to pass from death to eternal life which is the true life tears not death. It is related that a certain rich man gave to St. John the Almoner a large sum of money to be dispensed in alms, for the purpose of obtaining from God a long life for his only son. The son died in a short time. The father complained of the death of his son; but, to console him, the Lord sent an angel to say to him: "You have sought a long life for your son, and the Lord has heard your prayer; for your son is in heaven, where he enjoys eternal life." This is the grace which, according to the promise of the prophet Osee, the Redeemer obtained for us. ”death, I will be thy death." (xiii. 14.) By His redemption, Jesus Christ destroyed death, and changed it into a source of life to us. When St. Pionius, martyr, was asked how he could go to death with so much joy, he answered: ”You err; I do not go to death but to life."“Erratis non ad mortem, sed ad vitam contendo." (Apud Eusub., lib. iv. cap. xiv ) Thus also St. Symphorosa exhorted her son, St. Symphorian, to martyrdom: ”My son," said she, ”life is not taken away from you; it is only changed for a better one."

14. St. Augustine says, that they who love God desire to see him speedily, and that, therefore, to them life is a cause of suffering, and death an occasion of joy. "Patienter vivit, delectabiliter moritur." (Trac. ix. in Ep. Joan.) St. Teresa used to say, that to her life was death. Hence she composed the celebrated hymn, ”I die because I do not die." To that great servant of God D. Sancia Carriglio a penitent of Father M. Avila it was one day revealed, that she had but a year to live; she answered: ”Alas! must I remain another year at a distance from God? O sorrowful year, which will appear to me longer than an age." Such is the language of souls who love God from their heart. It is a mark of little love of God not to desire to see him speedily.

15. Some of you will say: I desire to go to God, but I fear death. I am afraid of the assaults which I shall then experience from hell. I find that the saints have trembled at the hour of death; how much more ought I to tremble! I answer: It is true that hell does not cease to assail even the saints at death, but it is also true that God does not cease to assist his servants at that moment; and when the dangers are increased, he multiplies his helps. ”Ibi plus auxilii," says St. Ambrose, ”ubi plus periculi." (ad Jos. cap. v.) The servant of Eliseus was struck with terror when he saw the city surrounded by enemies; but the saint inspired him with courage by showing to him a multitude of angels sent by God to defend it. Hence the prophet afterwards said: ”Fear not, for there are more with us than with them." (4 Kings vi. 16.) The powers of hell will assail the dying Christian; but his angel guardian will come to console him. His patrons, and St. Michael, who has been appointed by God to defend his faithful servants in their last combat with the devils, will come to his aid. The mother of God will come to assist those who have been devoted to her. Jesus Christ shall come to defend from the assaults of hell the souls for which he died on a cross: he will give them confidence and strength to resist every attack. Hence, filled with courage, they will say: "The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear?" (Isa. xxvi. I.) Truly has Origen said, that the Lord is more desirous of our salvation than the devil is of our perdition, because God’s love for us far surpasses the devil’s hatred of our souls. ”Major ilia cura est, ut nos ad veram pertrahat salutem, quam diabolo, ut nos ad æternam damnationem impellat." (Hom, xx.)

16. God is faithful, he will never permit us to be tempted above our strength: ”Fidelis Deus non patietur vos tentari supra id quod potestis." (1 Cor. x. 13.) It is true that some saints have suffered great fear at the hour of death; but they have been few. The Lord, as Belluacensis says, has permitted this fear to cleanse them at death from some defect. ”Justi quandoque dure moriendo purgantur in hoc mundo." But we know that, generally speaking, the saintshave died with a joyful countenance. Father Joseph Scamacca, a man of a holy life, being asked if, in dying, he felt confidence in God, answered: Have I served Mahomet, that I should now doubt of the goodness of my God, or of his wish to save me? Ah! the Lord knows well how to console his servants in their last moments. Even in the midst of the agony of death, he infuses into their souls a certain sweetness and a certain foretaste of that happiness which he will soon bestow upon them. As they who die in sin begin to experience from the bed of death a certain foretaste of hell certain extraordinary terrors, remorses, and fits of despair; so, on the other hand, the saints, by the fervent acts of divine love which they then make, and by the confidence and the desire which they feel of soon seeing God, taste, before death, that peace which they shall afterwards fully enjoy in heaven.

17. Father Suarez died with so much peace, that in his last moments he said: ”I could not have imagined that death was so sweet." Being advised by his physician not to fix his thoughts so constantly on death, Cardinal Baronius said: Is it lest the fear of death should shorten my life? I fear not; on the contrary, I love and desire death. Of the Cardinal Bishop of Rochester, Saunders relates, that, in preparing to die for the faith, he put on his best clothes, saying that ho was going to a nuptial feast. When he came within view of the place of execution, he threw away his staff, and said: O my feet, walk fast; for we are not far from Paradise. ”Ite pedes, parum a paradiso distamus." Before death, he wished to recite the TE DEUM, in thanksgiving to God for permitting him to die for the holy faith; and, full of joy, he laid his head on the block. St. Francis of Assisium began to sing at the hour of death. Brother Elias said to him: Father, at the hour of death, we ought rather to weep than to sing. But, replied the saint, I cannot abstain from singing at the thought of soon going to enjoy God. A nun of the order of St. Teresa, in her last moments, said to her sisters in religion, who were in tears: O God! why do you weep? I am going to possess my Jesus; if you love me, weep not, but rejoice with me. (Dis. Parol. i. 6.)

18. Father Granada relates, that a certain sportsman found in a wood a solitary singing in his last agony. How, said the sportsman, can you sing in such a state? The hermit replied: Brother, between me and God there is nothing but the wall of this body. I now see that since my flesh is falling in pieces, the prison shall be destroyed, and I shall soon go to see God. It is for this reason I rejoice and sing. Through the desire of seeing God, St. Ignatius, martyr, said, that if the wild beasts should spare him, he would provoke them to devour him. "Ego vim faciam, ut devorer." St. Catherine of Genoa was astonished that some persons regarded death as a misfortune, and said: ”O beloved death, in what a mistaken light do men view you! Why do you not come to me? 1 call on you day and night”(Vita, c. 7.)

19. Oh! how peculiarly happy is the death of the servants of Mary! Father Binetti relates, that a person whom he assisted in his last moments, and who was devoted to the Blessed Virgin, said to him: ”Father, you cannot conceive the consolation which arises at death from the remembrance of having served Mary. Ah! my father, if you knew what happiness I feel on account of having served this good mother! I cannot express it." What joy shall the lovers of Jesus Christ experience at his coming to them in the most holy viaticum! Happy the soul that can then address her Saviour in the words which St. Philip Neri used when the viaticum was brought to him: ”Behold my love! behold my love! give me my love!" But, to entertain these sentiments at death, we must have ardently loved Jesus Christ during life.

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Book of Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori offered by TAN Books (pages 105-111)



SERMON XII. SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. - ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVATION.


" He sent them into his vineyard." MATTHEW xx. 2

THE vines of the Lord are our souls, which he has given us to cultivate by good works, that we may be one day admitted into eternal glory. "How," says Salvian, ”does it happen that a Christian believes, and still does not fear the future?" Christians believe death, judgment, hell, and Paradise: but they live as if they believed them not as if these truths of faith were tables or the inventions of human genius. Many live as it they were never to die, or as if they had not to give God an account of their life as if there were neither hell nor a heaven. Perhaps they do not believe in them? They believe, but do not reflect on them; and thus they are lost. They take all possible care of worldly affairs, but attend not to the salvation of their souls. I shall show you, this day, that the salvation of your souls is the most important of all affairs. First Point. Because, if the soul is lost, all is lost; Second Point. Because, if the soul is lost once, it is lost for ever.

First Point. If the soul is lost, all is lost.

1. "But," says St. Paul, "we entreat you .... that you do your own business." (1 Thess. iv. 10, 11.) The greater part of worldlings are most attentive to the business of this world. What diligence do they not employ to gain a law-suit or a post of emolument! How many means are adopted how many measures taken? They neither eat nor sleep. And what efforts do they make to save their souls? All blush at being told that they neglect the affairs of their families; and how few are ashamed to neglect the salvation of their souls. ”Brethren," says St. Paul, I entreat you that you do your own business ;" that is, the business of your eternal salvation.

2. "Nugæ puerorum," says St. Bernard, ”nugæ vocantur, nugæ malorum negotia vocantur." The trifles of children are called trifles, but the trifles of men are called business; and for these many lose their souls. If in one worldly transaction you suffer a loss, you may repair it in another; but if you die in enmity with God, and lose your soul, how can you repair the loss? “What exchange can a man give for his soul:" (Matt. xvi. 26.) To those who neglect the care of salvation, St. Euterius says: “Quam pretiosus sis, homo, si Creatori non credis, interroga Redemptorem." (Hom. ii. in Symb.) If, from being created by God to his own image, you do not comprehend the value of your soul, learn it from Jesus Christ, who has redeemed you with his own blood. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled." (1 Pet. i. 18, 19.)

3. God, then, sets so high a value on your soul; such is its value in the estimation of Satan, that, to become master of it, he does not sleep night or day, but is continually going about to make it his own. Hence St. Augustine exclaims: “The enemy sleeps not, and you are asleep." The enemy is always awake to injure you, and you slumber. Pope Benedict the Twelfth, being asked by a prince for a favour which he could not conscientiously grant, said to the ambassador: Tell the prince, that, if I had two souls, I might be able to lose one of them in order to please him; but, since I have but one, I cannot consent to lose it. Thus he refused the favour which the prince sought from him.

4. Brethren, remember that, if you save your souls, your failure in every worldly transaction will be but of little importance: for, if you are saved, you shall enjoy complete happiness for all eternity. But, if you lose your souls, what will it profit you to have enjoyed all the riches, honours, and amusements of this world? If you lose your souls, all is lost. “What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his_own soul ?" (Matt. xvi. 26.) By this maxim St. Ignatius of Loyola drew many souls to God, and among them the soul of St. Francis Xavier, who was then at Paris, and devoted his attention to the acquirement of worldly goods. One day St, Ignatius said to him: “Francis, whom do you serve? You serve the world, which is a traitor, that promises, but does not perform. And if it should fulfil all its promises, how long do its goods last? Can they last longer than this life? And, after death, what will they profit you, if you shall not have saved your soul ?" He then reminded Francis of the maxims of the Gospel: "What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul ?"“But one thing is necessary ?" (Luke x. 42.) It is not necessary to become rich on this earth to acquire honours and dignities; but it is necessary to save our souls; because, unless we gain heaven we shall be condemned to hell: there is no middle place: we must be either saved or damned. God has not created us for this earth; neither does he preserve our lives that we may become rich and enjoy amusements. "And the end life everlasting." (Hom, vi. 22.) He has created us, and preserved us, that we may acquire eternal glory.

5. St. Philip Neri used to say, that he who does not seek, above all things, the salvation of his soul, is a fool. If on this earth there were two classes of men, one mortal, and the other immortal, and if the former saw the latter entirely devoted to the acquisition of earthly goods, would they not exclaim: O fools that you are! You have it in your power to secure the immense and eternal goods of Paradise, and you lose your time in procuring the miserable goods of this earth, which shall end at death. And for these you expose yourselves to the danger of the eternal torments of hell. Leave to us, for whom all shall end at death, the care of these earthly things. But, brethren, we are all immortal, and each of us shall be eternally happy or eternally miserable in the other life. But the misfortune of the greater part of mankind is, that they are solicitous about the present, and never think of the, future. ”Oh! that they would be wise, and would understand, and would provide for their last end." (Deut. xxxii. 29.) Oh! that they knew how to detach themselves from present goods, which last but a short time, and to provide for what must happen after death an eternal reign in heaven, or everlasting slavery in hell. St. Philip Neri, conversing one day with Francis Zazzera, a young man of talent who expected to make a fortune in the world, said to him: "You shall realize a great fortune; you shall be a prelate, afterwards a cardinal, and in the end, perhaps, pope. But what must follow? what must follow? Go, my son, think on these words." The young man departed, and after meditating on the words, what must follow? what must follow? he renounced his worldly prospects, and gave himself entirely to God; and, retiring from the world, he entered into the congregation of St. Philip, and died a holy death.

6. "The fashion of this world passeth away." (i Cor. vii. 31.) On this passage, Cornelius à Lapide , says, that "the world is as it were a stage." The present life is a comedy, which passes away. Happy the man who acts his part well in this comedy by saving his soul. But if he shall have spent his life in the acquisition of riches and worldly honours, he shall justly be called a fool; and at the hour of death he shall receive the reproach addressed to the rich man in the gospel: ”Fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee; and whose shall these things be which thou hast provided?" (Luke xii 20.) In explaining the words”they require, ” Toletus says, that the Lord has given us our souls to guard them against the assaults of our enemies; and that at death the angel shall come to require them of us, and shall present them at the tribunal of Jesus Christ. But if we shall have lost our souls by attending only to the acquisition of earthly possessions, these shall belong to us no longer they shall pass to other hands: and what shall then become of our souls?

7. Poor worldlings! of all the riches which they acquired, of all the pomps which they displayed in this life, what shall they find at death? They have slept their sleep: and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands." (Ps. Ixxv. 6.) The dream of this present life shall be over at death, and they shall have acquired nothing for eternity. Ask of so many great men of this earth of the princes and emperors, who, during life, have abounded in riches, honours, and pleasures, and are at this moment in hell what now remains of all the riches which they possessed in this world? They answer with tears: "Nothing, nothing. ” - And of so many honours enjoyed of so many past pleasures of so many pomps and triumphs, what now remains? They answer with howling: "Nothing, nothing. ”

8. Justly, then, has St. Francis Xavier said, that in the world there is but one good and one evil. The former consists in saving our souls; the latter in losing them. Hence, David said: "One thing I have asked of the Lord; this I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord." (Ps. xxvi. 4.) One thing only have I sought, and will for ever seek, from God that he may grant me the grace to save my soul; for, if I save my soul, all is safe; if I lose it, all is lost. And, what is more important, if my soul be once lost, it is lost for ever. Let us pass to the second point.

Second Point. If the soul be once lost, it is lost for ever.

9. Men die but once. If a Christian died twice, he might lose his soul the first, and save it the second time. But we can die only once: if the soul be lost the first time, it is lost for ever. This truth St. Teresa frequently inculcated to her nuns: "One soul," she would say, "one eternity." As if she said: We have but one soul: if this be lost, all is lost. There is but "one eternity;" if the soul be once lost, it is lost for ever. ”Periisse semel æternum est."

10. St. Eucherius says that there is no error so great as the neglect of eternal salvation. "Sane supra omnem errorem est dissimulare negotium æternæ salutis." It is an error which surpasses all errors, because it is irremediable. Other mistakes may be repaired: if a person loses property in one way, he may acquire it in another; if he loses a situation, a dignity, he may afterwards recover them; if he even loses his life, provided his soul be saved, all is safe. But he who loses his soul has no means of repairing the loss. The wailing of the damned arises from the thought, that for them the time of salvation is over, and that there is no hope of remedy for their eternal ruin. ”The summer is ended, and we are not saved." (Jer. viii. 20.) Hence they weep, and shall inconsolably weep for ever, saying: ”Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us." (Wis. v. 6.) But what will it profit them to know the error they have committed, when it will be too late to repair it?

11. The greatest torment of the damned arises from the thought of having lost their souls, and of having lost them through their own fault. ”Destruction is thy own, O Israel; thy help is only from me." (Osee xiii. 9.) O miserable being! God says to each of the damned; thy perdition is thine own; that is from thyself; by sin thou hast been the cause of thy damnation; for I was ready to save thee if thou hadst wished to attend to thy salvation. St. Teresa used to say, that when a person loses a trifle through negligence, his peace is disturbed by the thought of having lost it through his own fault. O God! what shall be the pain which each of the damned shall feel on entering into hell, at the thought of having lost his soul his all and of having lost them through his own fault!

12. "We must, then, from this day forward, devote all our attention to the salvation of our souls. There is no question, says St. John Chrysostom, of losing some earthly good which we must one day relinquish. But there is question of losing Paradise, and of going to suffer for ever in hell: ”De immortalibus suppliciis, de coelestis regni amissione res agitur." We must fear and tremble; it is thus we shall be able to secure eternal happiness. “With fear and trembling work out your salvation. ” (Phil. ii. 12.) Hence, if we wish to save our souls, we must labour strenuously to avoid dangerous occasions, to resist temptations, and to frequent the sacraments. Without labour we cannot obtain heaven. “The violent bear it away." The saints tremble at the thought of eternity. St. Andrew Avellino exclaimed with tears: Who knows whether I shall be saved or damned? St. Lewis Bertrand said with trembling: What shall be my lot in the other world? And shall we not tremble? Let us pray to Jesus Christ and his most holy mother to help us to save our souls. This is for us the most important of all affairs: if we succeed in it, we shall be eternally happy; if we fail, we must be for ever miserable.

---

SERMON XIII-SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY.

- ON THE UNHAPPY LIFE OF SINNERS, AND ON THE HAPPY LIFE OF THOSE WHO LOVE GOD.

" And that which fell among the thorns are they who have heard, and, going their way, are choked with the cares and riches of this life, and yield no fruit." LUKE viii. 14.

IN the parable of this day’s gospel we are told that part of the seed which the sower went out to sow fell among thorns. The Saviour has declared that the seed represents the divine word, and the thorns the attachment of men to earthly riches and pleasures, which are the thorns that prevent the fruit of the word of God, not only in the future, but even in the present life. misery of poor sinners! By their sins they not only condemn themselves to eternal torments in the next, but to an unhappy life in this world. This is what I intend to demonstrate in the following discourse. First Point. The unhappy life of sinners. Second Point. Happy life of those who love God.

First Point. Unhappy life of sinners.

1. The devil deceives sinners, and makes them imagine that, by indulging their sensual appetites, they shall lead a life of happiness, and shall enjoy peace. But there is no peace for those who offend God. ”There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord. ” (Isa. xlviii. 22.) God declares that all his enemies have led a life of misery, and that they have not even known the way of peace. ”Destruction and unhappiness in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known." (Ps. xiii. 3.)


2. Brute animals that have been created for this world, enjoy peace in sensual delights. Give to a dog a bone, and he is perfectly content; give to an ox a bundle of hay, and he desires nothing more. But man, who has been created for God, to love God, and to be united to him,can be made happy only by God, and not by the world, though it should enrich him with all its goods. What are worldly goods? They may be all reduced to pleasures of sense, to riches, and to honours. “All that is in the world," says St. John, ”is the concupiscence of the flesh," or sensual delights, and “the concupiscence of the eyes," or riches, and “the pride of life" that is, earthly honours. (1 John ii. 16.) St. Bernard says, that a man may be puffed up with earthly goods, but can never be made content or happy by them. ”Inflari potest, satiari, non potest." And how can earth and wind and dung satisfy the heart of man? In his comment on these words of St. Peter”Behold, we have left all things" the same saint says, that he saw in the world different classes of fools. All had a great desire of happiness. Some, such as the avaricious, were content with riches; others, Ambitious of honours and of praise, were satisfied with wind; others, seated round a furnace, swallowed the sparks that were thrown from it these were the passionate and vindictive; others, in fine, drank fetid water from a stagnant pool and these were the voluptuous and unchaste. O fools! adds the saint, do you not perceive that all these things, from which you seek content, do not satisfy, but, on the contrary, increase the cravings of your heart?”Hæc potius famem provocant, quam extinguunt." Of this we have a striking example in Alexander the Great, who, after having conquered half the world, burst into tears, because he was not master of the whole earth.

3. Many expect to find peace in accumulating riches; but how can these satisfy their desires?”Major pecunia," says St. Augustine, ”avaritiæ fauces non claudit, sed extendit." A large quantity of money does not close, but rather extends, the jaws of avarice; that is, the enjoyment of riches excites, rather than satiates, the desire of wealth. ”Thou wast debased even to hell; thou hast been wearied in the multitude of thy ways; yet thou saidst not, I will rest. ” (Isa. Ivii. 9, 10.) Poor worldlings! they labour and toil to acquire an increase of wealth and property, but never enjoy repose: the more they accumulate riches, the greater their disquietude and vexation. "The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good. ” (Ps. xxxiii. 11.) The rich of this world are, of all men, the most miserable; because, the more they possess, the more they desire to possess. They never succeed in attaining all the objects of their wishes, and therefore they are far poorer than men who have but a competency, and seek God alone. These are truly rich, because they are content with their condition, and find in God every good. ”They that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good." To the saints, because they possess God, nothing is wanting; to the worldly rich, who are deprived of God, all things are wanting, because they want peace. The appellation of fool was, therefore, justly given to the rich man in the gospel (Luke xii. 19), who, because his land brought forth plenty of fruits, said to his soul: "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years: take rest, eat, drink, make good cheer." (Luke xii. 19.) But this man was called a fool. ”Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee; and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided ?" (v. 20.) And why was he called a fool. Because he imagined that by these goods by eating and drinking he should be content, and should enjoy peace. "Rest," he said, “eat, drink." "Num quid, ” says St. Basil of Seleucia, "animam porcinam habes ?" Hast thou the soul of a brute, that thou expectest to make it happy by eating and drinking?

4. But, perhaps sinners who seek after and attain worldly honours are content? All the honours of this earth are but smoke and wind ("Ephraim feedeth on the wind" Osee xii. 1), and how can these content the heart of a Christian? “The pride of them," says David, “ascendeth continually." (Ps. lxxiii. 23.) The ambitious are not satisfied by the attainment of
certain honours: their ambition and pride continually increase; and thus their disquietude, their envy, and their fears are multiplied.

5. They who live in the habit of sins of impurity, feed, as the Prophet Jeremiah says, on dung. “Qui voluptuose vescebantur, amplexati sunt stercora." (Thren. iv. 5.) How can dung content or give peace to the soul? Ah! what peace, what peace can sinners at a distance from God enjoy? They may possess the riches, honours, and delights of this world; but they never shall have peace. No; the word of God cannot fail: he has declared that there is no peace for his enemies. ”There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord. ” (Isaias, xlviii. 22.) Poor sinners! they, as St. Chrysostom says, always carry about with them their own executioner that is, a guilty conscience, which continually torments them. ”Peccator conscientiam quasi carnificem circumgestat." (Serm. x. do Laz.) St. Isidore asserts, that there is no pain more excruciating than that of a guilty conscience. Hence he adds, that he who leads a good life is never sad. ”Nulla poena gravior poena conscientiæ: vis nunquam esse tristis? bene vive." (S. Isid., lib. 2, Solit.)

6. In describing the deplorable state of sinners, the Holy Ghost compares them, to a sea continually tossed by the tempest. "The wicked are like the raging sea, which cannot rest." (Isa. Ivii. 20.) Waves come and go, but they are all waves of bitterness and rancour; for every cross and contradiction disturbs and agitates the wicked. If a person at a ball or musical exhibition, were obliged to remain suspended by a cord with his head downwards, could he feel happy at the entertainment? Such is the state of a Christian in enmity with God: his soul is as it were turned upside down; instead of being united with God and detached from creatures, it is united with creatures and separated from God. But creatures, says St. Vincent Ferrer, are without, and do not enter to content the heart, which God alone can make happy. “Non intrant ibi ubi est sitis." The sinner is like a man parched with thirst, and standing in the middle of a fountain: because the waters which surround him do not enter to satisfy his thirst, he remains in the midst of them more thirsty than before.

7. Speaking of the unhappy life which he led when he was in a state of sin, David said: ”My tears have been my bread, day and night, whilst it is said to me daily: Where is thy God ?" (Ps. xli. 4.) To relieve himself, he went to his villas, to his gardens, to musical entertainments, and to various other royal amusements, but they all said to him: "David, if thou expectest comfort from us, thou art deceived. "Where is thy God? Go and seek thy God, whom thou hast lost; for he alone can restore thy peace." Hence David confessed that, in the midst of his princely wealth, he enjoyed no repose, and that he wept night and day. Let us now listen to his son Solomon, who acknowledged that he indulged his senses in whatsoever they desired. "Whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not." (Eccl. ii. 10.) But, after all his sensual enjoyments, he exclaimed: ”Vanity of vanities :... behold all is vanity and affliction of spirit." (Eccles. i. 2 and 14.) Mark! he declares that all the pleasures of this earth are not only vanity of vanities, but also affliction of spirit. And this sinners well know from experience; for sin brings with it the fear of divine vengeance. The man who is encompassed by powerful enemies never sleeps in peace; and can the sinner, who has God for an enemy, enjoy tranquillity?”Fear to them that work evil." (Prov. x. 29.) The Christian who commits a mortal sin feels himself oppressed with fear every leaf that moves excites terror. ”The sound of dread is always in his ears." (Job xv. 21.) He appears to be always flying away, although no one pursues him. ”The wicked man fleeth when no man pursueth." (Prov. xxviii. 1.) He shall be persecuted, not by men, but by his own sin. It was thus with Cain, who, after having killed his brother Abel, was seized with fear, and said: ”Every one, therefore, that findeth me shall kill me." (Gen. iv. 14.) The Lord assured him that no one should injure him: ”The Lord said to him: ”No; it shall not be so” (v. 15.) But, notwithstanding this assurance, Cain, pursued by his own sins, was, as the Scripture attests, always flying from one place to another “He dwelt a fugitive on the earth." (v. 16.)

8. Moreover, sin brings with it remorse of conscience that cruel worm that gnaws incessantly, and never dies. ”Their worm shall not die." (Isa Ixvi. 24.) If the sinner goes to a festival, to a comedy, to a banquet, his conscience continually reproaches him, saying: Unhappy man! you have lost God; if you were now to die, what should become of you? The torture of remorse of conscience, even in the present life, is so great that, to free themselves from it, some persons have put an end to their lives Judas, through despair, hanged himself. A certain man who had killed an infant, was so much tormented with remorse that he could not rest. To rid himself of it he entered into a monastery; but finding no peace even there, he went before a judge, acknowledged his crime, and got himself condemned to death.

9. God complains of the injustice of sinners in leaving him, who is the fountain of all consolation, to plunge themselves into fetid and broken cisterns, which can give no peace. ”For my people have done two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jer. ii. 13.) You have, the Lord says to sinners, refused to serve me, your God, in peace. Unhappy creatures! you shall serve your enemies in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of every kind. “Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and gladness, .... thou shalt serve thy enemy in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things." (Deut. xxviii. 47, 48.) This is what sinners experience every day. What do not the vindictive endure after they have satisfied their revenge by the murder of an enemy? They fly continually from the relations of their murdered foe, and from the minister of justice. They live as fugitives, poor, afflicted, and abandoned by all. What do not the voluptuous and unchaste suffer in order to gratify their wicked desires? What do not the avaricious suffer in order to acquire the possessions of others? Ah! if they suffered for God what they suffer for sin, they would lay up great treasures for eternity, and would lead a life of peace and happiness: but, by living in sin, they lead a life of misery here, to lead a still more miserable life for eternity hereafter. Hence they weep continually in hell, saying: “We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways." (Wis. v. 7.) We have, they exclaim, walked through hard ways, through paths covered with thorns. We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity: we have laboured hard: we have sweated blood: we have led a life full of misery, of gall, and of poison. And why? To bring ourselves to a still more wretched life in this pit of fire.

Second Point. The happy life of those who love God.

10. “Justice and peace have kissed." (Ps. lxxxiv. 11.) Peace resides in every soul in which justice dwells. Hence David said: "Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart." (Ps. xxxvi. 4.) To understand this text, we must consider that worldlings seek to satisfy the desires of their hearts with the goods of this earth; but, because these cannot make them happy, their hearts continually make fresh demands; and, how much soever they mayacquire of these goods, they are not content. Hence the Prophet says: ”Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart." Give up creatures, seek your delight in God, and he will satisfy all the cravings of your heart.

11. This is what happened to St. Augustine, who, as long as he sought happiness in creatures, never enjoyed peace; but, as soon as he renounced them, and gave to God all the affections of his heart, he exclaimed: “All things are hard, O Lord, and thou alone art repose." As if he said: Ah! Lord, I now know my folly. I expected to find felicity in earthly pleasures; but now I know that they are only vanity and affliction of spirit, and that thou alone art the peace and joy of our hearts.

12. The Apostle says, that the peace which God gives to those who love, surpasses all the sensual delights which a man can enjoy on this earth. ”The peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding. ” (Phil. iv. 7.) St. Francis of Assisium, in saying “My God and my all," experienced on this earth an anticipation of Paradise. St. Francis Xavier, in the midst of his labours in India for the glory of Jesus Christ, was so replenished with divine consolations, that he exclaimed: "Enough, Lord, enough." Where, I ask, has any lover of this world been found, so satisfied with the possessions of worldly goods, as to say: Enough, O world, enough; no more riches, no more honours, no more applause, no more pleasures? Ah, no! worldlings are constantly seeking after higher honours, greater riches, and new delights; but the more they have of them, the less are their desires satisfied, and the greater their disquietude.

13. It is necessary to persuade ourselves of this truth, that God alone can give content. "Worldlings do not wish to be convinced of it, through an apprehension that, if they give themselves to God, they shall lead a life of bitterness and discontent. But, with the Royal Prophet, I say to them: ”taste, and see that the Lord is sweet." (Ps. xxxiii. 9.) Why, sinners, will you despise and regard as miserable that life which you have not as yet tried?”taste and see." Begin to make a trial of it; hear Mass every day; practise mental prayer and the visitation of the most holy sacrament; go to communion at least once a week; fly from evil conversations; walk always with God; and you shall see that, by such a life, you will enjoy that sweetness and peace which the world, with all its delights, has not hitherto been able to give you.

Book of Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori offered by TAN Books (pages 111- 118)

---

Book of Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori offered by TAN Books (pages 118 - 123)

SERMON XIV. QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. - DELUSIONS OF SINNERS.

"Lord, that I may see." LUKE xviii. 41.

1. THE Devil brings sinners to hell by closing their eyes to the dangers of perdition. He first blinds them, and then leads them with himself to eternal torments. If, then, we wish to be saved, we must continually pray to God in the words of the blind man in the gospel of this day, ”Lord, that I may see." Give me light: make me see the way in which I must walk in order to save my soul, and to escape the deceits of the enemy of salvation. I shall, brethren, this day place before your eyes the delusion by which the devil tempts men to sin and to persevere in sin, that you may know how to guard yourselves against his deceitful artifices.

2. To understand these delusions better, let us imagine the case of a young man who, seized by some passion, lives in sin, the slave of Satan, and never thinks of his eternal salvation. My son, I say to him, what sort of life do you lead? If you continue to live in this manner, how will you be able to save your soul? But, behold! the devil, on the other hand, says to him: Why should you be afraid of being lost? Indulge your passions for the present: you will afterwards confess your sins, and thus all shall be remedied. Behold the net by which the devil drags so many souls into hell. “Indulge your passions: you will hereafter make a good confession." But, in reply, I say, that in the meantime you lose your soul. Tell me: if you had a jewel worth a thousand pounds, would you throw it into a river with the hope of afterwards finding it again? What if all your efforts to find it were fruitless? God! you hold in your hand the invaluable jewel of your soul, which Jesus Christ has purchased with his own blood, and you cast it into hell! Yes; you cast it into hell; because according to the present order of providence, for every mortal sin you commit, your name is written among the number of the damned. But you say . ”I hope to recover God‟s grace by making a good confession." And if you should not recover it, what shall be the consequences? To make a good confession, a true sorrow for sin is necessary, and this sorrow is the gift of God: if he does not give it, will you not be lost for ever?

3. You rejoin: ”I am young; God compassionates my youth; I will hereafter give myself to God." Behold another delusion! You are young; but do you not know that God counts, not the years, but the sins of each individual? You are young; but how many sins have you committed? Perhaps there are many persons of a very advanced age, who have not been guilty of the fourth part of the sins which you have committed. And do you not know that God has fixed for each of us the number of sins which he will pardon?”The Lord patiently expecteth, that, when the day of judgment shall come, he may punish them in the fulness of their sins." (2 Mach. vi. 14.) God has patience, and waits for a while; but, when the measure of the sins which he has determined to pardon is tilled up, he pardons no more, but chastises the sinner, by suddenly depriving him of life in the miserable state of sin, or by abandoning him in his sin, and executing that threat which he made by the prophet Isaias”I shall take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted." (Isa. v. 5.) If a person has cultivated land for many years, has encompassed it with a hedge for its protection, and expended a large sum of money on it, but finds that, after all, it produces no fruit, what will he do with it? He will pluck up the hedge, and abandon it to all men and beasts that may wish to enter. Tremble, then, lest God should treat you in a similar manner. If you do not give up sin, your remorse of conscience and your fear of divine chastisement shall daily increase. Behold the hedge taken away, and your soul abandoned by God a punishment worse than death itself.

4. You say: ”I cannot at present resist this passion." Behold the third delusion of the devil, by which he makes you believe that at present you have not strength to overcome certain temptations. But St. Paul tells us that God is faithful, and that he never permits us to be tempted above our strength. "And God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above that which you are able." (1 Cor. x. 13.) I ask, if you are not now able to resist the temptation, how can you expect to resist it hereafter? If you yield to it, the Devil will become stronger, and you shall become weaker; and if you be not now able to extinguish this flame of passion, how can you hope to be able to extinguish it when it shall have grown more violent? You say: "God will give me his aid." But this aid God is ready to give at present if you ask it. Why then do you not implore his assistance? Perhaps you expect that, without now taking the trouble of invoking his aid, you will receive from him increased helps and graces, after you shall have multiplied the number of your sins? Perhaps you doubt the veracity of God, who has promised to give whatever we ask of him?”Ask," he says, ”and it shall be given you." (Matt. vii. 7.) God cannot violate his promises. ”God is not as man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said, then, and will he not do ?" (Num. xxiii. 19.) Have recourse to him, and he will give you the strength necessary to resist the temptation. God commands you to resist it, and you say: ”I have not strength." Does God, then, command impossibilities? No; the Council of Trent has declared that”God does not command impossibilities; but, by his commands, he admonishes you to do what you can, and to ask what you cannot do; and he assists, that you may be able to do it." (Sess. 6. c. xiii.) When you see that you have not sufficient strength to resist temptation with the ordinary assistance of God, ask of him the additional help which you require, and he will give it to you; and thus you shall be able to conquer all temptations, however violent they may be.

5. But you will not pray; and you say that at present you will commit this sin, and will afterwards confess it. But, I ask, how do you know that God will give you time to confess it? You say: ”I will go to confession before the lapse of a week." And who has promised you this week? Well, then you say: ”I will go to confession tomorrow." And who promises you tomorrow? “Crastinum Deus non promisit," says St. Augustine, ”fortasse dabit, et fortasse non dabit." God has not promised you to-morrow. Perhaps he will give it, and perhaps he will refuse it to you, as he has to so many others. How many have gone to bed in good health, and have been found dead in the morning! How many, in the very act of sin, has the Lord struck dead and sent to hell! Should this happen to you, how will you repair your eternal ruin?”Commit this sin, and confess it afterwards." Behold the deceitful artifice by which the devil has brought so many thousands of Christians to hell. We scarcely ever find a Christian so sunk in despair as to intend to damn himself. All the wicked sin with the hope of afterwards going to confession. But, by this illusion, how many have brought themselves to perdition! For them there is now no time for confession, no remedy for their damnation.

6. ”But God is merciful." Behold another common delusion by which the devil encourages sinners to persevere in a life of sin! A certain author has said, that more souls have been sent to hell by the mercy of God than by his justice. This is indeed the case; for men are induced by the deceits of the devil to persevere in sin, through confidence in Gods mercy; and thus they are lost. "God is merciful." Who denies it? But, great as his mercy, how many does he every day send to hell? God is merciful, but he is also just, and is, therefore, obliged to punish those who offend him. ”And his mercy," says the divine mother, ”to them that fear him." (Luke i. 50.) But with regard to those who abuse his mercy and despise him, he exercises justice. The Lord pardons sins, but he cannot pardon the determination to commit sin. St. Augustine says, that he who sins with the intention of repenting after his sins, is not a penitent but a scoffer. ”Irrisor est non poenitens." But the Apostle tells us that God will not be mocked. ”Be not deceived; God is not mocked." (Gal. vi. 7.) It would be a mockery of God to insult him as often and as much as you pleased, and afterwards to expect eternal glory.

7. "But”; you say, "as God has shown me so many mercies hitherto, I hope he will continue to do so for the future." Behold another delusion! Then, because God has not as yet chastised your sins, he will never punish them! On the contrary, the greater have been his mercies, the more you should tremble, lest, if you offend him again, he should pardon you no more, and should take vengeance on your sins. Behold the advice of the Holy Ghost: ”Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me? for the Most High is a patient rewarder." (Eccles. v. 4.) Do not say: ”I have sinned, and no chastisement has fallen upon me." God bears for a time, but not for ever. He waits for a certain time; but when that arrives, he then chastises the sinner for all his past iniquities: and the longer he has waited for repentance, the more severe the chastisement. ”Quos diutius expectat," says St. Gregory, ”durius damnat." Then, my brother, since you know that you have frequently offended God, and that he has not sent you to hell, you should exclaim: ”The mercies of the Lord, that we are not consumed." (Thren. iii. 22.) Lord, I thank you for not having sent me to hell, which I have so often deserved. And therefore you ought to give yourself entirely to God, at least through gratitude, and should consider that, for less sins than you have committed, many are now in that pit of fire, without the smallest hope of being ever released from it. The patience of God in bearing with you, should teach you not to despise him still more, but to love and serve him with greater fervour, and to atone, by penitential austerities and by other holy works, for the insults you have offered to him. You know that he has shown mercies to you, which he has not shown to others. ”He hath not done in like manner to every nation." (Ps. cxlvii. 20.) Hence you should tremble, lest, if you commit a single additional mortal sin, God should abandon you, and cast you into hell.

8. Let us come to the next illusion. “It is true that, by this sin, I lose the grace of God; but, even after committing this sin, I may be saved." You may, indeed, be saved: but it cannot be denied that if, after having committed so many sins, and after having received so many graces from God, you again offend him, there is great reason to fear that you shall be lost. Attend to the words of the sacred Scripture: “A hard heart shall fare evil at the last." (Eccles. iii. 27.) The obstinate sinner shall die an unhappy death. Evil doers shall be cut off." (Ps. xxxvi. 9.) The wicked shall be cut off by the divine justice. “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap." (Gal. vi. 8.) He that sows in sin, shall reap eternal torments. “Because I called and you refused, I also will laugh in your destruction and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared." (Prov. i. 24, 26.) I called, says the Lord, and you mocked me; but I will mock you at the hour of death. “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time." (Deut. xxxii. 35.) The chastisement of sins belongs to me, and I will execute vengeance on them when the time of vengeance shall arrive. “The man that with a stiff neck despiseth him that reproveth him, shall suddenly be destroyed, and health shall not follow him." (Prov. xxix. 1.) The man who obstinately despises those who correct him, shall be punished with a sudden death, and for him there shall be no hope of salvation.

9. Now, brethren, what think you of these divine threats against sinners? Is it easy, or is it not very difficult, to save your souls, if, after so many divine calls, and after so many mercies, you continue to offend God? You say: “But after all, it may happen that I will save my soul." I answer: "What folly is it to trust your salvation to a perhaps ? How many with this “perhaps I may be saved," are now in hell? Do you wish to be one of their unhappy companions? Dearly beloved Christians, enter into yourselves, and tremble; for this sermon may be the last of Gods mercies to you.

---

Book of Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori offered by TAN Books (pages 123 - 129)

SERMON XV. FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT.

ON THE NUMBER OF SINS BEYOND WHICH GOD PARDONS NO MORE.

" Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." MATT. iv. 7.






      IN this days gospel we read that, having gone into the desert, Jesus Christ permitted the devil to”set him upon the pinnacle of the temple," and say to him: "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down ;" for the angels shall preserve thee from all injury. But the Lord answered that, in the Sacred Scriptures it is written: “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." The sinner who abandons himself to sin without striving to resist temptations, or without at least asking God’s help to conquer them, and hopes that the Lord will one day draw him from the precipice, tempts God to work miracles, or rather to show to him an extraordinary mercy not extended to the generality of Christians. God, as the Apostle says, ”will have all men to be saved," (1 Tim. ii. 4); but he also wishes us all to labour for our own salvation, at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying him when he calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget them, and continue to offend him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the graces which he dispenses, as well as the sins which we commit. Hence, when the time which he has fixed arrives, God deprives us of his graces, and begins to inflict chastisement. I intend to show, in this discourse, that, when sins reach a certain number, God pardons no more. Be attentive.



1. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and other fathers, teach that, as God (according to the words of Scripture, ”Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight”(Wis. xi. 21), has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which he will give him, so he has also determined for each the number of sins which he will pardon; and when this number is completed, he will pardon no more. ”Illud sentire nos convenit," says St. Augustine, ”tamdiu unumquemque a Dei patientia sustineri, quo consummate nullam illi veniam reserveri." (De Vita Christi, cap. iii.) Eusebius of Cesarea says: ”Deus expectat usque ad certum numerum et postea deserit." (Lib. 8, cap. ii.) The same doctrine is taught by the above- mentioned fathers.



2. ”The Lord hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart." (Isa. Ixi. 1.) God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner The Lord pardons sins, but he cannot pardon those who are determined to offend him. Nor can we demand from God a reason why he pardons one a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to hell, after three or four sins. By his Prophet Amos, God has said: ”For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I will not convert it." (i. 3.) In this we must adore the judgments of God, and say with the Apostle: ”the depth of the riches, of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments. ” (Rom. xi. 33.) He who receives pardon, says St. Augustine, is pardoned through the pure mercy of God; and they who are chastised are justly punished. ”Quibus datur misericordia, gratis datur: quibus non datur ex justitia non datur." (1 de Corrept.) How many has God sent to hell for the first offence? St. Gregory relates, that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, for having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the devil and carried to hell. The divine mother revealed to that great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of twelve years was damned after the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin and was lost. You say: I am young: there are many who have committed more sins than I have. But is God on that account obliged to wait for your repentance if you offend him? In the gospel of St. Matthew (xxi. 19) we read, that the Saviour cursed a fig tree the first time he saw it without fruit. ”May no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And immediately the fig tree withered away." You must, then, tremble at the thought of committing a single mortal sin, particularly if you have already been guilty of mortal sins.



3. ”Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin." (Eccl. v. 5.) Say not then, O sinner; As God has forgiven me other sins, so he will pardon me this one if I commit it. Say not this; for, if to the sin which has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned. Behold how the Scripture unfolds this truth more clearly in another place. "The Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall come, he may punish them in the fullness of sins." (2 Mac. vi. 14.) God waits with patience until a certain number of sins is committed, but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, he waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. "Thou hast sealed up my offences as it were in a bag." (Job xiv. 17.) Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God numbers them that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, he may take vengeance on them. ”Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe." (Joel iii. 13.)



4. Of this there are many examples in the Scriptures. Speaking of the Hebrews, the Lord in one place says: ”All the men that have tempted me now ten times. . . . shall not see the land. ” (Num. xiv. 22, 23.) In another place he says, that he restrained his vengeance against the Amorrhites, because the number of their sins was not completed. ”For as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full." (Gen. xv. 16.) We have again the example of Saul, who, after having disobeyed God a second time, was abandoned. He entreated Samuel to interpose before the Lord in his behalf. “Bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord," (1 Kings xv. 25.) But, knowing that God had abandoned Saul, Samuel answered: ”I will not return with thee; because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee," etc. (v. 26.) Saul, you have abandoned God, and he has abandoned you. We have another example in Balthassar, who, after having profaned the vessels of the temple, saw a hand writing on the wall, "Mane, Thecel, Phares." Daniel was requested to expound the meaning of these words. In explaining the word Thecel, he said to the king: “Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting." (Dan. v 27.) By this explanation he gave the king to understand that the weight of his sins in the balance of divine justice had made the scale descend. ”The same night, Balthassar, the Chaldean king, was killed." (Dan. v. 30.) Oh! how many sinners have met with a similar fate! Continuing to offend God till their sins amounted to a certain number they have been struck dead and sent to hell. “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell." (Job xxi. 13.) Tremble, brethren, lest, if you commit another mortal sin, God should cast you into hell.



5. If God chastised sinners the moment they insult him, we should not see him so much despised. But, because he does not instantly punish their transgressions, and because, through mercy, he restrains his anger and waits for their return, they are encouraged to continue to offend him. “For, because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evil without any fear." (Eccles. viii. 11.) But it is necessary to be persuaded that, though God bears with us, he does not wait, nor bear with us for ever. Expecting, as on former occasions, to escape from the snares of the Philistines, Samson continued to allow himself to be deluded by Dalila. “I will go out as I did before, and shake myself. ” (Judges xvi. 20.) But”the Lord was departed from him." Samson was at length taken by his enemies, and lost his life. The Lord warns you not to say: I have committed so many sins, and God has not chastised me”Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me? for the Most High is a patient rewarder." (Eccl. v. 4.) God has patience for a certain term, after which he punishes the first and last sins. And the greater has been his patience, the more severe his vengeance



6. Hence, according to St. Chrysostom, God is more to be feared when he bears with sinners than when he instantly punishes their sins. ”Plus timendum est, cum tolerat quam cum festinanter punit." And why? Because, says St. Gregory, they to whom God has shown most mercy, shall, if they do not cease to offend him, be chastised with the greatest rigour. ”Quos diutius expectat durius damnat." The saint adds that God often punishes such sinners with a sudden death, and does not allow them time for repentance. ”Sæpe qui diu tolerati sunt subita morte rapiuntur, ut nec flere ante mortem liceat." And the greater the light which God gives to certain sinners for their correction, the greater is their blindness and obstinacy in sin. "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than, after they had known it, to turn back." (2 Pet. ii. 21.) Miserable the sinners who, after having been enlightened, return to the vomit. St Paul says, that it is morally impossible for them to be again converted. ”For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated have tasted also the heavenly gifts, ... and are fallen away, to be renewed again to penance." (Heb. vi. 4, 6.)



7. Listen, then, sinner, to the admonition of the Lord: ”My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more, but for thy former sins pray that they may be forgiven thee." (Eccl. xxi. 1.) Son, add not sins to those which you have already committed, but be careful to pray for the pardon of your past transgressions; otherwise, if you commit another mortal sin, the gates of the divine mercy may be closed against you, and your soul may be lost forever. When, then, beloved brethren, the devil tempts you again to yield to sin, say to yourself: If God pardons me no more, what shall become of me for all eternity? Should the Devil, in reply, say: ”Fear not, God is merciful ;" answer him by saying: What certainty or what probability have I, that, if I return again to sin, God will show me mercy or grant me pardon? Because the threat of the Lord against all who despise his calls: "Behold I have called and you refused. . . I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared." (Prov. i. 24, 26.) Mark the words I also; they mean that, as you have mocked the Lord by betraying him again after your confession and promises of amendment, so he will mock you at the hour of death. ”I will laugh and will mock." But”God is not mocked." (Gal. vi. 7.) “As a dog," says the Wise Man, ”that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly." (Prov. xxvi. 11.) B. Denis the Carthusian gives an excellent exposition of this text. He says that, as a dog that eats what he has just vomited, is an object of disgust and abomination, so the sinner who returns to the sins which he has detested and confessed, becomes hateful in the sight of God. ”Sicut id quod per vomitum est rejectum, resumere est valide abominabile ac turpe sic peccata deleta reiterari."



8. O folly of sinners! If you purchase a house, you spare no pains to get all the securities necessary to guard against the loss of your money; if you take medicine, you are careful to assure yourself that it cannot injure you; if you pass over a river, you cautiously avoid all danger of falling into it; and for a transitory enjoyment, for the gratification of revenge, for a beastly pleasure, which lasts but a moment, you risk your eternal salvation, saying: "I will go to confession after I commit this sin." And when, I ask, are you to go to confession? You say: ”On tomorrow." But who promises you tomorrow? Who assures you that you shall have time for confession, and that God will not deprive you of life, as he has deprived so manyothers, in the act of sin?”Diem tenes," says St. Augustine, ”qui horam non tenes." You cannot be certain of living for another hour, and you say: ”I will go to confession to-morrow." Listen to the words of St. Gregory: ”He who has promised pardon to penitents, has not promised tomorrow to sinners." (Hom. xii. in Evan). God has promised pardon to all who repent; but he has not promised to wait till tomorrow for those who insult him. Perhaps God will give you time for repentance, perhaps he will not. But, should he not give it, what shall become of your soul? In the meantime, for the sake of a miserable pleasure, you lose the grace of God, and expose yourself to the danger of being lost for ever.




9. Would you, for such transient enjoyments, risk your money, your honour, your possessions, your liberty, and your life? No, you would not. How then does it happen that, for a miserable gratification, you lose your soul, heaven, and God? Tell me: do you believe that heaven, hell, eternity, are truths of faith? Do you believe that, if you die in sin, you are lost for ever? Oh! what temerity, what folly is it, to condemn yourself voluntarily to an eternity of torments with the hope of afterwards reversing the sentence of your condemnation! "Nemo," says St. Augustine, ”sub spe salutis vult ægrotare." No one can be found so foolish as to take poison with the hope of preventing its deadly effects by adopting the ordinary remedies. And you will condemn yourself to hell, saying that you expect to be afterwards preserved from it. folly! which, in conformity with the divine threats, has brought, and brings every day, so many to hell. “Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising thereof." (Isa. xlvii. 10, 11.) You have sinned, trusting rashly in the divine mercy: the punishment of your guilt shall fall suddenly upon you, and you shall not know from whence it comes. What do you say? What resolution do you make? If, after this sermon, you do not firmly resolve to give yourself to God, I weep over you, and regard you as lost.

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Taken from the Book "Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori" - pages 130-135

SERMON XVI.  SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

ON HEAVEN

" Lord, it is good for us to be here." MATT. xvii. 4. IN this days gospel we read, that wishing to give his disciples a glimpse of the glory of Paradise, in order to animate them to labour for the divine honour, the Redeemer was transfigured, and allowed them to behold the splendour of his countenance. Ravished with joy and delight, St. Peter exclaimed: ”Lord, it is good for us to be here." Lord, let us remain here; let us -.never more depart from this place; for, the sight of thy beauty consoles us more than all the delights of the earth. Brethren, let us labour during the remainder of our lives to gain heaven. Heaven is so great a good, that, to purchase it for us, Jesus Christ has sacrificed his life on the cross. Be assured, that the greatest of all the torments of the damned in hell, arise from the thought of having lost heaven through their own fault. The blessings, the delights, the joys, the sweetness of Paradise may be acquired; but they can be described and understood only by those blessed souls that enjoy them. But let us, with the aid of the holy Scripture, explain the little that can be said of them here below.

1. According to the Apostle, no man on this earth, can comprehend the infinite blessings which God has prepared for the souls that love him. ”Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Cor. ii. 9.) In this life we cannot have an idea of any other pleasures than those which we enjoy by means of the senses. Perhaps we imagine that the beauty of heaven resembles that of a wide extended plain covered with the verdure of spring, interspersed with trees in full bloom, and abounding in birds fluttering about and singing on every side; or, that it is like the beauty of a garden full of fruits and flowers, and surrounded by fountains in continual play. ”Oh! what a Paradise," to behold such a plain, or such a garden! But, oh! how much greater are the beauties of heaven! Speaking of Paradise, St. Bernard says: O man, if you wish to understand the blessings of heaven, know that in that happy country there is nothing which can be disagreeable, and everything that you can desire. ”Nihil est quod nolis, totum est quod velis." Although there are some things here below which are agreeable to the senses, how many more are there which only torment us? If the light of day is pleasant, the darkness of night is disagreeable: if the spring and the autumn are cheering, the cold of winter and the heat of summer are painful. In addition, we have to endure the pains of sickness, the persecution of men, and the inconveniences of poverty; we must submit to interior troubles, to fears, to temptations of the devil, doubts of conscience, and to the uncertainty of eternal salvation.

2. But, after entering into Paradise, the blest shall have no more sorrows. ”God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." The Lord shall dry up the tears which they have shed in this life. ”And death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow, shall be any more, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat on the throne, said: ”Behold, I make all things new." (Apoc. xxi. 4, 5.) In Paradise, death and the fear of death are no more: in that place of bliss there are no sorrows, no infirmities, no poverty, no inconveniencies, no vicissitudes of day or night, of cold or of heat. In that kingdom there is a continual day, always serene, a continual spring, always blooming. In Paradise there are no persecutions, no envy; for all love each other with tenderness, and each rejoices at the happiness of the others, as if it were his own. There is no more fear of eternal perdition; for the soul confirmed in grace can neither sin nor lose God.

3. ”Totum est quod velis." In heaven you have all you can desire. ”Behold, I make all things new." There everything is new; new beauties, new delights, new joys. There all our desires shall be satisfied. The sight shall be satiated with beholding the beauty of that city. How delightful to behold a city in which the streets should be of crystal, the houses of silver, the windows of gold, and all adorned with the most beautiful flowers. But, oh! how much more beautiful shall be the city of Paradise! the beauty of the place shall be heightened by the beauty of the inhabitants, who are all clothed in royal robes; for, according to St. Augustine, they are all kings. ”Quot cives, tot reges." How delighted to behold Mary, the queen of heaven, who shall appear more beautiful than all the other citizens of Paradise! But, what it must be to behold the beauty of Jesus Christ! St. Teresa once saw one of the hands of Jesus Christ, and was struck with astonishment at the sight of such beauty. The smell shall be satiated with odours, but with the odours of Paradise. The hearing shall be satiated with the harmony of the celestial choirs. St. Francis once heard for a moment an angel playing on a violin, and he almost died through joy. How delightful must it be to hear the saints and angels singing the divine praises! "They shall praise thee for ever and ever." (Ps. lxxxiii. 5.) What must it be to hear Mary praising God! St. Francis de Sales says, that, as the singing of the nightingale in the wood surpasses that of all other birds, so the voice of Mary is far superior to that of all the other saints. In a word, there are in Paradise all the delights which man can desire.

4. But the delights of which we have spoken are the least of the blessings of Paradise. The glory of heaven consists in seeing and loving God face to face. ”Totum quod expectamus," says St. Augustine, ”duæ syllabæ sunt, Deus." The reward which God promises to us does not consist altogether in the beauty, the harmony, and other advantages of the city of Paradise. God himself, whom the saints are allowed to behold, is, according to the promises made to Abraham, the principal reward of the just in heaven. ”I am thy reward exceeding great." (Gen. xv. 1.) St. Augustine asserts, that, were God to show his face to the damned, ”Hell would be instantly changed into a Paradise of delights." (Lib. de trip, habit., torn. 9.) And he adds that, were a departed soul allowed the choice of seeing God and suffering the pains of hell, or of being freed from these pains and deprived of the sight of God, ”she would prefer to see God, and to endure these torments."

5. The delights of the soul infinitely surpass all the pleasures of the senses. Even in this life divine love infuses such sweetness into the soul when God communicates himself to her, that the body is raised from the earth. St. Peter of Alcantara once fell into such an ecstasy of love, that, taking hold of a tree, he drew it up from the roots, and raised it with him on high. So great is the sweetness of divine love, that the holy martyrs, in the midst of their torments, felt no pain, but were on the contrary filled with joy. Hence, St. Augustine says that, when St. Lawrence was laid on a red-hot gridiron, the fervour of divine love made him insensible to the burning heat of the fire. ”Hoc igne incensus non sentit incendium." Even on sinners who weep for their sins, God bestows consolations which exceed all earthly pleasures. Hence St. Bernard says: ”If it be so sweet to weep for thee, what must it be to rejoice in thee!"

6. How great is the sweetness which a soul experiences, when, in the time of prayer, God, by a ray of his own light, shows to her his goodness and his mercies towards her, and particularly the love which Jesus Christ has borne to her in his passion! She feels her heart melting, and as it were dissolved through love. But in this life we do not see God as he really is: we see him as it were in. the dark. ”We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face." (1 Cor. xiii. 12.) Here below God is hidden from, our view; we can see him only with the eyes of faith: how great shall be our happiness when the veil shall be raised, and we shall be permitted to behold God face to face! We shall then see his beauty, his greatness, his perfection, his amiableness, and his immense love for our souls.

7. ”Man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love or hatred." (Eccl. ix. 1.) The fear of not loving God, and of not being loved by him, is the greatest affliction which souls that love God endure on the earth; but, in heaven, the soul is certain that she loves God, and that he loves her; she sees that the Lord embraces her with infinite love, and that this love shall not be dissolved for all eternity. The knowledge of the love which Jesus Christ has shown her in offering himself in sacrifice for her on the cross, and in making himself her food in the sacrament of the altar, shall increase the ardour of her love. She shall also see clearly all the graces which God has bestowed upon her, all the helps which he has given her, to preserve her from falling into sin, and to draw her to his love. She shall see that all the tribulations, the poverty, infirmities, and persecutions which she regards as misfortunes, have all proceeded from love, and have been the means employed by Divine Providence to bring her to glory. She shall see all the lights, loving calls, and mercies which God had granted to her, after she had insulted him by her sins. From the blessed mountain of Paradise she shall see so many souls damned for fewer sins than she had committed, and shall see that she herself is saved and secured against the possibility of ever losing God.

8. The goods of this earth do not satisfy our desires: at first they gratify the senses; but when we become accustomed to them they cease to delight. But the joys of Paradise constantly satiate and content the heart. ”I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear." (Ps. xvi. 15.) And though they satiate they always appear to be as new as the first time when they were experienced; they are always enjoyed and always desired, always desired and always possessed. ”Satiety," says St. Gregory, ”accompanies desire." (Lib. 13, Mor., c. xviii.) Thus, the desires of the saints in Paradise do not beget pain, because they are always satisfied; and satiety does not produce disgust, because it is always accompanied with desire. Hence the soul shall be always satiated and always thirsty: she shall be for ever thirsty, and always satiated with delights. The damned are, according to the Apostle, vessels full of wrath and of torments, ”vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction." (Rom. ix. 22.) But the just are vessels full of mercy and of joy, so that they have nothing to desire. ”They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house." (Ps. xxxv. 9.) In beholding the beauty of God, the soul shall be so inflamed and so inebriated with divine love, that she shall remain happily lost in God; for she shall entirely forget herself, and for all eternity shall think only of loving and praising the immense good which she shall possess for ever, without the fear of having it in her power ever to lose it. In this life, holy souls love God; but they cannot love him with all their strength, nor can they always actually love him. St. Thomas teaches, that this perfect love is only given to the citizens of heaven, who love God with their whole heart, and never cease to love him actually. ”Ut totum cor hominis semper actualiter in Deum feratur ista est perfectio patriæ” (2, 2 quæst. 44, art. 4, ad. 2.)

9. Justly, then, has St. Augustine said, that to gain the eternal glory of Paradise, we should cheerfully embrace eternal labour. ”Pro æterna requie æternus labor subeundus esset."“For nothing” says David, ”shalt thou save them." (Ps. Iv. 8.) The saints have done but little to acquire Heaven. So many kings, who have abdicated their thrones and shut themselves up in a cloister; so many holy anchorets, who have confined themselves in a cave; so many martyrs, who have cheerfully submitted to torments to the rack, and to red-hot plates have done but little. ”The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared to the glory to come." (Rom. viii. 18.) To gain heaven, it would be but little to endure all the pains of this life.

10. Let us, then, brethren, courageously resolve to bear patiently with all the sufferings which shall come upon us during the remaining days of our lives: to secure heaven they are all little and nothing. Rejoice then; for all these pains, sorrows, and persecutions shall, if we are saved, be to us a source of never-ending joys and delights. “Your sorrows shall be turned into joy." (John xvi. 20.) When, then, the crosses of this life afflict us, let us raise our eyes to heaven, and console ourselves with the hope of Paradise. At the end of her life, St. Mary of Egypt was asked, by the Abbot St. Zozimus, how she had been able to live for forty-seven years in the desert where he found her dying. She answered: ”With the hope of Paradise." If we be animated with the same hope, we shall not feel the tribulations of this life. Have courage! Let us love God and labour for heaven. There the saint expects us, Mary expects us, Jesus Christ expects us; he holds in his hand a crown to make each of us a king in that eternal kingdom.

[Hildegard of Bingen]

Taken from the Book "Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori" - pages 136-142

SERMON XVII.  THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT


ON CONCEALING SINS IN CONFESSION

" And he was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb." LUKE xi. 14. THE devil does not bring sinners to hell with their eyes open: he first blinds them with the malice of their own sins. ”For their own malice blinded them." (Wis. ii. 21.) He thus leads them to eternal perdition. Before we fall into sin, the enemy labours to blind us, that we may not see the evil we do and the ruin we bring upon ourselves by offending God. After we commit sin, he seeks to make us dumb, that, through shame, we may conceal our guilt in confession. Thus, he leads us to hell by a double chain, inducing us, after our transgressions, to consent to a still greater sin the sin of sacrilege. I will speak on this subject today, and will endeavour to convince you of the great evil of concealing sins in confession

1. In expounding the words of David”Set a door O Lord, round about my lips," (Ps. cxl. 3) St. Augustine says: "Non dixit claustrum, sed ostium: ostium et aperitur et clauditur: aperiatur ad confessionem peccati: claudatur ad excusationem peccati." "We should keep a door to the mouth, that it may be closed against detraction, and blasphemies, and all improper words, and that it may be opened to confess the sins we have committed. ”Thus," adds the holy doctor, ”it will be a door of restraint, and not of destruction." To be silent when we are impelled to utter words injurious to God or to our neighbour, is an act of virtue; but, to be silent in confessing our sins, is the ruin of the soul. After we have offended God, the devil labours to keep the mouth closed, and to prevent us from confessing our guilt. St. Antonine relates, that a holy solitary once saw the devil standing beside a certain person who wished to go to confession. The solitary asked the fiend what he was doing there. The enemy said in reply: ”I now restore to these penitents what I before took away from them; I took away from them shame while they were committing sin; I now restore it that they may have a horror of confession."“My sores are putrefied and corrupted, because of my foolishness." (Ps. xxxvii. 6.) Gangrenous sores are fatal; and sins concealed in confession are spiritual ulcers, which mortify and become gangrenous.

2. "Pudorem," says St. Chrysostom, ”dedit Deus peccato, confessioni nduciam: invertit rem diabolis, peccato fiduciam præbet, confessioni pudorem." (Proem, in Isa.) God has made sin shameful, that we may abstain from it, and gives us confidence to confess it by promising pardon to all who accuse themselves of their sins. But the devil does the contrary: he gives confidence to sin by holding out hopes of pardon; but, when sin is committed, he inspires shame, to prevent the confession of it.


3. A disciple of Socrates, at the moment he was leaving a house of bad fame, saw his master pass: to avoid being seen by him, he went back into the house. Socrates came to the door and said: My son, it is a shameful thing to enter, but not to depart from this house. ”Non te pudeat, fili egredi ex hoc loco, intrasse pudeat." To you also, brethren, who have sinned, I say, that you ought to be ashamed to offend so great and so good a God. But you have no reason to be ashamed of confessing the sins which you have committed. Was it shameful in St. Mary Magdalene to acknowledge publicly at the feet of Jesus Christ that she was a sinner? By her confession she became a saint. Was it shameful in St. Augustine not only to confess his sins, but also to publish them in a book, that, for his confusion, they might be known to the whole world? Was it shameful in St. Mary of Egypt to confess, that for so many years she had led a scandalous life? By their confessions these have become saints, and are honoured on the altars of the Church.

4. We say that the man who acknowledges his guilt before a secular tribunal is condemned , but in the tribunal of Jesus Christ, they who confess their sins obtain pardon, and receive a crown of eternal glory. "After confession," says St. Chrysostom, ”a crown is given to penitents." He who is afflicted with an ulcer must, if he wish to be cured, show it to a physician: otherwise it will fester and bring on death. ”Quod ignorat," says the Council of Trent, ”medicina non curat." If, then, brethren, your souls be ulcerated with sin, be not ashamed to confess it; otherwise you are lost. ”For thy soul be not ashamed to say the truth." (Eccl. iv. 24.) But, you say, I feel greatly ashamed to confess such a sin. If you wish to be saved, you must conquer this shame. ”For there is a shame that bringeth sin, and there is a shame that bringeth glory and grace." (Ib. iv. 25.) There are, according to the inspired writer, two kinds of shame: one of which leads souls to sin, and that is the shame which makes them conceal their sins at confession; the other is the confusion which a Christian feels in confessing his sins; and this confusion obtains for him the grace of God in this life, and the glory of heaven in the next.

5. St. Augustine says, that to prevent the sheep from seeking assistance by her cries the wolf seizes her by the neck, and thus securely carries her away and devours her. The devil acts in a similar manner with the sheep of Jesus Christ. After having induced them to yield to sin, he seizes them by the throat, that they may not confess their guilt; and thus he securely brings them to hell. For those who have sinned grievously, there is no means of salvation but the confession of their sins. But, what hope of salvation can he have who goes to confession and conceals his sins, and makes use of the tribunal of penance to offend God, and to make himself doubly the slave of Satan? What hope would you entertain of the recovery of the man who, instead of taking the medicine prescribed by his physician, drank a cup of poison? God! What can the sacrament of penance be to those who conceal their sins, but a deadly poison, which adds to their guilt the malice of sacrilege? In giving absolution, the confessor dispenses to his patient the blood of Jesus Christ; for it is through the merits of that blood that he absolves from sin. What, then, does the sinner do, when he conceals his sins in confession? He tramples under foot the blood of Jesus Christ. And should he afterwards receive the holy communion in a state of sin, he is, according to St. Chrysostom, as guilty as if he threw the consecrated host into a sink. ”Non minus detestabile est in os pollutum, quam in sterquilinum mittere Dei Filium." (Hom. Ixxxiii., in Matt.) Accursed shame! how many poor souls do you bring to hell?”Magis memores pudoris," says Tertullian, ”quam salutis." Unhappy souls! they think only of the shame of confessing their sins, and do not reflect that, if they conceal them, they shall be certainly damned. 6. Some penitents ask: ”What will my confessor say when he hears that I have committed such a sin ?" What will he say? He will say that you are, like all persons living on this earth, miserable and prone to sin: he will say that, if you have done evil, you have also performed a glorious action in overcoming shame, and in candidly confessing your fault.

7. ”But I am afraid to confess this sin." To how many confessors, I ask, must you tell it? It is enough to mention it to one priest, who hears many sins of the same kind from others. It is enough to confess it once: the confessor will give you penance and absolution, and your conscience shall be tranquillized. But, you say: ”I feel a great repugnance to tell this sin to my spiritual father." Tell it, then, to another confessor, and, if you wish, to one to whom you are unknown. ”But, if this come to the knowledge of my confessor, he will be displeased with me." What then do you mean to do? Perhaps, to avoid giving displeasure to him, you intend to commit a heinous crime, and remain under sentence of damnation. This would be the very height of folly.

8. Are you afraid that the confessor will make known your sin to others? Would it not be madness to suspect that he is so wicked as to break the seal of confession by revealing your sin to others? Remember that the obligation of the seal of confession is so strict, that a confessor cannot speak out of confession, even to the penitent, of the smallest venial fault; and if he did so, * he would be guilty of a most grievous sin.

9. But you say: "I am afraid that my confessor, when he hears my sin, will rebuke me with great severity." God! Do you not see that all these are deceitful artifices of the devil to bring you to hell? No; the confessor will not rebuke you, but he will give an advice suited to your state. A confessor cannot experience greater consolation than in absolving a penitent who confesses his sins with true sorrow and with sincerity. If a queen were mortally wounded by a slave, and you were in possession of a remedy by which she could be cured, how great would be your joy in saving her life! Such is the joy which a confessor feels in absolving a soul in the state of sin. By his act he delivers her from eternal death: and by restoring to her the grace of God, he makes her a queen of Paradise. * That is, without the permission of the penitent.

10. But you have so many fears, and are not afraid of damning your own soul by the enormous crime of concealing sins in confession. You are afraid of the rebuke of your confessor, and fear not the reproof which you shall receive from Jesus Christ, your Judge, at the hour of death. You are afraid that your sins shall become known (which is impossible), and you dread not the day of judgment, on which, if you conceal them, they shall be revealed to all men. If you knew that, by concealing sins in confession, they shall be made known to all your relatives and to all your neighbours, you would certainly confess them. But, do you not know, says St. Bernard, that if you refuse to confess your sins to one man, who, like yourself, is a sinner, they shall be made known not only to all your relatives and neighbours, but to the entire human race?”Si pudor est tibi uni homini, et peccatori peccatum exponere, quid facturus es in die judicii, ubi omnibus exposita tua conscientia patebit ?" (S. Ber. super illud Joan., cap. xi.)”Lazare veni foras." If you do not confess your sin, God himself shall, for your confusion, publish not only the sin which you conceal, but also all your iniquities, in the presence of the angels and of the whole world. ”I will discover thy shame to thy face, and will show thy wickedness to the nations." (Nah. iii. 5.)

11. Listen, then, to the advice of St. Ambrose. The devil keeps an account of your sins, to charge you with them at the tribunal of Jesus Christ. Do you wish, says the saint, to prevent this accusation? Anticipate your accuser: accuse yourself now to a confessor, and then no accuser shall appear against you at the judgment-seat of God. ”Præveni accusatorem tuum; si to accusaveris, accusatorem nullum timebis." (Lib. 2 de Poenit., cap. ii.) But, according to St. Augustine, if you excuse yourself in confession, you shut up sin within your soul, and shut out pardon. “Excusas te, includis peccatum, excludis indulgentiam." (Hom. xii. 50.)


12. If, then, brethren, there be a single soul among you who has ever concealed a sin, through shame, in the tribunal of penance, let him take courage, and make a full confession of all his faults. ”Give glory to God with a good heart." (Eccl. xxxv. 10.) Give glory to God, and confusion to the devil. A certain penitent was tempted by Satan to conceal a sin through shame; but she was resolved to confess it; and while she was going to her confessor, the devil came forward and asked her where she was going. She courageously answered: "I am going to cover myself and you with confusion." Act you in a similar manner; if you have ever concealed a mortal sin, confess it candidly to your director, and confound the devil. Remember that the greater the violence you do yourself in confessing your sins, the greater will be the love with which Jesus Christ will embrace you.

13. Courage, then! expel this viper which you harbour in your soul, and which continually corrodes your heart and destroys your peace. Oh! what a hell does a Christian suffer who keeps in his heart a sin concealed through shame in confession! He suffers an anticipation of hell. It is enough to say to the confessor: ”Father, I have a certain scruple regarding my past life, but I am ashamed to tell it." This will be enough: the confessor will help to pluck out the serpent which gnaws your conscience. And, that you may not entertain groundless scruples, I think it right to tell you, that if the sin which you are ashamed to tell be not mortal, or if you never considered it to be a mortal sin, you are not obliged to confess it; for we are bound only to confess mortal sins. Moreover, if you have doubts whether you ever confessed a certain sin of your former life, but know that, in preparing for confession, you always carefully examined your conscience, and that you never concealed a sin through shame; in this case, even though the sin about the confession of which you are doubtful, had been a grievous fault, you are not obliged to confess it because it is presumed to be morally certain that you have already confessed it. But, if you know that the sin was grievous, and that you never accused yourself of it in confession, then there is no remedy; you must confess it, or you must be damned for it. But, lost sheep, go instantly to confession. Jesus Christ is waiting for you; he stands with arms open to pardon and embrace you, if you acknowledge your guilt. I assure you that, after having confessed all your sins, you shall feel such consolation at having unburdened your conscience and acquired the grace of God, that you shall for ever bless the day on which you made this confession. Go as soon as possible in search of a confessor. Do not give the devil time to continue to tempt you. and to make you put off your confession: go immediately: for Jesus Christ is waiting for you.