Eleventh Day.—On Horror for Sin.
1. How great a loss is the loss of God! Men think themselves unfortunate when they lose all their possession at law, or by bankruptcy, or by some other accident. What is it, then, to lose an infinite God! Unhappy the soul which loses its God by sin; but far more unhappy the soul who considers this loss as nothing.
2. O sin! how common art thou among men! but how little at the same time art thou known to them! Playing and amusing themselves, they become the execration of God. And what play—what amusement is this? God, who is all love, detests sin with infinite hatred: should any thing, therefore, be so shocking in our eyes as this hellish monster.
3. A soul in the state of grace, is beautiful beyond expression! it is a brilliant image of God himself; the Holy Ghost animates it. But when mortal sin is allowed to infect it, its beauty is lost, its light is extinguished, the Divine Spirit departs, the devil takes possession; all then is darkness, filth, and deformity. If a God-man dying was a dreadful spectacle, mortal sin is yet more dreadful; for Christ died but to atone for sin, and sin can daily frustrate all his merits; he is crucified over and over; his blood is trampled upon by ungrateful sinners.
O detest at this moment all your sins. Lament from your heart the loss of God's grace; there is no loss so much to be lamented; it is the only loss which sorrow can repair.
"What advantage had you in those things at which you are now blushing?"
Romans vi.
"Wo to that daring soul, which hoped that having retired from you, she might still find something better."
St. Augustine.
Twelfth Day.—On Repentance.
1. "Repent, and believe the Gospel." Our Lord here joins faith and repentance together, in order to teach us, that the rigours of penance, and the profession of Christianity, are inseparable. During his mortal life he was a penitent God, ever occupied in expiating our sins, to appease the justice of his eternal Father. Surely, we should follow his example. If the Holy of Holies fasted, prayed, and wept, what should not be done by such vile wretches as we are?