He would not allow us to make our Easter duty. Where shall we go?" "It is of no use going to our parish priest he is too scrupulous. "Look," says one, "my parents keep nagging at me because I haven't been to Confession. So to rid themselves of the importunity of their parents, to keep up appearances, these people will get together to find out who is the best confessor to try for absolution for the first or second time. If only they would just pray for them and not torment them into committing sacrileges. They will be happy if their children go to the altar, and they keep urging them, then, to go to Confession. But their parents still retain the exterior practice of religion. They would be only too pleased if Easter came around about once every thirty years. It is not, of course, that they want to go or that they feel any urge or need to receive the Sacrament of Penance. Is it possible, my brethren, that one could think upon such horrible behaviour without shuddering?īut we shall proceed further and you will see the embarrassment of these poor people who want to follow the world without - outwardly at any rate - leaving God. This is so true that one day someone asked me to allow him to go to Holy Communion in the sacristy so that no one would see him. He would blush to fulfil his religious practices in front of his companions or those boys and girls who share his evil ways. When he is with those who have no religion, he will talk only about the pleasures of the world. In front of devout people he talks about religion. Yet he is quite happy to be seen by the good people who know nothing about his evil life and among whom he would like to arouse good opinions about himself. Has he come to the stage when he is going to deceive his confessor by hiding the worst of his actions and thus obtain permission to go to Holy Communion, or rather, to commit a sacrilege? He would prefer to go to Holy Communion before or after Mass, that is to say, when there is no one present. How great is his fear when he comes to fulfil his religious duties that is, when he says his prayers, when he goes to Confession, or wants to go to Holy Communion! He does not want to be seen by those with whom he has been dancing and passing nights at the cabarets, where he has been giving himself over to many kinds of licentiousness. Here is someone who gives himself up to the pleasures of the world or develops some evil habit. I would say further, my brethren, that whoever wants to please both the world and God leads one of the most unhappy of lives. But that will matter little to me, for I am always going to tell you what I ought to tell you, and then you will do what you wish about it. I am going to show you this so clearly that perhaps many among you will be hurt by it. This is an extraordinary life and one which offers so strange a spectacle that it is hard to persuade oneself that it could be the life of one and the same person. Then, weary of wanting to give his allegiance to both, he ends by giving it to the world alone. Poor blind creature, who gives one hand to God and the other to the world, so that he can call both to his aid, and promise his heart to each in turn! He loves God, or rather, he would like to love Him, but he would also like to please the world. You will see such a one at one moment prostrate before God, his Saviour and his Master, and the next moment similarly prostrate before the world, his idol. Nor do I understand, brethren, by the lukewarm soul, that soul who would like to be worldly without ceasing to be a child of God. Let us leave them in their blindness, since they want to remain that way. They know very well that in spite of all their prayers and their other good works they will be lost. In speaking to you, my brethren, of the lukewarm soul, I do not wish, either, to speak of those who make neither their Easter duty nor their annual Confession. We will go no further, for all that I would wish to say would serve only to harden them more. Alas! These sinners hear me they know well of whom I am speaking at this very moment. That poor unfortunate creature can but look forward to the wrath of God in the next life. In speaking to you today, my dear brethren, of the dreadful state of the lukewarm soul, my purpose is not to paint for you a terrifying and despairing picture of the soul which is living in mortal sin without even having the wish to escape from this condition. 68 PRAYING, FASTING, AND PLEASING OURSELVES.54 MODEL YOUR DEATH UPON THAT OF JESUS CHRIST.25 ALL THAT YOU SAY OVER AND ABOVE THESE IS OF EVIL.23 IF YOU KNOW HOW TO GIVE, YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO PAY BACK.6 THE WORLD IS EVERYTHING GOD, NOTHING!.1 THE DREADFUL STATE OF THE LUKEWARM SOUL.
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