Plan of Discourse.
There is none of us who has not just reason to fear a severe purgatory after death; therefore we should show mercy to the poor souls; because they who refuse to do so may expect a purgatory without mercy. Such is the whole subject.
That we may not be in the number of these latter, grant us Thy grace, O Lord, to lead holy lives and show mercy to the poor souls; this we beg of Thee through the intercession of Mary and of our holy guardian angels.
There is no one who does not daily do something to earn purgatory. He who is in the habit of thieving has reason to fear the gallows if he is caught; and he who often does what deserves to be punished in purgatory has reason to fear purgatory when he falls into the hands of God’s justice. And if that is the case, who of us, my dear brethren, will dare to say that he will escape that fire? For what are we, and where are we now on this earth? Poor, frail mortals, inclined to evil, exposed to countless dangers and occasions of sin, nay, we stain our lives with many actual sins and faults; for we are of the number of those of whom St. John says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”[1]
By small faults. And in truth if we go through the whole day, from morning till night, we shall hardly find a quarter of an hour that is quite free from some fault or another. Curiosity of eyes and ears, sensuality of taste and touch, want of restraint over the tongue, idle, flattering, lying, fault-finding, quarrelsome, sarcastic, contradictory talk; proud, ambitious, suspicious, impure thoughts, that are fully or half deliberate; intemperance in eating, drinking, and sleep; discontent and impatience in adversity; a wrong intention in outward actions; vanity in dress, manners, and demeanor; want of restraint and consideration in company; human respect, that drives us to do or omit what we should not do or omit; useless squandering of precious time, culpable ignorance, neglecting the duties of our state although in small things; not fulfilling the obligations of Christian charity; leading others into sin, giving scan dal through carelessness, rejecting the divine inspirations, etc. These are small things according to our ideas; but our lives are filled with them; they are as it were the daily bread of even pious Christians. Wherever one turns he finds some fault or
- ↑ Si dixerimus quoniam peccatum non habemus, ipsi nos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est.—I. John i. 8.
