12. How to avoid occasions of sin and relapse.
Christ. My son, thou hast sinned; sin no more but pray rather that thy past sins may be forgiven thee. When, therefore, thou returnest from confession, thou art now entirely cleansed from the leprosy of thy sins in Jordan; that is, in the bath of my blood. See thou return not, therefore, like a sow to her wallowing, or like a dog to his vomit. Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee. An easy relapse is a proof of a not very serious repentance.
Firmly resolve, therefore, to endure all things rather than offend me again. For this, it will be most useful for thee to know into what sin thou art most liable to fall, and also upon what occasions thou art most apt to slip, so that thou mayest fortify thyself the most wherever thou findest thyself weakest and most exposed to danger.
Search, therefore, not carelessly, but diligently, for the very root itself, from which alone sprout forth nearly all the thorns, briers, and noxious weeds that infest thy soul. Pluck out, or at least choke up this, and thou wilt have done much.
But few do this in earnest, and therefore they ever stick in the same mire; they accuse, without heeding their conscience. They put by their sins, and propose to do better, but soon return to their vomit. They weep at one moment for what they have done, and a little after commit what they must weep for again; and often pass their lives in thus dallying with me, till death unexpectedly seizes them, and plunges them in the deep, and the pit of hell shuts its mouth upon them.
My son, beware of imitating those who thus abuse my patience and long-suffering, and so often receive my grace in vain; crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making him a mockery. I tell thee, it is hard for those who act thus to be renewed again to penance. For the earth that drinks in the rain which comes often upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is tilled, receives blessing from God. But that which brings forth thorns and briers is reprobate, and very near to a curse, — whose end is to be burnt. Does not man himself at last exclude entirely from his favour and friendship his fellow-man who time after time offends him?
Man. Alas, O Lord, but now I rejoice in the things which thou saidst to console me, but now again thou utterest words full of terror and severity. Good Lord,
