become grey in years, and at last enter into eternity as poor in merits as the little infant.
God is always urging us to add to our merit. Finally, while thus preserving our lives, how does not the good God keep constantly urging us to increase our merit and glory by diligently performing good works? The salutary inspirations with which He speaks to our hearts and moves us to do that work of devotion, to undertake that act of penance and mortification, to bestow that alms on the poor, and do other works of charity, to visit that church, to hear the word of God, to assist at holy Mass, and so forth: what else are they but loving invitations to increase our glory in heaven by those holy actions? That misfortune, sickness, poverty, death, trouble, and adversity: what else is it but a check to keep us from vice, a spur to urge us on to the fulfilment of the divine will, to humility, to penance, to prayer, and other virtuous and meritorious works? And as a matter of fact a single “My God, Thy will be done” in the time of trial brings in more merit than a thousand prayers in the time of prosperity. The very temptations that we suffer from the devil, by which that evil spirit seeks our ruin, are permitted by God, and ordained by Him, as the Apostle says, for our greater good and profit: “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able, but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it.”[1] He allows us to be tempted in order to purify our virtue, to prove our love and fidelity towards Him, and to earn for ourselves a crown greater in proportion to the trouble we have in bravely overcoming our enemy. And besides all this, how earnestly He exhorts us to do good! In the Gospel of St. Matthew He tells us not to be careful about the transitory things of earth, but to devote our whole attention to the eternal riches of heaven: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”[2] In St. Luke we read that we must not allow the talents and gifts of nature and grace that have been entrusted to us to lie idle, but rather
- ↑ Fidelis Deus est, qui non patietur vos tentari supra id quod potestis sed faciet cum tentatione proventum ut possitis sustinere.—I. Cor. x. 13.
- ↑ Nolite thesaurizare vobis thesauros in terra: ubi ærugo et tinea demolitur, et ubi fures effodiunt et furantur. Thesaurizate autem vobis thesauros in cœlo: ubi neque tinea demolitur, et ubi fures non effodiunt, nec furantur.—Matt. vi. 19, 20.
