contrary is the case; they do not wish, and they will not go to heaven. Why? Because they wish only in part; they consult their own caprices in the choice of the means they use, while they reject others that do not jump with their inclination and humor, although the latter are necessary and useful to their salvation.
They keep those that suit their inclinations. Preach to some, for instance, about mortification, fasting, abstinence from forbidden food, moderation in drinking—oh, in those things they find no difficulty; they think and say with the young man in the Gospel, whom Christ exhorted to keep the commandments: “All these things I have observed from my youth.” Thank God! I am no drunkard or reveller; I keep the fast days prescribed by the Church as a Catholic Christian should keep them. And so they go home from the sermon comforted, with a sure pledge of their eternal salvation. But preach to them about abstaining from forbidden carnal pleasures, about guarding the eyes and other senses so as not to wound purity by look or thought, and what happens? Even what happened with that young man when Our Lord said to him: “Go, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me.” At these words he went away sad, without making answer; “Who being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful.”[1] That did not suit him. If I say to a man: he who wishes to go to heaven must lead a chaste life, he is pleased with that, because he is not inclined to the vice of impurity, or lives happy in the married state; “all these things I have observed,” he will answer. But if I add: he who wishes to go to heaven must make restitution of ill-gotten goods and give them back to their lawful owner, even to the last farthing, and if he has any doubt about his lawful claim to anything in his possession he must carefully set to work to solve the doubt as soon as possible, then he goes away sad; that does not suit him. The third thinks: so far I am all right; I do not remember having injured anyone in my whole life; “all these things I have observed;” but if I say to him: he who wishes to go to heaven must lay aside hatred and ill-will, and live in peace with his neighbor, and forgive his enemy from his heart, that does not please him at all; he goes away sad. A fourth thinks: that is not for me; I have not an enemy on the face of the earth,
- ↑ Hæc omnia observavi a juventute mea. Vade, quæcumque habes vende, et da pauperibus, et habebis thesaurum in cœlo, et veni, sequere me. Qui contristatus in verbo, abiit mœrens.—Mark x. 20–22.
