faith becomes fervent and lively, so that he does not fall into grievous sin. but makes steady progress in the way of perfection. The bad and thoughtless Christian, on the other hand, boasts that he believes like any good Christian, but he does not live up to his profession. For this reason one of the saints used to say: "In my opinion, these bad Christians ought to be contained in an asylum for idiots; for how can a sensible, reasonable man believe in heaven and hell. and yet go on sinning?"
St. Alphonsus Liguori says in his "Devout Reflections ": [1]
"We are not created for this earth. The end for which God has placed us in the world is this, that by our good works we may merit eternal life. 'The end is life everlasting' (Rom. vi. 22). And therefore St. Eucherius used to say that the only affair that we should attend to in this life is eternity; that is to gain for ourselves a happy eternity, and escape a miserable one. "The business for which we work is eternity." If we make sure of success in this business, we shall be happy forever: if we fail in it. we shall be forever miserable.
"Happy he who lives with eternity always
- ↑ "Devout Reflections on Various Subjects. " translated from the Italian by P. Edmund Vaughan, C.SS.R
