Remember that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.
From a sermon by St. John Vianney
Ah! What years and centuries of torment to punish us! ... How dearly we
shall pay for all those faults that we look upon as nothing at all, like
those little lies that we tell to amuse ourselves, those little
scandals, the despising of the graces which God gives us at every
moment, those little murmurings in the difficulties that He sends us!
No, my dear brethren, we would never have the courage to commit the
least sin if we could understand how much it outrages God and how
greatly it deserves to be rigorously punished, even in this world.
God
is just, my dear brethren, in all that He does. When He recompenses us
for the smallest good action, He does so over and above all that we
could desire. A good thought, a good desire, that is to say, the desire
to do some good work even when we are not able to do it, He never leaves
without a reward. But also, when it is a matter of punishing us, it is
done with rigor, and though we should have only a light fault, we shall
be sent into Purgatory. This is true, for we see it in the lives of the
saints that many of them did not go to Heaven without having first
passed through the flames of Purgatory. Saint Peter Damien tells that
his sister remained several years in Purgatory because she had listened
to an evil song with some little pleasure.
It is told that two religious
promised each other that the first to die would come to tell the
survivor in what state he was. God permitted the one who died first to
appear to his friend. He told him that he was remaining fifteen years in
Purgatory for having liked to have his own way too much. And as his
friend was complimenting him on remaining there for so short a time, the
dead man replied: "I would have much preferred to be flayed alive for
ten thousand years continuously, for that suffering could not even be
compared with what I am suffering in the flames." A priest told one of
his friends that God had condemned him to remain in Purgatory for
several months for having held back the execution of a will designed for
the doing of good works. Alas, my dear brethren, how many among those
who hear me have a similar fault with which to reproach themselves?
How many are there, perhaps, who during the course of eight or ten years
have received from their parents or their friends the work of having
Masses said and alms
given and have allowed the whole thing to slide! How many are there
who, for fear of finding that certain good works should be done, have
not wanted to go to the trouble of looking at the will that their
parents or their friends have made in their favor? Alas, these poor
souls are still detained in the flames because no one has desired to
fulfill their last wishes! Poor fathers and mothers, you are being
sacrificed for the happiness of your children and your heirs! You
perhaps have neglected your own salvation to augment their fortune. You
are being cheated of the good works which you left behind in your wills!
... Poor parents! How blind you were to forget yourselves! ... You will
tell me, perhaps: "Our parents lived good lives; they were very good
people." Ah! They needed little to go into these flames!
Visit a cemetery this week and get em out of there.
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