Consideration XXIII — Deceits the Devil Places in the Minds of Sinners

Point I

Let us imagine that a young man, having fallen into grave sins, has already confessed them and recovered divine grace. The devil tempts him again to fall back: the young man still resists, but already wavers because of the deceits the enemy suggests to him. Young man, I say to you, tell me what you intend to do. Do you wish to lose now the grace of God, which you have already acquired and which is worth more than the whole world, for this miserable satisfaction of yours? Do you wish to write for yourself the sentence of eternal death, and condemn yourself to burn forever in hell? "No," you tell me, "I do not wish to damn myself; I wish to save myself. If I commit this sin, I will confess it afterward." Here is the first deceit of the tempter. So you tell me that you will confess it afterward; but in the meantime you are already losing your soul. Tell me, if you held in your hand a jewel worth a thousand ducats, would you throw it into a river, saying: afterward I will search for it and hope to find it again? You hold in your hand this beautiful jewel of your soul, which Jesus Christ purchased with His blood, and you voluntarily cast it into hell (for by sinning, according to the present justice, you are already condemned), and you say: But I hope to recover it through confession? But what if you then fail to recover it? To recover it requires a true repentance, which is a gift of God; what if God does not give you this repentance? And what if death comes and takes from you the time to confess?

You say you will not let a week pass, and you will confess. And who promises you this week of time? You say you will confess tomorrow — and who promises you this tomorrow? St. Augustine writes: "Crastinum Deus non promisit, fortasse dabit, et fortasse non dabit." This day of tomorrow God has not promised you; perhaps He will give it to you, and perhaps He will deny it, as He denied it to so many who went to bed alive in the evening and in the morning were found suddenly dead. How many, in the very act of sin, has the Lord caused to die and sent to hell? And if He does the same with you, how will you be able to remedy your eternal ruin? Know that with this deceit of saying, "I will confess it later," the devil has carried thousands upon thousands of Christians to hell; for it is difficult to find a sinner so desperate that he truly wishes to damn himself. All of them, when they sin, sin with the hope of confessing afterward; but thus so many wretches have damned themselves, and now they can no longer remedy it.

But you say: "Right now I do not have the strength to resist this temptation." Here is the second deceit of the devil, who makes it appear that you do not have the strength to resist the present passion. First, you must know that God (as the Apostle says) is faithful and never permits us to be tempted beyond our strength: "Fidelis autem Deus est, qui non patietur vos tentari supra id quod potestis" (1 Cor. 10:13). Moreover, I ask you: If you do not have the strength to resist now, how will you have it later? Later the enemy will not cease to tempt you to other sins, and then he will have become much stronger against you, and you weaker. If then you do not have the strength to extinguish this flame now, how will you have the strength to extinguish it after it has grown larger? You say: God will give me His help. But God is already giving you this help right now; why with this help do you not wish to resist? Do you perhaps hope that God will increase His aids and graces after you have increased your sins? And if you want greater help and strength at present, why do you not ask God for it? Do you perhaps doubt the faithfulness of God, who has promised to give everything that is asked of Him? "Petite et dabitur vobis" (Matt. 7:7). God cannot fail; have recourse to Him, and He will give you the strength you need to resist. "Deus impossibilia non iubet," says the Council of Trent, "sed iubendo monet et facere quod possis, et petere quod non possis, et adiuvat ut possis" (Sess. 6, c. 13). God does not command impossible things, but in giving His precepts, He admonishes us to do what we can with the actual help He gives us; when that help is not sufficient for us to resist, He exhorts us to seek greater help, and if we ask for it, He will surely give it to us.

Affections and Prayers

My God, because You have been so good to me, have I been so ungrateful to You? We have been in a contest — I fleeing from You, and You pursuing me; You doing me good, and I doing You evil. Ah, my Lord, if nothing else, the goodness alone that You have shown me should make me fall in love with You; for after I increased my sins, You increased Your graces. And where did I deserve the light You now give me? My Lord, I thank You with all my heart, and I hope to come to thank You for all eternity in paradise. I hope through Your blood to save myself, and I hope it with certainty, since You have shown me so many mercies. I hope meanwhile that You will give me the strength never to betray You again. I resolve, with Your grace, to die a thousand times before ever returning to offend You. Enough of having offended You. In the life that remains to me, I wish to love You. And how could I not love a God who, after dying for me, has endured me with such patience through so many injuries I have done Him? God of my soul, I repent with all my heart; I wish I could die of sorrow. But if in the past I turned my back on You, now I love You above all things; I love You more than myself. Eternal Father, through the merits of Jesus Christ, help a wretched sinner who wishes to love You.

Mary, my hope, help me. Obtain for me the grace to have recourse always to your Son and to you, every time the devil tempts me to offend Him again.

Point II

He says: "God is merciful." Here is the third common deceit of sinners, by which very many damn themselves. A learned author writes that the mercy of God sends more souls to hell than His justice; because these wretches, rashly trusting in mercy, do not cease to sin, and so they are lost. God is merciful — who denies it? But notwithstanding, how many every day does God send to hell! He is merciful, but He is also just, and therefore He is obliged to punish those who offend Him. He shows mercy — but to whom? To those who fear Him. "Misericordia sua super timentes se... Misertus est Dominus timentibus se" (Ps. 102:11, 13). But with those who despise Him and abuse His mercy in order to despise Him all the more, He exercises justice. And rightly so; God pardons sin, but He cannot pardon the will to sin. St. Augustine says that whoever sins with the thought of repenting afterward is not a penitent but a mocker of God: "Irrisor est, non poenitens." But on the other hand, the Apostle makes us know that God is not mocked: "Nolite errare, Deus non irridetur" (Gal. 6:7). It would be mocking God to offend Him as one pleases and as much as one pleases, and then to claim paradise.

"But since God has shown me so many mercies in the past and has not punished me, I hope He will show me mercy in the future as well." Here is the fourth deceit. So, because God has had compassion on you, must He always show you mercy and never punish you? On the contrary — the more mercies He has shown you, the more you should tremble that He will no longer pardon you but will punish you if you offend Him again. "Ne dicas: Peccavi, et quid accidit mihi triste? Altissimus enim est patiens redditor" (Sirach 5:4). Do not say (Ecclesiasticus warns), I have sinned and have received no punishment; for God is patient, but He does not endure forever. When the term He has established for the mercies He wishes to show a sinner is reached, then He gives the punishment for all his sins together. And the longer He has waited for repentance, the more severely He punishes, as St. Gregory says: "Quos diutius exspectat, durius damnat."

If then you see, my brother, that many times you have offended God and God has not sent you to hell, you should say: "Misericordiae Domini, quia non sumus consumti" (Lam. 3:22). Lord, I thank You that You have not sent me to hell, as I deserved. Think how many for fewer sins than yours have damned themselves. And with this thought, seek to compensate for the offenses you have done to God with penance and other good works. This patience that God has shown you should encourage you, not to displease Him further, but to serve and love Him all the more, seeing that He has shown you so many mercies that He has not shown to others.

Affections and Prayers

My crucified Jesus, my Redeemer and my God, here is the traitor at Your feet. I am ashamed to appear before You. How many times have I mocked You? How many times have I promised You never to offend You again, but my promises have all been betrayals; for when the occasion came, I forgot You and once more turned my back on You. I thank You that at this hour You do not have me in hell, but hold me at Your feet, and enlighten me and call me to Your love. Yes, I wish to love You, my Savior and my God, and I wish to despise You no longer. Enough of how long You have endured me. I see that You can endure me no longer. Woe to me if, after so many graces, I should return to offend You! Lord, I resolutely wish to change my life; and as much as I have offended You, so much do I wish to love You. I take comfort that I have to deal with an infinite goodness, which is what You are. I repent above every evil of having so despised You, and I promise You all my love for the future. Pardon me, through the merits of Your passion: forget the injuries I have done You, and give me the strength to be faithful to You in the life that remains. I love You, my supreme Good, and I hope to love You always. My dear God, I wish to leave You no more.

O Mother of God, Mary, bind me to Jesus Christ, and obtain for me the grace never to depart from His feet again; in you I trust.

Point III

"But I am young; God is lenient with youth; later I will give myself to God." Here we come to the fifth deceit. You are young? But do you not know that God does not count the years but counts the sins of each person? You are young? But how many sins have you committed? There will be many old people who have not managed to commit even a tenth of the sins you have committed. And do you not know that the Lord has established the number and measure of sins that He is willing to pardon each person? "Dominus patienter exspectat," says Scripture, "ut eas, cum iudicii dies advenerit, in plenitudine peccatorum puniat" (2 Macc. 6:14). This means that God is patient and waits up to a certain point, but when the measure of sins that He has determined to pardon is already full, He pardons no more, and punishes the sinner — either by suddenly sending him death in the state of damnation in which he finds himself, or by abandoning him in his sin, which punishment is worse than death. "Auferam sepem eius, et erit in direptionem" (Is. 5:5). If you have a piece of land and have surrounded it with a hedge, cultivated it for many years, and spent much on it, and you see that the land still yields no fruit; what do you do? You remove the hedge and abandon it. So tremble lest God do the same with you. If you continue to sin, you will gradually lose the remorse of conscience; you will think no more of eternity or of your soul; you will lose almost all light; you will lose fear: there — the hedge is removed, and there — the abandonment of God has already arrived.

We come to the last deceit. You say: "It is true that by this sin I lose the grace of God and am condemned to hell, and it may well be that because of this sin I shall be damned; but it may also be that afterward I will confess and be saved." Yes, sir, I grant you that it may be that you will still be saved, for after all I am no prophet, and therefore I cannot say for certain that after this sin God will show you no more mercy. But you cannot deny me that after so many graces the Lord has given you, if you now return to offend Him, it is very likely that you will be lost. Thus speak the Scriptures: "Cor durum male habebit in novissimo" (Sirach 3:27). The obstinate heart will fare badly in the end. "Qui malignantur, exterminabuntur" (Ps. 36:9). The wicked will finally be destroyed by divine justice. "Quae seminaverit homo, haec et metet" (Gal. 6:8). Whoever sows sins will in the end reap nothing but pains and torments. "Vocavi, et renuistis... in interitu vestro ridebo, et subsannabo vos" (Prov. 1:24). I called you, says God, and you mocked me; at your death I will mock you. "Mea est ultio, et ego retribuam in tempore" (Deut. 32:35). Vengeance for sins belongs to me, and I will repay you when the time comes. Thus do the Scriptures speak of obstinate sinners. Thus do justice and reason demand. You tell me: "But it may be that despite all this I will still be saved." And I return to say that yes, sir, it may be — but what madness, I say, is it to stake the eternal salvation of the soul on a "may be," and on a "may be" so difficult at that? Is this a matter to be placed in such great danger?

Affections and Prayers

My dear Redeemer, prostrate at Your feet I thank You that after so many sins You have not abandoned me. How many who have offended You less than I will not have the light that You now give me! I see that You truly wish me to be saved, and I, principally to give You pleasure, wish to save myself; I wish to come and sing eternally in heaven of these many mercies You have shown me. I hope that by now You have already pardoned me; but if I should still be in Your displeasure because I have not known how to repent as I ought for the offenses I have done You, now I repent with all my soul; I am sorry above every evil. Pardon me, I beg You, and increase ever more in me the sorrow for having offended You, my God, so good. Give me sorrow, and give me love. I love You above all things, but I love You too little; I wish to love You greatly; and this love I ask of You, and from You I hope for it. Hear me, my Jesus; You have promised to hear whoever prays to You.

O Mother of God, Mary, everyone tells me that you never let anyone depart unconsoled who commends himself to you. O my hope after Jesus, to you I have recourse, and in you I trust; commend me to your Son and save me.