The Sin

Fall

Malice

The world is the enemy of Jesus Christ. The Lord says it: "the world has hated me." And it hated Him so much that it did not give Him a minute's respite, not even when it saw Him agonizing on the cross: it persecuted Him, mocked Him, offended Him, wounded His Heart even up there! Why? Because Jesus is goodness, charity, purity, humility. The world does not understand what it knows of virtue, for it is all steeped in malice and sin: and therefore it rebels; it is a child of the devil and wages war, merciless war on the children of God. He persecuted Jesus; he will persecute his faithful until the last day. It is gospel.

The world is the enemy of souls. Souls are the great conquest of Jesus' love. The world hates souls and wants to draw them into ruin: a slave to matter, it wants to make matter triumph. He makes his own the cry of the ungodly: "I want to crown myself with roses, I want to run like a madman over all the fields of pleasure." And his life is passion of sensuality, it is covetousness of eyes, it is pride without measure: all things that can in no way come from the Father in heaven. The world is earth and is satiated with earth. Instead, the soul, the spark of God, can only rest in Him, the most perfect spirit. Hence the constant, daily, relentless struggle between the earthly world and the spiritual world.

Let us flee the world! The world is like the devil: it is a lion roaring through the earth in search of prey. Its ways are not narrow and narrow, but wide, so wide and, according to Jesus' word, they lead to perdition. It is natural. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world; if the world attacks the Spirit of Jesus Christ, his words and works, it means that it brings death there where the Son of God brought life by his death, And therefore St. John the Evangelist cries out, "Do not love the world, for if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you." Let us not distress ourselves if the world rejoices and if, on the other hand, sadness invades our souls: the day will come when the parts will be reversed, and it will be for us the conquest of joy without end.

Scandal
Scandal is the devil's weapon. As the Lord goes about sowing in the furrows of the earth the seed of good, so the devil goes about sowing the seed of evil; that is why in the fields of souls one sees, next to the good grain filled with glad promises, the bad grass that threatens the whole harvest. Do you remember Jesus' response? "The servants went to the master and said to him, 'Lord, have you not sown good seed in your field? How is it that there is weeds?" He answered, 'The enemy has done this'" (Mt. 13:27). The enemy man has chosen scandal as his weapon of predilection. Behold, a soul serenely takes its first steps toward the mountain of God: in its heart is all singing to the goodness and beauty of the Lord; suddenly, treacherously, a push, a stumble ... and the song turns to despair, to blasphemy, to weeping. The enemy has won.

The scandal is the murderer of Jesus Christ. What does a soul cost the Lord? Passion is the application of His mercy; it is the infinite delicacy with which God surrounds a soul, which He cares for like a jealous mother, in His shadow, and watches over it with the infinite love of the Creator toward His creature.

But there is another mine that is complicit in the soul's downfall, and like the devil, who was murderous from the beginning, he rushes with the eagerness of a serpent against this sanctuary of Jesus Christ, and sacrilegiously defiles it. The soul holds within it a treasure of immense value: innocence; and it is this treasure that is targeted by the enemy, who does everything to defile it. For that soul, which has become a target of the tempter, Jesus returns to spread his arms on the cross, to offer his forehead to the thorns, to defeat the enemy.

We defend Jesus. Whoever murders a soul kills the Lord, but in saving a soul we defend the Lord. Scandal is double sin, and double injustice: against the creature and against the Creator. Woe! Great is the threat of God, and the poor victims cry out to Him with a voice louder than the blood of Abel, the victim of Cain. Let us curb the scandal, lest we once again allow it to be attentive to the Lord's life. Let us build up the brethren with the light of our lives, and instead of being like the weeds in the midst of the wheat, let us become ears full of fruit that give off the good odor of Jesus Christ.

Human respect
Jesus wants resolute souls. He has condemned those sluggish souls who, in order not to do violence to themselves, in order not to suffer restrictions and persecutions, try to reconcile good with evil, light with darkness. All the more so because it is vain purpose that to which many adhere that they do not act thus except in small things. Illusion: he who is weak and cowardly in the little, will be more strongly so in the much. So what? Today people are afraid to mark themselves in public with the sign of the cross, tomorrow they will applaud those who blaspheme blessed Jesus. In the face of wolves one must howl!

Woe to those who are ashamed of Jesus Christ! On the decisive day he will be ashamed of us. His threat will not pass away. As to the foolish virgins, who come late to the bridegroom's banquet, He will say to these cowardly souls, "I do not know you!" And in vain will they knock at the door of happiness. Nor could the condemnation be more just: they applauded Barabbas, carried him in triumph, and Jesus cast him out with the sentence of the cross. They took pride in the world, which hates, offends, kills, defiles; they blushed at the disfigured Face of the crucified Son of God, at His words of gentleness and holiness. What will they demand at the hour of judgment?

Blessed are those who suffer persecution for Jesus Christ! He who loves and is not ashamed; He who loves is not afraid; His heart is stronger than death. Jesus said it: those who love Him will be hated by the world; He assured persecution to those who want to be His disciples. So what? The Gospel is what it is: it is up to us to choose whether or not to live it with the passion of God's children. St. Paul wrote that he did not blush for the Gospel, and when it was necessary to bear witness to the Gospel, he offered his head to the executioner's sword. And he was holy, in the eyes of God and in the eyes of men who then, as now, saw and believed.

Darkness and light
The soul in sin is a source of horror to God, to the Angels, to the saints. Who does not abhor darkness? He who has gravely offended the Lord is all darkness: as if Jesus had never died for him, as if redemption had not taken place. God finds His delights in abiding with the sons of man, but when they are sons. And can he ever be a son who abandons his father's house, having despised his father's calls and his mother's tears? "I had clothed thee with light," says the Lord, "I had made thee little inferior to the angels: why hast thou treated me thus? Abide in your pride." And pride leads to dissolution, poverty, abandonment: one ends up eating acorns, for giving up God's food. Then one thinks back longingly to the days of light.

The soul in grace emanates and lives in God's light. How happy I was! Life, even in its daily harshness, appeared so serene and harmonious to me. Thinking of the Lord was delightful rest: in prayer I opened myself gently with Him, whom I felt palpitating in my heart, and it seemed to me that He, with a gentle hand, was mercifully healing the sores of my soul. I was looking without worry at life, thinking without fear of death. I was appreciating God's gift. And today, what am I going to do? I want to return to the house of happiness: I want to present myself to my Father! He is waiting for me: his arms are open and his white robe ready. I will confess my faults, I will detest my pride, I will return to life. In the sacrament of penance Jesus has prepared for me the opportunity for salvation.

Let us remain in grace, it is so good to live in the light! How ugly creation would be, by day and by night, if somehow light did not triumph! How ugly is the soul without God's light! Grace is light: let us let light enter our hearts. It is the true wealth that does not suffer the damage and effects of time; it is the best earned wealth. The glory of heaven will depend on the measure of grace we acquire in the years of trial: let us therefore not complain about difficulties and trials, they are healthful food for the brightness of our soul and for the conquest of eternal joy.

The painful wait
Purgatory is justice. So good is the Lord, that the soul, if it knows how to meditate, is moved to tears. And all a stupendous revelation of goodness is the life of Jesus! Goodness that is illuminated by the bitterest sorrow, the fruit of the purest love.

But is this not a more than obvious reason why, on the last day, I can demand the Lord's strictest account of how we have treated his goodness? God is good, infinitely so, but he is also infinitely just. So he will examine us with the eye that scrutinizes the innermost feelings, on our faithfulness to his grace.

We sinned, we obtained forgiveness, and we relapsed again.... Rising again, by His mercy, we continued to afflict His Heart with a succession of ingratitudes. And yet we did not want mortifications and crosses. Is it not justice for the Lord in Purgatory to restore the disturbed order?

It is also mercy. It would be terrible if, between Heaven and Hell, there were no Purgatory! Since one does not enter Heaven with the slightest shadow of guilt, there would remain wide open, for most Christians, only the abyss of Hell! Instead, the Lord, in His merciful desire to save His children, gives them a way to accomplish, beyond life, the purification they failed or did not want to accomplish on the earthly journey. He wants us to be perfect, He wants us to be faithful copies of Him, made a model to viatorial men: only thus, in the Heart of God, can we have all the sweetnesses of happiness.

Let us then anticipate Purgatory, let us cooperate with the Lord in making souls blessed. Why wait beyond life, in the cross of ineffable torments, for the day of triumph to unfold for us? Why delay the hour of rest, of light, of love? Every slightest wait at Heaven's gate, will be sorrow that has no equal down here. Oh, let us run to penance, let us welcome sorrow with joy, let us exercise the works of mercy, thus using to our soul a great mercy. Let us anticipate Purgatory to hasten our Heaven!

We renew the invitation
If your heart is eager to do something for your brothers and sisters who are gripped by suffering or loneliness, you can earnestly plead with the Lord. Prayer is one of the highest forms of charity..

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