from thence they find themselves exactly the same; hatreds are not extinguished, the empire of voluptuousness is not weakened, animation in the pursuit of pleasures is not blunted, inclination for the world is not less violent; in a word, cupidity has lost nothing of its rights. We see no greater precautions than before against dangers already encountered; the society of the world again resumes its influence; conversations are renewed; the passions awaken; every thing resumes its former train, and, in addition to their former state, they have now to add the profanation of this awful mystery. How is this? It is that a simple confession is no examination of one's self.
Again, it is the food of the strong. A weak, sickly, and wavering soul, who turns with every wind; who gives way to the first obstacle; who founders upon the first rock; who escapes every moment from the guidance of grace; who has a long experience of his own fragility; who never brings to the altar but promises a hundred times violated, but momentary sensations of devotion, which the very first pleasure stifles; who, from his earliest years, has been in the alternate practice of weaknesses and holy things, and who has seen a constant succession of crimes to repentance, and of the sacrament to relapses: is a soul of this description a strong soul? Is it not its duty to examine itself, to increase, to strengthen, and to exercise itself in charity? Scarcely in a state to digest milk, ought it to load itself with solid food, and such as can serve the purposes of nourishment only to the perfect man?
It is written in the law, that, if the sin-offering be placed in an earthen vessel, the vessel shall immediately be broken; but if in a brazen vessel, it shall be both scoured and rinsed in water. Would these circumstances, so carefully and minutely marked, be worthy of the Holy Spirit, did they not contain instructions and mysteries? Doth not a weak soul, who receives the true victim, resemble that earthen vessel which falls in pieces, as I may say, being unable to endure the violence of this sacred fire? On the contrary, the firm soul, like the brass, is purified, loses in it all its stains, and comes out from it more beautiful and brilliant than before. What is the consequence, according to Jesus Christ, of putting new wine into old bottles; do they not burst, and allow the wine to be lost upon the ground? What is the application of this parable? You put the mystical wine, that wine whose strength operates a holy intoxication in pure souls, into a decayed and worn-out heart, which long-established passions have almost consumed. Ah! I am not surprised that it is unable to endure its strength, that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot tarry there, and that, on the first occasion, you shed and trample it under foot; it required to have gradually accustomed your heart to it, to have prepared it by retirement, by prayer, by daily conquests over yourself; and, through the means of these continued and salutary trials, to have strengthened and rendered it capable of receiving Jesus Christ.
It is the passover of Christians: now, Jesus Christ celebrates his passover with his disciples alone.
