is allowed to infect it, its beauty is lost, its light is extinguished, the Divine Spirit departs, the devil takes possession: all then is darkness, filth, and deformity. If a God-man, dying, was a dreadful spectacle, mortal sin is yet more dreadful; for Christ died but to atone for sin, and sin can daily frustrate all his merits: he is crucified over and over — his blood is trampled upon by ungrateful sinners.
[Oh! detest, at this moment, all your sins. Lament from your heart the loss of God’s grace: there is no loss so much to be lamented; it is the only loss which sorrow can repair.]
“ What fruit had you in those things, of which you are now ashamed?”- -Romans vi. 21.
“ Woe to that daring soul which hoped that having retired from you, she might still find something better.” — St. Austin.
TWELFTH DAY. — ON REPENTANCE.
1. Repent, and believe the Gospel. ( Mark i. 14.) Our Lord here joins faith and repentance together, in order to teach us that the rigours of penance, and the profession of Christianity, are inseparable. During his mortal life he was ever occupied in doing penance; expiating our sins, to appease the justice of his eternal Father. Surely we should follow his example. If the Holy of Holies fasted, prayed, and wept, what should not be done by so vile wretches as we?
2. Sin must necessarily be punished either by him who commits it, or by God, against whom it is committed. If sinners do not punish themselves in time, the Divine Justice will punish them in eternity. The flames of hell must punish what the waters of penance have not effaced. Is it not, therefore, better to weep for a few days than to bum for an eternity?!
3. To be reconciled with God, it is not enough to prostrate ourselves before a priest, to cover our
