powerful than hell. I know that if I always commend myself to Thee, I shall never more be separated from Thee. Therefore this is the grace that Thou must grant me, that I may always commend myself to Thee, and pray to Thee even as I now say to Thee, " Lord, assist me give me light, give me strength, give me perseverance, give me Paradise, but above all, give me Thy holy love, which is the true Paradise of the soul. I love Thee, O Thou Infinite Good, and I would ever love Thee. Hear me, for the love of Jesus Christ."
Third Point.
The sinner insults and dishonours God, and, by doing so, grieves Him very much. There is no bitterness more acute, than to be repaid with ingratitude by a person who has been loved and benefited. Who is it, then, that the sinner grieves? Even the God Who has created Him, and Who has loved him so much as to give His Blood and His life for the sinner's love. And the sinner, by committing a deadly sin, drives God away from his heart. God comes and dwells in a soul that He loves. " If a man love Me .... My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him." (S. John xiv. 23.) Take notice, " We will make Our abode." God enters the soul, ever to stay there, so that He never leaves it unless the soul drives Him away; and He does not leave it unless He is driven from it. But, Lord, Thou knowest that within a short time that ungrateful one will drive Thee away; why, therefore, dost Thou not now leave him? Why wait until he drives Thee away? Leave him before he shall offer Thee this great insult. But God says, " No, I will not leave him, until by his own free will he doth send Me away."
Therefore, when the soul consents to sin, it says, Lord, depart from me: " They say unto God, Depart from us." (Job xxi. 14.) It says so, not in words, but in actions, as S. Gregory observes, " Depart, not in words, but in deeds." The sinner knows full well that God cannot stay in the same place with sin; he knows that when he commits sin, God is forced to depart; therefore he exclaims, " Since Thou canst not remain when I commit sin,
