weight of pure intention."[1] As much as to say, that according as our intention is pure, so does the Lord accept of and reward our actions. But, O God, how difficult it is to find an action done solely for Thee! I remember a holy old man, a religious, who had labored much in the service of God, and died in the reputation of sanctity; now one day, as he cast a glance back at his past life, he said to me in a tone of sadness and fear, "Wo is me! when I consider all the actions of my past life, I do not find one done entirely for God." Oh, this accursed self-love, that makes us lose all or the greater part of the fruit of our good actions! How many in their most holy employments, as of preaching, hearing confessions, giving missions, labor and exert themselves very much, and gain little or nothing because they do not regard God alone, but worldly honor, or self-interest, or the vanity of making an appearance, or at least their own inclination!
Our Lord has said, Take heed that yon do not your justice before men, to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not Jiave a reward of your Father who is in heaven.[2] He that works for his own gratification already receives his wages: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.[3] But a reward, indeed, which dwindles into a little smoke, or the pleasure of a day that quickly vanishes, and confers no benefit on the soul. The Prophet Aggeus says, that whoever labors for anything else than to please God, puts his reward in a sack full of holes, which, when he comes to open, he finds entirely empty: And he that hath earned wages, put them into a bag with holes.[4] And hence it
- ↑ Pucc. p. 1, ch. 58.
- ↑ "Attendite ne justitiam vestram faciatis coram hominibus, ut videamini ab eis; alioquin mercedem non habebitis apud Patrem vestrum qui in cœlis est."—Matt. vi. i.
- ↑ "Amen, dico vobis, receperunt mercedem suam."—Matt. vi. 5.
- ↑ "Et qui mercedes congregavit, misit eas in sacculum pertusum."—Agg. i. 6.
