Page 29         

                                                                                                                                                                    `                                                                                   

ject a heart humble and contrite for its offences. A contrite and humble heart, O God, Thou wilt
not despise.  Ps. 1:19. Let us be joyful, then, if we have the good intention of changing our
lives, and if, on seeing ourselves guilty of so many sins before the Lord, we stand very much in
fear of the divine judgments, let us have recourse to the Mother of mercies, the most holy Mary,
who defends and secures from the divine vengeance all those who take refuge under her mantle.
"I am the citadel of all those who fly to me;" thus is she made to speak by St. John Damascene.


SIXTH DISCOURSE

God Chastises us in this Life for Our Good, not for our Destruction

"Non enim delectarisin perditionibus nostris."
 "For thou art not delighted in our being lost.' Job 3:22.

Let us feel persuaded, my brethren, that there is no one who loves us more than God. St. Teresa
says that God loves us more than we love ourselves. He has loved us from eternity. Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. Jer. 31:3. It is the love he has borne us which has drawn us
from nothing, and given us being. Therefore have I drawn Thee, taking pity on Thee. Jer. 31:3.
Hence, when God chastises us upon the earth, it is not because he wishes to injure us, but because
he wishes us well, and loves us. But of this every one is "Sure that worshippeth Thee, that his
life, if it be under trial shall be crowned: and if it be under tribulation, shall be delivered.
So spoke Sara the wife of Tobias: Lord, he who serves thee is sure that after the trial shall
have passed he shall be crowned, and that after tribulation he shall be

spared the punishment which he deserved: For Thou art not delighted in our being lost: because
after a storm Thou makest a calm, and after tears and weeping Thou pourest in joyfulness. After the
tempest of chastisement he gives us peace, and after mourning, joy and gladness.

My brethren, let us convince ourselves of what I have undertaken to show you today, namely, that
God does' not afflict us in this life for our injury but for our good, in order that we may cease
from sin, and by recovering his grace escape eternal punishment.

And I will give My fear in their heart, that they may not revolt from Me.  Jer. 32:40. The Lord
says that he infuses his fear into our hearts, in order that he may enable us to triumph over our
passion for earthly pleasures, for which, ungrateful that we are, we have left him. And when
sinners have left him, how does he make them look into themselves, and recover his grace? By put­
ting on the appearance of anger, and chastising them in this life: In Thy anger Thou shalt break
the people in pieces.  Ps. 55:8. Another version, according to St. Augustine, has: "In thy wrath
thou shalt conduct the people." The saint inquiring, What is the meaning of his conducting the
people in his wrath? he then replies: "Thou, O Lord, fillest us with tribulations, in order that
being thus afflicted, we may abandon our sins and return to Thee."  In Ps. 55, n. 13.

When the mother wishs to wean her infant how does she proceed? She puts gall upon her breast. Thus
the Lord endeavors to draw our souls to himself, and wean them from the pleasures of this earth,
which make them live in forgetfulness of their eternal salvation; he fills with bitterness all
their pleasures; pomps, and possessions, in order that, not finding peace in those things, they may
turn

                                                                                                                                                                    `