By this means we may safely pass over this perilous and malicious snare of the devil, that is, by acknowledging with lowly mind our own proper frailty, but putting all hope and trust in God, and by refusing to form any judgment on the matter. We know how S. Peter, when he had declared that he would rather die than deny our Lord, afterwards broke his promise, and forsook Him. Very many others act in the same way, thinking before they are tempted that they would be willing to suffer anything rather than sin, as though they could avoid sin by their own power only, without the help of God’s grace.

8. Another temptation of a somewhat similar kind is this. When a person remembers some wickedness he did in his past life, by which nevertheless he enjoys some present good; as, for instance, by fornication or by adultery he has a child whom he loves intensely. Then comes the question to his mind, Would you rather have not sinned, and be deprived of this child, or have this child, consenting to the sin for it? Now, as in the former temptation, so here, whichever way he answers he runs the risk of being caught in a snare. The remedy, then, is not to answer the question. However, a man may grieve for the sin, and that by the sin he had a child, without grieving absolutely because. he has a child.

9. There comes sometimes the question before the mind as to whether we be worse than other men, or than this or that man. From this source arise many sins, such as falsehood, pride, rash judgment. One so tempted should therefore reply, “Whatsoever proceeds from me, from my own fund, is sin; if there be in me any good it is of the grace of God, and God can equally give to any other what He gives to me. Now, when I have nothing of my own but sin, what use is there for me to compare myself with others, since I am of myself most wicked?”

10. The enemy places often before the eyes of the soul the graces and gifts that are in her, to puff her up, and make her despise others. Now, a person so tempted ought to consider that if he does not use the gifts of God well he incurs greater perils, and will receive a more intolerable damnation. Or he may remember that there is no one, however wicked, who might not perhaps use the graces he has better than himself, so that he may not judge any one, Jew or Gentile, to De worse than himself, and all may be better.

11. A temptation not uncommon to repentant souls is to examine whether their contrition is such as God will accept of, and they argue that for some temporal misfortune they grieve and weep far more than for having offended God by sin. They consider, then, that their contrition is evidently not sufficient But we should know that it is not necessary that we should feel so great a sensible sorrow for sin as perhaps we do for some earthly loss or misfortune. It is enough that the sin displeases us, and that we will never to offend God by the like sin any more. We are not obliged to wish rather to die, or to be damned, or to be stripped of all our goods, than to sin, or than to sin in this or that manner.

Again, we are not obliged to have a sorrow answering to the divine immensity, which we have offended, for that were impossible. For the Godhead is infinite, but our sorrow at the very utmost can only be finite. The above-named sorrow, then, is enough.

It is true indeed that that sorrow is the best which is greatest in both soul and body, if only discretion is used in the sorrow of the body. For by bodily sorrow the health may give way, or the reason be injured.

Many temptations are avoided by the above mode of dealing, which are wont to arise when a person fears that he is never sorry enough, or that he has not done what he is bound to. He has done what he is bound to for salvation; but what we are bound to in consideration of the exalted nature of the Godhead, this we cannot do. We cannot repay Him the benefits He bestows. But our indulgent Father does not expect this of us. By His wondrous kindness it suffices to make us His friends, if only in certain number, and at certain times, we do the things He has commanded us under pain of eternal damnation.

Now all these precepts are contained in two, to love God above all things, and to love our neighbour as ourself. But if it be asked, what is signified by loving God above all things, I answer, plainly and simply, It is so to love Him as to love nothing else in such a way as to make you lose thereby the love of God. To love our neighbour as ourself is to wish eternal salvation for him, and grace in this present life, and also to do for him whatever in justice and reason we would wish him to do for us in the like case. For it is evident that one who is a judge ought not to will to set a robber free from gaol, though perhaps were he himself in prison he would wish, contrary to reason, to be set free. An answer may in like manner be given to various other temptations of this kind.

12. A penitent will sometimes inquire of himself whether he has now a firm purpose not to sin again. Then the devil proposes doubts to him, especially telling how frail he is, that he still falls often, and perhaps even daily. The penitent however ought to consider that it is perfectly true that he cannot through his own strength hope to escape sin. He ought not to say that he will never sin again, for to say so would be presumption; nor ought he to judge that he will sin, for this would be already to transgress. It is enough, then, to make a firm purpose, with the help of God, to avoid sin, and to use diligence to do so, and by one’s present will to give no consent to sin for the future.

13. When a person is going to communion the thought of his unworthiness comes sometimes into his mind, and a doubt whether he ought to approach; a doubt, too, perhaps, whether he has rightly confessed his sins, for he feels as if he had not made a real good confession. But such an one ought to consider that he never can by his own strength make himself worthy to approach the sacrament of the altar, no, not if he laboured to prepare himself for a hundred years. For this is required a divine gift, and God can give that at once just as easily as in a hundred years.

Again, he ought to consider that in this life no one can tell, with an infallible certitude, whether he be in a state of grace or not, whether he be truly penitent or not, whether he has made a good confession or not, unless God were to let him know by a special revelation. Therefore he who will not go to communion unless he has this certainty deceives himself, and seems guilty of a kind of pride.

There is, however, a moral certainty, which in our purpose is required, and which suffices. And this we have, when, in our recollection and examen of conscience, we find we have done that, which both our own discretion and the good counsel of others suggested, and have for some time been wont commonly so to do. But if our own judgment should not accuse us of mortal sin, then there is no new peril in going to holy communion, even though, as it may often happen, some slight doubts may come into our mind. These doubts we ought to repel, and we ought to force ourselves to act contrary to them. I call that a slight doubt, when a person judges of a thing, rather that it is just and good, than that it is evil; yet some reasons or thoughts occur to the mind, leading to some hesitation, but still the first judgment appears far the most certain. Now if both sides seem equally probable, we ought to stop till we get more ground for decision one side or other, either by the help of our own reason, or by consultation with others, or by a divine inspiration obtained through prayer. For unless in this mode a person obtain security in himself, he will always judge that he has made a bad confession, and will never feel easy or at peace, and this can never be good.

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