1.-I am the world that I may work out my salvation. Do you realizethat, O my soul? I am not in the world to amuse myself, to eat, to rest, much less to commit sin; I am in the world only to save my soul. What advantage would it be to possess the whole world, if afterwards I were to lose my soul? Kings, statemen, soldiers, philosophers, waht did your power, your fame, your wisdom, and intellectual gifts avail if you have not succeeded in saving your souls?
2.- Moreover, this affair of salvation is most uncertain. It cannot be bought with gold. It is accomplished by doing violence to oneself; it is lost by even a sin of thought. To save oneself, it is not enough to have been holy and innocent once; it is necessary to persevere until death. What assurance have I that I shall save my soul? My past life is stained with sins; my present life is a maze that I fail to comprehend. My future life; of what character will it be? God alone knows.
3.- Finally, this is an irreparable work. If I fail in a battle, if I lose my health, there is still hope of remedy. But if I lose my soul even once, it is lost for all eternity. If one of my eyes be taken out, I can get on with the other. But I have only one soul, and that one alone is saved or lost. And yet I think so little about saving my soul! I live on contentedly, undisturbed by fear; nevertheless, if I were to die now, I do not know if I should be saved!
Practice-Resolve to attend faithfully all the exercises of the mission or retreat; to observe silence for those few days as much as possible. For the salvation of your soul, determine to keep away from the occasion of sin: any person, place, or thing which is likely to lead you into sin.
PRAYER.-Mary, most
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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