#st. alphonsus

'Commit this sin, and confess it afterwards.' Behold the deceitful artifice by which the devil has brought so many thousands of Christians to hell.

When the devil again tempts you to sin, telling you that God is merciful, remember that the Lord shows mercy to those that fear Him, but not to those who despise Him....

One of the greatest causes of the distress and anguish of the careless Christian at the hour of death, is the remembrance of the bad use he had made of the time in which he ought to have acquired merits for heaven, and in which he has accumulated merits for hell.

”(Impurity) blinds the sinner, hardens the heart, and leads to a multitude of other sins, such as anger, hatred, blasphemy, false oaths ... Demons delight in sins of impurity, because it is difficult for a person who indulges in impurity to be delivered from it.”

One of the chief and most efficacious means we have for our spiritual advancement is, the examen of conscience; and for this reason the Saints recommend so earnestly the practice of it.

God hears the prayers even of sinners; that, though their prayers are not meritorious, still, since impetration depends on the goodness of God, and not on His justice, they have sufficient efficacy to obtain favours. 'Merit,' says St. Thomas, 'depends on justice, but impetration depends on grace.'