Hell
by VP
Posted on Wednesday April 28, 2021 at 12:00AM in Cure d'Ars, Saint John Vianney
"If some one could say to the damned,"We are going to place a priest at the gate of Hell, and all who wish to confess have but to go thither," do you believe that even one soul would hesitate to profit by the opportunity? Oh, how quickly Hell would be emptied and Heaven filled!
Well, now, let us remember that we have the time and means that these poor reprobates have not."
Source: Thoughts of the Cure of Ars
Love for God
by VP
Posted on Friday April 23, 2021 at 11:02AM in Cure d'Ars, Saint John Vianney
Image source: Cathedral Saint-Pierre de Vannes, Brittany, France
Without faith, one is blind. He who does not see, does not know; he who does not know, does not love; he who does not love God, loves himself, and, at the same time, his pleasures. He attaches his heart to things that vanish like smoke. He can know neither the truth nor aught of good. He can know only falsehood because he has not the light. Had he the light, he would see clearly that all that he loves can bring him only death everlasting.
Except the good God there is nothing solid. As to life, it passes away; fortune may take wings, health be lost, reputation attacked. Everything slips from our grasp.
How greatly are they to be pitied who place their affections upon such things! They do this because they love them too much; but it is not with a reasonable love, it is with love of self and of the world, by seeking self and creatures more than God. Wherefore, they are never tranquil, never happy, but ever restless, harassed, tormented in mind.
Source: Thoughts of the Cure of Ars.1896
Thoughts of the Cure of Ars
by VP
Posted on Monday April 12, 2021 at 12:12PM in Cure d'Ars, Saint John Vianney
"We have always two secretaries, the demon who writes down our bad deeds, in order to accuse us, and our Guardian Angel who records the good in order to justify us at the Day of Judgment.
The demon amuses us until the last moment, just as one amuses a culprit, while awaiting the arrival of the officers who are to arrest him. When they seize him, he cries out, he struggles against them but, nevertheless, they hold him fast."
