CAPG's Blog 

" There are many Christians who actually do not know why they came into the world. " Wherefore, my God, didst Thou place me in the world? " That thou mightest be saved. " And wherefore wouldst Thou have me to be saved ? " Because I love thee. " The good God created us and placed us in the world because He loves us; He wishes to save us because He loves us. To be saved we must know, love, and serve God. This is now our business. Oh, what a blessed life ! How blessed it is, how great it is, to know, to love, to serve God ! We have nothing else to do in this world. Every thing else we do besides this is so much time lost. We must act for God alone, and put our works into His hands. When we wake, we must say, I desire today to act for Thee alone, O my God ; I will submit to whatsoever Thou shalt send me, as coming from Thee; I offer myself to Thee in sacrifice. But my God, I can do no thing without Thee. Do thou help me !

"Oh, when we come to die, how bitterly shall we regret the time we have given to pleasure, to useless conversation, to rest, instead of employing it in mortification, in prayer, in good works, in thinking of our misery, in weeping over our poor sins. It is then we find out that we have done nothing for heaven.

"O my children, how sad it is! Three-fourths of the Christian world labour only for the gratification of this miserable carcass, which will soon rot in the earth ; while they think not of their poor soul, which is to be happy or miserable for ever. They want common sense. It is enough to make one tremble.

"Men of the world say that salvation is too difficult a work. Yet there is nothing easier: to keep the commandments of God and of the Church, and to avoid the seven deadly sins, this is all; or, if you like it better, to do good and avoid evil.

"Good Christians, who labor to save their souls and to work out their salvation, are always happy and contented; they have a foretaste of the happiness of heaven ; they will be happy for all eternity: while bad Christians, who are losing tneir souls, are always miserable ; they murmur, they are sad, they are dull as stones, and they will be so to all eternity, what a contrast is here? "Here is a good rule for our conduct: to do nothing but what we can offer to God. Now, we cannot offer Him detraction, calumny, injustice, hatred, revenge, im purity, dances, plays, etc ;and yet the world is full of nothing else. St. Francis of Sales said of dances, that they were like mushrooms, the best of them were good for nothing. Mothers say, "Oh, I watch over my daughters"; they watch over their toilette, but they cannot watch over their hearts. Those who have dancing in their houses incur a terrible responsibility before God ; they are responsible for all the evil which is done, for the bad thoughts, the evil speaking, the jealousy, the hatred, the revenge, which are its consequence. Ah, if they did but understand this responsibility, they would have no dancing. Like the authors of bad books, bad pictures, and bad statues, they are responsible for all the evil which these things shall produce as long as they exist. Oh, it is enough to make one tremble!

" See, my children, we must consider that we have a soul to save, and an eternity awaiting us. The world and its riches and pleasures shall pass away, but heaven and hell shall never pass away. Let us take care, then. The saints did not all begin well, but they all ended well. We have begun ill, let us end well ; and we shall one day go to dwell with them in heaven."

Source: Life of Saint John-Baptist Vianney, Curé d'Ars, Abbe Alfred Monnin