St John Chrysostom, fourth sermon on
St. John Chrysostom, fourth sermon on Lazarus and the rich man Today we must finish the parable of Lazarus. You perhaps think that we have completed the whole; but I will not use your ignorance to deceive you, nor will I cease before I may depart with everything I can find.
When a farmer has harvested the whole vine, he does not cease working until he has also cut off the stems of the bunches. Since, therefore, even now I see, as if hidden under leaves, some thoughts still concealed under the letters, come now, let us harvest these also very thoroughly, using this sermon in place of a sickle. Once a vine is harvested, it stands bare of fruit, with only leaves remaining; but the spiritual vine of the divine Scriptures is different. If we take everything we can find, the greater part still remains behind. Many indeed even before us have spoken on this subject, and many also perhaps will speak after us; but no one will be able to empty all its wealth. Such is the nature of this abundance: the deeper you dig, the more divine thoughts will gush forth, for it is a never-failing spring.
We should have paid you this debt at our last meeting, but we did not think it safe to pass over the righteous deeds of the blessed Babylas and the pair of holy martyrs who were his companions.' Therefore we deferred this
1St. Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, martyred under Decius (c.
250), feast day 24 January; Saints Juventius and Maximinus, martyred under Julian (c. 362).
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
installment, keeping until today the full repayment. Come then, since to our fathers we have given the praise due them, not according to their deserts but according to our ability, to you let us give the balance due of this discussion.
Do not stop to rest until we reach the end.
We will take up the sermon where we left it recently.
Where did we leave it? In the chasm which separates the righteous from the sinners. For when the rich man said,
"Send Lazarus," Abraham said to him, "A great chasm has been fixed between us and you, in order that those who wish to pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to here." We were showing at great length that, after God's loving-kindness, we must have our hope of salvation in our own righteous deeds, without counting up our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, or our relatives and friends, family and neighbors; for "a brother does not redeem, shall a man redeem?"
But whatever petitions and supplications they make who have departed from this life with their sins, from that time on they will ask everything to no purpose and in vain.
The five virgins begged oil from their companions and did not obtain it; the man who had buried his talent in the earth made many excuses but was condemned all the same; and as for those who did not feed Him when He was hungry, nor give Him drink when He was thirsty, although they also thought that they would be acquitted on the grounds of ignorance, no pardon or excuse was granted to them either.* And some others also had nothing to say, like the man wearing the dirty garments; when he was called to account, he kept silent. Not this man only, but another also, who remembered his neighbor's debt, and SLuke 16:26.
*Psalm 48 (49) :8.
"Matthew 25.
5Matthew 22:12.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
demanded the repayment of a hundred denarii, then was charged by his master with cruelty and inhumanity on their account, had nothing to say.* From all these parables it is clear that nothing will help us hereafter if we do not have good deeds; but whether we make supplications and petitions or whether we remain silent, all the same the sentence of punishment and retribution will come upon us. Hear, therefore, how this rich man also made two requests of Abraham but failed in both. First he made his supplication for himself, when he said, "Send Lazarus," and afterwards he made a petition no longer for himself but for his brothers; but he obtained neither request. The former was impossible; but the second, on behalf of his brothers, was superfluous.
However, if you agree, let us listen attentively to the very words. When a governor brings a condemned man out in the middle of the marketplace, and gathers the people around, and examines the guilty man, if everyone runs together with great eagerness wishing to hear what the judge asks and what the condemned man answers, much more should we hear accurately in this case, what this condemned man (I mean the rich man) requests, and what the just Judge answers through Abraham. For it was not the patriarch who judged, although he spoke the words. In the outer courtrooms of this world, when some are tried as robbers and murderers, the laws keep them far from the sight of the judge and do not permit them to hear his voice (subjecting them to dishonor in this respect as in others), but a messenger carries the question of the judge and the answers of the defendants. That was how it happened then also. The condemned man did not hear God speaking to him, but Abraham was the messenger who conveyed the words of the Judge to the defendant. He did not say what he said on his own authority, but read divine
*Matthew 18:23-34.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
laws to the man, and spoke the denial which came from above. For this reason the man could not make any reply.
Let us listen carefully, therefore, to what they say. On purpose I am lingering on this parable, and am not leaving it although this is the fourth day, since I see that a great benefit comes from this discussion for both rich and poor and for those who are troubled by the prosperity of the wicked and the poverty and tribulation of the righteous.
Nothing tends so much to disturb and scandalize the majority of people as the fact that rich people living in wickedness enjoy great good fortune while righteous people living with virtue are driven to extreme poverty and endure a multitude of other troubles even worse than poverty.
But this parable is sufficient to provide the remedies, selfcontrol for the rich and consolation for the poor. It teaches the former not to be conceited, while it comforts the poor for their present situation. It persuades the rich not to boast when they do not pay the penalty of their wickedness in this life, bcause a grievous retribution awaits them hereafter. It calls upon the poor not to be disturbed by others' prosperity, nor to think that human affairs are without providence when a righteous person fares badly in this life but a wicked and abominable person enjoys continuous good fortune. Both will receive their deserts hereafter; the one will gain the crown for his patience and perseverance, but the other will find the retribution and punishment for his wickedness.
Paint this parable, you rich and you poor: the rich, on the walls of your houses; the poor, on the walls of your hearts. If it is ever obliterated by forgetfulness, paint it in again with your memory. Or rather do you rich also paint it in your hearts instead of in your houses, and carry it about with you continuously. It will be a school for you and the first lesson of all philosophy. If we have this always portrayed in our hearts, neither will the joys of the present life be able to puff us up nor its griefs to deject
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
us and cast us down; but we will act towards both of these as towards the pictures on the walls. Just as, when we see the rich man and the poor man painted on the walls, we do not envy the former nor ignore the poor man, because what we see is a shadow and not factual truth; so also if we learn the true nature of wealth and poverty, of glory, and dishonor, and of all other bright or gloomy conditions, we shall be freed from the disturbance which each of these produces in us. All these things are more deceptive than shadows. A person who is noble and lofty in spirit will not be lifted too high by any of the brilliant and glorious conditions nor cast down by any humble and despised circumstances.
Now, it is time for us to hear the rest of the rich man's words. "I ask you, father," he says (that is, I beg, I beseech, I supplicate), "to send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they come into this place of torment.'"' Since he failed to obtain what he asked for himself, he makes his supplication on behalf of others. See how loving and kind he has become as a result of his punishment. The man who despised Lazarus when he was present now cares for others who are absent. The man who neglected the one who lay before his eyes now remembers those whom he does not see, and begs with great respect and zeal that they may have some foresight to avoid the evils which will befall them. He asks for Lazarus to be sent into his father's house, where Lazarus had his arena and the stadium of his virtue. "Let them see him crowned for victory," he says,
"who watched him in his struggle; let the witnesses of his poverty, hunger, and innumerable troubles become witnesses of his honor, his transformation, and of all his glory, so that, because they have been taught in both ways and have learned that our affairs will not stop with the present
"Luke 16:27-28.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
life, they may prepare themselves so as to be able to escape this punishment and retribution."
So what does Abraham reply? "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." He says, "You do not care as much for your brothers as God does who made them. He established a multitude of teachers to advise, counsel, and admonish them." So what does the rich man say in return? "No, father Abraham," he says, "but if some one goes from the dead, they will believe him."
That is what most people say. Now where are those who say, "Who has come from the other world? Who has risen from the dead? Who has told us what happens in hell?"
How many big questions like this did the rich man ask himself, when he was living in luxury? He did not simply ask for someone to rise from the dead; but when he heard
Scriptures, he held them in contempt, he ridiculed them, and he considered them mere stories. So from what he had experienced in himself, he formed his opinion about his brothers. "They too," he says, "are making these conjectures; but if someone goes from the dead, they will not disbelieve him, they will not ridicule him, but instead they will heed what he says." So what does Abraham reply? "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they listen if someone rises from the dead."* And the Jews proved that this is true, that he who does not hear the Scriptures will not hear even those who rise from the dead; for when they had not heard Moses and the prophets, neither did they believe when they saw some of the dead rising. Instead at one time they tried to Kill
Lazarus;" and at another time they assaulted the apostles, SLuke 16:29.
'Luke 16:30.
Luke 16:31.
"John 12:10.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
although many of the dead had risen at the hour of the Cross."
In order to learn another reason why the teaching of the prophets is more worthy of belief than the report of those who rise from the dead, consider this fact, that every dead person is a servant, but what the Scriptures utter, the Master has uttered. So even if a dead person rises, even if an angel descends from heaven, the Scriptures are more worthy of belief than any of them.'® For the Master of the angels, the Lord of the dead and the living, Himself has given the Scriptures their authority. Besides, in addition to what we have said, we can prove by comparison with the law-courts of this world that those who ask for dead people to come from the other world are asking something superfluous. Hell does not appear to the faithless; it is clear and obvious to the faithful, but still it does not appear to the faithless. The law-courts appear, and we hear every day that one has been punished, another's goods have been confiscated by the state, another has been sentenced to work in the mines, another has been put to death by fire, another has perished by some other kind of punishment or retribution. Nevertheless, although the wicked, the wrong-doers, and the sorcerers hear of these punishments, they do not come to their senses. What am I saying, that those who have not yet experienced these punishments do not come to their senses? Often indeed many who have been caught and evaded the punishment, who have dug their way out of the prison and made good their escape, have taken again to the same way of life and committed even worse crimes than before.
Therefore let us not seek to hear from dead people what the Scriptures teach us much more clearly every day.
For if God knew that dead people by rising could help the Matthew 27:52.
13Compare Gal. 1:8.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
living, He who has worked everything out for our good would not have omitted or neglected such a great benefit.
Besides, if dead people were going to rise continually, and report to us everything about the other world, in time we would hold even this in contempt. In addition, the devil would very easily have introduced wicked teachings. He could often have shown phantoms; or he could even have prepared phantoms to simulate death and burial, then shown them again as if risen from the dead, and by them made credible whatever he wished to the minds of those who were being deceived. For if now, when nothing like this happens, dreams appearing in the likeness of the departed have often deceived and corrupted many people, much more, if this had happened and convinced the minds of mankind, that many of the departed had returned again, that foul demon would have woven a multitude of tricks and introduced much deceit into our life. For this reason
God has shut the doors and does not allow anyone of the departed to return and tell what happens hereafter, lest the devil take this as his starting-point and introduce all his own teachings. When there were prophets, he raised up false prophets; when there were apostles, he raised up false apostles; when Christ appeared, he raised up false christs. When healthful doctrines had been proclaimed, he introduced corrupt doctrine, sowing weeds everywhere."
So if this also had happened, he would have tried to imitate this also, by his own devices, not truly raising the dead, but deceiving the sight of the observers by some kind of magical tricks and illusions, or else arranging for some people (as I said before) to pretend death. He would have turned everything upside down and made complete confusion.
But God who foreknew all these things prevented this attack. To spare us, He did not allow anyone even to come
14Compare Matthew 13:25.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
from the other world and speak of what is there to living people. In this way He teaches us to consider the holy
Scriptures the most trustworthy of all. For He has shown us deeds which are much more convincing than the resurrection of the dead. He has converted the whole world, He has driven out error and introduced truth, He has accomplished all this with ordinary fishermen, and He has provided for us everywhere sufficient demonstrations of His providence. Therefore let us not think that our affairs are concluded with the present life, but let us believe that there will certainly be a judgment and a recompense for all that is done here among us. This is so plain and clear to everyone that even the Jews, pagans, and heretics, and every single human being agrees about it. If indeed not all understand correctly about resurrection, still all are in accord about the judgment, the retribution, and the courts of the next world, that there is some recompense hereafter for what is done here. If this were not so, why would He have stretched out so great a heaven, spread the earth beneath, extended the sea, poured out the air, and demonstrated such providence, if He were not intending to protect us to the end?
Do you not see how many have departed after a life of virtue and inumerable sufferings without receiving any of the good they deserve? Others, however, have departed after displaying great wickedness, stealing the substance of 'others, robbing and oppressing widows and orphans, enjoying wealth, luxury, and innumerable good things, without suffering even ordinary troubles. So when will those former people receive the reward for their virtue, or these latter people suffer the punishment for their wickedness, if our affairs last only for the present life?
Everyone would say that if God exists (as indeed He does exist), He is just; and it is also agreed that if He is just,
He will repay both the former and the latter as they deserve.
But if He would repay both the former and the latter as
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
they deserve, but in this life neither of them have received their deserts, neither the ones the retribution for their wickedness nor the others the reward for their virtue, obviously there is some time left in which each of these will have their fitting recompense.
Why has God set in the mind of every one of us such a continuously watchful and sober judge? I mean the conscience. For there is no judge, no judge at all among men as sleepless as our conscience. External judges are corrupted by money, influenced by flattery, and induced by fear to give false judgments; and many other factors spoil their upright decisions. But the court of conscience cannot yield to any of these influences. Whether you give bribes, or flatter, or threaten, or do anything else, this court will bring forth a just judgment against your sinful intentions.
He who commits sin himself condemns himself even if no one else accuses him. He does this not once only, or twice, but often, and continues through his whole life. Even if a long time passes, the conscience never forgets what has happened, but even during the commission of the sin, and before and after it is committed, the conscience stands against us as a vehement accuser—especially after the commission. While we are in the act of sinning we do not perceive as keenly because we are made drunk by the pleasure; but when it is done and reaches its end, then especially, after all the pleasure is quenched, the bitter goad of repentance comes upon us, just the opposite of women in labor. In their case before the birth great and unbearable effort and sharp pains torture them with suffering, but after the birth comes relief, when the baby is brought forth through the anguish. In the case of sin it is different. As long as we are in travail and are conceiving our corrupt purposes, we take pleasure and enjoy ourselves; but when we have brought forth the evil child, our sin, then we suffer at the sight of our shameful offspring, then we are tortured more grievously than women in
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
labor. For this reason I beg you not to accept a corrupt desire from its very beginning. If we do accept it, we must choke its seeds within. But if we are remiss even this far, as the sinful desire goes forth into action we must kill it by confession and tears, by accusing ourselves.
Nothing is so deadly to sin as self-accusation and selfcondemnation with repentance and tears. Have you condemned your sin? Put away the burden. Who says this?
God Himself who judges us. "Do you first confess your sins, that you may be justified.""* Why are you ashamed, why do you blush, tell me, to admit your sins? You are not speaking to a human being, are you, who might reproach you? You are not confessing to your fellow servant, are you, who might expose you? No, rather to the Master, who protects and cherishes you, to the physician you are showing your wound. He is not unaware, is He, even if you do not confess, since He understands everything even before it is done? So why do you not confess? The sin does not become more burdensome because of your self-accusation, does it? Rather it becomes easier and lighter. For this reason He wishes you to confess, not in order to punish you, but in order to forgive you: not in order that He may learn your sin (how could that be, since He knows already?), but in order that you may learn how great a debt He forgives you. If you do not confess the greatness of the debt, you do not discover the excess of grace. "I do not force you," He says, "to come into the middle of the theater and place many witnesses around you; tell your sin to Me alone in private, so that I may treat your wound and relieve your pain." For this reason He has set in us a conscience more loving than a father. For a father who has rebuked his child once or twice or even three times or ten times, when he sees the child remaining uncorrected, gives up and disinherits him, and expels him from the Isaiah 43:26.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
household, and cuts him off from the family; but conscience does not. Whether it speaks once or twice or three times or innumerable times, and you do not pay attention, it will speak again, and will not desist until your last breath.
In the house, in the streets, at table, in the marketplace, on the road, often even in our very dreams it sets before us the images and appearances of our sins.
See the wisdom of God. He did not make the accusation of our conscience continuous (for we could not bear the burden of a continuous reproach), nor so weak that it would give up after the first or second exhortation. If it were going to goad us every day and every hour, we would expire from discouragement; but if it desisted from rebuking us after reminding us once or twice, we would not gain much benefit. For this reason He made this rebuke to be continual but not continuous: continual, so that we may not lapse into carelessness, but may be kept always sober and mindful until the end; but not continuous or in close succession, so that we may not fall, but may recover our breath in periods of relief and consolation. Just as it would be deadly not to suffer any pain because of our sins, and would beget in us the extreme of insensibility, so it would be harmful to suffer this continuously and beyond measure.
Excessive discouragement is often strong enough to put us out of our natural senses, to overwhelm our soul, and to render us useless for any good purpose. For this reason He has made the reproof of our conscience attack us at intervals, since it is very severe and pricks the sinner more grievously than any goad, Not only when we ourselves sin, but even when others commit transgressions like ours, it is strongly aroused and cries out against us with great vigor. The fornicator, the adulterer, or the thief, not only when he himself is accused, but even when he hears others being accused of the same crimes, imagines that he is being scourged, taking a reminder of his own
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
sins from the censure of others. Another is summoned, but this man who has not been summoned at all is stricken, if he has dared the same crimes as that other man. In the same way indeed in the case of upright deeds, when others receive praise and crowns, those who have done the same upright acts rejoice and are glad, thinking that those others are not being praised any more than they themselves are.
What do you think could be more wretched than the sinner who, when others are accused, himself slinks away to hide? What, on the other hand, is more blessed than the virtuous person who, when others are praised, himself rejoices and becomes happy, taking remembrance of his own upright deeds from the acclamation of others? These are the works of God's wisdom, these are the signs of His great providence. For censure is a kind of holy anchor of our conscience, which does not allow us finally to be submerged in the depths of sin. Not only at the actual time of our sins, but even after many cycles of years, it often finds a way to remind us of old sin. I will provide clear proof of this from the Scriptures themselves.
Joseph's brothers once sold him, although they could not reproach him for anything, except that he had seen dreams foretelling the glory which would come to him.
"I saw," he said, "your sheaves bowing down to my sheaf.'"* Indeed they should have guarded him because of this, for he was going to be the crown of their whole family, and the brilliance of their whole race. But envy is like that: it fights against its own good. The jealous person would prefer to suffer innumerable troubles rather than to see his neighbor in good repute, even if the cause of the good repute were to benefit him also. What could be more wretched than such a person? So this is how Joseph's brothers felt. When they saw him coming from far off, bringing food for them, they said to each other, "Come,
16Gen, 37:7.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
let us kill him and see what his dreams will be." If you did not respect him as a brother, nor acknowledge your relationship, at least you should have respected the table itself and the character of his service, because he came to bring your food. But see how they prophesied unintentionally: "Come," they said, "let us kill him and see what will be his dreams." For if they had not plotted against him, and woven their deceit, and stitched up their shameless purpose, they would not have known the power of those dreams. For it would not have been as remarkable to mount the throne of Egypt without suffering any misfortune as to attain the same eminence through so many hindrances and obstacles. If they had not plotted against him, they would not have sold him into Egypt. If they had not sold him into Egypt, his master's wife would not have fallen in love.
If his master's wife had not fallen in love, he would not have been cast into prison, he would not have interpreted the visions, he would not have obtained royal authority.
If he had not obtained that royal authority, his brothers would not have come to buy grain and bowed down to him.
So because they tried to kill him, for this very reason they knew his dreams. What then? Did they become agents of all the good things which were coming to him and of that eminence of his? Not at all. For their part they plotted to hand him over to death, distress, slavery, and the worst of evil fates; but God who is skillful in devising good used the wickedness of the plotters for the credit of him whom they had plotted to sell.
Lest anyone think that these things happened through some coincidence or reversal of circumstances,!* by the very men who opposed and hindered them God brings about the events which they tried to prevent, using Joseph's enemies as servants for his credit. From this you may learn
"Gen. 37:20.
*8As in classical Greek tragedies.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
that what God has planned no one will scatter, and no one will turn aside His lofty hand," so that when people plot against you, you may not fall or be annoyed, but may keep in mind that the plot leads to good at the end, if only you endure nobly whatever happens to you.
So you see even in this world envy brought forth a kingdom, and jealousy procured a crown and provided a throne. The very men who had plotted against Joseph propelled him to the height of that office. The victim ruled like a king, while the plotters served like slaves. The former received the veneration which the latter gave. You see, when continual troubles come upon you in quick succession, you must not be confused, you must not be annoyed, but wait for the end. Undoubtedly the conclusion will be worthy of God's great generosity, if only you endure what happens in the meantime with thanksgiving. Joseph also, although he ran the greatest risk after those dreams, was sold by his brothers, was attacked by his master's wife, and was thrown back into prison, did not say to himself,
"What in the world is this? Those dreams were a deceit.
I have been exiled from my country. I have been deprived of freedom. For God's sake I did not yield to my master's wife when she urged me to adultery. Because of my selfcontrol and virtue I am being punished. And not even so did He protect me, or stretch out His hand; but He allowed me to be handed over to heavy chains and continual misfortunes. After the pit came slavery, after slavery a plot, after the plot a false accusation, after the accusation a prison." None of these threw him into confusion; but he persisted in courage and hope, knowing that God's words will never fail.
God could have fulfilled His words on the same day; but in order to show His power and the faith of His servants, He allowed a long time to intervene and many
1Jsaiah 14:27.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
hindrances to come. In this way you may learn the might of Him who fulfills His proclamations when people have given up hope of them, and you may see the patience and faith of His servants, who do not lose their good expectation because of anything which happens to them in the meantime. As I said, however, Joseph's brothers retreated.
Hunger drove them headlong like a soldier, and made them stand before Joseph. They wanted to buy grain, but what did he say to them? "You are spies." They said among themselves, "What is this? We came to buy food, and are we risking our lives?" Rightly so, since he brought food to you and risked his life. But he endured in truth, while you suffer this only in pretence. He was not your enemy, but he assumed the role of an enemy in order to learn accurately about the family. For since they had become evil and hard-hearted towards him, and he did not see
Benjamin with them, fearing that the child might have suffered as he had, he commanded some one to be bound and left there, but all the others to take the grain and depart. He threatened them with death, if they should not bring their brother back." So when this happened, and he said, "Leave someone here and bring your brother.
If you do not, you shall die the death," what did they say to each other? "Yes, for we are in sin concerning our brother, when he besought us."" Do you see after how long a time they remembered that sin? To their father they said, "An evil beast has devoured Joseph;'* but when
Joseph himself was present and listening, they reproached themselves for the sin. What could be more unexpected than this? Imprisonment without a trial, defense without accusation, proof without witnesses, as the very men who did the deed examine themselves and reveal what was done
20Gen,. 42:9.
"Gen. 42:19-20.
Gen. 42:21.
Gen. 37:32.
ON WEALTH AND POVERTY
in secret. Who persuaded them, who forced them to bring into the open the deeds which they had done so long before? Is it not obvious that conscience, the judge which cannot be deceived, had continually shaken their minds and disturbed their souls? And the murdered man sat then judging them in silence, and they themselves cast their vote condemning themselves without producing any excuse. They admitted these things, but another defended himself, when he said, "Did I not speak to you, saying,
'Do not hurt the boy, nor do him any wrong, because he is our brother'? See, now his blood is required from our hands." Truly he who spoke to them said nothing about that murder and killing. As he sat he asked nothing of the sort, but inquired after the other brother. Their conscience seized the opportunity, arose and took hold of their minds, and made them confess their rash deeds without any compulsion. We often have the same experience, when our sins are past; for when we are being tested in difficult circumstances, we remember our former sins.
Knowing all this, when we have committed some wickedness, let us not wait for misfortunes and difficulties or dangers and fetters, but every hour and every day let us stir up this court in ourselves. Let us cast our vote against ourselves and try in every way to make our defense before God. Let us not ourselves dispute about the resurrection and the judgment, nor endure patiently when others speak, but in every way let us stop their mouths with our words. For if we were not going to undergo punishment for our transgressions hereafter, God would not have set up such a court in us here. But this also is evidence of His love for mankind. Since He is going to demand from us hereafter an account of our transgressions,
He has set in us this impartial judge. By judging us here for our sins and making us better, this judge may rescue
"Gen. 42:22.
ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
us from the judgment to come. This is what Paul says also: "If we judged ourselves .
. we should not be judged"* by the Lord. So in order not to be chastised hereafter, in order not to undergo punishment hereafter, let each of us enter into his own conscience, unfold the story of his life, examine all his transgressions accurately, condemn his soul which has committed such acts, correct his intentions, afflict and straiten his thoughts. Let him seek a penalty for his sins by self-condemnation, by complete repentence, by tears, by confession, by fasting and almsgiving, by self-control and charity, so that in every way we may become able to put aside all our sins in this life and to depart to the next life with full confidence. May we all attain this, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory unto ages of ages. Amen.
"I Cor. 11:31.