FROM A HOMILY OF SAINT JOHN VIANNEY, curate of Ars – 1820 –

Image results for Saint John Mary VianneyA VERY USEFUL READING ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE EXCHANGED GOD FOR THE DO-FOR-THE-HAPPY OR GOOD-MOUNT WHO WANTS TO SEND THE CONCILIAR CHURCH OUT.
Reporting of Father Maria Romualdo Lafitte

Saint John Mary Vianney was a farmer. With much difficulty, he managed to become a priest. Confessava 22 hours a day, with terrible penances and fasts; he read in souls, he performed many miracles, and people came from all over the world to confess to him. He preached to his farmers in a very simple way, but clear and essential.
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There are many Christians, my children, who absolutely don't know why they are in the world...”My God, because you brought me into the world?” – “To save you”.
“And why do you want to save me?” – “Because I love you”.
How nice it is to know, love and serve God ! we have nothing else to do in this life. Anything we do outside of this is a waste of time! We must act only for God, placing our works in His hands… Waking up in the morning, it must be said:
“Today I want to work for you, my God! I will accept everything you want to send me as your gift. I offer myself as a sacrifice. However, my God, I can't do anything without you: Help me!”
Oh! How we will regret it, on the verge of death, all the time we will have dedicated to pleasures, to useless conversations, to rest, rather than dedicating it to mortification, to prayer, to good works, to think about our misery, to cry over our sins! Then we would realize that we had done nothing for Heaven. How sad, my children!
Most Christians do nothing but work to satisfy this corpse that will soon rot in the ground, without any regard for the poor soul, who is destined to be happy or unhappy for Eternity. Their lack of spirit and common sense makes one's skin crawl!
You see, my children, we must not forget that we have a soul to save and an Eternity that awaits us. The world, the riches, the pleasures, the honors will pass: Heaven and Hell will never pass away.
So let's be careful! The Saints didn't all start well, but they all finished well. We started badly: let's finish well and we will one day be able to join them in Heaven.
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We must abandon temporal goods and put earthly advantages on the second floor to strive to reach the heavenly abodes which are eternal. Because present glory is fleeting and vain if, while we possess them, we fail to think about celestial eternity. (Saint Henry II, emperor of Germany)
Sin delivers us to the devil. Sin is the killer of the soul. It is he who snatches us from Heaven and plunges us into hell. And we love sin! … How crazy! If we thought about it carefully, we would have such a horror of sin that we could not commit it. The good Lord wants us happy, and we don't want it! We turn our backs on him and give ourselves to the devil! We flee from our friend, and we look for our tormentor!
Why grieve God our Father at that point, He who redeemed us from hell? … O ! How senseless we are ! We use to eternally miss the time that God gave us to save us. Isn't it truly madness to bind oneself to the devil, to make oneself worthy of hell? My children, one cannot quite understand the madness of sin… one cannot sufficiently mourn it… O Jesus I know that sin kills my soul and leads me to hell. I want to go to Heaven, not in hell. And I know that only in prayer and penance will you give me the strength to resist. You are the only one who never cheats.
Help me to withdraw my heart from what is earthly and fill it with the Holy love of You!

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