Revised and Expanded: Memorandum to Anthony Fauci: You Cannot Invoke the Fifth Amendment before Christ the King, Your Divine Judge

There is really nothing “new” for me to write about the sociopathic narcissist and pathological liar named Anthony Fauci that I have not written in my “Sin: More Deadly Than the Coronavirus” series, the links to which and to related commentaries can be found right here: part one, part two,  part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven, part eight, part nine, part ten, part eleven,  part twelve, part fourteen—I guess I lost track of the number as there is no “part thirteen,” part fifteen, part sixteen, part seventeen, part eighteen,  part nineteen, part twenty, part twenty-one, part twenty-two, part twenty-four—lost track of the count again!, Sin: More Deadly Than Any Virus's False "Antidotes", God is Omnipotent. The Transhumanists Who Mock Him Will Find That Out Soon Enough, Deady "Cures" for Non-Deadly Diseases, Continued Global Assaults on Life, Death, and Truth, Governed by Remorseless Sociopaths Intent on Death and Destruction, Bitter Biden the Demonic Demagogue Goes Mumbling and Stumbling Into the Distance, Governments Work Overtime to Sicken and Kill Us to Advance Transhumanism, Empty “Confessions” From Genocidal Miscreants, Life, Death, and Truth: Still Under Constant Attack by Medicine and Law, Anthony Fauci Faces a Divine Reckoning At Which No Claim of a Faulty Memory Will Be Entertained, At the "Mercy" of the Merciless, part one, At the "Mercy" of the Merciless, part two, At the "Mercy" of the Merciless, part three, Ever New Laws and New Ways to Kill Innocent Human Beings, part one, Ever New Laws and New Ways to Kill Innocent Human Beings, part two, Ever New Laws and New Ways to Kill Innocent Human Beings, part three, and in More Deadly Than Even the Death-Dealing Ways of Anthony Fauci.

The only really new information about Anthony Fauci recently comes from his own diary entries that prove that this agent of abject evil lied repeatedly to the American people and to the members of the Congress of the United States of America, something that United States Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Public Affairs, made clear in his opening statement of yesterday’s three hour public hearing during which Fauci, who received a full pardon for any criminal activity he may have committed between 2014 and 2024 and is thus immune from criminal prosecution for many crimes he committed but will never admit publicly, hid under his constitutional right to avoid incriminating himself one hundred eleven times.

Here is Senator Paul’s opening statement in its entirety:

One million Americans died from COVID-19. Some estimate as many as 15 million people died worldwide from COVID-19. Publicly, Anthony Fauci promoted the theory that the virus arose naturally. While privately, he was well aware of a mountain of evidence suggesting the virus originated in the lab.

The American people deserve answers. The American people deserve to know why dangerous research was funded by NIAID [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases] in a totalitarian country in a lab that lacked acceptable safety standards.

The decision to fund dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, will likely go down in history as perhaps one of the worst public health decisions. Frankly, the American people deserve an apology. I hope today Dr. Fauci will come clean, admit it was a mistake to fund dangerous research in China.

Admit that the risk of this dangerous research exceeded any possible benefits. Ask forgiveness and pledge to help our government devise safeguards so a man-made epidemic never happens again.

Instead of an apology, you have for years avoided responsibility.

Regarding the lockdowns, you argue that you did not personally issue every lockdown order, close every school or impose every mandate, but officials across the country invoked your authority to justify these decisions. And you presented your recommendations not as judgments open to debate, but as dictates of science itself.

Your own words demonstrate that you understood the influence you exercised. On March 14, 2020, you wrote that the task force recommendations were driven by me, yourself, Deb[orah Birx] and CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention].

The next day you wrote that you had convinced Mayor Bill de Blasio to close the New York City schools, so you were involved.

That same night, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff told you that the governor had decided to close California schools, bars and restaurants after watching you on television. Presidents, governors, mayors, school boards, corporations and Congress all bear responsibility for the decisions they made.

The COVID lockdown, however, could never have been inflicted without you aiding and abetting the crime. Children lost years of education. Small businesses built over a lifetime disappeared. Patients delayed cancer screenings and other medical care. Families were separated from dying relatives.

Workers were ordered to accept a medical procedure or lose their jobs. Worship assembly, employment, education and travel were restricted in the name of science. While you did not impose every restriction, you used your public authority to justify them.

While you concluded publicly that COVID occurred naturally, your private record tells a different story. In early 2020, your handpicked virologist warned that the virus appeared to have been manipulated in the lab. In a conference call concerning the origin of the virus, all but two of the participants believed deliberate insertion was possible.

Your concern was not merely theoretical. That same week, you led an urgent effort to determine whether your own agency had funded the research related to these experiments that were now under suspicion.

Hours later, your assistant reported that the Wuhan experiments had indeed been reviewed and approved by the NIH [National Institutes of Health]. Those were not the actions of officials who believed that a research-related origin was an absurd conspiracy theory.

They were the actions of officials urgently trying to determine whether their agency funding was connected to the research under discussion, connected to the pandemic. You could not hide that your agency had funded the Wuhan research or your long history of defending gain-of-function research.

The only alternative left was to argue that COVID-19 did not originate in the Wuhan lab. You were not a detached observer. You had an institutional interest in the public believing that federally funded research had nothing to do with the pandemic.

It was a conflict of interest from the very beginning. The authors of “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2” privately had serious doubts about a natural origin.

Within days, though, they flipped, and they all wrote in “Proximal Origin” that the virus was almost certainly not a laboratory construct. That paper was then used by the government and the media and you to discredit Americans who were asking the same questions that you and the authors were asking yourselves privately.

You even cited “Proximal Origin” from the White House podium. You held it out as evidence that the virus could not have been engineered, but you didn’t disclose your role and the discussions that preceded the writing of the paper. You did not disclose the authors’ original concerns.

You did not reveal that you had been part of the paper, that you had read and offered editorial comments on the paper before it was published, before you began using it as evidence that it couldn’t have originated in the lab.

You did not disclose that you had immediately investigated yourself whether NIAID funding might be connected to the research.

You did not tell the American people the full story. Duly released private messages indicate that the doubts with the authors and others didn’t disappear after the publication.

So while this was being waved at the White House to show that it couldn’t come from the lab, the authors were still privately continuing to assign a meaningful probability to a laboratory origin, one thing in public and another in private.

Some of the same scientists discussed avoiding email and carefully managing communications that might eventually be obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The pattern is straightforward. Privately, there was alarm, then an immediate inquiry to see if NIAID’s possible exposure to funding.

Then a rapid public declaration of certainty, continued private doubt and then years of resistance to disclosure. The question is why? The only logical answer is that your primary concern was avoiding culpability. Your primary concern was hiding the fact that you had approved the funding for this dangerous research.

Your supportive gain-of-function research is extensive and longstanding. In 2011, your agency funded Ron Fouchier’s laboratory when it mutated the avian flu until it couldspread through the air between mammals. This was the tipping point.

This is when others became worried. You funded this. You advocated for this. The federal government’s own biosecurity board, though, recommended withholding the details of these experiments because of the danger the research posed.

People were concerned that publishing it was publishing a roadmap to creating bioweapons around the world. But you sided with the gain-of-function scientist Fouchier and argued that the benefits of publishing the research far outweighed the risks. You defended this avian flu transmissibility experiments as critical research.

You wrote that even if a scientist became infected and triggered a pandemic, the benefits of the gain-of-function experiments outweighed the risk. In 2014, your agency, NIAID, began funding the Wuhan bat coronavirus work.

In 2015, Ralph Baric and the Chinese scientist Xi Zhengli published NIAID-supported research combining a bat coronavirus spike protein with a SARS backbone. The resulting virus could infect human airway cells. It’s a novel virus that now can affect human cells. It gained transmissibility. It gained function.

In 2018, the same group of scientists, EcoHealth, Baric, Xi and their collaborators, submitted the DEFUSE proposal. DEFUSE proposal, which involved the insertion of a furin cleavage site into the coronavirus. DARPA rejected it as too dangerous.

When COVID was sequenced, though, early on in January of 2020, within days, scientists discovered that lo and behold, it had a novel furin cleavage site just as had been proposed in the DEFUSE product. This was either an extraordinary coincidence or a smoking gun, evidence that the Chinese had created COVID-19.

It made the laboratory-origin question more legitimate and it made your categorical public denials indefensible.

On May 11, 2021, you told the Senate the NIH has never ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. When I gave you the opportunity to correct the record, to reconsider the statement, you responded that you had never before lied to Congress.

We were then told that only the government’s narrowest regulation of definition counted here, that you could define gain-of-function in one way in which this wasn’t gain-of-function, in which all of the common sense of the world would be thrown out.

All of the idea that the mice were dying and the virus was more transmissible didn’t matter because you had a technical definition that allowed you to fund it. But the real question is, was it dangerous?

Was it a wise decision to fund this? And you haven’t deviated from that. You’ve never admitted that it could have been a mistake funding this research in China.

The American people weren’t asking for a semantics debate over what is gain-of-function. They were asking, does common sense say this research was dangerous in Wuhan? They wanted to know whether their money funded experiments in Wuhan that made bat coronaviruses better able to infect humans.

The answer is yes. They wanted to know whether NIAID adequately supervised their work. The answer is no. When you defended this research, you described its benefits in the broadest terms. But when Congress demanded accountability, you hid behind the narrowest possible definition. You can’t have it both ways.

Your conduct concerning federal records raises further questions. It is a crime to destroy federal records. Yet our investigation reveals your assistant diligently reported that she deleted tons of emails.

In 2024, you testified that you did not delete federal records. Who’s telling the truth? You or your assistant? The committee has obtained repeated instructions from you telling federal officials to delete communications.

On Feb. 2, 2020, one day after Origin’s call, you told Francis Collins, “Please delete this email after you read it.” The committee asked for your voluntary cooperation to come today. Your appearance had to be compelled by subpoena.

You’re here today under duress. You are here today because of the court ordering it. President Biden issued you a sweeping pardon extending back to 2014, the same pardon he gave to his son Hunter. A pardon may protect a person from criminal prosecution, doesn’t rewrite history.

It does not erase documents. It does not convert a misleading statement into a truthful one. And it does not prevent Congress from establishing what happened. There will be another pandemic. There will be another crisis. And there will again be officials who insist that uncertainty must be hidden for the public’s own good.

They will demand obedience. They will invoke science. I am the science as though it were a commandment. They will argue that government officials cannot be questioned because questioning them would undermine public trust. They have it backwards.

It is secrecy that destroys trust. It is arrogance that destroys trust. It is censorship that destroys trust. And it is the refusal to admit error that destroys trust. That loss of trust may be your most damaging legacy. Trust can’t be ordered. It has to be earned. No scientist is above scrutiny. No government official is beyond accountability.

And no public servant has the right to treat the suffering of millions of Americans as a footnote to his preferred version of history. I now recognize Sen. [Gary] Peters for his opening remarks. (‘You Funded This’: Sen. Rand Paul Exposes Fauci’s Role in Funding Research That Created COVID Pandemic.)

Senator Paul did not refer to notes when he made this brilliantly concise summary of Fauci’s record of deception and double-dealing. Senator Paul is not engaged in any kind of “witch hunt” against Fauci as he, Paul, has been and continues to be concerned only about the truth about Anthony Fauci’s deceitful words and deadly deeds.

Indeed, Republicans on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs acquitted themselves very well in their rhetorical questioning of the public health apparatchik who served as the Director of the National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the United States National Institutes for Health from November 2,1984 to December 31, 2022, and the statements and rhetorical questions made by United States Senators Joshua Hawley (R-Missouri) and Ronald Johnson (R-Wisconsin) were particularly exacting in illustrating Fauci’s record of deceit and personal and financial aggrandizement (see Sen. Josh Hawley Grills Dr. Anthony Fauci: "Nothing says honesty like taking the Fifth!" and 'There's All Kinds of Evidence': Sen. Ron Johnson Clashes with Dr. Fauci in Heated Hearing).

Also, as noted briefly in the news report below, United States Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), whose questioning was more stilted as she was reading from a prepared text and not speaking extemporaneously as had Senators Paul, Hawley, and Johnson, raised the horrific practice of how Anthony Fauci’s NIAID funded grotesque research that transplanted the body parts of butchered babies into rats:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stunned Republican senators on Wednesday when he refused to answer their questions about the COVID-19 pandemic by invoking his Fifth Amendment right at the start of a congressional hearing.

Unlike other instances of witnesses taking the Fifth, however, that wasn’t the end of the hearing, as GOP and Democratic members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee continued quizzing Fauci for under four hours.

Republicans, led by Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.), demanded answers on the origins of the pandemic, inconsistencies related to his public remarks on COVID mandates versus his private comments and his support for funding for risky “gain of function” research abroad that can make viruses more infectious.

Democrats used their time on the dais to reflect on the “biased” nature of the proceedings, with Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and others calling out Paul for excluding them from preparations for the hearing and other investigative work by the committee’s majority.

At its conclusion, Paul announced that his committee would begin contempt of Congress proceedings against Fauci next week and questioned the validity of the sweeping pardon former President Joe Biden granted his former White House COVID czar in January 2025.

“Dr. Fauci isn’t liable for anything as long as he tells the truth, even if he admits that he destroyed records on a routine basis,” Paul suggested, adding that the ex-NIAID official “can’t be prosecuted for many of the things that are outside the statute of limitations as well.”

Here’s the five most shocking moments that occurred during Fauci’s appearance:

1. Fauci took the Fifth Amendment 111 times — including on CIA funding of his agency

Fauci took the Fifth at least 111 times to questions that would have teased out critical information about the origins of the COVID pandemic and US funding for gain-of-function research in China.

In another startling example, Paul asked Fauci whether the CIA had ever funded NIAID — before the chairman revealed later in the hearing that he had obtained documents describing the interagency spending agreement.

Similarly, Fauci dodged questions about his since-indicted, ex-senior adviser David Morens, who pleaded not guilty in May to concealing and destroying federal records — and whether he engaged in evasive record-keeping patterns by using a personal cell phone and email address to hide information.

“Our investigation reveals your assistant diligently reported that she deleted tons of emails in 2024. You testified that you did not delete federal records. Who’s telling the truth?” Paul asked at one point.

“On February 2nd, 2020,” he added, citing an email exchange, “you told Francis Collins, ‘Please delete this email after you read it.'”

2. Paul ejected Fauci’s attorney from the hearing room

Paul had US Capitol Police escort Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, out of the hearing room following a tense exchange a little more than a half-hour into questioning.

It’s unclear if Schertler intended to read from a letter he sent to Paul last month, which was referenced later in the hearing by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) — but he repeatedly tried to interject only to be shouted down by the chairman.

“I’ve said my piece,” Schertler told Paul. The attorney’s letter noted many public statements by Paul threatening to jail Fauci.

Paul lashed out: “This is the way Anthony Fauci wants to be remembered: For a lawyer not listening to the rules. That’s the way you want to be remembered, and that’s what you’re going to do.”

“Would you allow me to make a short statement?” Schertler asked in response.

“You are not recognized, sir,” Paul said. “Security, please remove him from the room.”

Schertler, a prominent defense attorney, has previously represented Joe Biden’s doctor and ex-Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ).

3. Republicans unloaded on Fauci for pandemic failures: ‘Who the f–k do you think you were?’

Several Senate Republicans on the Homeland Security panel used their questioning time to tear into Fauci for pandemic policies that harmed Americans, closed in-person schooling — or in some cases led to their arrest.

“There was a mom in Ohio during the depth of the coronavirus pandemic, decided to go to our high school football game for her son. They hadn’t been out much,” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) recounted. “They sat alone, far from everybody else — just a mom, a dad, a few kids. They didn’t feel they needed to wear masks because it was stupid, because they were outside.”

“They were dragged out of that stadium and arrested,” Moreno fumed.

“When that story broke, I said to myself, I cannot stand idly on the side and watch this happen. It was about six years ago today that I decided I’m going to give up my businesses, sell them all, run for office, run for the United States Senate,” he added. “Here I am sitting in front of you six years later saying, who the f–k do you think you were for doing that?”

Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) also drew attention to passages from Fauci’s newly released NIAID diaries, which he acknowledged were authentic in his opening statement, that showed the public health official knew he had pushed for lockdowns — despite publicly denying he did.

“‘I spoke with Bill de Blasio, the mayor of NYC, and convinced him, based on what I was saying publicly and my conversation tonight to close the NYC schools, he had already decided, based on what I was saying on TV. I went on to tell him he should close the bars and restaurants in NYC, and he said he would do this based on my recommendation,'” Moody quoted from the diary entry.

“You even said that you told the president we should shut the whole country down,” she added. “Dr. Fauci, how do you square telling the American people publicly that you didn’t recommend locking anything down with your own diary entry, kept on federal government equipment, saying that your recommendation is what convinced the mayor and the president to lock things down.”

4. Fauci enlisted his staff to solicit millions of dollars in prize money

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) accused Fauci of illegally using his staff to solicit prize money while serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“You were using federal employees, with taxpayer money, to apply for and solicit cash prizes for you personally — cash prizes totaling over $1 million,” Hawley scolded Fauci.

“Besides the Dan David Award, you’ve got the Partnership for Public Service, you’ve got the Adelson Prize, you’ve got the Smithsonian Award, you’ve got the National Academy of Medicine’s award, you got the CDC Foundation,” Hawley added.

“In fact, you use eight separate federal employees, on federal time, using federal resources, to solicit cash awards. Isn’t that true?” asked Hawley.

Fauci declined to respond, citing his Fifth Amendment right.

5. Sen. Joni Ernst exposed ‘disgusting’ research on aborted baby body parts

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) has revealed that Fauci approved the use of “aborted baby body parts in mice research.”

“NIH-funded coronavirus researcher Dr. Ralph Baric and his colleagues at UNC put parts of livers, thymus and chunks of human fetal lung that they got from aborted, almost five-month-old human babies,” Ernst said. “They put those parts in their research mice. They disgustingly named them ‘BLT-L’ mice, and wrote they had created a ‘sandwich of aborted body parts in the mice.’”

“Get it folks? BLT, a BLT sandwich,” Ernst emphasized. “Thankfully, the current NIH director has said no more of this. Dr. Fauci, yes or no? Do you think that human aborted parts should be put into mice for coronavirus research?” she asked.

Fauci again declined to answer the question. (The 5 most shocking moments from Anthony Fauci's Senate testimony. See Fauci played a role in study that grafted aborted baby scalps onto rats for more on use of butchered babies’ parts in experiments of research mice and rats.)

There can no longer be any doubt about the fact that Anthony Fauci authorized and funded gain-of-function studies at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, something he admitted in his own diary entries but will never confirm publicly. He believed that it was important to manipulate viruses that could infect human beings. All of his efforts to misdirect the American public to the “wet market theory” have come to naught as he, Fauci, is now face-to-face with his own admission that he knew the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

As good as the remarks by the Republicans on the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental affairs were, though, there are a few points that I do not believe were addressed by any of them.

First, Anthony Fauci’s diktats were part of global scheme to limit legitimate personal liberties in the name of “public health” to fulfill the agenda of the “global reset.” Indeed, the specifics of what kind of state action would be “necessary” during a “pandemic” were outlined during Event 201 at the Hotel St. Pierre in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, New York, on October 18, 2019. Fauci certainly provided the model that “public health” officials in other countries followed, but his agenda was part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s efforts in conjunction with the World Health Organization to implement what was, in practical terms if not name, a scheme to reduce the world’s population.

Second, Anthony Fauci’s “expert” diktats opened the door for wannabe totalitarians such as Andrew Mark Cuomo, Philip Murphy, Gavin Newsom, Thomas Wolf, Timothy James “I love Red China” Walz, Gretchen Whitmer, Jay Robert Pritzker, Asa Hutchinson, Philip Scott. Ned Lamont, Michael Dewine, Michelle Lujan Grisham, et al., to impose lockdowns that resulted in the closing of many small businesses, the estrangement of family members, neighbors, and coworkers from each other about the mask and social distancing mandates, and the closing of churches and schools. The Stasi-like surveillance of ordinary citizens in most of the “blue” states was enforced with rigor while  more than a handful of elected officials flaunted their own draconian subjugation of ordinary citizens by violating their own rules with impunity and very publicly. Many ordinary citizens were were fined for “infractions” while the bigwigs lived as their desired, and the suppression of trucker protests in Canada once the vaccine “mandates” began to be imposed in early-2021.

Third. the vaccine “mandates” themselves further estranged family members from each, caused many people, including members of the United States military, local and state police forces, and health care workers who knew about the dangers of jabs, who refused to surrender themselves to the poisonous jabs to lose their jobs, denied the unvaccinated entrance to restaurants, theaters, stores, sporting arenas, and other public places. The harm caused by these “vaccines” has been documented in scores of commentaries on this site alone.

Fourth, everything that happened in the scamdemic was based upon the Chinese Communist Party model of totalitarian social control, which appealed very much to the likes of the sociopath named Anthony Fauci, who boasted of supporting the Chinese method of containing the coronavirus, saying  in two interviews in June of 2021 that he could not imagine the Chinese government doing anything to kill or harm their own people (Anthony Fauci, Blind Chicom Asset, Can't Imagine the Chicoms Wanting to Harm Their Own People) while calling the Wuhan lab leak theory “far out.”

Anthony Fauci was the engine for all these things, and he remains entirely unrepentant about all the long-lasting harm that he has done. He is a wicked little demon.

Fifth, it must never be forgotten that one man and one man alone is responsible for putting Anthony Fauci front and center during the height of Wuhan scandemic six years ago: then and current President Donald John Trump. A dishonorable mention also must be made here of then Vice President Michael Richard Pence, who was the nominal chair of the White House Task Force on the Wuhan virus. Pence, the former Governor of the State of Indiana had deep ties to Big Pharma as Eli-Lilly is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana’s capital city. Pence served as the “bridge” between Fauci and Trump and developed a close friendship with Fauci as a consequence (see What Fauci's personal diary shows about his friendship with Pence), noting that it began to fray somewhat in 2022 when Pence was considering a run for the 2024 presidential nomination, a quest that laste about forty-eight seconds.

Sixth, the Trump-Pence administration enabled Anthony Fauci at almost every turn, especially when Trump himself began “Operation Warp Speed,” a project that warmed the cockles of Fauci’s blackened heart. Donald John Trump has still not apologized for the fact his warped Operation Warp Speed has killed untold thousands of people worldwide and injured millions more, although the “public health” officials in the United States of America and other countries have used all kinds of statistical tricks, biased algorithms, and outright destruction of records to keep the actual numbers of people killed and injured from public view.

Seventh, as bad as things were during the Trump-Pence administration, though, the thoroughly corrupt lifelong public career grifter named Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., along with his word salad of a vice president named Kamala Harris Emhoff, enforced vaccine mandates upon Federal employees, upon anyone entering the United States of America (except those who entered illegally, of course, as illegal immigrants were permitted to bring whatever diseases they had with them without ever being examined or quarantined), and encouraged state governors to impose their own
“vaccine mandates.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci is at the epicenter of all this and he will be held to account for every jot and tittle of what he did at the moment of his Particular Judgment:

Give an account of thy stewardship.” LUKE xvi. 2.

BELOVED Christians, of all the goods of nature, of fortune, and of grace, which we have received from God, we are not the masters, neither can we dispose of them as we please; we are but the administrators of them; and therefore we should employ them according to the will of God, who is our Lord. Hence, at the hour of death, we must render a strict account of them to Jesus Christ, our Judge. ”For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body as he hath done, whether it be good or evil.” (2 Cor. v. 10.) This is the precise meaning of that “give an account of thy stewardship,” in the gospel of this day. “You are not,” says St. Bonaventure, in his comment on these words, “a master, but a steward over the things committed to you; and therefore you are to render an account of them.” I will place before your eyes Today the rigour of this judgment, which shall be passed on each of us on the last day of our life. Let us consider the terror of the soul, first, when we shall be presented to the Judge; secondly, when she shall be examined; and thirdly, when she shall be condemned.

First Point – Terror of the soul when she shall be presented to the Judge.

1. “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.” (Heb. ix. 27.) It is of faith that we shall die, and that after death a judgment shall be passed on all the actions of our life. Now, what shall be the terror of each of us when we shall be at the point of death, and shall have before our eyes the judgment which must take place the very moment the soul departs from the body? Then shall be decided our doom to eternal life, or to eternal death. At the time of the passage of their souls from this life to eternity, the sight of their past sins, the rigour of God’s judgment, and the uncertainty of their eternal salvation, have made the saints tremble. St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi trembled in her sickness, through the fear of judgment; and to her confessor, when he endeavoured to give her courage, she said: “Ah! father, it is a terrible thing to appear before Christ in judgment.”

After spending so many years in penance in the desert, St. Agatho trembled at the hour of death, and said: “What shall become of me when I shall be judged?” The venerable Father Louis da Ponte was seized with such a fit of trembling at the thought of the account which he should render to God, that he shook the room in which he lay. The thought of judgment inspired the venerable Juvenal Ancina, Priest of the Oratory, and afterwards Bishop of Saluzzo, with the determination to leave the world. Hearing the Dies Iræ sung, and considering the terror of the soul when presented before Jesus Christ, the Judge, he took, and afterwards executed, the resolution of giving himself entirely to God.

2. It is the common opinion of theologians, that at the very moment and in the very place in which the soul departs from the body, the divine tribunal is erected, the accusation is read, and the sentence is passed by Jesus Christ, the Judge. At this terrible tribunal each of us shall be presented to give an account of all our thoughts, of all our words, and of all our actions. “For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil.” (2 Cor. v. 10.)

When presented before an earthly judge criminals have been seen to fall into a cold sweat through fear. It is related of Piso, that so great and insufferable was the confusion, which he felt at the thought of appearing as a criminal before the senate that he killed himself. How great is the pain of a vassal, or of a son, in appearing before an angry prince or an enraged father, to account for some crime which he has committed!

Oh! how much greater shall be the pain and confusion of the soul in standing, before Jesus Christ enraged against her for having despised him during her life! Speaking of judgment, St. Luke says: “Then you shall see the Son of Man.” (Luke xxi. 27.) They shall see Jesus Christ as man, with the same wounds with which he ascended into heaven. “Great joy of the beholders!” says Robert the Abbot, “a great terror of those who are in expectation!” These wounds shall console the just, and shall terrify the wicked. In them sinners shall see the Redeemer’s love for themselves, and their ingratitude to him.

3. “Who,” says the Prophet Nahum, “can stand before the face of his indignation?” (i. 6.) How great, then, shall be the terror of a soul that finds herself in sin before this Judge, the first time she shall see him, and see him full of wrath! St. Basil says that she shall be tortured more by her shame and confusion than by the very fire of hell. “Horridior quam ignis, erit pudor.” Philip the Second rebuked one of his domestics for having told him a lie. ”Is it thus,” said the king to him, ”you deceive me?” The domestic, after having returned home, died of grief. The Scripture tells us, that when Joseph reproved his brethren, saying: ”I am Joseph, whom you sold,” they were unable to answer through fear, and remained silent. “His brethren could not answer him, being struck with exceeding great fear.” (Gen. xlv. 3.)

Now what answer shall sinners make to Jesus Christ when he shall say to them: I am your Redeemer and your Judge, whom you have so much despised. Where shall the miserable beings fly, says St. Augustine, when they shall see an angry Judge above, hell open below, on one side their own sins accusing them, and on the other the devils dragging them to punishment, and their conscience burning them within? “Above shall be an enraged Judge below, a horrid chaos on the right, sins accusing him on the left, demons dragging him to punishment within, a burning conscience! Whither shall a sinner, beset in this manner, fly? “Perhaps he will cry for mercy? But how, asks Eusebius Emissenus, can he dare to implore mercy, when he must first render an account of his contempt for the mercy which Jesus Christ has shown to him?” With what face will you, who are to be first judged for contempt of mercy, ask for mercy?” But let us come to the rendering of the accounts.

Second Point. Terror of the soul when she shall be examined.

4. As soon as the soul shall be presented before the tribunal of Jesus Christ, he will say to her: “Give an account of thy stewardship:” render instantly an account of thy entire life. The Apostle tells us, that to be worthy of eternal glory our lives must be found conformable to the life of Jesus Christ. “For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his son ;…them he also glorified.” (Rom. viii. 29, 30.)

Hence St. Peter has said, that in the judgment of Jesus Christ, the just man who has observed the divine law, has pardoned enemies, has respected the saints, has practised chastity, meekness, and other virtues, shall scarcely be saved. “The just man shall scarcely be saved.” The Apostle adds: “Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. iv. 18.) What shall become of the vindictive and the unchaste, of blasphemers and slanderers? What shall become of those whose entire life is opposed to the life of Jesus Christ?

5. In the first place, the Judge shall demand of sinners an account of all the blessings and graces which he bestowed on them in order to bring them to salvation, and which they have rendered fruitless. He will demand an account of the years granted to them that they might serve God, and which they have spent in offending him. “He hath called against me the time.” (Lam. i. 15.) He will then demand an account of their sins. Sinners commit sins, and afterwards forget them; but Jesus Christ does not forget them: he keeps, as Job says, all our iniquities numbered, as it were in a bag. “Thou hast sealed up my iniquities, as it were in a.” (Job xiv. 17.) And he tells us that, on the day of accounts, he will take a lamp to scrutinize all the actions of our life.” And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps.” (Soph. i. 12.)

The lamp, says Mendoza on this passage, penetrates all the corners of the house that is, God will discover all the defects of our conscience, great and small. According to St. Anselm, an account shall be demanded of every glance of the eyes. ”Exigitur usque ad ictum oculi.” And, according to St. Matthew, of every idle word. ”Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it on the day of judgment.” (Matt. xii. 36.)

6. The Prophet Malachy says, that as gold is refined by taking away the dross, so on the day of judgment all our actions shall be examined, and every defect which may be discovered shall be punished. “He shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold.” (Mal. iii. 3.) Even our justices that is, our good works, confessions, communions, and prayers shall be examined. “When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.” (Ps. Ixxiv. 3.) But if every glance, every idle word, and even good works, shall be judged, with what rigour shall immodest expressions, blasphemies, grievous detractions, thefts, and sacrileges be judged? Alas! on that day every soul shall, as St. Jerome says, see, to her own confusion, all the evils which she has done. ”Videbit unusquisque quod fecit.”

7. “Weight and balance are judgments of the Lord.” (Prov. xvi. 11.) In the balance of the Lord a holy life and good works make the scale descend; but nobility, wealth, and science have no weight. Hence, if found innocent, the peasant, the poor, and the ignorant shall be rewarded. But the man of rank, of wealth, or of learning, if found guilty, shall be condemned. “Thou art weighed in the balance,” said Daniel to Belthassar, ”and art found wanting.” (Dan. v. 27.) “Neither his gold nor his wealth,” says Father Alvares, “but the king alone was weighed.”

8. At the divine tribunal the poor sinner shall see himself accused by the devil, who, according to St. Augustine, “will recite the words of our profession, and will charge us before our face with all that we have done, will state the day and hour in which we sinned.” (Con. Jud., tom. 6.) “He will recite the words of our profession” that is, he will enumerate the promises which we have made to God, and which we afterwards violated.
He will charge us before our face;” he will upbraid us with all our wicked deeds, pointing to the day and hour in which they were committed. And he will, as the same saint says, conclude his accusation by saying: “I have suffered neither stripes nor scourges for this man.”

Lord, I have suffered nothing for this ungrateful sinner, and to make himself my slave he has turned his back on thee who has endured so much for his salvation. He, therefore, justly belongs to me. Even his angel-guardian will, according to Origen, come forward to accuse him, and will say: “I have laboured so many years for his salvation; but he has despised all my admonitions.” “Unusquisque angelorum perhibet testimonium, quot annis circa eum laboraverit, sed ille monita sprevit.” (Hom. lxvi.) Thus, even friends shall treat with contempt the guilty soul. “All her friends have despised her.” (Lamen. i. 2.) Her very sins shall, says St. Bernard, accuse her. “And they shall say: You have made us; we are your work; we shall not desert you.” (Lib. Medit, cap. ii.) We are your offspring; we shall not leave you: we shall be your companions in hell for all eternity.

9. Let us now examine the excuses which the sinner will be able to advance. He will say, that the evil inclinations of nature had drawn him into sin. But he shall be told that, if concupiscence impelled him to sins, it did not oblige him to commit them; and that, if he had recourse to God, he should have received from him grace to resist every temptation. For this purpose Jesus Christ has left us the sacraments: but when we do not make use of them, we can complain only of ourselves. “But,” says the Redeemer, “now they have no excuse for their sin.” (John xv. 22.) To excuse himself, the sinner shall also say that the devil tempted him to sin. But, as St. Augustine says, “The enemy is bound like a dog in chains, and can bite only him who has united himself to him with a deadly security.”

The devil can bark, but cannot bite unless you adhere and listen to him. Hence the saint adds: ”See how foolish is the man whom a dog, loaded with chains, bites.” Perhaps he will advance his bad habits as an excuse; but this shall not stand; for the same St. Augustine says, that though it is difficult to resist the force of an evil habit, “if any one does not desert himself, he will conquer it with the divine assistance.” If a man does not abandon himself to sin, and invokes God’s aid, he will overcome evil habits. The Apostle tells us, that the Lord does not permit us to be tempted above our strength. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able.” ( I Cor. x. 13.)

10. “For what shall I do,” said Job, “when God shall rise to judge me? and when he shall examine, what shall I answer him” (Job xxxi. 14.) What answer shall the sinner give to Jesus Christ? How can he, who sees himself so clearly convicted, give an answer? He shall be covered with confusion, and shall remain silent, like the man found without the nuptial garment. “But he was silent.” (Matt. xxii. 12.) His very sins shall shut the sinner’s mouth. “And all iniquity shall stop her mouth.” (Ps. cvi. 42.)

There, says St. Thomas of Villanova, there shall be no intercessor to whom the sinner can have recourse. “There, there is no opportunity of sinning; there, no intercessor, no friend, no father shall assist.” Who shall then save you? Is it God? But how, asks St. Basil, can you expect salvation from him whom you have despised?” Who shall deliver you? Is it God, whom you have insulted?” (S. Bas., Or. 4, de Fen.) Alas! the guilty soul that leaves this world in sin, is condemned by herself before the Judge pronounces sentence. Let us come to the sentence of the Judge.

Third Point. Terror of the soul when she shall be condemned.

11. How great shall be the joy of a soul when, at death, she hears from Jesus Christ these sweet words: “Well done, good and faithful servant; because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” (Matt. xxv. 21.) Equally great shall be the anguish and despair of a guilty soul, that shall see herself driven away by the Judge with the following words: “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire” (verse 41). Oh! what a terrible thunderclap shall that sentence be to her! “Oh! how frightfully,” says the Carthusian, “shall that thunder resound!” Eusebius writes, that the terror of sinners at hearing their condemnation shall be so great that, if they could, they would die again.

“The wicked shall be seized with such terror at the sight of the Judge pronouncing sentence that, if they were not immortal, they should die a second time.” But, brethren, let us, before the termination of this sermon, make some reflections which will be profitable to us. St. Thomas of Villanova says, that some listen to discourses on the judgment and condemnation of the wicked with as little concern as if they they themselves were secure against these things, or as if the day of judgment were never to arrive for them. “Heu quam securi hæc dicimus et audimus, quasi nos non tangeret hæc sententia, aut quasi dies hæc nunquam esset venturus!” (Conc, i., de Jud.) The saint then asks: Is it not great folly to entertain security in so perilous an affair? “Quæ est ista stulta securitas in discrimine tanto?”

There are some, says St. Augustine, who, though they live in sin, cannot imagine that God will send them to hell. “Will God,” they say, ”really condemn us ?” Brethren, adds the saint, do not speak thus. So, many of the damned did not believe that they should be sent to hell; but the end came, and, according to the threat of Ezechiel, they have been cast into that place of darkness. “The end is come, the end is come… and I will send my wrath upon thee, and I will judge thee.” (Ezec. vii. 2, 3.)

Sinners, perhaps vengeance is at hand for you, and still you laugh and sleep in sin. Who will not tremble at the words of the Baptist: “For now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that doth not yield good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire.” (Matt, iii. 10.) He says, that every tree that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire; and he promises that, with regard to the trees, which represent sinners, the axe is already laid to the roots that is, chastisement is at hand. Dearly beloved brethren, let us follow the counsel of the Holy Ghost “Before judgment, prepare thee justice.” (Eccl. xviii. 19.)

Let us adjust our accounts before the day of accounts. Let us seek God, now that we can find him; for the time shall come when we will wish, but shall not be able to find him. “You shall seek me, and shall not find me.” (John vii. 36.) “Before judgment,” says St. Augustine, “the Judge can be appeased, but not in judgment.” By a change of life we can now appease the anger of Jesus Christ, and recover his grace; but when he shall judge, and find us in sin, he must execute justice, and we shall be lost. (Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, “On the Particular Judgment,” Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. For an audio presentation of this sermon, please go to: On The Particular Judgment by St. Alphonsus Liguori.)

I remember saying to myself, “I am doomed. There is no hope me. I am lost. I know I am damned without Our Lady’s intercession on my behalf” when I recorded this sermon fourteen years ago in an empty schoolroom. This is why I pray every day to be ready to accept the sort of death that God has fashioned for me for all eternity to undergo with all of its pains, which I offer up prospectively in reparation for my sins in the event that I am not conscious at the moment of death as I pray also to have perfect contrition for my sins now and at that terrible hour. Most importantly, though, I pray that Our Lady will send me the graces to beg for mercy and to be ever reliant upon and confident in her maternal intercession and protection without being presumptuous of either.

Anthony Fauci is a baptized Catholic, and he will not be plead to plead the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America to shield himself from the just judgment of Christ the King upon his immortal soul when he dies.

While we pray for the conversion of all those in public life who cover-up their crimes against God and Man, we also have a duty to remind those in public life who enable these executions of the very direct words written by Pope Pius XI about their fate when they stand before the Avenger of innocent blood when they die, and it is indeed apropos to call to mind what Pope Pius IX said on the occasion of the eighteen hundredth anniversary of Nero’s persecutions in 67 A.D.;

The great centennial celebration proceeded. Who would have dared to say, whilst Nero reigned at Rome and Christians were as pariahs, tolerated only in order to afford the spectacle of their tortures to a heathen multitude, that eighteen hundred years from Nero's time, Christianity would flourish and celebrate in that city, which was the scene of its greatest trials, as well as all over the world, its victory and the glorious martyrdom of its apostilic founders! The month of June, 1867, will ever be memorable in the annals of the church. Never had so many bishops assembled in the holy city. Nor were there ever there, at one time, so many priests and pilgrims of all ranks and classes. The duties of the time were commenced early in the month. On the 11th and 12th of June, consistories were held in presence of the bishops, in order to make preparation for the canonization of two hundred and five Japanese Christians -- priests, catechist, laymen, women and children -- put to death in hatred of the Chrisitan faith from 1617 to 1632. On the 26th of February, 1867, the decree of canonization had already been solemnly read in presence of Pius IX, who, on the occasion, went in state to the Roman College. On the 22nd February of the same year, the Holy Father signed decrees bearing on the beautifications of several holy persons, among whom was Clement Maria Hofbauer, a Redemptorist. In an age of unbelief, it was only to be expected that the enquiry should be made why the Pope made so many saints?

In February, 1867, his Holiness replied, on occasion of a visit to the Convent of the Capuchin Friars: "I have been shown," said he, "a pamphlet, entitled 'Why so many Saints?' Had we ever so much need of intercessors in heaven and patterns in this world?" A little later he also said, alluding to the festival at Paris; "Man has not been placed on the earth solely in order to amass  wealth; still less in order to lead a life of pleasure. The world is ignorant of this. It forgets mind, and devotes itself to matter. Neither you nor I are of this world of which I speak. You are come here in good disposition to seek the edification of your souls. I hope therefore, that you will bear away with you a salutary impression. Never forget, my children, that you have a soul, a soul created in the image of God, and which God will judge. Bestow on it more thought and care than on industrial speculations, railways, and all those lesser objects which constitute the good things of this world. I forbid you not to interest yourself in such transient matters. Do so reasonably and moderately. But let me once more beg of you to remember that you have a soul."  (The Rev. Æneas MacDonell Dawson, Pius IX. And His Time, London: Thos. Coffey, Catholic Record Printing House. 1880, pp. 283-284.)

Remember, Anthony Fauci, that you have a soul, which you will lose for all eternity if you continue to persist in your contemptible likes and in your support for the nonexistent “right” of a woman to “choose” to kill her innocent baby in full violation of the binding precepts of the Divine and Natural Laws as well as for your developing “vaccines” to fight a virus that was bioengineered with funding he provided.

Concluding Remarks

Human nature is wounded, although not entirely corrupted, by Original Sin, leaving the souls of the unbaptized in the grip of the devil and the souls of the baptized with its vestigial after-effects: a darkened intellect, weakened will and the overthrow of the rational, higher faculties in favor of the lower sensual appetites. The Actual Sins of men incline them to sin more and more and to blind them to anything other than what pleases them and their immediate self-interests, no matter how distorted or perverted those self-interests are in the objective order of things.

Men who do not seek to reform their lives by confessing their sins to a true priest in the Sacred Tribunal of Penance and then cooperating with the ineffable graces of the Divine Redeemer’s Most Precious Blood that flow into their souls once a priest utters the words of Absolution or, worse yet, do not even realize that there is any need to so will descend to barbarism over the course of time. There is no turning back the tide of the new barbarians who have been let loose as a direct and inevitable consequence of the fatally flawed belief that men can establish social order without reforming their lives in cooperation with the graces won for them by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ during His Passion and Death on the wood of the Holy Cross on Good Friday and without a due submission in all that pertains to Holy Mother Church in all that pertains to the good of souls, upon which the entirety of social order depends.

Put your trust in the Most Sacred Heart of Christ the King and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, praying as many Rosaries each day as one’s state-in-life permits.

Vivat Christus Rex!

Vivat Regina Mariae Immaculate!

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for  us.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us. 

Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.

Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us. 

Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.

Saints Abdon and Sennen, pray for us.

Appendix A

“On the Pains of Hell”

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

“Gather up first the cockle, and bind into bundles to burn.” Matt. 13:30. 

I shall first speak of the fire, which is the principal pain that torments the senses of the damned, and afterwards of the other pains of hell.

1. Behold! the final doom of sinners who abuse the divine mercy is to burn in the fire of hell. God threatens hell, not to send us there, but to deliver us from that place of torments. “Minatur Deus gehennem, “says St. Chrysostom, “ut a gehenna liberet, et ut firmi ac stabiles evitemus minas.” (Hom. v. de Poenit). Remember, then, brethren, that God gives you Today the opportunity of hearing this sermon, that you may be preserved from hell, and that you may give up sin, which alone can lead you to hell. 

2. My brethren, it is certain and of faith that there is a hell. After judgment the just shall enjoy the eternal glory of Heaven, and sinners shall be condemned to suffer the everlasting chastisement reserved for them in hell. “And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting.” (Matt. 25:46). Let us examine in what hell consists. It is what the rich glutton called it a place of torments. “In hunc locum tormentorum.” (Luke 16:28). It is a place of suffering, where each of the senses and powers of the damned has its proper torment, and in which the torments of each person will be increased in proportion to the forbidden pleasures in which he indulged. “As much as she has glorified herself and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give you to her.” (Rev. 18:7).  

3. In offending God the sinner does two evils, he abandons God, the sovereign good, who is able to make him happy, and turns to creatures, who are incapable of giving any real happiness to the soul. Of this injury which men commit against him, the Lord complains by his prophet Jeremiah, “For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have dug to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer. 2:13). Since, then, the sinner turns his back on God, he shall be tormented in hell, by the pain arising from the loss of God, of which I shall speak on another occasion [see the Sermon for the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost], and since, in offending God, he turns to creatures, he shall be justly tormented by the same creatures, and principally by fire. 

4. “The vengeance on the flesh of the ungodly is fire and worms.” (Eccl 7:19). Fire and the remorse of conscience are the principal means by which God takes vengeance on the flesh of the wicked. Hence, in condemning the reprobate to hell, Jesus Christ commands them to go into eternal fire. “Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire.” (Matt. 25:41). This fire, then, shall be one of the most cruel executioners of the damned. 

5. Even in this life the pain of fire is the most terrible of all torments. However, St. Augustine says, that in comparison of the fire of hell, the fire of this earth is no more than a picture compared with the reality, “In cuius comparatione noster hie ignus depictus est." Anselm teaches, that the fire of hell as far surpasses the fire of this world, as the fire of the real exceeds that of painted fire. The pain, then, produced by the fire of hell is far greater than that which is produced by our fire because God has made the fire of this earth for the use of man, but he has created the fire of hell purposely for the chastisement of sinners; and therefore, as Tertullian says, he has made it a minister of his justice. “Longe alius est ignis, qui usui humano, alms qui Dei justitiæ deservit.” This avenging fire is always kept alive by the wrath of God. “A fire is kindled in my rage." (Jer. 15:14). 

6 “And the rich man also died, and he was buried in hell.” (Luke 16:22). The damned are buried in the fire of hell; Hence, they have an abyss of fire below, an abyss of fire above, and an abyss of fire on every side. As a fish in the sea is surrounded by water, so the unhappy reprobate are encompassed by fire on every side. The sharpness of the pain of fire may be inferred from the circumstance, that the rich glutton complained of no other torment. “I am tormented in this flame.” (Ibid, v 23).  

7 The Prophet Isaias says that the Lord will punish the guilt of sinners with the spirit of fire. “If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Sion by the spirit of burning” (4. 4).. “The spirit of burning” is the pure essence of fire. All spirits or essences, through taken from simple herbs or flowers, are so penetrating, that they reach the very bones. Such is the fire of hell. Its activity is so great, that a single spark of it would be sufficient to melt a mountain of bronze. The disciple relates, that a damned person, who appeared to a religious, dipped his hand into a vessel of water; the religious placed in the vessel a candlestick of bronze, which was instantly dissolved.  

8. This fire shall torment the damned not only externally, but also internally. It will burn the bowels, the heart, the brains, the blood within the veins, and the marrow within the bones. The skin of the damned shall be like a caldron, in which their bowels, their flesh, and their bones shall be burned. David says, that the bodies of the damned shall be like so many furnaces of fire. “You shall make them as an oven of fire in the time of your anger.” (Ps. 20:10). 

9. O God! certain sinners cannot bear to walk under a strong sun, or to remain before a large fire in a close room; they cannot endure a spark from a candle; and they fear not the fire of hell, which, according to the Prophet Isaias, not only burns, but devours the unhappy damned. “Which of you can dwell with devouring fire. “(Is.33:14). As a lion devours a lamb, so the fire of hell devours the reprobate; but it devours without destroying life, and thus tortures them with a continual death. Continue, says St. Peter Damian to the sinner who indulges in impurity, continue to satisfy your flesh; a day will come, or rather an eternal night, when your impurities, like pitch, shall nourish a fire within your very bowels. “Venit dies, imo nox, quando libido tua vertetur in picem qua se nutriet perpetuus ignis in visceribus tuis.” (Epist. 6). And according to St. Cyprian, the impurities of the wicked shall boil in the very fat which will issue from their accursed bodies.  

10, St. Jerome teaches, that in this fire sinners shall suffer not only the pain of the fire, but also all the pains, which men endure on this earth. “In uno igne omnia supplicia sentient in inferno peccatores.” (Ep. ad Pam). How manifold are the pains to which men are subject in this life. Pains in the sides, pains in the head, pains in the loins, pains in the bowels. All these together torture the damned.  

11. The fire itself will bring with it the pain of darkness; for, by its smoke it will, according to St. John, produce a storm of darkness which shall blind the damned. “To whom the storm of  darkness is reserved forever.” (St. Jude 13). Hence, hell is called a land of darkness covered with the shadow of death. “A land that is dark and covered with the mist of death a land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death, and no order but everlasting horror dwells.” (Job 10:21, 22). To hear that a criminal is shut up in a dungeon for ten or twenty years excites our compassion. Hell is a dungeon closed on every side, into which a ray of the sun or the light of a candle never enters. Thus the damned “shall never see light.” (Ps 48:20). The fire of this world gives light, but the fire of hell is utter darkness. In explaining the words of David, “the voice of the Lord divides the flame of fire,” (Ps. 28:7,). St. Basil says, that in hell the Lord separates the fire that burns from the flame which illuminates, and therefore this fire burns, but gives no light. B. Albertus Magnus explains this passage more concisely by saying that God “divides the heat from the light.” St. Thomas teaches, that in hell there is only so much light as is necessary to torment the damned by the sight of their associates and of the devils, “Quantum sufficit ad videndum ilia quæ torquere possunt.” (3 p., q. 97, art. 5). And according to St. Augustine, the bare sight of these infernal monsters excites sufficient terror to cause the death of all the damned, if they were capable of dying. “Videbunt monstra, quorum visio postet illos occidere.”  

12. To suffer a parching thirst, without having a drop of water to quench it, is intolerably painful. It has sometimes happened, that travelers who could procure no refreshment after a long journey, have fainted from the pain produced by thirst. So great is the thirst of the damned, that if one of them were offered all the water on this earth, he would exclaim, All this water is not sufficient to extinguish the burning thirst which I endure. But, alas! the unhappy damned shall never have a single drop of water to refresh their tongues. “He cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. “ (Luke 16:24). The rich glutton has not obtained, and shall never obtain, this drop of water, as long as God shall be God.

13. The reprobate shall be likewise tormented by the stench which pervades hell. The stench shall arise from the very bodies of the damned. “Out of their carcasses shall arise a stink.” (Isaiah 34:3). The bodies of the damned are called carcasses, not because they are dead (for they are living, and shall be forever alive to pain), but on account of the stench which they exhale. Would it not be very painful to be shut up in a close room with a fetid corpse? St. Bonaventure says, that if the body of one of the damned were placed in the earth, it would, by its stench, be sufficient to cause the death of all men. How intolerable, then, must it be to live forever in the dungeons of hell in the midst of the immense multitudes of the damned! Some foolish worldlings say, If I go to hell, I shall not be there alone. Miserable fools! do you not see that the greater the number of your companions, the more insufferable shall be your torments? “There,” says St. Thomas, “the society of the reprobate shall cause an increase and not a diminution of misery.” (Suppl., q. 86, art. 1). The society of the reprobate augments their misery, because each of the damned is a source of suffering to all the others. Hence, the greater their number, the more they shall mutually torment each other. “And the people,” says the prophet Isaias, “shall be ashes after a fire, as a bundle of thorns they shall be burnt with fire.” (Is. 33:12). Placed in the midst of the furnace of hell, the damned are like so many grains reduced to ashes by that abyss of fire, and like so many thorns tied together and wounding each other.  

14. They are tormented not only by the stench of their companions, but also by their shrieks and lament. How painful it is to a person longing for sleep to hear the groans of a sick man, the barking of a dog, or the screams of an infant. The damned must listen incessantly to the wailing and howling of their associates, not for a night, nor for a thousand nights, but for all eternity, without the interruption of a single moment. 

15. The damned are also tormented by the narrowness of the place in which they are confined; for, although the dungeon of hell is large, it will be too small for so many millions of the reprobate, who like sheep shall be heaped one over the other. “They are,” says David, “laid in hell like sheep.” (Ps. 38:15). We learn from the Scriptures that they shall be pressed together like grapes in the winepress, by the vengeance of an angry God. “The winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God the Almighty.” (Rev. 19:15). From this pressure shall arise the pain of immobility. “Let them become unmovable as a stone.” (Ex. 16:16). In whatever position the damned shall fall into hell after the general judgment, whether on the side, or on the back, or with the head downwards, in that they must remain for eternity, without being ever able to move foot or hand or finger, as long as God shall be God. In a word, St. Chrysostom says, that all the pains of this life, however great they may be, are scarcely a shadow of the torments of the damned. “Hæc omnia ludicra sunt et risus ad ilia supplicia, pone ignem, ferrum, et bestias, attamen vix umbra sunt ad ilia tormenta.” (Hom, xxxix. ad pop. Ant).

16. The reprobate, then, shall be tormented in all the senses of the body. They shall also be tormented in all the powers of the soul. Their memory shall be tormented by the remembrance of the years which they had received from God for the salvation of their souls, and which they spent in laboring for their own damnation; by the remembrance of so many graces and so many divine lights which they abused. Their understanding shall be tormented by the knowledge of the great happiness which they forfeited in losing their souls, Heaven, and God; and by a conviction that this loss is irreparable. Their will shall be tormented by seeing that whatsoever they ask or desire shall be refused. “The desire of the wicked shall perish.” (Ps. 111:10). They shall never have any of those things for which they wish, and must forever suffer all that is repugnant to their will. They would wish to escape from these torments and to find peace; but in these torments they must forever remain, and peace they shall never enjoy.

17. Perhaps they may sometimes receive a little comfort, or at least enjoy occasional repose? No, says Cyprian, “Nullum ibi refrigerium, nullum remedium, atque ita omni tormento atrocius desperatio.” (Serm. de Ascens). In this life, how great soever may be the tribulations which we suffer, there is always some relief or interruption. The damned must remain forever in a pit of fire, always in torture, always weeping, without ever enjoying a moment’s repose. But perhaps there is someone to pity their sufferings? At the very time that they are so much afflicted the devils continually reproach them with the sins for which they are tormented, saying, Suffer, burn, live forever in despair, you yourselves have been the cause of your destruction. And do not the saints, the divine mother, and God, who is called the Father of Mercies, take compassion on their miseries? No; "the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from Heaven.” (Matt. 26:29). The saints, represented by the stars, not only do not pity the damned, but they even rejoice in the vengeance inflicted on the injuries offered to their God. Neither can the divine mother pity them, because they hate her Son. And Jesus Christ, who died for the love of them, cannot pity them, because they have despised his love, and have voluntarily brought themselves to perdition. (Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, “On the Pains of Hell,” Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, The Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori For All the Sundays of the Year, published originally in 1852 and photographically reproduced by TAN Books in 1982, pp. 89-95.)

Appendix B

Saint Alphonsus de Liguori: Sermon for Quinquagesima Sunday

The Devil brings sinners to hell by closing their eyes to the dangers of perdition. He first blinds them, and then leads them with himself to eternal torments. If, then, we wish to be saved, we must continually pray to God in the words of the blind man in the gospel of this day,” Lord, that I may see." Give me light: make me see the way in which I must walk in order to save my soul, and to escape the deceits of the enemy of salvation. I shall, brethren, this day place before your eyes the delusion by which the devil tempts men to sin and to persevere in sin, that you may know how to guard yourselves against his deceitful artifices.  

2. To understand these delusions better, let us imagine the case of a young man who, seized by some passion, lives in sin, the slave of Satan, and never thinks of his eternal salvation. My son, I say to him, what sort of life do you lead? If you continue to live in this manner, how will you be able to save your soul? But, behold! the devil, on the other hand, says to him: Why should you be afraid of being lost? Indulge your passions for the present: you will afterwards confess your sins, and thus all shall be remedied. Behold the net by which the devil drags so many souls into hell. “Indulge your passions: you will hereafter make a good confession." But, in reply, I say, that in the meantime you lose your soul. Tell me: if you had a jewel worth a thousand pounds, would you throw it into a river with the hope of afterwards finding it again? What if all your efforts to find it were fruitless? God! you hold in your hand the invaluable jewel of your soul, which Jesus Christ has purchased with his own blood, and you cast it into hell! Yes; you cast it into hell; because according to the present order of providence, for every mortal sin you commit, your name is written among the number of the damned. But you say.” I hope to recover God’s grace by making a good confession." And if you should not recover it, what shall be the consequences? To make a good confession, a true sorrow for sin is necessary, and this sorrow is the gift of God: if he does not give it, will you not be lost for ever?  

3. You rejoin:” I am young; God compassionates my youth; I will hereafter give myself to God." Behold another delusion! You are young; but do you not know that God counts, not the years, but the sins of each individual? You are young; but how many sins have you committed? Perhaps there are many persons of a very advanced age, who have not been guilty of the fourth part of the sins which you have committed. And do you not know that God has fixed for each of us the number of sins which he will pardon?” The Lord patiently expecteth, that, when the day of judgment shall come, he may punish them in the fulness of their sins." (2 Mach. vi. 14.) God has patience, and waits for a while; but, when the measure of the sins which he has determined to pardon is tilled up, he pardons no more, but chastises the sinner, by suddenly depriving him of life in the miserable state of sin, or by abandoning him in his sin, and executing that threat which he made by the prophet Isaias “I shall take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted.” (Isa. v. 5.) If a person has cultivated land for many years, has encompassed it with a hedge for its protection, and expended a large sum of money on it, but finds that, after all, it produces no fruit, what will he do with it? He will pluck up the hedge, and abandon it to all men and beasts that may wish to enter. Tremble, then, lest God should treat you in a similar manner. If you do not give up sin, your remorse of conscience and your fear of divine chastisement shall daily increase. Behold the hedge taken away, and your soul abandoned by God a punishment worse than death itself.

4. You say:” I cannot at present resist this passion." Behold the third delusion of the devil, by which he makes you believe that at present you have not strength to overcome certain temptations. But St. Paul tells us that God is faithful, and that he never permits us to be tempted above our strength. "And God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above that which you are able." (1 Cor. x. 13.) I ask, if you are not now able to resist the temptation, how can you expect to resist it hereafter? If you yield to it, the Devil will become stronger, and you shall become weaker; and if you be not now able to extinguish this flame of passion, how can you hope to be able to extinguish it when it shall have grown more violent? You say: "God will give me his aid." But this aid God is ready to give at present if you ask it. Why then do you not implore his assistance? Perhaps you expect that, without now taking the trouble of invoking his aid, you will receive from him increased helps and graces, after you shall have multiplied the number of your sins? Perhaps you doubt the veracity of God, who has promised to give whatever we ask of him?” Ask, “he says,” and it shall be given  you." (Matt. vii. 7.) God cannot violate his promises.” God is not as man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said, then, and will he not do ?" (Num. xxiii. 19.) Have recourse to him, and he will give you the strength necessary to resist the temptation. God commands you to resist it, and you say: “I have not strength." Does God, then, command impossibilities? No; the Council of Trent has declared that ” God does not command impossibilities; but, by his commands, he admonishes you to do what you can, and to ask what you cannot do; and he assists, that you may be able to do it." (Sess. 6. c. xiii.) When you see that you have not sufficient strength to resist temptation with the ordinary assistance of God, ask of him the additional help which you require, and he will give it to you; and thus you shall be able to conquer all temptations, however violent they may be.  

5. But you will not pray; and you say that at present you will commit this sin, and will afterwards confess it. But, I ask, how do you know that God will give you time to confess it? You say: “I will go to confession before the lapse of a week." And who has promised you this week? Well, then you say:” I will go to confession tomorrow." And who promises you tomorrow? “Crastinum Deus non promisit," says St. Augustine, “fortasse dabit, et fortasse non dabit." God has not promised you tomorrow. Perhaps he will give it, and perhaps he will refuse it to you, as he has to so many others. How many have gone to bed in good health, and have been found dead in the morning! How many, in the very act of sin, has the Lord struck dead and sent to hell! Should this happen to you, how will you repair your eternal ruin?” Commit this sin, and confess it after wards." Behold the deceitful artifice by which the devil has brought so many thousands of Christians to hell. We scarcely ever find a Christian so sunk in despair as to intend to damn himself. All the wicked sin with the hope of afterwards going to confession. But, by this illusion, how many have brought themselves to perdition! For them there is now no time for confession, no remedy for their damnation.  

6. “But God is merciful.” Behold another common delusion by which the devil encourages sinners to persevere in a life of sin! A certain author has said, that more souls have been sent to hell by the mercy of God than by his justice. This is indeed the case; for men are induced by the deceits of the devil to persevere in sin, through confidence in God’s mercy; and thus they are lost.  "God is merciful." Who denies it? But, great as his mercy, how many does he every day send to hell? God is merciful, but he is also just, and is, there fore, obliged to punish those who offend him. “And his mercy,” says the divine mother,” to them that fear him." (Luke i. 50.) But with regard to those who abuse his mercy and despise him, he exercises justice. The Lord pardons sins, but he cannot pardon the determination to commit sin. St. Augustine says, that he who sins with the intention of repenting after his sins, is not a penitent but a scoffer.” Irrisor est non pœnitens." But the Apostle tells us that God will not be mocked.” Be not deceived; God is not mocked." (Gal. vi. 7.) It would be a mockery of God to insult him as often and as much as you pleased, and afterwards to expect eternal glory.  

7. “But”; you say, “as God has shown me so many mercies hitherto, I hope he will continue to do so for the future.” Behold another delusion! Then, because God has not as yet chastised your sins, he will never punish them! On the contrary, the greater have been his mercies, the more you should tremble, lest, if you offend him again, he should pardon you no more, and should take vengeance on your sins. Behold the advice of the Holy Ghost:” Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me? for the Most High is a patient rewarder." (Eccles. v. 4.) Do not say: “I have sinned, and no chastisement has fallen upon me.” God bears for a time, but not for ever. He waits for a certain time; but when that arrives, he then chastises the sinner for all his past iniquities: and the longer he has waited for repentance, the more severe the chastisement. “Quos diutius expectat,” says St. Gregory.” “durius damnat.” Then, my brother, since you know that you have frequently offended God, and that he has not sent you to hell, you should exclaim:” The mercies of the Lord, that we are not consumed." (Thren. iii. 22.) Lord, I thank you for not having sent me to hell, which I have so often deserved. And therefore you ought to give yourself entirely to God, at least through gratitude, and should consider that, for less sins than you have committed, many are now in that pit of fire, without the smallest hope of being ever released from it. The patience of God in bearing with you, should teach you not to despise him still more, but to love and serve him with greater fervour, and to atone, by penitential austerities and by other holy works, for the insults you have offered to him. You know that he has shown mercies to you, which he has not shown to others.” He hath not done in like manner to every nation." (Ps. cxlvii. 20.) Hence you should tremble, lest, if you commit a single additional mortal sin, God should abandon you, and cast you into hell.  

8. Let us come to the next illusion. “It is true that, by this sin, I lose the grace of God; but, even after committing this sin, I may be saved.” You may, indeed, be saved: but it cannot be denied that if, after having committed so many sins, and after having received so many graces from God, you again offend him, there is great reason to fear that you shall be lost. Attend to the words of the sacred Scripture: “A hard heart shall fare evil at the last." (Eccles. iii. 27.) The obstinate sinner shall die an unhappy death. Evil doers shall be cut off." (Ps. xxxvi . 9.) The wicked shall be cut off by the divine justice. “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap." (Gal. vi. 8.) He that sows in sin, shall reap eternal torments. “Because I called and you refused, I also will laugh in your destruction and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared." (Prov. i. 24, 26.) I called, says the Lord, and you mocked me; but I will mock you at the hour of death. “Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time." (Deut. xxxii. 35.) The chastisement of sins belongs to me, and I will execute vengeance on them when the time of vengeance shall arrive. “The man that with a stiff neck despiseth him that reproveth him, shall suddenly be destroyed, and health shall not follow him." (Prov. xxix. 1.) The man who obstinately despises those who correct him, shall be punished with a sudden death, and for him there shall be no hope of salvation.  

9. Now, brethren, what think you of these divine threats against sinners? Is it easy, or is it not very difficult, to save your souls, if, after so many divine calls, and after so many mercies, you continue to offend God? You say: “But after all, it may happen that I will save my soul.” I answer: "What folly is it to trust your salvation to a perhaps? How many with this “perhaps I may be saved," are now in hell? Do you wish to be one of their unhappy companions? Dearly beloved Christians, enter into yourselves, and tremble; for this sermon may be the last of God’s mercies to you.

Appendix C

Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri: Sermon for First Sunday of Lent

1. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and other fathers, teach that, as God (according to the words of Scripture, “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight”--Wis. xi. 21), has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which he will give him, so he has also determined for each the number of sins which he will pardon; and when this number is completed, he will pardon no more. “Illud sentire nos convenit,” says St. Augustine, “tamdiu unumquem que a Dei patientia sustineri, quo consummate nullam illi veniam reserveri.” (De Vita Christi, cap. iii.) Eusebius of Cesarea says: “Deus expectat usque ad certum numerum et postea deserit." (Lib. 8, cap. ii.) The same doctrine is taught by the above-mentioned fathers.  

2. “The Lord hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart.” (Isa. Ixi. 1.) God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner The Lord pardons sins, but he cannot pardon those who are determined to offend him. Nor can we demand from God a reason why he pardons one a hundred sins, and takes others out of life, and sends them to hell, after three or four sins. By his Prophet Amos, God has said: “For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I will not convert it.” (i. 3.) In this we must adore the judgments of God, and say with the Apostle: “the depth of the riches, of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments.” (Rom. xi. 33.) He who receives pardon, says St. Augustine, is pardoned through the pure mercy of God; and they who are chastised are justly punished.” Quibus datur misericordia, gratis datur: quibus non datur ex justitia non datur.” (1 de Corrept.) How many has God sent to hell for the first offence?

St. Gregory relates, that a child of five years, who had arrived at the use of reason, for having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the devil and carried to hell. The divine mother revealed to that great servant of God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of twelve years was damned after the first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin and was lost. You say: I am young: there are many who have committed more sins than I have. But is God on that account obliged to wait for your repentance if you offend him? In the gospel of St. Matthew (xxi. 19) we read, that the Saviour cursed a fig tree the first time he saw it without fruit.” May no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away." You must, then, tremble at the thought of committing a single mortal sin, particularly if you have already been guilty of mortal sins.

3. “Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin.” (Eccl. v. 5.) Say not then, O sinner; As God has forgiven me other sins, so he will pardon me this one if I commit it. Say not this; for, if to the sin which has been forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be united to your former guilt, and that thus the number will be completed, and that you shall be abandoned. Behold how the Scripture unfolds this truth more clearly in another place. “The Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall come, he may punish them in the fullness of sins.” (2 Mac. vi. 14.) God waits with patience until a certain number of sins is committed, but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, he waits no longer, but chastises the sinner. "Thou hast sealed up my offences as it were in a bag." (Job xiv. 17.) Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God numbers them that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number of sins is completed, he may take vengeance on them. “Put ye in the sickles, for the harvest is ripe.” (Joel iii. 13.)  

4. Of this there are many examples in the Scriptures. Speaking of the Hebrews, the Lord in one place says: “All the men that have tempted me now ten times. . . . shall not see the land.” (Num. xiv. 22, 23.) In another place he says, that he restrained his vengeance against the Amorrhites, because the number of their sins was not completed.” For as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full.” (Gen. xv. 16.) We have again the example of Saul, who, after having disobeyed God a second time, was abandoned. He entreated Samuel to interpose before the Lord in his behalf. “Bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord,” (1 Kings xv. 25.) But, knowing that God had abandoned Saul, Samuel answered: “I will not return with thee; because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee," etc. (v. 26.) Saul, you have abandoned God, and he has abandoned you. We have another example in Balthassar, who, after having profaned the vessels of the temple, saw a hand writing on the wall, "Mane, Thecel, Phares." Daniel was requested to expound the meaning of these words. In explaining the word Thecel, he said to the king: “Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting.” (Dan. v 27.) By this explanation he gave the king to understand that the weight of his sins in the balance of divine justice had made the scale descend.” The same night, Balthassar, the Chaldean king, was killed." (Dan. v. 30.) Oh! how many sinners have met with a similar fate! Continuing to offend God till their sins amounted to a certain number they have been struck dead and sent to hell. “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell.” (Job xxi. 13.) Tremble, brethren, lest, if you commit another mortal sin, God should cast you into hell.  

5. If God chastised sinners the moment they insult him, we should not see him so much despised. But, because he does not instantly punish their transgressions, and because, through mercy, he restrains his anger and waits for their return, they are encouraged to continue to offend him. “For, because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evil without any fear.” (Eccles. viii. 11.) But it is necessary to be persuaded that, though God bears with us, he does not wait, nor bear with us forever. Expecting, as on former occasions, to escape from the snares of the Philistines, Samson continued to allow himself to be deluded by Dalila. “I will go out as I did before, and shake myself.” (Judges xvi. 20.) But “the Lord was departed from him.” Samson was at length taken by his enemies, and lost his life. The Lord warns you not to say: I have committed so many sins, and God has not chastised me. Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me? For the Most High is a patient rewarder.” (Eccl. v. 4.) God has patience for a certain term, after which he punishes the first and last sins. And the greater has been his patience, the more severe his vengeance.

6. Hence, according to St. Chrysostom, God is more to be feared when he bears with sinners than when he instantly punishes their sins. “Plus timendum est, cum tolerat quam cum festinanter punit.” And why? Because, says St. Gregory, they to whom God has shown most mercy, shall, if they do not cease to offend him, be chastised with the greatest rigour. “Quos diutius expectat durius damnat.” The saint adds that God often punishes such sinners with a sudden death, and does not allow them time for repentance.” Sæpe qui diu tolerati sunt subita morte rapiuntur, ut necflere ante mortem liceat." And the greater the light which God gives to certain sinners for their correction, the greater is their blindness and obstinacy in sin. "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than, after they had known it, to turn back." (2 Pet. ii. 21.) Miserable the sinners who, after having been enlightened, return to the vomit. St Paul says, that it is morally impossible for them to be again converted. “For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated have tasted also the heavenly gifts, ... and are fallen away, to be renewed again to penance." (Heb. vi. 4, 6.)  

7. Listen, then, sinner, to the admonition of the Lord: “My son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more, but for thy former sins pray that they may be forgiven thee." (Eccl. xxi. 1.) Son, add not sins to those which you have already committed, but be careful to pray for the pardon of your past transgressions; otherwise, if you commit another mortal sin, the gates of the divine mercy may be closed against you, and your soul may be lost forever. When, then, beloved brethren, the devil tempts you again to yield to sin, say to yourself: If God pardons me no more, what shall become of me for all eternity? Should the Devil, in reply, say: “Fear not, God is merciful ;" answer him by saying: What certainty or what probability have I, that, if I return again to sin, God will show me mercy or grant me pardon? Because the threat of the Lord against all who despise his calls: "Behold I have called and you refused. . . I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared." (Prov. i. 24, 26.) Mark the words I also; they mean that, as you have mocked the Lord by betraying him again after your confession and promises of amendment, so he will mock you at the hour of death. “I will laugh and will mock. But God is not mocked.” (Gal. vi. 7.) “As a dog,” says the Wise Man, “that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly.” (Prov. xxvi. 11.) B. Denis the Carthusian gives an excellent exposition of this text. He says that, as a dog that eats what he has just vomited, is an object of disgust and abomination, so the sinner who returns to the sins which he has detested and confessed, becomes hateful in the sight of God.” Sicut id quod per vomitum est rejectum, resumere est valide abominabile ac turpe sic peccata deleta reiterari."  

8. O folly of sinners! If you purchase a house, you spare no pains to get all the securities necessary to guard against the loss of your money; if you take medicine, you are careful to assure yourself that it cannot injure you; if you pass over a river, you cautiously avoid all danger of falling into it; and for a transitory enjoyment, for the gratification of revenge, for a beastly pleasure, which lasts but a moment, you risk your eternal salvation, saying: "I will go to confession after I commit this sin." And when, I ask, are you to go to confession? You say: “On tomorrow." But who promises you tomorrow? Who assures you that you shall have time for confession, and that God will not deprive you of life, as he has deprived so many others, in the act of sin? “Diem tenes,” says St. Augustine, “qui horam non tenes.” You cannot be certain of living for another hour, and you say: “I will go to confession tomorrow.” Listen to the words of St. Gregory: “He who has promised pardon to penitents, has not promised tomorrow to sinners.” (Hom. xii. in Evan). God has promised pardon to all who repent; but he has not promised to wait till tomorrow for those who insult him. Perhaps God will give you time for repentance, perhaps he will not. But, should he not give it, what shall become of your soul? In the meantime, for the sake of a miserable pleasure, you lose the grace of God, and expose yourself to the danger of being lost for ever.  

9. Would you, for such transient enjoyments, risk your money, your honour, your possessions, your liberty, and your life? No, you would not. How then does it happen that, for a miserable gratification, you lose your soul, heaven, and God? Tell me: do you believe that heaven, hell, eternity, are truths of faith? Do you believe that, if you die in sin, you are lost for ever? Oh! what temerity, what folly is it, to condemn yourself voluntarily to an eternity of torments with the hope of afterwards reversing the sentence of your condemnation! "Nemo," says St. Augustine, “sub spe salutis vultæ grotare.” No one can be found so foolish as to take poison with the hope of preventing its deadly effects by adopting the ordinary remedies. And you will condemn yourself to hell, saying that you expect to be afterwards preserved from it. Folly! which, in conformity with the divine threats, has brought, and brings every day, so many to hell. “Thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, and evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising thereof.” (Isa. xlvii. 10, 11.) You have sinned, trusting rashly in the divine mercy: the punishment of your guilt shall fall suddenly upon you, and you shall not know from whence it comes. What do you say? What resolution do you make? If, after this sermon, you do not firmly resolve to give yourself to God, I weep over you, and regard you as lost.