Choose a topic from Part 3a:
1. Sins are pardoned through penance, especially by meansof the sacrament of penance. Now, pardon of sin means infusion ofgrace. And from grace all virtues flow. Hence, virtues lost by sinare recovered by penance, and notably by the sacrament of penanceworthily received.
2. A man rises through penance to the virtue he lost, buthe has not always the full strength of that virtue immediately uponregaining it.
3. A man is restored by penance to his former dignity; bythe grace infused, he is numbered again with the children ofGod.
4. If a man with virtuous deeds to his credit commitsmortal sin, his good deeds are rendered lifeless and ineffective,because mortal sin turns the man completely away from God andeternal life.
5. But if a man by penance recovers the grace of God, hisgood deeds, deadened by his sin, come to life again. Hencemeritorious deeds done formerly are revived by penance. The lostmerits are regained.
6. However, good works done in the state of mortal sinhave not any power of merit in them when they are performed. Nor issuch power infused into them when penance restores their author tograce. Dead works (that is, good and meritorious works done in thestate of mortal sin), stay dead. They are not brought to life bypenance.
"The essence of perfection is to embrace the will of God in all things, prosperous or adverse. In prosperity, even sinners find it easy to unite themselves to the divine will; but it takes saints to unite themselves to God's will when things go wrong and are painful to self-love. Our conduct in such instances is the measure of our love of God."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"Whom do you seek, friend, if you seek not God? Seek him, find him, cleave to him; bind your will to his with bands of steel and you will live always at peace in this life and in the next."
St Alphonsus de Liguori
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"This is the greatest wisdom -- to seek the kingdom of heaven through contempt of the world. "
Thomas á Kempis
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