SERMONS OF THE CURE OF ARS - EXCERPTS
THE DREADFUL STATE OF THE LUKEWARM SOUL
HAVE YOU RELIGION IN YOUR HEART?
THE WORLD IS EVERYTHING AND GOD IS NOTHING!
YOUR HEART IS BUT A MASS OF PRIDE
THE TONGUE OF THE SCANDAL-MONGER
ST. NICHOLAS AND THE THREE GIRLS
ARE YOUR AFFAIRS GOING BETTER?
HOW DEATH WILL REVEAL THIEVES!
IF YOU KNOW HOW TO GIVE, YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO PAY BACK
THE DUTIES OF THE PREGNANT WOMAN
YOU WILL ANSWER FOR THEIR SOULS
TO THEIR SHAME IT MUST BE SAID
GETTING TO KNOW THE RIGHT PEOPLE
BEWARE IF YOU HAVE NO TEMPTATIONS
IT IS NECESSARY TO BE CONVERTED
YOUR PRAYERS ARE ONLY AN INSULT
THE SERVICE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN
Ah, who would not be touched? .... A God who weeps with so many tears at the loss of one soul and Who cries unceasingly: My friend, my friend, why proceedest thou thus to lose thy soul and thy God? Stop! Stop! Ah! Look at my tears, my Blood which flows yet. Must I die a second time to save thee? Look at me. Ah! Angels from Heaven descend upon earth, come and weep with me for the loss of this soul! Oh, that a Christian should be so unfortunate as to persevere still in running towards the abyss despite the voice which his God causes him to hear continually! But, you may say to me, no one says these things to us. Oh my friends, unless you want to stop up your ears, you will hear the voice of God, which follows you unceasingly. Tell me, my friends, then, what is this remorse of conscience which overwhelms you in the midst of sin? Why do these anxieties and storms agitate you? Why this fear, this dread that you are in, when you seem to be forever expecting to be crushed by the thunders of Heaven? How many times, even when you were sinning, have you not experienced the touch of an invisible hand which seemed to push you away, as if someone were saying: Unhappy man, what are you doing? Unhappy man, where are you going? Ah my son, why do you wish to damn yourself? ....
Would you not agree with me that a Christian who despises so many graces deserves to be abandoned and rejected because he has not listened to the voice of God or profited by His graces? On the contrary, my dear brethren, it is God Himself Who is scorned by this ungrateful soul who would seem to wish to put Him to death again. All creation demands vengeance, and it is, in fact, God alone Who wishes to save this soul and Who is opposed to all that could be prejudicial to it.
He watches over its salvation as if it were the only soul in the world.