O detest at this moment all your sins. Lament from your heart the loss of God's grace; there is no loss so much to be lamented; it is the only loss which sorrow can repair. "What advantage had you in those things at which you are now blushing?" _Romans_ vi. "Wo to that daring soul, which hoped that having retired from you, she might still find something better." _St. Augustine_. _Twelfth Day_.--On Repentance. 1. "Repent, and believe the Gospel." Our Lord here joins faith and repentance together, in order to teach us, that the rigours of penance, and the profession of Christianity, are inseparable. During his mortal life he was a penitent God, ever occupied in expiating our sins, to appease the justice of his eternal Father. Surely, we should follow his example. If the Holy of Holies fasted, prayed, and wept, what should not be done by such vile wretches as we are? 2. Sin must necessarily be punished, either by him who commits, or by God, against whom it is committed. If sinners do not punish themselves in time, the Divine Justice will punish them in eternity. The flames of hell must punish what the waters of penance have not effaced. Is it not, therefore, better to weep for a few days, than to burn for eternity. 3. To be reconciled with God, it is not enough to prostrate ourselves before a priest, cover our heads with ashes, and our whole bodies with hair-cloth. If we have not a sincere sorrow for our sins, if we do not entirely renounce our criminal attachments, we are impostors, and not penitents. Prayers, alms, fastings, and macerations of the flesh, are but the outside of repentance; the hatred of sin is its very spirit and essence. {187} Implore God's mercy for having hitherto led a life so opposite to the Gospel: and beg of him the grace to live for the future as the first Christians did, in the constant practice of penance. "Unless you do penance, you shall all perish alike." _Luke_, xiii. "To penitents, I say, To what purpose is it that you be humbled, if with this you be not changed?" _St. Augustine._ _Thirteenth Day._--On Delay of Conversion. 1. By deferring so long to give myself up to God, it should seem as if I intended to escape out of his hand. Is it then a misfortune to belong to him? To-morrow! to-morrow!--Why not to-day? why not at this very moment? Will my chains be more easily broken to-morrow? will my heart be less hard?--No, certainly. Time, that weakens every thing else, adds new strength to bad habits. By putting off the remedy, the complaint becomes incurable. 2. What is it that prevents our obeying the voice that calls us to repentance? What is it that terrifies us? That there is great difficulty in changing our lives, must certainly be granted; but what should not a Christian do, who adores a crucified God, and who looks up to heaven? If we have any thing to fear, it should be the abuse of God's graces. {188}