Such is the state of the heart of a person enslaved to sin, who lives "entirely according to the course of this world, the spirit who works now in the sons of rebellion" (Ephesians 2:2). This figure expresses the indifference in regards to sin: the person's heart indulges in everything, in satisfying all its desires, and all its passions, without thinking about God, eternity or judgment. In this heart, Satan and his acolytes, represented by 7 animals, reign there.

The Pan who struts about in the middle of the other animals, doing as he likes, represents the pride that has penetrated many people, thanks to advantages, riches, beauty, honors, etc. Instead of only keeping them as gifts of God, they make them into a personal merit by which they lift themselves up in their own thoughts. Then, believing themselves better than others, they despise and oppress them.

The Goat, this shameless and stinking animal, is the image of all the blemishes of the flesh; the Hog, is the image of gluttony and habitual drunkenness.

The Toad who eats dirt, represents the avarice that leads people to look with insatiable eagerness to the goods of this earth.

The Serpent who deceived and seduced our first parents because he was jealous of their blissfulness, is the personification of envy who takes pleasure in the unhappiness of others.

The Tiger, the most cruel and ferocious of all the animals, represents the anger and the need of revenge that leads people to the point that it renders them like unto beasts.

The non-chalant Tortoise is the image of laziness and lukewarmness that paralyzes people in all effort and all desire to do good.

The Holy Spirit, who is not able to have access in such a heart so much that it is under the domination of Satan, goes away, without altogether abandoning the sinner and does not cease to offer him the treasures of his grace represented by these flames of fire that surround the heart.

The Angel, this messenger of the grace of Christ, strives to wake him by all means, but this heart does not hear nor does it want to understand anything, in so much as this heart is blind and seduced by covetousness and the delights of sin.

Such is the frightful state and worthy of pity of a sinner who lives according to the pace of this world. Oh, how many people are in this frightening situation without suspecting the danger that threatens them. All possibly may call themselves Christians, and yet they are slaves of sin and of the devil. "They appear to be alive and they are dead." Revelation 3:1

O merciful and compassionate Saviour! Condescend and throw a look of pity on my state of misery and sin. Illumine the "eyes of my understanding", create light in the midst of my darkness, in order that by examining myself I confess the sin of a heart inclined to evil and give me the grace to be entirely delivered from such a miserable state. Preserve me forever, All Powerful Redeemer, of all willing acquiescence to sin: may this heart swear never to deliver itself any more to Satan, of fear that he make it his abode again. May I tremble at this thought that "he who gives himself to sin, is a slave to sin", "it is born of the Evil One, his child", and that, the more I deliver myself to sin, the more filthy spirits invade my heart and soil it. Author of all things! This heart, you created it for yourself and to establish there your dwelling place and I would leave it become a workshop of Satan!! Deliver me from his power, O strong God! Purify me of all stain! In the place of this perverse and impure heart, create in me a new sanctified heart, in order that you can establish there your place of residence for the glory of your holy name, Lord Jesus, Amen!

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The compassionate grace of God in Christ, represented by the angel, shows to the sinner the consequences of sin and its wages: the sword of judgment, and death (a sword and a human skull). It convinces the heart that "neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous shall inherit the kingdom of God." (I Corinthians 6:9-10). "Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil." (Romans 2:9). Frightened, the sinner examines his or her conscience; the conscience is now enlightened by the light from above that unveils the sinners sins and vices and gives the person a clear indication of the horror of them. In the person's remorse he begins to hate them and would like to be delivered of them, but the power of sin makes the person verify his own weakness and how much his heart is inclined to evil. In the bottom of the person's soul arises then this sigh: "Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" "The grace of God in Christ," answers the Holy Spirit (Romans 7:25) and the latter draws near this bruised and broken heart, penetrating it with some rays of grace, and communicating to it strength and light. And in the proportion where the rays shine in this heart, Satan and his acolytes must give up their place. These nasty animals, shameful images of all these sins, flee away. There where the light penetrates, the darkness disappears; like the night when the day comes to shine. The grace is light, the sins the obscurity of darkness. As soon as we begin to detest sin, Satan is obliged to withdraw himself: he can only reign by sin, and by this means only to penetrate in a heart; it is like a key that gives him access to it, from which we acquire evil. On the contrary, to love God, to desire to practice good, and to see evil in horror, behold the impassable obstacle for the great adversary. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you," (James 4:7). Turn your attention from this world of sin, from all the seductions of the Evil One. May your submissive heart heed the calls of the Holy Spirit by allowing itself to be penetrated with joy by its rays that will have sin and the Prince of darkness fleeing away from them. Probe your ways with care to discover them and to eradicate from there this cursed seed that would tempt to stay hidden there. This light from above only waits for the moment where you would open up the doors of your heart to him, allowing him to penetrate it and to inundate it with its clarities, to render it capable of discerning every trace of sin; the grace of God that will manifest itself in your weakness will set you free from them.

Lord, you are the source of all light, and of all life. You are the only one capable of convincing me of sin and of showing me the darkness of it. Make this light shine in my dark soul, in order that my eyes be open and that I live. Living and true God, "you do not want the death of a sinner, but that he may convert and live."  Show me these sins that seduce me and that hold me captive. Grant me this inestimable grace, that you had promised to all sinners, for the love of Christ. May it fill this heart with sorrow and of a holy repentance in order to drive sin, the Devil, and death away from it. May you make it your abode, may you condescend to yield me as a participant of the Holy Spirit, to awaken in me the need to love you and the desire to keep your commandments, in order that sin not reign any more in my members and that Satan be not able to seduce me and to dominate over me any more. May I be intimately persuaded that there is no other salvation, for he who gives himself up to sin, seeing that he becomes the slave of it at the same time the child of hell. May this declaration from your word forever stay engraved in my heart; that no one who is impious will subsist before you, that no one who is wicked will enter in your kingdom, but only an eternal death and a definitive condemnation waits for the workers of iniquity. After a sincere confession of my sins, a true return to you, washed of all iniquity by the sprinkling of your precious blood, I am now a surrendered participant of your grace and communion, and I become agreeable to you at last, Lord Jesus.  Amen.

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The sinner, after having considered his or her sins, and touched by the goodness and long-suffering of God towards him, now sheds tears of true repentance from a broken and contrite heart. From the bottom of his heart this person deplores how, for such a long time, he did not recognize, scorned, and even offended the God of love and of patience, while he was under the empire of Satan. Object of divine mercy, the person now has the experience that "God is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart" (Psalm 34:18); "he healeth the broken in heart" (Psalm 147:3). The angel, in presenting to this person the Gospel of Christ crucified announces the blessed news that Christ came into the world to save sinners such as this person, that He died for the remission of sins and to give eternal life. To this heart that is broken and contrite, God therefore offers, for the love of Christ, forgiveness and the happiness of eternal life. And if these unspeakable gifts are accepted with a humble and firm assurance, if this heart takes a hold of Christ with his merits, his sufferings and his death as a gift purely free, this person receives the Holy Spirit who "bears witness to his spirit that he is a child of God".   Justified, and full of peace and joy upon sensing that the reign of God has entered this person's heart, he cries again, but this time for joy. Out of recognition towards He who has purified him of all iniquity, this person forsakes self to He whose Holy presence quickens his faith and makes it to shine from such brilliancy that Satan and his acolytes disappear.  Otherwise "such were some of you; but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." (I Corinthians 6:11). Oh! What joy unspeakable, what happiness for those of such a heart. This heart cannot celebrate enough in hymns of recognition the mercy and love of his Saviour; the words he lacks to magnify this grace and to fathom it in depth. But in the heart of such joy, a salutary fear keeps this person on guard, for if all these sins had been ejected out, and Satan dispossessed, even at a distance, they lie in wait day and night for the moment where they would be able to again make an irruption in this heart. The richer the delighted prey was, the more bitter are the regrets. This is why you are to "watch and pray" .

Divine Saviour! Shouldn't it be my joy and recognition for your grace and your love! In You I have "redemption by your blood, the remission of my sins". (Ephesians 1:7). "You have sealed me, and have put in my heart the deposits of the Spirit". (II Corinthians 1:22). Quicken my faith and enlighten my understanding to better appreciate the treasures of your grace and kindness. I, not long ago
had been an abode of Satan; I am now the temple of the Holy Spirit. I, not long ago had been the slave of sin; I am now a child of God. I, not long ago had been the receptacle of unclean spirits; I am now the object of joy from celestial spirits. I, not long ago had been a toy of my passions, a bending victim under the burden; I am now set free in the peace and joy of justification. Break these bonds, disperse all these hateful enemies! I am free, for I have obtained mercy! What recognition! Praise be forever to your name! And now "leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation". (Psalm 27:9). "unite my heart to fear thy name". (Psalm 86:11). May I not presume from myself; strengthen this weak heart, of fear that by my presumption and my lack of vigilance I let myself again be seduced and weighed down with the chains from which you have delivered me. Maintain there the flame of the holy place and the hatred of sin. May in this heart remain your peace and joy, and that it remain forever the temple of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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The Holy Spirit who is now this heart's master, counselor and guide, embraces this heart by presenting to it Christ, his sufferings and his cross. This disgraceful death, which cost the Saviour to redeem people back, are the subject of his or her constant meditations. "For I determined not to know anything," says he with Paul, "save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (I Corinthians 2:2) "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world". (Galatians 6:14). In this contemplation and in these meditations, this person is able to receive so much consolation and strength that his heart overflows from them. "If God be for me, says he, who will be against me? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:31,32). "That God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them"; (II Corinthians 5:19), such is the foundation of this person's assurance and faith in the unchanging love of God.

And as the Crucified One lives in this person now, having become, so to speak, his property, the gift of God in the highest sense of the word, from this person also springs up an inexhaustible source of consolation and courage. The love of Christ that presses this heart, makes it disdain this world with its artificial joys, honors, and short-lived goods. It responds to this invitation: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," for "he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:38). Also, this heart's desire is to be like Christ; the objective of its efforts is to "Follow ..holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." This heart purifies itself "from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (II Corinthians 7:1). This amounts to "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." (Ephesians 6:18) without forgetting "to do good and to communicate ... for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." (Hebrews 13:16). This person even pleases himself if he is judged worthy "in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecution, in distresses for Christ's sake." (II Corinthians 12:10), for this person knows that "if we suffer, we shall also reign with him." (II Timothy 2:12). In short, "in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8:37), having fixed eyes on the reward of the celestial inheritance promised to all those who persevere; for "he that overcometh shall inherit all things." (Revelation 21:7). Also, "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14).

Lord! You have reconciled me with God at the price of your sufferings and death, so in return, I consecrate myself to you, spirit, soul, and body. May the love with which you have loved me captivate me so completely that I be renewed by it into your image and that the blessed fruits of your painful sacrifice appear richly in me. Oh! Condescend to make all that I would have considered not long ago as a gain, as a merit, a loss. I do not look at it any more. I only look at it as a "loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus," in order "that I may win Christ, and be found in him; not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but ... the righteousness which is of God by faith." (Philippians 3:9) and that I am able to at last say "I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." (Galatians 2:20). Yes, with my eyes constantly fixed on You, the Author and Finisher of my faith, who "for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews 12:2), may your bruises be the sustenance of my soul, your cross my shield in combats, and my assurance in death. May Your love be the sun that dispels the doubts and the somber hours of anguish, in order that without discouragement nor weariness I throw myself into the combat that has been ordered for me. Amen.

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The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit can now reside there as Jesus Christ said to him: "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). An honor and glory alike are reserved to the Christian; washed in the blood of the Lamb, - the Christian's gratitude and love do not have any more boundaries, he also keeps Christ's commandments; beloved of God in Christ, these divine hosts do not only come to visit this person, but to reside there permanently. Also Paul can write in I Corinthians 3:16, 17: "Do you not realize that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, God shall destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, and you are that temple" and further on "for you are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (II Corinthians 6:16).

But near the Holy Trinity, the cross of Christ remains; nothing will move it away from this person's thought and heart. However great this person's consecration to God, this person's faithfulness, and obedience to the directions of the Spirit, this person's sufferings, and to the death of Christ, they are the eternal foundation on which this heart edifies itself in its faith, hope and love. This exclamation comes back again unceasingly on this person's lips: How can I, a sinner, have been able to obtain a grace so abundant? and this response: By Christ who has reconciled me with God, who has delivered me from sin, from the curse, and from death, and has obtained for me forgiveness, healing and life. "But by the grace of God I am what I am" (I Corinthians 15:10).

In the spot and place of the 7 animals we now see the 7 opposite virtues: humility, love, liberality, purity, temperance, patience, and zeal. Who would not make every effort to keep the word of Christ and his commandments - believe in him, love him, follow him and become like him - when we know that in this love and in this faithfulness are promises of such great things: God draws himself near a heart that turns over a new leaf to make it his abode! "..if God so loved us," writes John, "we ought also to love one another." "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (I John 4:11, 16). Already here below we are able to approach God and let God penetrate us! Ah! let us allow him to do his work; let us strive to walk continually in His holy presence, in forsaking ourselves without reserve to Him, in order that we live and always abide in Him and Him in us. Apart from that, all is short-lived and nothing, in this world of vanity, but "he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17). Has he not made us "exceeding great and precious promises " to become "partakers of the divine nature " (II Peter 1:4). Ah! let us believe in Him, attaching ourselves to He who is invisible; For already from here below he who "sees the Son and believes in him, has eternal life" and heaven is in this person's heart.

O heavenly Father, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father! What kind of love do you have to not only have loved mankind but also to have loved me, I a poor and wretched sinner! Set free by your Son and placed in the "glorious liberty of the children of God," you condescend to come and live and abide in me! So close to You and You close to me!! To be "filled with all the fullness of God " (Ephesians 3:19); should I not love you with all my heart, my soul, my strength, my thought! O give me the realization of it, being able to love as you love! - to always realize more intimately your presence and your communion; may nothing be ever able to separate me from them! In everything and everywhere let me see and search for You only; outside of You let me only consider all things as a loss; to act and to bear everything by love for You, my beginning and my end, the everything of my heart, my portion for Eternity, Amen!

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This countenance with an audacious eye that looks all around while the other one dozes, depicts the state of a person for whom the sufferings of Christ and his grace have lost their attraction. This person's faith does not shine with the same brilliancy. Neglecting to pray and to watch, and with little zeal for good, this heart begins to consider once again the vanities of this world. Denying himself less and less the enjoyments from here below, the pleasures and honors start to attract him again. The result from persevering in this carnal way is that the love for the Saviour becomes gradually cold, the radiant remembrance fades away little by little, grace withdraws itself, and faith staggers and dies. This lazy and weak heart becomes dry and cold; it is filled with obscurity and darkness! And what happens to it then?

The world, represented by this man armed with a dagger, makes a violent puncture in this heart. The weakness of this heart's faith and its lack of courage and love makes it dread persecutions and renders it sensitive to seductions and flatteries.

Also Satan and his animals easily creep inside the place where they do not encounter any resistance: within a heart that instead of keeping guard, neglects prayer, does not flee occasions to fall, and even willingly exposes itself to danger.

The angel of grace does his best, it is true, to hold back the Devil from the open breach through which he's going to penetrate and by sin to reign once again as master.  From which this declaration of Jesus: "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation."  "Pray without ceasing."  Prayer is the life and breath of the soul. If prayer is lacking or even abating, then our vigilance, which is prayer's principle good, wastes away and dies; the enemy can then sow tares in the middle of the wheat. This is the open door to sin. Let us therefore put on the whole armour of God in prayer and meditation. Always fix our eyes on Jesus without ever letting ourselves go, in order that nothing impure can come to desecrate the temple of God and destroy it, and in order that God not destroy it either. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; Whom we resist steadfast in the faith" (I Peter 5:8). "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (I Corinthians 10:12). Let us keep taking up these arms that Paul describes in Ephesians 6:12 & 16 for "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places,"  with help which we can "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked."  In order that the Christian always stay alive and overflowing in love, it is necessary that the Saviour always fill his thought and heart; it is necessary that he turn away from this world and its vanities, that he lock up the heart against the pleasures of sin and to remain constantly in the presence of God, attentive to the directions of the Holy Spirit in complete consecration.

Lord, You who probe the hearts and innermost parts! - you know my weakness, my inconsistency, this love so quickly cold again, this faith so wavering, the world has attracted me so much; the denial of myself so much, so much watchfulness, so many conflicts and every repugnant effort to this natural heart!   Strengthen me, quicken me, "apart from you I can do nothing."  Do not withdraw your hand, do not forsake me, God my Saviour! I am able to abide in You only if you keep me and if you abide in me. Do not let this love grow cold, this staggering and perishing faith, this candle is being snuffed out. Renew without ceasing, my strengths and the desire to pray. May I, in diverting my gazes from the vanities of this world, the joy of my heart nourish me by your sufferings, to be "filled with your likeness."   Amen.

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In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus thus depicts this state: "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first."

What a frightful spectacle! Satan reigning and commanding as master in a heart that not long ago was the habitation of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit! These sins and vices represented by hideous animals, dwell again in there as if they were at home! And all this to have despised grace, forgotten the purification of his former sins, and had not worked at his salvation and sanctification! The person who does not progress, recedes. Not a stationary state. The person who does not (seriously) do his best to go through the narrow door, to follow the narrow way,
who does not search with care to develop the hatred of sin, the disdain for the world and its charms, in fleeing from them, falls quickly into the snares of the Devil. "...it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (II Peter 2:22).

The Holy Spirit withdraws himself sadly. How could he cohabitate with unclean spirits, in a heart, at the same time the temple of God and the abode of Satan?

The angel also goes away with sadness not without the notification that Christ always has mercy on a miserable sinner and warns him: Oh! "if you would know the things that belong to your peace;" the pitiful, merciful God again stretches out his arms. "Return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on you."  But this heart pays attention to nothing; seduced by the world, blind to the point that he or she no longer sees his hateful sins, without faith, in darkness, he does not see the abyss towards Satan who is dragging this person.

Dear traveling companion! This is that which waits for us if after having confessed our sins, we being repentant of it, and having obtained mercy, we have not persevered with the help of divine grace. The sin in which one surrenders to again only become, the passions to satisfy more imperious, and their empire more absolute. Therefore, beware of this! Have you at one time obtained mercy, have you declared war on Satan and his acolytes, pride, impurity, intemperance, avarice, anger, envy, laziness, - he remains their declared adversary; make no truce with them; forbid them all access; flee them; they will like to always come and reoccupy their former place; beware, your last state would be worse than the first. Trust in God: he is powerful enough to help you overcome evil. If you fall, get up on your feet again; grasp again the hand of your Liberator for the combat without respite against sin. He can and wants to help you; His arm is not shortened. He is the strongest: He can remove the weapons of "the man who is well armed and strong" to rob him of his spoils and liberate you again. Why let Satan "keep his house" much longer so long as you can be and stay the temple of God?

O God! You are nevertheless my God and my Father, for I am your creature: "the work of your hands."  Lord Jesus! You are nevertheless my Liberator, my Saviour; You who "made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption."  Sitting on the right hand of God, you have also all power to deliver this slave from sin, death, and Satan, although he himself be far away from You. You turn down no one of those who come to You. Here I am; I cry to You: grace and mercy! There is no one fallen so low that you do not want and are not able to save.  Break this yoke that has only weighed on me too long. This heart that you have bought with your precious blood belongs to you and can not be to no one else but You.  May your light dissipate my darkness, may your Spirit cast out Satan! May your grace remove the sting of sin! Crush Satan under my feet, annihilate his power. Set me free!  Amen.

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Here is the impenitent sinner now on his or her bed of suffering and death, the spirit panic-stricken, the soul anguished in the wait of judgment. Abandoned, without help and without consolation, without faith, since he has denied it, without God as Saviour, since the person had unappreciated him. Death stands up before him or her getting ready to deprive the person of everything: joy, honor, goods and earthly enjoyments. Satan who had first of all deceived this person, ruffling up in this person the sin underneath from the outside beauties and seductions, shows them to this person now in throwing trouble and anguish in his conscience, with the recompense which is subject to this person and the condition in life that waits for him: condemnation and eternal punishments. This person is desperate, from the horrible visions that float before his distracted eyes. This person's conscience is tormented, that had at first been successful at falling asleep, wakes itself up now with all the more strength and redoubles in its anguish. This person sees, so to speak, hell and the abyss that are on the way to swallow him up and forever. Nothing good can henceforth touch this person-the habit of sin has hardened his heart, so much that it has become deaf to the calls of God. This person turns from grace, also the Holy Spirit abandons him or her in his desperation. This is such a state that it expires to appear before the White Throne and to hear from the mouth of Christ, from The One of which he had unappreciated or forgotten His words, of which he had despised grace, of which he or she had trodden underfoot the precious blood, this sentence comes without call "Go cursed one, to the eternal fire!" The consequences of sin and of the love of the world: to be rejected and judged by God, banished forever from his holy presence, to be precipitated in an abyss of misery, there where the fire extinguishes not, where the worm dies not! Oh! how many human beings are running like this to perdition, how many, who call themselves Christians and who give themselves up to sin, to carnal lusts, to avarice, to squandering, to pride, to envy, to spitefulness, to impurity, to laziness, to anger, to gluttony and to habitual drunkenness. Maybe they sometimes confessed their sins simply by habit, but without trying to correct them. They sin again, anchored they are in their evil inclinations, even if it entails confessing them again and so on and so forth until the end, without changing radically, without sincerely repenting, without fervently looking for Christ, his grace and his mercy. In spite of their religiosity, their confession, their frequenting worship services, and their communions, the old man acts in them; and friends of the world, slaves of the Devil and of their sins, they are only more devout to them and consequently more inclined to be convinced that a true change of heart, a true conversion, is not necessary for them. Death, that carries them away, comes unexpectedly; as they have sown for the flesh, from the flesh they will reap corruption, for "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). Death for those who have been at one time participants of grace and who have fallen from it, who after having known Christ have not stayed faithful to him to confide in sin again, is particularly terrible. For Paul says it in Hebrews 10:26: "....if we sin wilfully after that we received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame" (Hebrews 6:4-6). O sinners, enslaved to your passions, do you know which you love: you love death and perdition. He which flatters you today will be tomorrow the cause of your torments. Consider your ways that lead to perdition, renounce sin, listen to the tender calls of the Good Shepherd: come to Me, I forgive you; my blood will purify you; I give eternal life to my sheep. Harden not your hearts to hear not this frightful sentence: Depart from me! "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31).

O God! "True and righteous are thy judgments" (Revelation 16:7). You are no respecter of persons: you render to each one according to their works. He who refuses to repent, who does not believe in your Word and does not keep it, is already condemned and will not see life. As much as your compassion's are great towards pious men and believers, so much is your severity formidable towards the impious and unbelieving. Lord and Saviour!  You had delivered me from sin, death and hell, - strengthen me, in order to be, before long and definitively, free from them in returning to You to have life. Awaken me, break this heart, so that by a true conversion, it will allow me to be guided by your Holy Spirit; create in me the new man, in order that it belong to You in life and in death. Amen!

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This image shows us how much a pious heart is surrounded by enemies on the lookout, looking to recover their former empire. Down below are two men representing the world: the one with a begging cup of pleasures and earthly enjoyments; the other with a menacing dagger, that evokes all violent means and cruel natures to frighten and to turn away a holy life. Against all these enemies: the flesh, the world, and Satan, the conflict lasts for a lifetime, but the Christian has some weapons to triumph over them. At the top soars the angel, the grace divine that encourages without ceasing to the combat without flinching; he reminds the Christian that "no one will be crowned if he does not fight following the rules," (II Tim. 2:5) that "he who perseveres until the end will be saved."  In the Christian's heart shines a star, a beautiful image of a living faith, by which the world is overcome (I John 5:4). To the right we read: O God! who is like unto You? Full of confidence, of assurance in Him, he can say: God is with me; in him and by him I can overcome all. "His grace is sufficient for me." (II Cor. 12:9) To the left: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword!! "...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us" (Romans 8:35-39). Faith and love, they are the foundations that affirms the Christian to do good. In the middle is an inscription: Jesus, the Everything of my soul. Framing it is the holy communion: spiritual food and drink for which the Christian hungers and thirsts, and cannot do without. This wine and bread that came from heaven, gives life to the world and maintains in the Christian his or her faith and love and procures in him or her strength and new life, as Jesus had promised: "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life" (John 6:54-56).  Underneath we see Jesus on the cross, with an open book, the Holy Scriptures, the Good News. Reading and meditating on the Word of God, and especially on the sufferings and death of the Saviour, will always stay the Christian's favorite possessions, the food that will strengthen his or her soul against the failures of the flesh, in the combats against the world and Satan. The heart in which Jesus, the Crucified, does not abide is certainly dead while yet alive. He who does not prefer the Holy Scriptures to any other book, even to all science, and that does not make it the rule and the norm of his life, and conduct, is assuredly in danger - and as for his soul, it is also assuredly in danger even if it is not already dead and damned. At last, we see a church, an open purse, a bread and a fish. The little church witnesses of its zeal for prayer with other believers, in public or in the silence of his or her closet. Where the Christian goes, what he does, living in communion with God, happy to belong to him and to be able to trust everything to him. Without prayer, no one would know how to persevere in piety, faith and love. The open purse proves the Christian's liberality and love for his neighbor. Fighting against avarice, the Christian willingly parts with his goods, giving to his brothers and sisters in need and according to his means, develops love in his heart and always detaches himself more from the things here below. The Christian knows that souls that have escaped from Satan by renouncing gross sins, fall, without suspecting it, into the snares of the Enemy and secretly confide in avarice and the love of money, when they forget or neglect, under varied pretexts, to aid and help their neighbors. The bread and fish remind us of his restraint, his moderation, his temperance and his desire to keep in all things the happy medium, in order to not satisfy the flesh, and to grieve not the Holy Spirit, which would render it inappropriate for the person to progress in sanctification. Such are the arms with which the Christian fights, never setting them aside and not falling back, finishing by triumphing over all his or her enemies.

Beloved Saviour! If I possess you, what have I to ask on earth and in heaven! If I abide in you and you in me, I am a branch that bears fruit. Outside of you I'm able to do nothing. Increase faith more, always, in order to participate in your almighty power and to triumph over all: all things are possible with you. May your love expand in my heart to the point that it is completely won and that outside of You, O supreme beauty, O eternal majesty, I find nothing beautiful, great, amiable, attractive that be worthy of my affection. Give me the grace to persevere in your love; only you can grant it to me. May the memorial of your sufferings and of your death support this love and unify me indissolubly to You. According to your promise, You grant eternal life as early as here below; "live in my heart by faith" (Ephesians 3:17). May your words that are spirit and life awaken, enlighten, console, nourish, enliven and strengthen my soul in combats, patience, and fidelity. May all that is within me: spirit, soul and body be consecrated to you. May I fight not only gross sins and guilty desires, but sins of every sort. May I pray without ceasing to obtain without ceasing new strengths for the combat and victory, in order to be able to stay faithful to you until the end. Amen.

   Chapter 10:  Click image to enlarge

The believer who has persevered until the end in the faith and in sanctification, has arrived at his last hour, lies now serene and tranquil on his death bed. The Christian fears not death nor judgment, for they do not concern him, according to the declaration of Jesus: "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). This Jesus whom the Christian has carried in his heart all his life and of whom he has entirely trusted in, stays at the supreme hour his only one, and his assurance is plenty. For Him the Christian has lived; now the Christian dies in Him.   The Christian's conscience is tranquil, since he knows that his sins have been forgiven, relishing in the infinite grace of God, the Christian's features are illuminated of this inner peace, of this comfort and of this anointing from the Holy Spirit that fills his or her heart. The Christian's looks are towards heaven, his countenance entirely translates this thought: "my desire is to go home to be with Christ."  The angel waits for the deliverance of this soul to carry the Christian in the bosom of God. At last, the Christian is there, free from his earthly and perishable wrapping, throwing himself before The One in whom he has believed and hoped and whom he has loved without seeing. The Christian goes now to contemplate him, for Jesus runs to the Christian and stretches out his arms saying: Well done, "thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (Matthew 25:21).

Satan only has to withdraw with his shame.

What happiness! What ravishment! To contemplate Christ such as he is, and to be given back to him like him in glory and bliss; who could be able to describe it? This end of the righteous one who has faithfully kept his life during the combat of faith against sin, the world and Satan, deeply rooted in Christ, what triumph there is after struggles and endured sufferings. Oh! May each one of us seriously encourage ourselves to the good fight of faith, without flinching and with perseverance until the end, to go through the narrow door and to happily finish his course. Heaven is waiting for us - the spotless crown of glory, the celestial and incorruptible heritage of those in the light.

Lord Jesus! How good it will be one day on my death bed to have you close to me, to support me and console me. Who will condemn me? My sins? You have forgiven them, you have justified, washed, purified and sanctified me by your infinitely precious blood. Satan, could he able to attack me and frighten me? No, because You have overcame and crushed him; he can do nothing against me, because you are for me, because for me you had died and rose again, "you sit at the right hand of God, you pray and intercede for me" (Romans 8). Nothing will be able to, in this somber valley, separate me from your love. Can I live and die for you only, from now on and for ever, after having remained faithful to you? Give me the grace to die daily to myself and to all which is not of You.
Detach me from all which I would not be able to carry with me close to You. May I yet conduct myself from here below as a citizen of the heavens. May my soul sigh with fervour after your eternal kingdom in the meantime "being clothed from his heavenly abode".  May this blessed hope to be at one time close to You fill me constantly with zeal for good: sowing here below - the eternal harvests on high follow! Beloved Saviour! May the confidence and assurance in your infinite merits, mercy and love never have me lacking. They are indelible tokens of your sufferings and death, O You, who died for me and lives now for me - world without end.  Amen!