Our Lenten Journey with St Francis de Sales – 9 March – Thursday in the Second Week of Lent – Proverbs 31:10-31, Matthew 13:44-52 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“Thou hast loved justice
and hated iniquity;
therefore God, thy God,
hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness,
above thy fellows.”
Psalm 44:8
“So shall it be at the end of the world.
The Angels shall go out
and shall separate the wicked
from among the just.
And shall cast them into the furnace of fire:
there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 13:49-50
HEAVEN or HELL?
St Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Doctor Caritas
“CONSIDER THAT THE CHOICE you make in this life will last forever in the next!
Consider too, that while both are open to receive you, according to your choice, yet God, Who is prepared to give the one by reason of His Justice, the other by reason of His Mercy, all the while desires, unspeakably that you should select Paradise. offering you countless graces on God’s part, countless assistance to attain to it.
Consider that Jesus Christ, enthroned in Heaven, looks down upon you in loving invitation – ‘O beloved one, come unto Me and joy forever in the eternal blessedness of My Love!’
Behold His mother yearning over you with maternal tenderness, ‘Courage, my child, do not despise the Goodness of my Son, or my earnest prayers for thy salvation.‘ …
O Hell, I abhor thee now and forever; I abhor thy griefs and torments, thine endless misery, the unceasing blasphemies and maledictions which thou pourest out upon my God and turning to thee, O blessed Paradise, eternal glory, unfading happiness, I choose thee forever as my abode, thy glorious mansions, thy precious and abiding tabernacles.
O my God, I bless Thy Mercy which gives me the power to choose, O Jesus, Saviour, I accept Thine Eternal Love and praise Thee for the promise Thou hast given me, of a place prepared for me, in that blessed New Jerusalem, where I shall love and bless Thee forever. ” (Excerpt – ‘Introduction to the Devout Life’ 9th Meditation).
AnaStpaul 