Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
Gal 5:25-26; 6:1-10
There is nothing so bold, nothing more secure, than the fear of God. He who fears God, fears naught else, and he who has a dread of displeasing Him, or a fear of forfeiting His love, does not shrink from suffering – cares not if he lose all, provided he be in a state of grace.
Pere Nouet, SJ (17th century)
The continued prosperity of sinners, is the greatest of all misfortunes for them. The less our Lord disturbs their torpor, the more He punishes them after. It is at that time that vicious habits increase in power day by day, it is then that they indulge themselves the more, that they delude themselves, that they are blinded more and more, to the important interests of their salvation. But the mad multitude do not reason thus.
St Augustine
It is now that sinners try, as far as they can, to drive away the memory and the thought of death, and thus to find peace, although they never will do so, by leading a life of sin; but when in the agonies of death, they must enter into eternity when “destruction cometh and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none” then they will try to fly from the stings of their troubled consciences; they will seek peace, but what peace can a soul find which is laden with sin, which bites it like so many vipers ? What peace, knowing that in so short a time it will have to appear before Jesus Christ the Judge, whose law and friendship, until that moment, it has esteemed of so little worth?
St Alphonsus Liguori
Alas, my brethren, how many seem to be good Christians in the eyes of the world who are really tepid souls in the eyes of God, Who knows our inmost hearts….
St John Vianney
Do not fall into the fatal error of believing that worldly prosperity may be a favour which God grants to His favoured ones. God often, in His anger, gives riches and honours which are prayed for, and He grants them by punishing. He would have destined you to live a retired life in humility and lowliness, in order to lead you, by those means, to the height of glory, but you have obstinately rejected His merciful intentions, you have mapped your own way of life, and, intoxicated with success, you have tried to subject His will to your own, you have made your own choice, He grants what you ask for, and He hears you in His anger. Riches, honours, dignities, fortune, grandeur, success, and robust health are yours for a time…all these, however, are given to you as a punishment.
Jean-Baptiste Massillon (18th century)
AnaStpaul 