But the style is so barbarous, and the language so vile and such a heap of blunders, that I could neither understand what he was talking about, nor by what arguments he was trying to prove his points. At one moment he is all bombast, at another he grovels: from time to time he lifts himself up, and then like a wounded snake finds his own effort too much for him. Not satisfied with the language of men, he attempts something loftier.
St Jerome
You ask me why drunken people are so rarely converted. This is the reason: it is that they have neither faith, nor religion, nor pity, nor respect for holy things. Nothing is able to touch them or to open their eyes to their unhappy state.
St John Vianney
First Point – When great evils oppress the sinner, the thought of hell ought to be a powerful motive of patience. Ought the sinner to complain of any evil, however great it may appear, when he realizes that he has deserved the pains of hell, that is to say, an infinite, an eternal evil? If a lost soul could exchange places with you, you who murmur on account of your evils, he would esteem himself happy; your state would be paradise to him.
Fr François Nepveu
The remorse of conscience is, even in this life, a torment so great that some, to free themselves from it, have deliberately deprived themselves of life. Such an one was Judas, who, as we all know, went and hanged
himself.
St Alphonsus Liguori
And since that time have not Celsus, Porphyry, Julian the Apostate, Mahomet – the greatest enemies Jesus Christ ever had in the world- have they not honestly confessed that He was a man of miracles, thereby giving testimony of His doctrine, His merit, and consequently of His Divinity?
La Pere Dozennes
I ask, if some one were taken to a musical festival, or to a ball, or to a feast, and there had to be suspended by the feet, with his head downwards, would he enjoy this amusement? Even such is that man who lives with his soul turned upside down, living in the midst of the riches of this world, but without God. He may eat, he may drink, he may dance, he may wear that rich dress, he may receive those honours, he may obtain this post, that possession ; but he will never find peace. ” There is no peace unto the wicked.” Peace can be obtained alone from God, and God grants this peace to His friends, but not to His enemies.
St Alphonsus Liguori
