Luis de la Puente

“ O eternal King, who preparedst heaven and hell, to cherish in the one the righteous with the gentle breath of Thy charity, and to torment the wicked in the other with the burning blast of Thy indignation, visit me with the breath of Thy divine inspiration, that I may always be mindful of these two places, preparing myself by Thy grace by such a manner of life that I may attain to the one and be for ever free from the other! ”

“ Behold what I am, a vessel of iniquity, a cave of basilisks, and a house of perdition. Then why wilt thou enter into so vile a harbour, or how dare I entertain Thee there? My tongue is a world of impieties, how shall I touch with it Him that is the fountain of all good? My throat is a sink of gluttony and drunkenness, then how shall the author of purity and sanctity pass through it? My breast is a sink of wicked cogitations and desires, how shall I harbour in it Him that is charity itself? ”

“ O my soul, promise not to thyself many years, for perhaps thou shalt not live out this present! "Boast not for to-morrow, for thou knowest not what the day to come may bring forth." [120] Give not thyself to rest, but to labour; not to feastings and banquets, but to fasting and tears. Have a care of eternal life which awaits thee, for after death there is no means to merit any durable rest or contentment. [121] O eternal God, deliver me of Thine infinite goodness from the miserable deceits, before death seize upon me in them! ”

“ If anger remains but in the heart the punishment shall be the lesser; if it issue out, giving open signs, with scorn or exterior gestures, upon further deliberation, the punishment shall be the greater; but if it comes to the uttering of grievous and injurious words, and much more if it mounts to an actual revenge, the sentence of eternal fire is already given against it, with which in hell is joined the fire of wrath itself, to be a most cruel tormentor of the soul, for that which there most torments is anger, impatience and rage. ”

“ Envy is an inordinate sadness on account of our neighbour's good, when it excels and obscures our own. [132] It springs from pride and is accompanied with anger, so that the acts of these vices accompany it. The most ordinary are to abhor my neighbour because his prosperity makes me sad, to rejoice at his fall, to grieve at his exaltation, to hear his praise with pain, and dispraise with delight, to murmur at him and his affairs, endeavouring to drown and undervalue them, and using means to attain this end. Envy feeds itself on all kinds, both of good and evil ”

“ Woe to me that do always in a manner sin even in eating and drinking, serving rather my own sensuality than my necessity, and seeking rather the delight of my flesh than the preservation of my life; so that when I pay that debt to my body I pay the tribute of sin to the devil. Have compassion, O God, on my weakness, and succour me with Thy grace, that gluttony may not drag me after it! ”

“ How is it, O my soul, that thou fearest not the wrath of Almighty God, who the more merciful He is now shall then be the more rigorous? Why embracest thou not with love the sacraments and signs of His grace before the terrible signs of His wrath fall upon thee? If the pillars of heaven shall then tremble, why dost not thou fortify thyself with a celestial life, that though thou fearest yet thou mayest not fall? ”

“ Hence I will go on to consider the execution of the sentence of the righteous, beholding how all the blessed are carried above the air, following their captain Jesus, singing a thousand songs of jubilation, and glorifying Almighty God for having delivered them from such and so great peril, with those words of the Psalmist, " Blessed be our Lord, who hath not given us to be a prey to their teeth! Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken and we are delivered, our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." ”

“ The first is a great sorrow for having broken a law so holy, so profitable, and so sweet, making myself unworthy of its celestial blessing, and incurring the three evils, contrary to the three goods that have been spoken of; for together with the breach of the law go those vices that pollute both body and spirit, all the temporal and eternal woes that body and soul suffer, and all the griefs and bitterness with which our heart is afflicted. ”

“ Mary, mother of grace, mother of mercy, defend us from the enemy and at the hour of death receive us!"
Colloquy. — O Sovereign Virgin, seeing thou art the advocatrix of sinners, be my advocatrix before thy Son, appease His wrath by thy intercession, obtaining for me time of true repentance, before the time be past in which I may do it. And seeing the sentence given in death is irrevocable, plead for me, O most benign mother, that it may be favourable towards me, that I may see " the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus," and enjoy Him in thy company world without end. ”

“ I confess, O my God, that my heart very much cleaves and is tied to creatures with inordinate love: seeing, therefore, I am so wretched and feeble that, having fastened myself to creatures, I cannot unfasten me; favour me with Thy omnipotence in my weakness, destroying this connexion, and weeding out from me this inordinate love, that I may love Thee, and serve Thee with all my heart and with all my powers. For Thou art my love and my repose, to whom be honour and glory, world without end. ”

“ The imagination which was delighted in thinking upon these carnalities will suffer horrid representations; and the five senses, which were five fountains of delight, will be five pools of incredible torment Finally, from head to foot they will be drenched in the lake of fire and brimstone, because during their life they yielded to the odours and allurements of the flesh.
Colloquy. — O my soul, to eschew the flames of this carnal fire, consider well the flames of hell fire! As one nail drives out another, so the fear of the one fire shall expel out of thee the love of the other. ”

“ Then what will it be to see one of the damned steeped and overwhelmed in a pit of fire, and in an immensity of flames, with pitiful groanings, howlings and exclamations, without finding any refreshing or hope of ease? Oh, what a terrible evil is sin, seeing that Almighty God being infinitely merciful, beholding one that is His own creature, redeemed with the blood of the Lamb, suffering such horrible torments, yet has no compassion of him nor pulls him out of that fire ”

“ O most just Creator, how is it that Thou didst not justice upon him that so abused thy creatures, using them against Thee? O my soul, how art thou not confounded with such treachery as this? And how art thou not ashamed of this great baseness thou hast committed, abasing thyself to place thy final end upon a thing so vile as is the creature to the injury of the Creator! ”

“ For if I consider it well, what need I be so much amazed that the majesty of God stands beholding the souls burn in hell without having compassion of them, seeing they are His enemies, and persist in abhorring Him; as that He should see those of purgatory burn, enduring most terrible pains, and sometimes for very light sins? — and yet loving them much, and being beloved by them, He lets them burn and be in pain until they pay all that they owe Him. ”

“ Our own will is blind in desires, puffed up in honours, full of anguish in cares, and restless in suspicions; more careful of glory than of virtue, a greater lover of fame than of a good conscience, and much more miserable enjoying the things that it loves than when it wants them, for experience augments her misery. ”

“ From this I will pass on to the punishments of hell, where the envious shall turn with incredible rage against themselves, biting their own flesh, and that cruel worm that gnaws their conscience shall whet their teeth with envy, in remembering what goods they themselves and others have gained; especially when they shall see, after the day of judgment, the glory of the righteous whom they have despised. ”

“ And seeing Thou wilt descend and humble Thyself to dwell within me, what is it for the heavens to humble themselves and descend? Let the celestial virtues come into my soul; let lively faith, assured hope, and much-enkindled charity come; let humility, obedience, and devotion come, and convert into heaven that which must be the habitation of the king of heaven Himself! ”

“ What a torment will it be to be forced to live with my enemies, who actually abhor me and curse me, without being able either to stop their mouths or my own ears! What a pain will it be never to see a person that wishes me well, nor is compassionate of my miseries, but that rather increases and augments them!
Colloquy. — O my soul, ground all thy friendships upon true charity, for this only is eternal, and perisheth not, and without it all the rest will perish. [257] Have peace, as much as in thee lieth, with all men, that thou mayest not enter into the company of so many wicked! ”

“ Colloquy. — O my soul, seeing thou believest this pain that attends thee in purgatory if thou payest not here what thou owest for thy sins, defer not the payment, that Almighty God may not defer thy beholding Him clearly. Desire with great fervency to go to behold Him, removing from thee all that may defer the accomplishment of this desire; that with the end of thy life there may be an end of thy pain, and that thou mayest presently enter into rest and glory. ”

“ O miserable flesh, if thou so much fearest man that can deprive thee of thy temporal life, without doing thee any greater harm, how dost thou not tremble at God, who can deprive thee of eternal life, and cast thee into the fire of hell? Return into thyself, and, if it were but for thine own interest, cease to offend Him who can free thee from so many evils. ”

“ The third point is, to consider the journey of the body towards the grave; pondering first, that I shall be carried in a coffin, or upon a bier on other men's shoulders to church; and that he who but awhile before walked the streets, looking on every side, and entered into the church, noting all that passed, goes now upon other men's feet, blind, deaf and dumb, himself the object of lamentation for his sad lot. And therefore to suppress the wantonness of my flesh, I will endeavour, when I rise out of my bed, to remember that some day others shall raise me never more to return to it. ”

“ These are the purposes that I must draw out of this consideration of death, encouraging myself to put them in practice; seeing it is not much for fifty years (which perhaps shall not be fifty days) to anticipate death in this manner, for the assurance of eternal life; by which for fifty thousand millions of years I shall possess the riches of Almighty God, I shall enjoy His pleasures, and I shall have perfect liberty, free from all misery. Oh, happy death to which succeeds so happy a life! ”

“ On the other hand, if I attain to this end I obtain the possession of God Himself, I shall save my soul, I shall have peace and cheerfulness of heart, I shall be protected by the Divine Providence, I shall find quietness and perpetual repose, as all things find in their end and centre. This, then, being so as it is, animate thyself, O my soul, to seek the end for which thou wast created by God, and herein employ all thy care, for there is nothing that more imports thee. Convert thyself to God who is thy rest, for beside Him all whatever else is torment. ”

“ Fly, O my soul, from obeying him who will give thee so evil a retribution! Turn for Christ's honour who created and redeemed thee, deceiving His enemy in this life, that he may not beguile thee in the other! ”

“ The "blood" of "the moon" is the sign of the indignation of Almighty God, which shall take vengeance of them for staining themselves with the blood of sins. The falling of "the stars" from heaven is the sign of the most unhappy fall which they shall make from the heaven of the Church to the bottomless pit of hell; for they threw themselves down headlong from the height of grace to the depth of sin. The fury of the elements and beasts prognosticates the terribleness of the infernal furies against them for living like beasts without any order or government of their passions. ”

“ Then how comes it that so light an occasion has overthrown thee? Thou didst purpose to kill all the enemies of Almighty God, and thou hast surrendered thyself to the least of them! Be ashamed of thy cowardice, humble thyself before Almighty God, and turn anew to resolve, trusting with more liveliness in His mercy, that it may aid thy great imbecility!" I will likewise examine the cause and occasion of having failed in order to avoid it or to prevent it, wholly resolving upon amendment the rest of the day. ”