Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/17

 sinners from the sleep of sin ; but we should be persuaded at the same time, that those who abstain from sin solely through the fear of punishment, will with difficulty persevere for a long time. Love is that golden link which binds the soul to God, and makes it faithful in repelling temptation and practising virtue. St. Augustine said : "Ama et fac quod vis." He who truly loves God, flies from everything displeasing to Him, and seeks to please Him to the utmost of his power. And here let us cite that remarkable saying of St. Francis de Sales : " The love that does not spring from the passion of Christ is weak." By this the saint gives us to understand that the passion of Christ moves us most effectually to love him.

5. Thus it is very useful, and most conducive to inspire the love of God, to speak to sinners of the confidence which we should have in Jesus Christ if we abandon sin. " Viam mandatorum, tuorum cucurri, cum dilatasti cor meum" (Ps, cxviii. 32.) When the heart is dilated with confidence it easily runs in the way of the Lord. In like manner the preacher should often speak of the confidence which we should have in the intercession of the Mother of God. Besides the discourses delivered during the course of the year, on the principal festivals of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Annunciation, the Assumption, her Patronage, and her Dolours let him oftentimes, in his addresses to the people, inculcate upon the minds of his auditors devotion to the Mother of God. Some preachers have a very laudable custom of introducing into every sermon some thing regarding the Blessed Virgin, either by relating some example of graces bestowed on her clients, or of some act of homage performed by