Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/199

 Prophet Eliseus complained of the contempt which he had received from the people, after God had charged him with the direction of them, the Lord said to him: ”They have not rejected thee, but me, that I should not reign over them." (1 Kings viii. 7.) They, then, who despise the advice of their confessors, despise God himself, who has made confessors his own representatives. 9. ”Obey your prelates," says St. Paul, "and be subject to them; for they watch, as being to render an account of your souls: that they may do this with joy and not with grief; for, this is not expedient for you." (Heb. xiii. 17.) Some penitents contend with their confessor, and endeavour to make him adopt their own opinion. This is the cause of grief to spiritual directors. But the apostle says, ”this is not expedient for you ;" because, when the confessor finds that you do not obey him, and that it is only with difficulty he can induce you to walk in the straight path, he will give up the direction of your soul. How deplorable the condition of a vessel which a pilot refuses to steer! How miserable the state of a sick man who is abandoned by his physician! When a patient refuses to obey, or to take the medicine which has been prescribed when he eats and drinks what he pleases the physician abandons him, and allows him to follow his own caprice. But, what hope can be entertained of the recovery of such a patient? "Woe to him that is alone, .. .he hath none to lift him up." (Eccl. iv. 10.) Woe to the penitent who wishes to direct himself: he shall have no one to enlighten or correct him, he will therefore rush into an abyss. 10. To every one that comes into this world the Holy Ghost says: "Thou art going in the midst of snares." (Eccl. ix. 20.) We all, on this earth, walk in the midst of a thousand snares; that is, in the midst of the temptations of the devil, dangerous occasions, bad companions, and our own passions, which frequently deceive us. Who shall be saved in the midst of so many dangers? The Wise Man says: “He that is aware of the snares shall be secure." (Prov. xi. 15.) They only who avoid these snares shall be saved. How shall we