Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/47

 greatest confidence, draw from it the greatest graces Hence the Royal Prophet has said: "Let thy mercy Lord be upon us, as we have hoped in thee." (Ps. xxxii. 22.) Whenever the Devil terrifies us by placing before our eyes the great difficulty of persevering in the grace of God in spite of all the dangers and sinful occasions of this life, let us, without answering him, raise our eyes to God, and hope that in his goodness he will certainly send us help to resist every attack. “I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me." (Ps. cxx. 1.) And when the enemy represents to us our weakness, let us say with the Apostle "I can do all in him who strengtheneth me. ” (Phil. iv. 13 ) Of myself I can do nothing; but I trust in God, that by his grace I shall be able to do all things. 9. Hence, in the midst of the greatest dangers of perdition to which we are exposed, we should continually turn to Jesus Christ, and. throwing ourselves into the hands of him who redeemed us by his death, should say: Into thy hands I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth." (Ps. xxx. 6.) This prayer should be said with great confidence of obtaining eternal life, and to it we should add: "In thee, O Lord, I have hoped; let me not be confounded forever” (Ps. xxx. 1.) Third Means. Resistance to temptations. 10. It is true that when we have recourse to God with confidence in dangerous temptations, he assists us; but, in certain very urgent occasions, the Lord sometimes wishes that we cooperate, and do violence to ourselves, to resist temptations. On such occasions, it will not be enough to have recourse to God once or twice; it will be necessary to multiply prayers, and frequently to prostrate ourselves and send up our sighs before the image of the Blessed Virgin and the crucifix, crying out with tears: Mary, my mother, assist me; Jesus, my Saviour, save me, for thy mercy‟s sake do not abandon me, do not permit me to lose thee. 11. Let us keep in mind the words of the Gospel: “How narrow is the gate and strait is the way that