examination of the heart 132 your punishment, and perhaps, the reason why you so frequently sin is that you do not close the way to future sins by zealously repenting for your past faults; and by thus neglecting to atone for past sins you pave the way for imminently graver ones. Just as the preceding sin is an occasion for the following sin, [f.9v] the penance undertaken after sin hinders and repels future sins. Indeed, no one in the whole world will be able to avoid falling again if they will not worthily atone for past sins, and apply their wills and hearts to a rigid, true, and strict penance. The Apostle, testifying that he has done this, rightly says: “I pommel my body and subdue it” (1 Cor 9:27). Why? — In order not to return to previous ways of sinning and the vices of the past. Think of how you should do the same: persist in penance. You shall never be safe from evil, unless you set forth the barrier of penance. If you neglect penance then temptation, sin, and an evil spirit will return to you, bringing along ever stronger companions to assault the will of your soul; and it is to be feared that the latter condition will be worse than the former (cf. Mt 12:43-45). 3. “Bear fruits that befit repentance” (Lk 3:8). Consider that both for receiving Jesus Himself and obtaining His gifts, there is not a preparation better and more secure than penance. This is the teaching of the voice of the one crying in the desert, St. John, who was visited by a multitude of various people and by groups of proud and haughty scribes and Pharisees. While exhorting them to penance in order to prepare for receiving the Messiah, he used to admonish them: “Bear fruits that befit repentance.” Hence, as you are to approach, receive, and consume today this Sun, whom the Jewish people awaited with greatest longing, have recourse to penance so that through it you may open for the Savior of all people an easy way to you. Apply yourself to practicing this virtue so much that you would rather leave this world and this body than part with penance and that you would rather die than abandon mortification. [f.10r]
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