examination of the heart 162 goods. Indeed, they sweat, working hard night and day; and they expose themselves to so many risks, endure so many labors, and suffer so many discomforts just to support their mortal life. As for you, who are a son of light, shall you neglect eternal goods? Won’t you try to gain eternal life by undertaking the labors necessary for it? Will you be lazy? Know that “the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force” (Mt 11:12): Be heroes, not asses; be laborious, not slothful. 3. “he sent them into his vineyard” (Mt 20:2). Imagine that you have been given work in some vineyard, where quite a few people already devote themselves to unceasing work: one digs the earth, another cuts off young shoots, one tends to the vines, and another irrigates them. Realize that this vineyard of the heavenly Lord is the true Church, where countless workers continuously toil and sweat. One teaches, another takes action, one enriches the field of the souls of the faithful with the Word of God, and another cleans them from the filth of their sins by administering the Sacrament [f.24v] of Penance. Nobody is at rest. All work in turns and strive for perfection through various deeds of mercy, being solicitous for one thing only, that the vineyard yields most abundant fruits for the Lord; fruits that console and gladden Him. Would you not be ashamed if you were the only idler among such a great number of hard-working people? Are you going today to consume in vain the heavenly bread of the heavenly Lord? After Holy Communion 1. “I will give you what shall be just” (Mt 20:4) [DRB]. Quail, my soul, before the strictest severity of divine justice, and fear the great punishments for your neglect! You hear that God promises just payment for the work, so that he who has done his job well and diligently will receive eternal life as a reward; but he who cultivated God’s vineyard very negligently and has rather soiled it with new filth, namely scandals and the bad example of a wicked life, shall earn eternal punishment or at least the severe punishment of the flames of Purgatory.
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