examination of the heart 216 of various sensual pleasures, but he is enticing you in this way in order to kill you. On the other hand, God shows you a heavy cross and wants to put you on the narrow and difficult path of penance, for the sake of your salvation. Cling, therefore, to the true heavenly Shepherd; run away from the infernal hireling; reject the delights, sweets, and enticements of evil; take hold of the heavenly Shepherd’s austere discipline of the Cross and of the mortification of your passions. [f.49r] 2. “He flees because he is a hireling” (Jn 10:13). How many times have you recognized from experience that you have been cheated and deceived by the evil one? How many times have you detected or recognized his frauds, cunning tricks, and his troops drawn up against you? When he gives you to drink from the chalice of all kinds of sensual delights, you notice that it was indeed filled with sweetness on top, but with bitterness on the bottom. It is customary for such sensual delights to taste like sweet and pure honey at the first sip, but afterwards they change and end in great bitterness. A satisfied delight produces nothing more than a gnawing worm of remorse. Why then do you follow this temporary hired hand, namely the evil spirit, who is a dispenser of transitory sensual delight, a giver of a bitter sweetness, and a provider of poisoned food? Why would you reach for the apple of Tantalus?85 Why would you let yourself be led through the most pleasurable ways, full of sensual delight, to an end that is more grievous than all grief? Come! To action! Take care of your soul and cling wholeheartedly to this all-good Shepherd, by whom you have been refreshed today with the immortal bread. Should He lead you even through the harshest thorn bushes, He will save you nonetheless. 85 CLD, p. 565 (s.v. Tantalus): “Tantalus … set his own child as food before the gods, and was punished in Hades by being placed near fruits and water, which drew back whenever he attempted to satisfy his everlasting hunger and thirst.”
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