361 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts faith without good works? Can someone hope for salvation if the worm of remorse condemns his soul? [f.113v] 3. “In [M]y Father’s house are many rooms” (Jn 14:2). It really is so: the most spacious Kingdom of Heaven has countless dwellings, but those who seek a dwelling in the world, who run by a broad way and who strive after sensual pleasures, are not admitted to them. Nobody rises to Heaven unless he dies to earthly things. Just as an ensnared bird cannot fly into the open, so the human spirit enticed by sensual pleasures, entangled in worldly allurements and immersed in sins, cannot lift itself to Heaven. The heavenly Master teaches that the grain does not bring forth fruit unless it has died (cf. Jn 12:24-25). Thus, a man that loves the worldly life, and a luxurious one at that, shall not possess life eternal. Oh! Therefore, today when you approach the heavenly Lord, the Son of the eternal Father, say: “Most merciful, most gracious, the very best Jesus! If there are in the house of Your Father so many ample buildings, so many perennial mansions, I beg your Majesty most humbly not to exclude me from this house. "Although on account of my sins I have deserved hell and the worst habitation among the damned spirits; for the sake of your Passion and death, give me nevertheless Heaven and an eternal stay among its most blessed inhabitants." After Holy Communion 1. “I go to prepare a place for you” (Jn 14:2). In order to keep the disciples from being greatly saddened by His departure, their Master tells them where He goes and for what reason, namely: to the Kingdom of the Father, to prepare a place for them to dwell with Him there forever. “I go,” He says, “to prepare a place for you.” It is as if a commander would say, leading his soldiers to winter quarters for rest after the battles and hardships of war: “You, my bravest soldiers, are to be led to the place of eternal repose after the admirable battles carried out on my behalf. Since such ceremonies are to be carried out
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