“He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.” —St. Matt. x. 22.

The divine Saviour says: “He that fights and perseveres to the end of his life, without being overcome, or, when he has fallen, rises up again and perseveres, he shall be crowned.” That is to say, he will be saved-words, dearly beloved, which produce in us fear and trembling when we reflect upon the dangers which beset us on every side, upon our weakness and the multitude of enemies by which we are surrounded. Let us not be surprised at so many saints forsaking parents, friends, possessions, and pleasures, that some should hide themselves away in the dark forests, others bewailing their sins in the clefts of rocks; others, again, shut themselves up in a solitary cell, to mourn there for the rest of their lives, far from the noisy world, and to occupy themselves with fighting the enemy of their salvation, fully convinced that heaven is only for those who persevere.

Now what is it “to persevere”?

“To persevere,” my friends, means to be ready to make any sacrifice: rather to lose our wealth, our free will, our liberty, yea, even life itself, than to offend God. But what does it mean “not to persevere”?

“Not to persevere” means to relapse into our old sins, not long ago confessed, to frequent that bad company again which led us into sin; this is of all evils the greatest, because we thereby lose God, draw down His wrath upon us, estrange our soul from heaven, and make it ripe for hell. So as to help you to realize this properly, I will tell you the means which you must use to preserve the graces which you have received during this holy Paschal time. They are these four:

I.-Obedience to the promptings of grace
II-The avoidance of bad company
III.-Prayer
IV.-The frequent use of the Sacraments

I.The first means to advance perseveringly on the way to heaven is to obey faithfully, and make use of the inspirations of grace which God gives us. All the saints have attained to their blessed lot only through obeying faithfully the voice of the Holy Ghost, and the damned owe their miserable state only to the fact that they have despised these inspirations. This alone ought to prove to you how precious these stirrings of conscience are, and how necessary it is to obey them. But you may argue, “How are we to know whether we have obeyed these inspirations of grace, or resisted them?” If you do not know how to recognize this, then listen to me for a moment, and I will explain it to you. First of all, I say that grace consists in the suggestions to our thoughts that we should avoid evil, and do good. Let us consider a few particular cases, so that you may understand this thoroughly. In the morning when you rise, turn your thoughts to God, give Him your heart, offer up your work to Him by kneeling down to say your prayers. If you do this at once and with a good will, you obey the promptings of grace; if you do not do this at all, or else if you do it badly, you do not obey them. You feel a desire to go to Confession, so as to overcome your faults and not to remain in your former condition, because had death overtaken you, you would have been lost eternally. If you obey this divine prompting you are faithful followers of the inspiration of grace. But if you leave these incentives unnoticed, for instance, to give alms, to do works of penance, to hear Mass, then you resist them.

In this way, beloved, we obey or resist grace. All this is a question of interior grace.

Exterior graces are, for instance, good reading, conversation with pious men who point out to us the necessity of changing our mode of life, of serving God better, of the remorse which we shall feel at the hour of death, or good examples which convert us. Also instruction by which we discern the means which we must employ to serve God, our duties toward Him, toward ourselves, and toward our neighbor. Observe well that your salvation or damnation depends upon this.

We know from the Gospel that all the conversions which Jesus made during His life were founded on perseverance. You know, beloved, how Christ converted Peter. It is mentioned that the Saviour looked at him, and that Peter wept over his sins; and his conversion assures us that he remained in the state of grace, and sinned no more. How was Matthew converted? We know that Christ met him and told him to follow, and Matthew followed Him. What makes his conversion appear to us to be true is the fact that he never returned to his office as a collector of taxes; from that moment he never forsook Jesus. He persevered in grace and turned his back upon sin forever. A holy Bishop said to his flock: “If you were to give all your possessions to the poor, let your body be flayed, and your blood be shed; if each one of you was to suffer as much as all the martyrs put together; if your skin be torn off like St. Bartholomew’s, or if you be sawed to pieces like Isaias, or be roasted on a slow fire like St. Lawrence; if you had not perseverance, that is to say, if you would relapse into sins again, and if death should surprise you in this state, everything would be lost. Who among us will be saved? Those who have fought for forty or sixty years? Possibly, dear brethren. Those whose hair turned gray in the service of the Lord? Possibly, dear brethren, but if they are wanting in perseverance they are as uncertain of their salvation as Solomon, of whom the Holy Ghost said that he was the wisest king upon earth, but of whose salvation we are very much in doubt, although he imagined himself perfectly sure of it.

“He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.” Ought we not to tremble, dear brethren, we who fall every moment? There will be no heaven for us unless we are more steadfast than we have been heretofore.

How often do we not torment ourselves thinking whether we shall be lost or saved? Useless scruples! Listen to Moses, who, when he was dying, had the twelve tribes of Israel assembled, and said to them: “You know that I have loved you tenderly-that I have sought nothing but your happiness and salvation. Now that I am going to give God an account of all my actions, I must tell you the following, and you must not forget it: ‘Serve God faithfully; remember the many benefits which He has lavished upon you; never separate yourselves from Him, no matter what it may cost you. You will have enemies who will persecute you, and strive all in their power to make you forsake God. Take courage, therefore; you are sure of the kingdom if you remain faithful to God.’”

Ah, my brethren, if even saints were all their lives afraid of not persevering, what will become of us who are without virtue, without confidence in God, laden with sins, and who are careless of the snares which the devil sets for us? We go about blindly among these numerous dangers, we sleep quietly in the midst of a crowd of enemies, who are all bent upon our destruction. But you will say: “What are we to do so as not to be overpowered?”

II.My friend, you must shun the occasions which have been the cause of your fall. You must take refuge in incessant prayer, receive frequently and worthily the Sacraments. If you do this, if you take this path, you will be sure to persevere; but if you do not take this precaution, no matter what penance you may lay down for yourself, you will go to perdition. I say you must fly by the occasions of sin.

Where did you learn these improper songs, and those ungodly manners, which cause you innumerable bad thoughts and desires? Was it not in that bad company? Who taught you to judge so rashly? Was it not the society of that slanderer who talked uncharitably of his neighbor? Where did that habit originate by which you sin and lead others to sin through improper looks and actions? Was it not by frequenting the society of that unchaste person? Why do you no longer receive the Sacraments? Is it not because you associate with that ungodly person whose aim it is to rob you of your faith by representing to you that what the priest says is exaggeration? Who tells you that Religion has only one good purpose, and that is to keep the young in bounds; but that only ignorant people allow themselves to be influenced by it; that those better informed simply laugh at it? Let me tell you, by the way, that these wise people hold these views no longer when they are on their deathbed. Would such doubts arise in your mind away from this society? Never!

III.Prayer is indispensable in order to obtain perseverance in the Divine Grace received in the Sacrament of Penance. By prayer you can do all things; you turn, as it were, the Divine Will, if I may say so. Without prayer you are incapable of doing anything. This alone should prove to you the necessity and the power of prayer. All saints began their conversion by prayer, and through prayer they persevered. All the damned were lost because they neglected prayer.

The prayer which I recommend to you as being powerful with God, which obtains many graces for us, which urges Him to grant what we ask, this prayer is composed of remorse and hope. Remorse at sight of our unworthiness; and the dishonor which we have offered to God and His graces. We must acknowledge that we are unworthy to appear before Him, unworthy to ask Him for His graces, because we have already received so much from Him, and have continually repaid Him with ingratitude, for which reason we should fear every moment for our salvation. Penetrated with grief for having offended so good a God, let us shed tears of contrition and thanksgiving from penitent hearts. Mind and heart should be profoundly humbled at the thought of our infinite baseness, and of the sublimity of Him whom we have offended, and who in spite of all this permits us hope and grace.

I say prayer must be composed of despair and hope. Hope in the greatness of God’s mercy, in His desire of making us happy, and in what He has done to merit heaven for us. Animated with this consoling thought, we can turn to Him with the greatest confidence. We should say with St. Bernard: “My God, that which I ask of Thee I have not deserved, but Thou hast merited it for me. If thou dost hear me, I thank Thy kindness and mercy.” What does a Christian do, filled with these dispositions? Penetrated with feelings of the most fervent gratitude, he forms the firm resolution never again to offend his God who comes to meet him with His graces. This is the prayer, dear brethren, which is so necessary for us to obtain forgiveness and the precious gift of perseverance.

IV.As fourth and most important means, we must frequently receive the holy Sacraments so as to preserve sanctifying grace. A Christian who makes use of prayer and the Sacraments is to the devil what a soldier on horseback, equipped with weapons, is to a defenseless enemy, who flees at the very sight of him. Should he, however, get off his horse, and lay aside his weapons, the enemy will fall upon him, throw him to the ground, and overpower him. While he was armed, the sight of him alone seemed to crush his enemy.

The devil said to St. Theresa: that on account of her great love of God, her frequent reception of the Sacraments, he could not breathe in the places where she had been. Why? Because the Sacraments gave her strength to persevere in the grace of God. There has never been a saint who kept away from the Sacraments and still preserved the friendship of God. In the Sacraments they gained the necessary strength to resist the devil, and not to be overpowered by him. The reason is this: when we pray to God He lavishes innumerable graces upon us, to fortify us and to give us courage. He Himself comes to destroy our enemy. As soon as the devil is aware of His presence, he casts himself in despair into the abyss. This is the principal reason why the devil strives his utmost to prevent us from receiving the Sacraments, and incites us to profane them. Yes, dear brethren, when any one receives the Sacraments frequently the devil loses his power over him.

However, we must make a distinction. I am speaking of those who receive the Sacraments with the right dispositions, who have a real horror of sin, who gladly avail themselves of all the means which God offers them to avoid a relapse into sin. Christians who go to confession one day, and the next day fall again into the same sins, I do not include them, nor those who confess their sins without contrition and without detestation, who repeat them every time as if they were telling a story, who make not the slightest preparations; who, without examining their conscience, tell just of what sins they happen to think; who approach the Lord’s table without having examined into the recesses of their heart, without having obtained the grace to recognize their sins, without feeling the proper repentance, and without any resolution of not sinning again. All these persons work out their own perdition. Instead of fighting against the devil, they range themselves on his side, and bury themselves in hell.

What are we, then, to conclude from all this?

That we should promptly obey the incentives of grace, never fail in our prayers, and with proper dispositions receive the Sacraments. If beloved brethren, we carry out this resolution, if we remain faithful to it to the end, there shall be fulfilled in us the words of Christ: “He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved.” This I wish you all. Amen.

Taken from The Sermons of the Cure of Ars