God’s immense love for us, especially on the Cross, should draw us away from sin
2 min • Digitized on March 9, 2022
From The Sinner’s Guide, page 52
By Venerable Louis of Granada
Since Thy mercy and Thy love have been so powerfully manifested for us, O Lord! how is it that there are men who do not love Thee, who forget Thy benefits or use them to offend Thee? To whom will they give their love, if they refuse it to Thee? What can touch them, if they are insensible to Thy benefits? Ah! how can I refuse to serve a God Who has so lovingly sought me and redeemed me?
“And I,” says our Saviour, “if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself.” [St. John xii. 82.] With what strength, Lord, with what chains? With the strength of My love, with the chains of My benefits. “I will draw them,” says the Lord by His Prophet, “with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love.” [Osee xi. 4.]
Ah! who will resist these chains, who will refuse to yield to these mercies? If, then, it be so great a crime not to love this sovereign Lord, what must it be to offend Him, to break His commandments? How can you use your hands to offend Him Whose hands are so full of benefits for you, Whose hands were nailed to the cross for you?
When the unhappy wife of the Egyptian minister sought to lead Joseph into sin, the virtuous youth replied: “Behold, my master hath delivered all things to me, and knoweth not what he hath in his own house; neither is there anything which is not in my power or that he hath not delivered to me, but thee, who art his wife. How, then, can I do this wicked thing and sin against my God?” [Gen. xxxix. 8, 9.]
Mark the words of Joseph. He does not say: “I should not, or it is not just that I offend Him,” but “how can I do this wicked thing?” From this let us learn that great favors should not only deprive us of the will, but, in a measure, even of the power, to offend our benefactor.