Altarpiece, Marienburg Monastery
The following is taken from a sermon for Passion Sunday by our Lenten guide, St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church:
"A tepid soul is one that frequently falls into fully deliberate venial sins, - such as deliberate lies, deliberate acts of impatience, deliberate imprecations, and the like. These faults may be easily avoided by those who are resolved to suffer death, rather than commit a deliberate venial offence against God. St Teresa used to say, that one venial sin does us more harm than all the devils in Hell. Hence she would say to her nuns: "My children, from deliberate sin, however venial it may be, may the Lord deliver you." . . . But some of you will say: Venial sins, however great they may be, do not deprive the soul of the grace of God: even though I commit them, I will be saved; and for me it is enough to obtain eternal life. You say, that, for you, it is enough to be saved. Remember that St. Augustine says, that, where you have said, "It is enough", there you have perished. . . [T]he habit of light faults leads the soul insensibly to mortal sins. . . . [T]he fall of many souls into mortal sin follows from habitual venial sins; for, these render the soul so weak, that, when a strong temptation assails her, she has not strength to resist it, and she falls."
St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us.
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