"St. Paul," El Greco
The following is taken from a sermon for the First Sunday after Easter by our Eastertide guide, St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church:
"In consequence of original sin, we all have an inclination to do what is forbidden. Hence St. Paul complained, that he experienced in himself a law opposed to reason. "But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin." - Rom., vii 23. Now, when a dangerous occasion is present, it violently excites our corrupt desires, so that it is then very difficult to resist them; because God withholds efficacious helps from those who voluntarily expose themselves to the occasion of sin. "He that loveth danger shall perish in it" - Eccl., iii, 27. "When", says St. Thomas, in his comment on this passage, "we expose ourselves to danger, God abandons us in it". St. Bernardine of Sienna teaches, that the counsel of avoiding the occasions of sin, is the best of all counsel, and as it were the foundation of religion."
St. Alphonsus Liguori, pray for us.
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