Passion Sunday: ON THE DANGER TO WHICH TEPIDITY EXPOSES THE SOUL.

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“But Jesus hid himself.” JOHN viii. 59.
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JESUS CHRIST “is the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.
” (John i. 9.) He enlightens all; but he cannot enlighten those who voluntarily shut their eyes
to the light; from them the Saviour hides himself. How then can they, walking in darkness,
escape the many dangers of perdition to which we are exposed in this life, which God has
given us as the road to eternal happiness? I will endeavour Today to convince you of the
great danger into which tepidity brings the soul, since it makes Jesus Christ hide his divine
light from her, and makes him less liberal in bestowing upon her the graces and helps,
without which she shall find it very difficult to complete the journey of this life without
falling into an abyss that is, into mortal sin.
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1. A tepid soul is not one that lives in enmity with God, nor one that sometimes commits
venial sins through mere frailty, and not with full deliberation. On account of the corruption
of nature by original sin, no man can be exempt from such venial faults. This corruption of
nature renders it impossible for us, without a most special grace, which has been given only
to the mother of God, to avoid all venial sins during our whole lives. Hence St. John has said:
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John i. 8.)
God permits defects of this kind, even in the saints, to keep them humble, and to make them
feel that, as they commit such faults in spite of all their good purposes and promises, so also,
were they not supported by his divine hand, they would fall into mortal sins. Hence, when
we find that we have committed these light faults, we must humble ourselves, and
acknowledging our own weakness, we must be careful to recommend ourselves to God, and
implore of him to preserve us, by his almighty hand, from more grievous transgressions, and
to deliver us from those we have committed.

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2. What then are we to understand by a tepid soul? 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.” Some complain of being left in aridity and dryness, and without any
spiritual sweetness. But how can we expect that God will be liberal of his favours to us, when
we are ungenerous to him? We know that such a lie, such an imprecation, such an injury to
our neighbour, and such detraction, though not mortal sins, are displeasing to God, and still
we do not abstain from them. Why then should we expect that God will give us his divine
consolations?
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3. 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 he 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.” To
understand correctly the meaning of these words of St. Augustine, and to see the danger to
which the state of tepidity exposes those who commit habitual and deliberate venial sins,
without feeling remorse for them, and without endeavouring to avoid them, it is necessary to
know that the habit of light faults leads the soul insensibly to mortal sins. For example: the
habit of venial acts of aversion leads to mortal hatred; the habit of small thefts leads to
grievous rapine; the habit of venial attachments leads to affections which are mortally sinful.
”The soul,” says St. Gregory, ”never lies where it falls.” (Moral., lib. xxxi.) No; it continues to
sink still deeper. Mortal diseases do not generally proceed from serious indisposition, but
from many slight and continued infirmities; so, likewise, the 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.
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4. Many are unwilling to be separated from God by mortal sins; they wish to follow him, but
at a distance, and regardless of venial sins. But to them shall probably happen what befell St.
Peter. When Jesus Christ was seized in the garden, St. Peter was unwilling to abandon the
Lord, but “followed him afar off.” (Matt. xxvi. 58.) After entering the house of Caiphas, he
was charged with being a disciple of Jesus Christ. He was instantly seized with fear, and
three times denied his Master. The Holy Ghost says: ”He that contemneth small things shall
fall by little and little.” (Eccl. xix. 1.) They who despise small falls will probably one day fall
into an abyss; for, being in the habit of committing light offences against God, they will feel
but little repugnance to offer to him some grievous insult.
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5. The Lord says: ”Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines.” (Cant. ii. 15.) He does not
tell us to catch the lions or the bears, but the little foxes. Lions and bears strike terror, and
therefore all are careful to keep at a distance through fear of being devoured by them; but the
little foxes, though they do not excite dismay, destroy the vine by drying up its roots. Mortal
sin terrifies the timorous soul; but, if she accustom herself to the commission of many venial
sins with full deliberation, and without endeavouring to correct them, they, like the little
foxes, shall destroy the roots that is, the remorse of conscience, the fear of offending God, and

the holy desires of advancing in divine love; and thus, being in a state of tepidity, and
impelled to sin by some passion, the soul will easily abandon God and lose the divine grace.
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6. Moreover, deliberate and habitual venial sins not only deprive us of strength to resist
temptations, but also of the special helps without which we fall into grievous sins. Be
attentive, brethren; for this is a point of great importance. It is certain, that of ourselves we
have not sufficient strength to resist the temptations of the devil, of the flesh, and of the
world. It is God that prevents our enemies from assailing us with temptations by which we
would be conquered. Hence Jesus Christ has taught us the following prayer: ”And lead us
not into temptation.” He teaches us to pray that God may deliver us from the temptations to
which we would yield, and thus lose his grace. Wow, venial sins, when they are deliberate
and habitual, deprive us of the special helps of God which are necessary for preservation in
his grace. I say necessary, because the Council of Trent anathematizes those who assert that
we can persevere in grace without a special help from God. ”Si quis dixerit, justificatum vel
sine speciali auxilio Dei in accepta justitia perseverare posse, vel cum eo non posse;
anathema sit.” (Sess. 6, can. xxii.) Thus, with the ordinary assistance of God, we cannot avoid
falling into some mortal sin: a special aid is necessary. But this special aid God will justly
withhold from tepid souls who are regardless of committing, with full deliberation, many
venial sins. Thus these unhappy souls shall not persevere in grace.
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7. They who are ungenerous to God well deserve that God should not be liberal to them. “He
who soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly.” (2 Cor. ix. 6.) To such souls the Lord will
give the graces common to all, but will probably withhold his special assistance; and without
this, as we have seen, they cannot persevere without falling into mortal sin. God himself
revealed to B. Henry Suso, that, for tepid souls who are content with leading a life exempt
from mortal sin, and continue to commit many deliberate venial sins, it is very difficult to
preserve themselves in the state of grace. The venerable Lewis da Ponte used to say: “I
commit many defects, but I never make peace with them.” Woe to him who is at peace with
his faults! St. Bernard teaches that, as long as a person who is guilty of defects detests his
faults, there is reason to hope that he will one day correct them and amend his life: but when
he commits faults without endeavouring to amend, he will continually go from bad to worse,
till he loses the grace of God. St. Augustine says that, like a certain disease of the skin which
makes the body an object of disgust, habitual faults, when committed without any effort of
amendment, render the soul so disgusting to God, that he deprives her of his embraces.
”Sunt velut scabies, et nostrum decus ita exterminant ut a sponsi amplcxibus separent.”
(Hom. 1., cap. iii.) Hence the soul, finding no more nourishment and consolation in her
devout exercises, in her prayers, communions, or visits to the blessed sacrament, will soon
neglect them, and thus neglecting the means of eternal salvation, she shall be in great danger
of being lost.

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8. This danger will be still greater for those who commit many venial sins through
attachment to any passion, such as pride, ambition, aversion to a neighbour, or an inordinate
affection for any person. 1st. Francis of Assisium says that, in endeavouring to draw to sin a
soul that is afraid of being in enmity with God, the devil does not seek in the beginning to
bind her with the chain of a slave, by tempting her to commit mortal sin, Because she would
have a horror of yielding to mortal sin, and would guard herself against it. He first
endeavours to bind her by a single hair; then by a slender thread; next by a cord; afterwards

by a rope; and in the end by a chain of hell that is, by mortal sin; and thus he makes her his
slave. For example: A person cherishes an affection for a female through a motive of courtesy
or of gratitude, or from an esteem for her good qualities. This affection is followed by mutual
presents; to these succeed words of tenderness; and after the first violent assault of the devil,
the miserable man shall find that he has fallen into mortal sin. He meets with the fate of
gamesters, who, after frequently losing large sums of money, yield to an impulse of passion,
risk their all, and, in the end, lose their entire property.
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9. Miserable the soul that allows herself to be the slave of any passion. “Behold, how small a
fire what a great wood it kindleth.” (St. James iii. 5.) A small spark, if it be not extinguished,
will set fire to an entire wood; that is, an unmodified passion shall bring the soul to ruin.
Passion blinds us; and the blind often fall into an abyss when they least expect it. According
to St. Ambrose, the devil is constantly endeavouring to find out the passion which rules in
our heart, and the pleasures which have the greatest attraction for us. When he discovers
them, he presents occasions of indulging them: he then excites concupiscence, and prepares a
chain to make us the slaves of hell. ”Tune maxime insidiatur adversarius quando videt in
nobis passiones aliquas generari: tune fomites movet, laqueos parat.”
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10. St. Chrysostom asserts, that he himself knew many persons who were gifted with great
virtues, and who, because they disregarded light faults, fell into an abyss of crime. When the
devil cannot gain much from us, he is in the beginning content with the little; by many
trifling victories he will make a great conquest. No one, says St. Bernard, suddenly falls from
the state of grace into the abyss of wickedness. They who rush into the most grievous
irregularities, begin by committing light faults. “Nemo repente fit turpissimus: a minimis
incipiunt qui in maxima proruunt.” (Tract de Ord. vita3.) It is necessary also to understand
that, when a soul that has been favoured by God with special lights and graces, consents to
mortal sin, her fall shall not be a simple fall, from which she will easily rise again, but it will
be a precipitous one, from which she will find it very difficult to return to God.
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11. Addressing a person in the state of tepidity, our Lord said: ”I would that thou wert cold
or hot; but because thou art luke-warm, and neither hot nor cold, I will begin to vomit thee
out of my mouth.” (Apoc. iii. 15, 16.)”I would thou wert cold” that is, it would be better for
thee to be deprived of my grace, because there should then be greater hopes of thy
amendment; but, because thou livest in tepidity, without any desire of improvement, ”I will
begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.” By these words he means, that he will begin to
abandon the soul; for, what is vomited, is taken back only with great horror.
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12. A certain author says, that tepidity is a hectic fever, which does not excite alarm, because
it is not perceived; but it is, at the same time, so malignant that it is rarely cured. The
comparison is very just; for tepidity makes the soul insensible to remorses of conscience; and,
as she is accustomed to feel no remorse for venial faults, she will by degrees become
insensible to the stings of remorse which arise from mortal sins.
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13. Let us come to the remedy. The amendment of a tepid soul is difficult; but there are
remedies for those who wish to adopt them. First, the tepid must sincerely desire to be
delivered from a state which, as we have seen, is so miserable and dangerous; for, without
this desire, they shall not take pains to employ the proper means. Secondly, they must

resolve to remove the occasions of their faults; otherwise they will always relapse into the
same defects. Thirdly, they must earnestly beg of the Lord to raise them from so wretched a
state. By their own strength they can do nothing; but they can do all things with the
assistance of God, who has promised to hear the prayers of all. “Ask, and it shall be given;
seek, and you shall find.” (Luke xi. 9.) We must pray, and continue to pray without
interruption. If we cease to pray we shall be defeated; but if we persevere in prayer we shall
conquer.

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