Always indeed, dearly beloved, it behoves us to live wisely and holily, and to direct our wills and our actions toward that which we know to be pleasing to the divine justice; but when those days draw near which the sacrament of our salvation has made more illustrious to us, our hearts must be cleansed with more diligent care, and the discipline of the virtues must be exercised more zealously: so that, just as the mysteries themselves are in a certain part of them greater, so too our observance may in some way surpass its usual measure; and he for whom a loftier festival is to be celebrated may himself also be found the more adorned within it.
For if it seems reasonable and in a manner religious to go forth on a feast day in more resplendent attire, and to show the cheerfulness of the mind by the bearing of the body; if we adorn the very house of prayer as far as we can with more attentive care and ampler ornament, is it not fitting that the Christian soul, which is the true and living temple of God, should prudently adorn its own beauty, and, about to celebrate the sacrament of its redemption, should with all circumspection take heed lest any stain of iniquity darken it, or the wrinkle of a double heart disfigure it? For what does the outward cultivation that displays a form of decency profit, if the inward parts of the man are foul with the defilement of certain vices?
All things therefore which cloud the purity of the mind and the mirror of the soul must be diligently wiped away and made brighter by a certain polishing. Let each one scrutinize his own conscience, and set himself before himself under the censure of his own judgment. Let him see whether in the secret of his heart he has found that peace which Christ gives (John 14:27); whether no concupiscence of the flesh assails the desire of the spirit; whether he does not despise the lowly, does not covet the lofty; whether he takes no delight in unjust gain, does not rejoice in the immoderate increase of his own possessions; whether finally he is not inflamed by another's happiness, or gladdened by an enemy's misery. And when he has perchance found none of these disturbances in himself, let him inquire with sincere examination by what kind of thoughts he is frequented;
and whether he acquiesces in no images of vanities, or how quickly he withdraws his mind from those things which noxiously allure. For to be moved by no enticements, to be tickled by no desires, does not belong to this life, which is wholly a temptation (Job 7:1), and by which he is doubtless overcome who does not fear to be overcome by it. For it is a proud thing to presume upon the ease of not sinning, since this very presumption is itself a sin, as blessed John the Apostle says: 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us' (1 John 1:8). Let no one therefore deceive himself, dearly beloved, let no one delude himself; nor let anyone so trust in the purity of his own heart that he thinks himself subject to no perils of temptations;
since that ever-watchful tempter assails with sharper snares those whom he has especially seen to abstain from sins. For from whom would he restrain his wiles, who dared even to tempt the very Lord of majesty by the fraud of his craftiness? He had seen his own pride trodden down by the humility of the baptized Lord Jesus; he had understood that every desire of the flesh was excluded by the fast of forty days; and yet the spiritual wickedness did not desist from the arts of its malice; and it promised itself so much concerning the mutability of our nature that it presumed the one it experienced to be a true man could become a sinner.
If therefore the devil did not recall his snares of deceits from our very Lord and Saviour, how much more will he presume to assail our frailty—us whom he pursues thenceforth with fiercer hatred and more savage envy, from the time when we renounced him in baptism, and passed over from that origin over which he ruled, by divine regeneration into a new creature! Whence, since while we are surrounded by mortal flesh the ancient enemy never ceases everywhere to spread the snares of sin before us, and to rage most of all against the members of Christ when the more sacred mysteries are to be celebrated by them, deservedly the doctrine of the Holy Spirit imbued the Christian people with this instruction, that they should prepare themselves for the paschal feast by the continence of forty days.
The reason of this purification now invites us to the observance of its wholesomeness, and enjoins upon us diligence in the chastisement set before us. For the more holily anyone is found to have spent these days, the more surely will he be proved to have honoured the Lord's Pasch religiously. In the days therefore of the holy fasts let us more abundantly carry out the works of piety, to which we must always be zealous: let us be merciful to all, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith (Galatians 6:10); that in the very distributions of alms also we may imitate the goodness of the heavenly Father, who makes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).
Although therefore the poverty of the faithful is especially to be aided, yet those also who have not yet received the Gospel are to be pitied in their toil: because in all men the fellowship of nature is to be loved, which ought to make us kind even to those who are subject to us under whatever condition, especially if they have already been reborn by the same grace and redeemed by the same price of Christ's blood. For at once we have this too in common with them, that we were made in the image of God, and they are separated from us neither by carnal origin nor by spiritual birth. By the same Spirit we are sanctified, by the same faith we live, to the same sacraments we come together. Let not this unity be despised, nor let so great a fellowship be worthless to us; but let this very thing make us in all respects milder,
in that we enjoy the subjection of those with whom we are made subject to one Lord in the same servitude. If therefore any of these should offend their masters by graver faults, let them now in these days of reconciliation receive indulgence. Let compassion take away severity, and let pardon blot out vengeance. Let custody detain no one, let prison shut up no one: since our God has promised his mercy on this condition, that he might know his own sins to be forgiven him who had forgiven the sins of others (Matthew 18:33). Let the causes of dissensions, dearly beloved, and the stings of enmities be crushed. Let hatreds cease, let feuds fail, let all the members of Christ come together into the unity of love: 'For blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God' (Matthew 5:9);