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The First Are Last and the Last First. “Let no sinner despair: let no just man give way to sloth. Neither let the just be presumptuous, for it often happens that the [outcast] outstrips him; nor let the sinner be downcast, for he may overtake those who are first. Listen to what God says to Jerusalem: ‘I said all these things after her [unfaithfulness], Turn to Me, and she did not turn.’ As often as we return to the burning charity of God, He no longer remembers our former sins. God is not as man: He does not reproach those who come to Him, or say, if we be really changed, ‘Why have thou wasted so much time?’ but He loves us whenever we go to Him. Let us only go to Him in the right way. Let us cling fast to Him, and nail our hearts to His fear. […] So I say, neither let the man who is on the stage despair, nor let the man who is in the Church make too bold. To the latter it was said: ‘He who seems to stand, let him be careful lest he fall,’ and to the former: ‘Does the fallen man not rise up again?’ and, ‘Restore languid hands and disabled knees.’ […]”“The man who despises money receives his reward even on Earth: he is free from care and envy, slander, treachery, and heart-burnings. The wise man, he who lives decorously, is crowned and in luxury before his flight hence, in his freedom from unseemliness and senseless laughter, and dangers and accusations, and all evils. In the same way, virtue, of whatever other kind, puts us already in possession of our reward. Let us then, fly from evil and choose the good, so that we may arrive at both present and future rewards. Thus, we shall both enjoy our lives here and possess our crowns in Heaven, which may it be given to us all to do through the love and mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.”
