CHAPTER XXII. The Necessity of Purging away all tendency to Venial Sins.

AS daylight waxes, we, gazing into a mirror, see more plainly the soils
and stains upon our face; and even so as the interior light of the Holy
Spirit enlightens our conscience, we see more distinctly the sins,
inclinations and imperfections which hinder our progress towards real
devotion. And the selfsame light which shows us these blots and stains,
kindles in us the desire to be cleansed and purged therefrom. You will
find then, my child, that besides the mortal sins and their affections
from which your soul has already been purged, you are beset by sundry
inclinations and tendencies to venial sin; mind, I do not say you will
find venial sins, but the inclination and tendency to them. Now, one is
quite different from the other. We can never be altogether free from
venial sin,–at least not until after a very long persistence in this
purity; but we can be without any affection for venial sin. It is
altogether one thing to have said something unimportant not strictly
true, out of carelessness or liveliness, and quite a different matter
to take pleasure in lying, and in the habitual practice thereof. But I
tell you that you must purify your soul from all inclination to venial
sin;–that is to say, you must not voluntarily retain any deliberate
intention of permitting yourself to commit any venial sin whatever. It
would be most unworthy consciously to admit anything so displeasing to
God, as the will to offend Him in anywise. Venial sin, however small,
is displeasing to God, although it be not so displeasing as the greater
sins which involve eternal condemnation; and if venial sin is
displeasing to Him, any clinging which we tolerate to mortal sin is
nothing less than a resolution to offend His Divine Majesty. Is it
really possible that a rightly disposed soul can not only offend God,
but take pleasure therein?

These inclinations, my daughter, are in direct opposition to devotion,
as inclinations to mortal sin are to love:–they weaken the mental
power, hinder Divine consolations, and open the door to
temptations;–and although they may not destroy the soul, at least they
bring on very serious disease. “Dead flies cause the ointment to send
forth a stinking savour,” says the Wise Man. [23] He means that the
flies which settle upon and taste of the ointment only damage it
temporarily, leaving the mass intact, but if they fall into it, and die
there, they spoil and corrupt it. Even so venial sins which pass over a
devout soul without being harboured, do not permanently injure it, but
if such sins are fostered and cherished, they destroy the sweet savour
of that soul–that is to say, its devotion. The spider cannot kill
bees, but it can spoil their honey, and so encumber their combs with
its webs in course of time, as to hinder the bees materially. Just so,
though venial sins may not lose the soul, they will spoil its devotion,
and so cumber its faculties with bad habits and evil inclinations, as
to deprive it of all that cheerful readiness which is the very essence
of true devotion; that is to say, if they are harboured in the
conscience by delight taken therein. A trifling inaccuracy, a little
hastiness in word or action, some small excess in mirth, in dress, in
gaiety, may not be very important, if these are forthwith heeded and
swept out as spiritual cobwebs;–but if they are permitted to linger in
the heart, or, worse still, if we take pleasure in them and indulge
them, our honey will soon be spoilt, and the hive of our conscience
will be cumbered and damaged. But I ask again, how can a generous heart
take delight in anything it knows to be displeasing to its God, or wish
to do what offends Him?
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[23] Eccles. x. 1.
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