'What would you say if I asked you if you can live in
the world without offending God? When the dangers are put before you of
certain kinds of talk, of certain ways of acting, and of backbiting your
neighbor, you answer that you cannot help it, that otherwise you would
have to be dumb in society, that people talk of nothing else, that you
would have to have a heart of bronze to resist all temptations in the
midst of a world which breeds them, and that in fact you would have to
live like a hermit if you want to escape them.
All this is frequently said in excuse by those who think it justifies them.
It is impossible to frequent the world without offending God, or at any rate without exposing oneself to the danger of offending him: therefore you must renounce the world.
Every Christian has renounced the world and its pomps at baptism. This vow does not oblige you to live like a hermit, but it certainly obliges you to something. It is not an empty promise.'
All this is frequently said in excuse by those who think it justifies them.
It is impossible to frequent the world without offending God, or at any rate without exposing oneself to the danger of offending him: therefore you must renounce the world.
Every Christian has renounced the world and its pomps at baptism. This vow does not oblige you to live like a hermit, but it certainly obliges you to something. It is not an empty promise.'
