'We come to confession quite preoccupied with the shame
that we shall feel. We accuse ourselves with hot air. It is said that
many confess, and few are converted. I believe it is so, my children,
because few confess with tears of repentance. See, the misfortune is,
that people do not reflect. If one said to those who work on Sundays, to
a young person who had been dancing for two or three hours, to a man
coming out of an alehouse drunk, "What have you been doing? You have
been crucifying Our Lord!" they would be quite astonished, because they
do not think of it. My children, if we thought of it, we should be
seized with horror; it would be impossible for us to do evil. For what
has the good God done to us that we should grieve Him thus, and put Him
to death again -- Him, who has redeemed us from Hell? It would be well
if all sinners, when they are going to their guilty pleasures, could,
like St. Peter, meet Our Lord on the way, who would say to them, "I am
going to that place where you are going yourself, to be there crucified
again." Perhaps that might make them reflect.'