SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST 95 



man wishes to die in the state of grace. St. Augustine 

 says that as long as there is life there is hope, that "the Al- 

 mighty Physician knows no incurable disease," and while 

 grace has a chance to work, no sinner need be given up. 8 

 A man may be addicted to some evil passion or vice, 

 though morality, faith, contrition, and penance are by no 

 means extinct in his soul. Conversely, he may be in the 

 state of impenitence without having entirely relinquished 

 the practice of religion and virtue, for he may keep up a 

 semblance of piety out of selfishness or hypocrisy. . . . 

 On the other hand, there is a state of the soul which logi- 

 cally and psychologically, though only by gradual and 

 almost unnoticeable stages, superinduces complete im- 

 penitence. As every sin committed by a Catholic re- 

 ceives added gravity from the fact that it is the act of 

 one who possesses the true faith and has access to the 

 means of grace, so the sin against the Holy Ghost begins 

 with an abuse of divine truth and grace, with resistance 

 to the inspirations that come from above, especially the 

 call to conversion or to a more perfect state of life. This 

 initial stage is followed by habitual neglect of the duties 

 of one's vocation, and, finally, by sacrilegious reception 

 of the Sacraments. 9 



diu patientia Dei ad poenitentiam P. L., XXXVI, 370). — Ibid., 102, n. 

 adducit nee de hac vita rapit im- 5: "Sanabuntur omnes languores 

 pium, qui non mortem vult impii, tui, noli timere. Magni sunt, in- 

 quantum ut revertatur et vivat." quies, sed maior est medicus. 

 (Migne, P. L., XXX VIII, 456). — Omnipotenti medico nullus languor 

 Idem, De Catech. Rud., c. 26, n. 50: insanabilis occurrit." (Migne, P. L., 

 "De nullius hominis correctione XXXVII, 1319). — Idem, Serm., 128 

 desperet, quern patientia Dei videt (al. 43 De Verbis DomJ, c. 12, n. 

 vivere, non ob aliud, sicut Aposto- 14: "De nullo iacente desperan- 

 lus (Rom. II, 4) ait, nisi ut adduca- dum est sub tali suscitatore." 

 tur ad poenitentiam." (P. L., XL, (P. L., XXXVIII, 720).— Cfr. 

 345)- Serm., 17 (al. 28 inter Horn. 50), n. 



8 Cfr. St. Augustine, Enarr. in 3 (P. L., XXXVIII, 125). 

 Ps., II, 36, n. 11: "De nullo vi- 9 F. X. Linsenmann, Lehrbuch der 



vente desperandum est." (Migne, Moraltheologie, pp. 183 sq. 



