The evil effects of a bad habit - 2

2. IT HARDENS THE HEART.

The habit of sin not only blinds the mind, but it also hardens the heart of the sinner. His heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith's anvil (Job xli. 15). By the habit of sin the heart becomes like a stone; and, as the anvil is hardened by repeated strokes of the hammer, so, instead of being softened by Divine inspirations or by instructions, the soul of the habitual sinner is rendered more obdurate by sermons on the Judgment of God, on the torments of the damned, or on the Passion of Jesus Christ: his heart shall be firm as a smith's anvil. "The heart," says St. Augustine, "is hardened against the dew of grace, so as to produce no fruit." Divine calls, remorses of conscience, the terrors of Divine justice, are showers of Divine grace; but when, instead of drawing fruit from these Divine blessings, the habitual sinner continues to commit sin, he hardens his heart, and thus, according to St. Thomas of Villanova, he gives a sign of certain damnation, for, from the loss of God's light, and the hardness of his heart, the sinner will, according to the terrible threat of the Holy Ghost, remain obstinate till death. A hard heart shall fare evil at the last (Ecclus. iii. 27).

Of what use are Confessions, when, in a short time after them, the sinner returns to the same vices? "He who strikes his breast," says St. Augustine, "and does not amend, makes firm rather than takes away his sins." When you strike your breast in the tribunal of penance, but do not amend and remove the occasions of sin, you then, according to the Saint, do not take away your sins, but you make them more firm and permanent; that is, you render yourself more obstinate in sin. The wicked walk round about. Such is the unhappy life of habitual sinners. They go round about from sin to sin; and if they abstain for a little, they immediately, in the first occasion of temptation, return to their former iniquities. St. Bernard regards as certain the damnation of such sinners.

But some young persons may say: I will hereafter amend, and sincerely give myself to God. But, if a habit of sin takes possession of you, when will you amend? The Holy Ghost declares that a young man who contracts an evil habit will not relinquish it even in his old age. A young man, according to his way, even when he is old, he will not depart from it (Prov. xxii. 6). Habitual sinners have been known to yield, even at the hour of death, to the sins they have been in the habit of committing. Father Recupito relates that a person condemned to death, even while on his way to the place of execution, raised his eyes, saw a young woman, and consented to a bad thought. We read in a work of Father Gisolfo that a certain blasphemer, who had been likewise condemned to death, when thrown off the scaffold, broke out into a blasphemy, and died in that miserable state.

He hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth (Rom. ix. 18). God shows mercy for a certain time, and then He hardens the heart of the sinner. How does God harden the heart of sinners? St. Augustine answers: "God hardens hearts by not having mercy." The Lord does not directly harden the hearts of habitual sinners; but, in punishment of their ingratitude for His benefits, He withdraws from them His graces, and thus their hearts are hardened and become like a stone. "God does not harden the heart by imparting malice, but by withholding mercy." God does not render sinners obdurate by infusing the malice of obstinacy, but by not giving them the efficacious graces by which they would be converted. By the withdrawal of the sun's heat from the earth, water is hardened into ice.

St. Bernard teaches that hardness or obstinacy of heart does not take place suddenly; but by degrees the soul becomes insensible to the Divine threats and more obstinate by Divine chastisements. In habitual sinners are verified the words of David: At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have slumbered (Ps. lxxv. 7). Even earthquakes, thunders, and sudden deaths do not terrify an habitual sinner. Instead of awakening him to a sense of his miserable state, they rather bring on that deadly sleep in which he slumbers and is lost.