only a few will be saved -- st leonard of port maurice

Source: Mary's Protective Mantle FB 

𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 𝗡𝗨𝗠𝗕𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗗

"𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘐 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘺-𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥. 𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳, 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭."

Saint Leonard of Port Maurice was a most holy Franciscan friar who lived at the monastery of Saint Bonaventure in Rome. He was one of the greatest missioners in the history of the Church. He used to preach to thousands in the open square of every city and town where the churches could not hold his listeners. So brilliant and holy was his eloquence that once when he gave a two weeks' mission in Rome, the Pope and College of Cardinals came to hear him.

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus were his crusades. He was in no small way responsible for the definition of the Immaculate Conception made a little more than a hundred years after his death. He also gave us the Divine Praises, which are said at the end of Benediction. But Saint Leonard's most famous work was his devotion to the Stations of the Cross. He died a most holy death in his seventy-fifth year, after twenty-four years of uninterrupted preaching.

One of Saint Leonard of Port Maurice's most famous sermons was "The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved." It was the one he relied on for the conversion of great sinners. This sermon, like his other writings, was submitted to canonical examination during the process of canonization. In it he reviews the various states of life of Christians and concludes with the little number of those who are saved, in relation to the totality of men.

The reader who meditates on this remarkable text will grasp the soundness of its argumentation, which has earned it the approbation of the Church. Here is the great missionary's vibrant and moving sermon.

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The subject I will be treating today is a very grave one; it has caused even the pillars of the Church to tremble, filled the greatest Saints with terror and populated the deserts with anchorites. The point of this instruction is to decide whether the number of Christians who are saved is greater or less than the number of Christians who are damned; it will, I hope, produce in you a salutary fear of the judgments of God.

Brothers, because of the love I have for you, I wish I were able to reassure you with the prospect of eternal happiness by saying to each of you: You are certain to go to paradise; the greater number of Christians is saved, so you also will be saved.

But how can I give you this sweet assurance if you revolt against God's decrees as though you were your own worst enemies? I observe in God a sincere desire to save you, but I find in you a decided inclination to be damned. So what will I be doing today if I speak clearly? I will be displeasing to you. But if I do not speak, I will be displeasing to God.

Therefore, I will divide this subject into two points.

In the first one, to fill you with dread, I will let the theologians and Fathers of the Church decide on the matter and declare that the greater number of Christian adults are damned; and, in silent adoration of that terrible mystery, I will keep my own sentiments to myself.

In the second point I will attempt to defend the goodness of God versus the godless, by proving to you that those who are damned are damned by their own malice, because they wanted to be damned. So then, here are two very important truths.

If the first truth frightens you, do not hold it against me, as though I wanted to make the road of heaven narrower for you, for I want to be neutral in this matter; rather, hold it against the theologians and Fathers of the Church who will engrave this truth in your heart by the force of reason.

If you are disillusioned by the second truth, give thanks to God over it, for He wants only one thing: that you give your hearts totally to Him. Finally, if you oblige me to tell you clearly what I think, I will do so for your consolation.

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Sermon of St. Leonard of Port Maurice-

https://www.olrl.org/snt_docs/fewness.shtml

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