Chapter 29

Beware of Turning Toward Righteousness

Most of all you must beware of turning toward righteousness. As soon as you begin to turn toward it, know that you have begun to step crooked. Take yourself by the legs then and drag yourself mercilessly back into sinfulness. I mean the sense of righteousness and the sense of sinfulness. The Lord receives only those who come to Him in the sense of sinfulness. From those who come to Him in the sense of righteousness, He turns away. He came to save sinners, not the righteous (See: Matt. 9:13). A broken and humbled heart God does not despise (Ps. 50:19). The worst thing of all is fullness. Full, one sprawls out and puffs. So it is spiritually.

Someone had the custom of asking: “When you go to prayer, do you go to collect a pension or to ask for alms?” A very instructive question.

(Letter 261. Vol. 2, pp. 102–103)