“I say to you, this man went down into his house justified rather than the other.” St. Luke 18: 14.

When a man is able to declare himself free from so many vices, such as theft, injustice, adultery, to thank God in fervent prayer for benefits received, to fast, to give a tenth part of his goods to the poor, are not those praiseworthy holy works and occupations which show a man to be a pious, just servant of God? On the other hand, what is more scandalous than to see a man wallowing in all sorts of wickedness, so that he is publicly called a sinner? Yet how different was the judgment pronounced by our Lord on the two men: “I say to you this man went down into his house justified rather than the other.” Who would look on such a judgment as just if he did not know it came from the infallible Truth?