On True Wisdom

...you are in this life like a guest in a stranger's house. On whatever day or at whatever hour, the guest does not know when it shall be said to him: "Go outside, for the house you inhabit is not your own." For this life is indeed lent to man, not given as a gift original: "commodatus est: non donatus". The wise man in this life strives to spend his fleeting days in such a way that he may find the days of eternity in the future. Therefore, O man, if you desire to be wise, strive at least not to sin mortally. For in venial sins—since the just man falls seven times a day A reference to Proverbs 24:16—who can restrain himself entirely? But if you should sin, redeem your righteousness as much as you can through prayers, offerings, tears, and alms. For Solomon says in the book of Ecclesiasticus: "Son, if you have sinned, do not do so again; instead, pray that your past sins may be forgiven you."

But there is one thing above all which I admonish you to flee with all your strength: namely, the procrastination of amendment and penance. For I tell you that God, who promised pardon to the sinner, did not promise the sinner tomorrow. Seneca is your witness in his tragedies, saying: "No one has had the gods so favoring that he could promise himself tomorrow" This quote is from Seneca the Younger’s play Thyestes (lines 619-622). For although God has promised pardon to the penitent (as I have said), He has not promised to give him the will to repent, just as He did not give him the will to sin. For the devil instills a sense of security in a longer life prolongation? so that he might bring about ruin. It is impossible to count how many people this deceitful shadow of empty hope has deceived. Hear how beautifully Gregory Moralia? Gregory the Great, referring to his commentary on the Book of Job says: "God waits a long time for those to turn back; for he damns those who have [not] turned The Latin transcription reads "conversos" (those who have turned), but the sense and the traditional quote from Gregory suggest "non conversos" (those who have not turned); the Layman is emphasizing the severity of judgment on those who refuse to change more harshly." Hear also, if you wish, Augustine above sermon?...