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2nd Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Acqui

broken your promise many times, but he has never broken His.
Returning to God's house, you will find new proofs of his
paternal love. Having experienced your weakness, you will find
in Him alone the strength to rise again and persevere in doing
good. How unfortunate you would be if you had not returned to
that merciful Father! Where would your pass\ions have led you,
those passions of which we all feel the violence and which, if
not impeded by divine grace, darken our intellect, corrupt our
heart, distort our will, and can drag us to the worst crimes?
You, on the other hand, assiduous in the school of the Holy
Gospel, learn to combat those passions, and with the help that
religion offers you, you manage to dominate them.
Tell me, dear young people, is it not in Church that you
began to know your Creator, to bend your heart to good for love
of him, to be docile, obedient, and attentive to the desires of
your parents; where you learned to know and love this Jesus
who wanted to be like you, children, so that you might imitate in
him that simplicity, modesty, and candor that make you so
lovable and almost angels on earth? Is it not in the Church that
you felt he surrounds and protects your innocence with his
blessings, with that very tender love for you that renders him
terrible and puts on his lips fearful words against those who
would be stumbling blocks for you? (Mt. 18: 6). Ah! truly it is
only with Jesus that you, O young people, can escape the
corruption of the world, conserve your affections chaste and
your heart immaculate.
Christian parents, is it not to the Church that you come to
receive from God the light and strength to fulfill the grave duties
of your state? Is it not here that your love for the person you had
chosen as your indivisible partner was solemnly blessed?
Where, in the Sacrament that the Apostle calls great (Eph. 5:
32), you have the pledge of the blessings that assist you in the
education of your children, that assure the harmony and peace of
your families?

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