Psalms 36:4

He did not pass through this world's life like those who are confident that they have left it behind but have still remained in it and have become stuck in it.

Moreover, he meditated wickedness in his bed, where he should have sought the truth. For in our beds, we should remorse our sins, not commit them by our very actions, as the Prophet says: "What you utter in your hearts, and in your beds you are remorseful."

Moreover, he meditated wickedness in his bed, where he should have sought the truth. For in our beds, we should remorse our sins, not commit them by our very actions, as the Prophet says: "What you utter in your hearts, and in your beds you are remorseful" (Psalm IV, 5). He stood, he said, on a path that was not good: but he did not have hatred for wickedness. For it is not without reason that he contemplates injustice, who stands on the path of error and loves wickedness, which he ought to hate. He said more, he stood; as if he had long been in the way of wickedness, by a long-standing station. For blessed is the one who has not stood on the path of sinners, not the one who does not cease to stand on it. And therefore, the first precepts are those of the holy prophet David, to flee from impiety, not to stand in sin, to meditate on the Law; so that you may understand what is good and distinguish between what is just and unjust. Therefore, in all things, the root of procreation must be observed, so that it is not contaminated with useless juice from the beginning, and the vices of the mind are much more serious than those of the branches. Therefore, above all else, we must be careful that the use of malice does not grow in human ingenuity, and that every generation degenerates; for a bad tree produces bad fruit. For if we often do what we do not want, and cannot avoid what we hate; and we do what we hate, either from the pleasure of wickedness or by the stealth of sin: how can we avoid what we love? We are constrained and unwilling; how can we not be held voluntary? Paul scarcely extricates himself from daily errors by struggling in debate, so that, having been freed from the chains of captivity, he might be preserved by the grace of Christ; and do you think that by assisting in sins you can attain the rewards of heavenly promises? The crown is sought through struggle, not through resistance; it is obtained through endeavor, not through opposition. Moreover, the support of divine mercy should be sought for those who strive, so that the crown of righteousness may be bestowed on them according to the merits of their labors.