There is many a consolation to relieve the torment of a guilty conscience. God is kind and does not let us be tempted beyond our strength. Especially at the beginning of our conversion, he anoints our wounds with the oil of mercy so that the acute nature of our sickness and the difficulty of the cure are perceived only to the extent that is expedient. On us seems to smile a sort of easiness, which later disappears when the senses have been trained by practice to fight, so that one may overcome and come to learn that wisdom is more powerful than anything.
Bernard of Clairvaux
