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So that, in the first place, the intention of St. Thomas is not to prove that some sinners are deprived of all actual grace, and therefore, being unable to avoid all sin, they fall, and are all the same worthy of punishment; but his intention is to prove against the Pelagians that a man who remains without sanctifying grace cannot abstain from sinning. And this is the teaching of the Thomists in their comments on this passage.
What cruel swords of anguish and remorse for the damned will the lights, the calls, and all the other graces be which they received from God in order to repent and be saved! They will say: “We might have become saints and happy for ever in Heaven, but now, alas, we must be forever miserable in hell!”
It is an excellent practice also, in the moment of temptation, to make the Sign of the Cross on the forehead and breast. It is also of great service to reveal the temptation to our spiritual director. St. Philip Neri used to say that a temptation made known is half-conquered.
If, then, God wills all to be saved, it follows that He gives to all that grace and those aids which are necessary for the attainment of salvation, otherwise it could never be said that He has a true will to save all.
The greatest torment the damned will have to suffer in hell will be from themselves; from their own remorse of conscience. Their worm dieth not. Alas, what a cruel worm will it be to Christians who are lost in hell, to remember for what trifles they have damned their souls!
If the impure temptation has already forced its way into the mind, and plainly pictures its object to the imagination, so as to stir the passions, then, according to the advice of St. Jerome, we must burst forth into these words: “O Lord, thou art my helper.”
That Jesus Christ, therefore, died for all and for each individual is clear, not only from the Scriptures, but from the writings of the Fathers. Great, certainly, was the ruin which the sin of Adam occasioned to the whole human race; but Jesus Christ, by the grace of Redemption, repaired all the evils which Adam brought upon us.
When all shall be gathered together in the Valley of Josaphet, what a glorious appearance will the Saints make who in this world were so much despised! And what a horrible appearance will so many of those great ones of earth, and kings, and princes make, who will on that day stand condemned!
Let us come now to the means which we have to employ in order to vanquish temptations. Spiritual masters prescribe a variety of means; but the most necessary, and the safest, of which only I will here speak, is to have immediate recourse to God with all humility and confidence, saying: “Incline unto my aid, O God; O Lord make haste to help me!”
Taking, then, for granted that Prayer is necessary for the attainment of Eternal Life, as we have proved, we ought, consequently, to take for granted also that every one has Divine assistance to enable him actually to pray, without need of any further special grace; and that by Prayer he may obtain all the other graces necessary to enable him to persevere in keeping the Commandments, and thus gain Eternal Life; so that no one who is lost can ever excuse himself by saying that it was through want of the aid necessary for his salvation.