The Catholic Message Board

Obi-Wan Kenobi wrote: ↑Fri Mar 06, 2026 8:53 pm Dante:

If any soul should dare at last deny
That God alone the sinner’s cause sustains,
The efficient source from whom all mercies fly;

And Christ alone, whose merit ever reigns,
The fountain of the righteousness we claim,
Whose blood alone the spotless robe maintains;

And faith alone, the instrument by name
Through which that righteousness is freely given—
Not works that grasp at merit, power, or fame;

If he excludes not works from earth to heaven
As causes—formal, meritorious, strong—
Yet says that faith bears fruit by love’s own leaven,

For faith, though lone in justifying, throngs
With living works that blossom from its root,
And never stands in barrenness or wrong—

Then let that soul be cast from sacred suit,
Anathema pronounced with rightful breath,
Cut off from truth, deprived of holy fruit.