They say sometimes that it is sufficient to be impious to be long-lived. We might believe it on seeing God's longanimity toward certain impious men. The Holy Spirit, also, has said: " The just man dies in the midst of his good works, and the impious man lives long in his iniquity. " God is waiting to convert him. He permits him to heap up crime upon crime that He may make of him a trophy of His mercy. He loves those great strokes of grace, those miracles of His mercy. They are feast-days of mercy, holidays in heaven.
--St. Peter Julian Eymard
