Three Ways to Avoid Faults

Tunc beatus Chaeremon: Tria sunt, inquit, quae faciunt homines a vitiis temperare, id est, aut metus gehennae, sive praesentium legum, aut spes atque desiderium regni coelorum, aut affectus boni ipsius amorque virtutum. Nam timor ita mali contagium legitur exsecrari: Timor Domini odit malitiam. Spes etiam, vitiorum omnium excludit incursum: 'Non' enim 'delinquent omnes qui sperant in eum.' Amor quoque ruinam non metuit peccatorum, quia 'Charitas operit multitudinem peccatorum.' Et idcirco beatus Apostolus omnem salutis summam istarum trium virtutum consummatione concludens: 'Nunc,' inquit, 'manent fides, spes, charitas: tria haec.' Fides namque est, quae futuri judicii ac suppliciorum metu vitiorum facit contagia declinari; spes, quae mentem nostram de praesentibus avocans, universas corporis voluptates coelestium praemiorum exspectaione contemnit; charitas, quae nos ad amorem Christi et spiritalium virtutum fructum mentis ardore succendens, quidquid illis contrarium est, toto facit odio detestari. Quae tria, licet ad unum finem tendere videantur, provocant enim nos a rebus illicitis abstinere, magnis tamen excellentiae suae gradibus ab invicem disparantur. Duo namque superiro proprie hominum sunt eorum qui ad profectum tendentes, necdum affectum concepere virtutum. Tertium specialiter Dei est, et eorum qui in sese imaginem Dei ac similitudinem receperunt. Ille namque solus ea quae bona sunt, nullo metu, nulla remunerationis gratia provocante, sed solo bonitatis affectu operatur.  Sanctus Ioannes Cassianus, Collationes, Col XI, Cap VI.

Then the blessed Chaeremon said, 'There are three things which enable men to suppress their faults: either the fear of hell or of present laws; or the hope and desire of the kingdom of heaven; or an affection for goodness itself and love of virtue. For one reads that the fear of evil loathes contamination: 'The fear of the Lord hates evil.' Hope also excludes the intrusions of all faults: 'All who hope in Him shall not fail.' Love also does not fear the ruin of sins, for: 'Love covers a multitude of sins.' And therefore the blessed Apostle encloses the whole sum of salvation in the attainment of these three virtues, saying 'Now abide faith, hope, love, these three.' For faith is that which makes us avoid the infections of faults from fear of future judgment and punishment; hope is that which calls away our mind from present things, and spurns all corporeal pleasures by the expectation of heavenly rewards; love is that which  inflames us with desire of heart for the love of Christ and the spiritual fruit of the virtues, and makes us hate with a perfect hatred whatever is opposed to these. These three things, although they all seem to aim at one end, for they exhort us to abstain from illicit things, yet they differ from each other greatly in the degrees of their excellence. For the first two are fitting for men who in their aim at improvement have not yet acquired an affection for virtue. The third belongs specially to God and to those who have received into themselves the image and likeness of God. For that one alone, with no fear, with no expectation of reward, but simply from the love of goodness, does the things that are good. Saint John Cassian, Conferences, Conference 11, Ch 6.