- CHRISTIAN SOUL! If you seek to reach the loftiest peak of perfection, and to unite yourself so intimately with God that you become one with spirit with Him, you must first know the true nature and perfection of spirituality.
- Some, who judge by appearances, make it consist in penances, in hair shirts, austerities of the flesh, vigils, fasting, and similar bodily mortifications.
- Others, especially women, fancy themselves extremely virtuous when they indulge in long periods of vocal prayers, hear several Masses, spend many hours in church.
- Others, and this does not exclude some of the religious who have consecrated themselves to God, think that perfection consist in perfect attendance in choir, in observing silence and in a strict observance of their rule. Consequently, different people place perfection in different practices. It is certain that they all equally deceive themselves.
- Since exterior works are nothing more than dispositions for achieving true piety, or the effects of real piety, it cannot be said that Christian perfection and true piety consist in them. They are, without doubt, powerful means for becoming truly perfect and truly holy.
- When used with discretion they are of unique value in supporting our nature which is always indifferent to good and inclined to evil; in repelling the attacks and escaping the snares of our common enemy.
TRULY HOLY MEN
1.) Such men chastise their bodies for past offenses or for greater humiliation and subjection to their Creator
2.) They seek solitude and observe silence that, withdrawn from the world, they may perserve themselves free from the least stain of sin
3.) Their time is spent in works of piety and in the service of God
4.) They pray and meditate on the life and Passion of our Redeemer, not through curiosity, but from a desire of knowing better the grandeur of the Divine Goodness and the depth of their own ingratitude
5.) They increase their love of God and detestation of self, to follow their Lord in shouldering His Cross, and in renouncing their own will.
6.) They receive sacraments for no other reason than the honor of God, a closer union with Him and greater security from the power of the devil.
- Those who are ignorant place their devotional in external acts; they are so attached to these acts that they utterly neglect to watch the inner movements of their hearts
- They [become vulnerable to] tricks of the devil, who fills their imagination with empty ideas, making them believe that they already taste the joys of Paradise, the delights of Angels, that they see God face to face!
- In every circumstance they love to be shown preference to others. They know no guide but their own private judgment, no rule but their own will. They are blind in their own affairs, ferret-eyed in regard to those of the neighbors, always ready to find fault.
- If God Himself, in order to open their eyes and to show them the true path of perfection, should send them crosses, sickness, or severe persecutions, the surest trials of His servant's fidelity, which never happen unless by his plan and permission, then the degenerate condition of their hearts is laid bare through their own extravagant pride.
- They know nothing of a proper conformity to the Will of God.
- They do not know how to imitate Christ Crucified, as He humbled Himself before all men; nor do they know how to love their enemies as the instruments used by God's goodness to train them to self-denial and to help not only in their future salvation, but in greater sanctification of their daily life.
- They are in imminent danger of being lost with eyes blinded by self-love
- They conclude that they are far advanced towards God and they readily look down on their neighbor.
- Spiritual life consists in a true sense of our weakness and tendency to evil, in loving God and hating ourselves, in humbling ourselves not only before Him, but for His sake, before all men, in renouncing entirely our own will in order to follow His.
- This is why we must practice self-denial...This it is that renders His yoke so sweet.
- Since, therefore, you seek the highest degree of perfection, you must wage continual warfare against yourself and employ your entire strength in demolishing each vicious inclination, however trivial. Consequently, in preparing for the combat you must summon up all your resolution and courage.
- Every person, in his own particular sphere, should begin with what is immediately required of him (before focusing on helping others)
- What God expects of us, above all else, is a serious application to conquering our passions...in a perpetual war with yourself.
FOUR WEAPONS
1.) Distrust of one's self
2.) Confidence in God
3.) Proper use of the faculties of body and mind
4.) The duty of prayer
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