Christian doctrine clearly proposes to us the truths God wills us to believe, the goods he wills us to hope for, the punishments he wills us to fear, the things he wills us to love, the commandments he wills us to fulfill, and the counsels he desires us to follow. All of this is called the signified will of God, because he has signified and made manifest his will and intention that these things should be believed, hoped for, feared, loved, and practised.
The conformity of our heart with God’s signified will consists in the fact that we will all that God’s goodness signified to us as his intention, so that we believe according to his teaching, hope according to his promises, fear according to his warnings, and love and live according to his ordinations and admonitions.
Since prayer places our intellect in the brilliance of God’s light and exposes our will to the warmth of his heavenly love, nothing else so effectively purifies our intellect of ignorance and our will of depraved affections. It is a stream of holy water that flows forth and makes the plants of our good desires grow green and flourish and quenches the passions within our hearts.
The Virgin Mother gathered in her heart - through her ever- vivid memory of them - all the loveable incidents of her Son’s life and death. She was always in direct contact with the most ardent inspirations that her Son, in his sunrise of restoration (Mal.4,2) casts upon the hearts of men from the noonday blaze of charity.
Whenever I speak of my neighbour, the tongue in my mouth is like a scalpel in the hand of a surgeon who wishes to cut between the nerves and the tendons. The stroke I give must be neither more nor less than the truth. We must be especially careful when condemning a vice to spare as much as possible the person in whom it is found.
Our words are a true indication of the state of our souls. Always speak of God as of God, that is, reverently and devoutly, not with outward show or affection but in a spirit of gentleness, charity, and humility.
As far as possible pass favourable judgments on your neighbour. If an action has many different aspects, we must always think of which is the best.
We must not be disturbed at our imperfections, since for us perfection consists in fighting against our imperfections.
Our possessions are not our own. God has given them to us to cultivate and he wants us to make them fruitful and profitable. Hence, we perform an acceptable service by taking good care of them. It must be a greater and finer a care than that which worldly people have for their property. They labour out of self-love, and we must labour out of love of God.
Whatever part of riches and transitory things you may possess, you must keep your heart from the slightest affection for them. Do not allow this heavenly spirit to become captive to earthly goods.
Be very quick to turn away from whatever leads or allures to lewd conduct, for this evil works without knowing it and from small beginnings moves on to great difficulties. Such things are always easier to avoid than to cure.
Chastity depends on the heart as its source but looks to the body as its subject. For this reason, it may be lost both by the body’s external senses and by thoughts and desires within the heart. It is an act of impurity to look at, hear, speak, smell, or touch anything immodest if our heart is entertained thereby and takes pleasure in it.
Associate with chaste, virtuous people and often think and read about sacred things. Always keep yourself close to Jesus Christ crucified, both spiritually by meditation and really by Holy Communion...if you rest your heart on our Lord, who is the true chaste and immaculate Lamb, you will see that your soul and your heart will soon be cleansed of all stain and lewdness.
Love everyone with a deep love based on charity... but form friendships only with those who can share virtuous things with you. The higher the virtues you share and exchange with others, the more perfect your friendship will be.
All love is not friendship, first because we can love without being loved. In such cases there is love but not friendship since friendship is mutual love, and if it is not mutual it is not friendship. Secondly, it is not sufficient for it to be merely mutual. Persons who love each other must be aware of their reciprocal affection, and if they are unaware of their love is not friendship. Thirdly, there must be some kind of communication between them, and this is the basis of friendship.
Nothing makes us so prosperous in this world as to give alms.
The queen of the bees never goes to the fields without being accompanied by her little subjects. Similarly, charity never enters a heart without finding a lodging there for itself as well as for a retinue of other virtues which it exercises and sets to work as a captain does his soldiers.
Mighty rivers boil and leap as they roar their way over the rocky reefs and shoals that disturb their majestic flow; when their bed is level, they glide along flowing gently, effortlessly. God’s love too, when it meets with much resistance, many obstacles, in a human heart - and, if the truth be told, they are to be found in all of us to some extent - makes an onslaught, fighting evil tendencies, smiting the heart, goading the will by means of various emotions and exertions, to gain an entry or at least to overcome the obstacles
Love is the most forceful persuasion the human heart can know. Love exerts its influence without fuss or force through mutual gratification - just as we are gratified by God, so we long to gratify him in return.
Our will transforms itself into that of the divine majesty by the delight which takes in the divine will.
Choosing a vocation, planning something that is important, time-consuming or costly, moving house, making friends - things of that kind deserve serious reflection, to see where God’s will chiefly lies.
Love is the soul of our life. To love is the law of our being. The quality of our life depends on the quality of our love.
This divine Author and Master of nature cooperates with and lends a powerful hand to the fire leap forward, to the water to flow down to the sea, to the earth to sink lower and remain there on reaching there. Similarly, God planted in our heart a special rational inclination not only to love good in general, but to love specially and above all things his divine goodness which is better and more lovable than all things.
God does not intend each person to follow all the counsels, but only those that are suitable. He wishes that each one keeps the counsels depending on the differences of individuals, of times, of circumstances and abilities just as charity dictates it. For charity is queen of all virtues, of all commandments and of all counsels. In short, it is charity the queen of all laws, all Christian activities giving them all their rank, their order, their time and their value.
I declare with emphasis that ignorance in a priest is more to be dreaded than sin, because it does not merely lead him to ruin, but dishonours and degrades the Sacerdotal character. For the priest, knowledge is the eighth sacrament, and the greatest misfortunes have come upon the Church wherever the Ark of Science has been permitted to fall from the hand of the Levites.
A vocation to the Religious life is a call to seek after the perfection of holiness, which is nothing but seeking God’s love in all things and to belong entirely to him and to find your joy in living in his presence.
The everlasting God has, in his wisdom, foreseen from eternity the cross that He now presents to you as a gift from His inmost heart. This cross He now sends you He has considered with His all-knowing eyes, understood with His loving mind, tested with His wise justice, warmed with His loving arms, and weighed with His own hands, to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with His holy name, anointed it with His grace, perfumed it with His consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from Heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all-merciful love of God.
The bee has no other remedy for its sickness but expose itself to the rays of the sun, expecting heat and healing from its splendour. Let us all place ourselves before the Crucified and say to Him: O splendid Sun of our hearts, you will revive us with the rays of your goodness. Here we are almost dead before you; we will not move from here until your heat brings us back to life.
As soon as you are conscious of being tempted, follow the example of children when they see a wolf or a bear out in the country. They immediately run to the arms of their father or mother, or at least call to them for help and protection. In the same way, turn to God and implore His mercy and help. This is the remedy Our Lord Himself has taught us: “Be on guard and pray that you may not be put to the test (Mk 14:38).
Humility which does not produce generosity is false, because true humility, after it has said, “I can do nothing, I am good for nothing," must immediately give way to a generosity of spirit which says, “There is nothing nor can there be anything I cannot do if I place all my faith in God." The humble soul, relying on this confidence, with great courage takes up anything that is commanded.
The heart of a man who is open to receive the gift of God, is like wax in God’s hands, ready for every impression of the eternal will. Such a heart knows no personal preference, equally prepared for anything; it’s one aim is the fulfilling of God’s will. It is not attracted by the things God wants, only by his will that wants them. So, when God’s will includes several things, the heart chooses the one where God’s will is chiefly to be found, cost what it may.
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