Spiritual lovers, spouses of the Heavenly King, do indeed view themselves from time to time, like doves near most pure waters, to see whether they shall be pleasing to those they love; and this is done by the examens of conscience, by which they cleanse themselves, purify and adorn themselves the best they may, not to satisfy themselves, but to obey the Spouse, for the reverence they bear Him, and the extreme desire which they have to give Him pleasure. And is not this a love very pure, very simple, and very perfect, since they do not purify themselves in order to be pure, nor adorn themthemselves in order to be beautiful, but only to please their Heavenly Lover, to whom if ugliness were as pleasing, they would love it as much as beauty.  – – St Francis de Sales, wordsmith Saint, ‘The Exercises of Christian Simplicity’