They for whom sanctity signifies the multiplication of penances, Communions and vocal prayers, labor manifestly under a delusion. For such practices are good only insofar as God wills them. Out of harmony with his will, so far from giving him pleasure, they rather merit his detestation and punishment. Therefore, they are only intended to serve as means to unite our will to his. Let me repeat it: all perfection, all sanctity consists in faithfully accomplishing that which God requires of us. The Divine Will is the norm of all goodness and of all virtue. Being holiness itself, it sanctifies whatever it touches, even indifferent actions when they are done to please God…If, therefore, we wish to sanctify our souls, this should be our one aim: never to follow our own will, but always the Divine. For the whole multiplicity of precepts and counsels can be reduced to the single injunction that we do and suffer whatsoever God wills and as He wills. Hence the essentials of perfection may be expressed in the formula: Do all that God wills, will all that God does.” –A learned disciple of St Alphonsus Ligouri as quoted by Abbot Vital Lehody in ‘The Way That Leads To God’
Nov182014
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