THE SPIRITUAL MAXIMS

All things are possible to one who believes, even more to one who hopes, and still more to one who loves; but all things are even more possible to one who practices these three virtues and perseveres in them. All who are baptized believers have made the first step on the road that leads to perfection, and will be perfect providing they persevere in the practice of the following guides to their conduct:

First.   We must always keep our eyes on God and His glory in all we do, say or undertake. May the goal toward which we strive be to become perfect worshipers of God in this life, just as we hope to be throughout all eternity. Resolve firmly to overcome, by the grace of God, all the difficulties found in the spiritual life.

Second.   When we undertake the spiritual life we must consider in depth who we are, and we will find ourselves worthy of all scorn, unworthy of the name of Christian, and subject to all sorts of afflictions and countless misfortunes. We will find that these woes not only trouble us but also make us uncertain in our health, in our moods, and in our inner and outward dispositions. In short, we will find ourselves among those whom God chooses to make humble through an abundance of sufferings and travails, both within and without.

Third.   We must believe beyond any doubt that it is to our advantage to sacrifice ourselves to God and that He is pleased by our sacrifice. It is normal in His divine Providence that we should be abandoned to all sorts of conditions, sufferings, afflictions and temptations for the love of God, as much and for as long as it is His will. Without this submission of heart and spirit to the will of God, there can be no devotion or going on to perfection.

Fourth.   A soul is all the more dependent on grace as it aspires to higher perfection, and the help and assistance of God are all the more necessary to us every moment because without Him the soul can do nothing. The world, the flesh and the devil all combine to make such a strong and continual war against the soul that without the very present help of God and our humble and necessary dependence upon Him, they would carry it away in spite of itself. To our nature this seems harsh, but grace takes pleasure in being dependent upon God and finds its rest in Him.