That all things are possible to him who _believes_--that they are less
difficult to him who _hopes_--that they are more easy to him who
_loves_, and still more easy to him who perseveres in the practice of
these three virtues.
That the end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this
life, the most perfect worshippers of GOD we can possibly be, as we
hope to be through all eternity.
That when we enter upon the spiritual life, we should consider, and
examine to the bottom, what we are. And then we should find ourselves
worthy of all contempt, and not deserving indeed the name of
Christians: subject to all kinds of misery and numberless accidents,
which trouble us and cause perpetual vicissitudes in our health, in
our humors, in our internal and external dispositions; in fine,
persons whom GOD would humble by many pains and labors, as well within
as without. After this we should not wonder that troubles,
temptations, oppositions and contradictions happen to us from men. We
ought, on the contrary, to submit ourselves to them, and bear them as
long as GOD pleases, as things highly advantageous to us.
That the greater perfection a soul aspires after, the more dependent
it is upon Divine grace.
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