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Chapter 14:
The Good Use of Time
Maxim 14:1
Be concerned
about the good use of time.
It is precious
and its loss is irreparable.
Maxim 14:2
In order to use time well
live not only in the state of grace at all times.
since this is essential
for the profitable use of time,
but live also as far as possible
in the habit and practice of great love.
Consecrate to God all your actions,
ordinary and otherwise,
with a pure and noble intention
of which the principle one should be
to please God and glorify God.
Maxim 14:3
Take care to profit from every opportunity
which presents itself
of practicising great virtue.
Maxim 14:4
Give your full attention
to the actions you perform.
Remove from them
the slightest imperfections,
and try to observe all conditions necessary
to make them perfect.
One action done well
is worth a thousand
done half-heartedly.
Maxim 14:5
On this point,
always remember to give yourself whole-heartedly
to carrying out the present will of God
without being distracted
by concern about the future.
This is an illusion that the devil uses to distract you
from the attention you should give
to present actions
with the result that these are full of imperfections.
Maxim 14:6
Be recollected
in God
and
do everything
in his presence.
Maxim 14:7
Unite all your actions to the merits of the life and death
of the Saviour Jesus.
Make his intentions yours,
and as St. Paul exhorts us,
perform all your actions in Jesus' name.
Make all your petitions through Jesus,
as the church does.
Hope that all you desire to receive
from divine Goodness may pass through his hands.
Maxim 14:8
We shall develop the two preceding Maxims
a little further
in the light of the Gospel.
Do everything in Jesus, uniting yourself to him
as a branch to the vine.
Does he not say that he is the vine and we are the branches?
Do everything with Jesus,
united to him as the instrument
to its principal cause
or as the hand of the learner to the teacher who guides it.
Do everything through Jesus,
desiring that everything you do
may have its source in him
as its first principle,
so that he may be the soul of your soul,
the life of your life, and
the spirit which animates your every action.
Maxim 14:9
Finally, be clothed
and utterly filled with Jesus,
applying to yourself
interiorly
his graces, merits, intentions
and all the holiness
of his adorable humility.
Maxim 14:10
Let me conclude these Maxims
on the good use of time.
Act in such a way that,
as St. Paul exhorts us,
your whole life may be hidden with Jesus Christ in God.
That means, do everything in God
and with God,
living an interior life animated
by the sovereign intentions in the mind of God
when he prescribes your actions and helps you,
by his assistance,
to do them well.
Desire that in all things you may be filled,
led, animated as it were, by the Holy Spirit
who is truly the Soul of your souls
since it is from him that they have life,
through grace,
and are as though deified by him.
Oh, if only you knew how to live
in the fullness of the Spirit of Jesus in God,
and in the fullness of the Spirit of God in the Saviour Jesus,
what progress you would make
in every kind of virtue and merit,
for all eternity!
The Good Use of Time
Maxim 14:1
Be concerned
about the good use of time.
It is precious
and its loss is irreparable.
Maxim 14:2
In order to use time well
live not only in the state of grace at all times.
since this is essential
for the profitable use of time,
but live also as far as possible
in the habit and practice of great love.
Consecrate to God all your actions,
ordinary and otherwise,
with a pure and noble intention
of which the principle one should be
to please God and glorify God.
Maxim 14:3
Take care to profit from every opportunity
which presents itself
of practicising great virtue.
Maxim 14:4
Give your full attention
to the actions you perform.
Remove from them
the slightest imperfections,
and try to observe all conditions necessary
to make them perfect.
One action done well
is worth a thousand
done half-heartedly.
Maxim 14:5
On this point,
always remember to give yourself whole-heartedly
to carrying out the present will of God
without being distracted
by concern about the future.
This is an illusion that the devil uses to distract you
from the attention you should give
to present actions
with the result that these are full of imperfections.
Maxim 14:6
Be recollected
in God
and
do everything
in his presence.
Maxim 14:7
Unite all your actions to the merits of the life and death
of the Saviour Jesus.
Make his intentions yours,
and as St. Paul exhorts us,
perform all your actions in Jesus' name.
Make all your petitions through Jesus,
as the church does.
Hope that all you desire to receive
from divine Goodness may pass through his hands.
Maxim 14:8
We shall develop the two preceding Maxims
a little further
in the light of the Gospel.
Do everything in Jesus, uniting yourself to him
as a branch to the vine.
Does he not say that he is the vine and we are the branches?
Do everything with Jesus,
united to him as the instrument
to its principal cause
or as the hand of the learner to the teacher who guides it.
Do everything through Jesus,
desiring that everything you do
may have its source in him
as its first principle,
so that he may be the soul of your soul,
the life of your life, and
the spirit which animates your every action.
Maxim 14:9
Finally, be clothed
and utterly filled with Jesus,
applying to yourself
interiorly
his graces, merits, intentions
and all the holiness
of his adorable humility.
Maxim 14:10
Let me conclude these Maxims
on the good use of time.
Act in such a way that,
as St. Paul exhorts us,
your whole life may be hidden with Jesus Christ in God.
That means, do everything in God
and with God,
living an interior life animated
by the sovereign intentions in the mind of God
when he prescribes your actions and helps you,
by his assistance,
to do them well.
Desire that in all things you may be filled,
led, animated as it were, by the Holy Spirit
who is truly the Soul of your souls
since it is from him that they have life,
through grace,
and are as though deified by him.
Oh, if only you knew how to live
in the fullness of the Spirit of Jesus in God,
and in the fullness of the Spirit of God in the Saviour Jesus,
what progress you would make
in every kind of virtue and merit,
for all eternity!