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Chapter 1:
The End which souls who aspire to high virtue ought to propose to themselves
Maxim 1:1
Have always before your eyes
the sublime end of your Christian commitment.
See your particular vocation and the attraction of divine grace
which draws you gently but firmly
to the practice of great virtue.
Do nothing that might distance you from
or make you undeserving of the graces
with which the divine Goodness
has been favouring you, perhaps for some time
and with little effect.
Maxim 1:2
Let it be the general principle of your life to be perfect
as your heavenly Father is perfect,
that is, to embrace courageously
in all things what tends to the greater glory of God,
what is most agreeable in his eyes
and what is most conformable to his will.
Maxim 1:3
Love God and what may be called divine.
Belong wholly to God
by a complete abandonment of yourself to his providence.
Be entirely for God by a pure and selfless love,
entirely in God by constant attention to his presence,
entirely according to God by perfect conformity of your will and your life
to the loving decrees of his divine will.
Maxim 1:4
See often the greatness of your soul in God
and its nothingness in itself.
Let the sight of your weakness and nothingness unceasingly humble
and confound you.
Let your greatness in God bring you to desire nothing
but what is great,
to practise virtue in its most perfect acts
and to make the least action great by a great love of God
and a purity and nobility of intention
of which we shall speak further in these Maxims.
Maxim 1:5
In this greatness of heart, consider as very little
whatever you are able to do or suffer for God.
For indeed before God everything is as nothing
and however great our service of God may be
it is always very lowly and very little
in comparison to what God infinitely deserves.
Maxim 1:6
In order to strengthen your desire to become holy,
and to continue in the practice of the most excellent virtues,
contemplate often the greatness of God.
There you will find such an immensity of perfection,
such merits and motives for serving God perfectly,
that the least slackening or tepidity in God's holy service
will pain you deeply,
and the difficulties and contradictions you encounter
in the practice of a high degree of piety
will never weary you.
This is the end which you ought to propose to yourself
as the goal of your life and these are the general rules
which will help you to be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.
The End which souls who aspire to high virtue ought to propose to themselves
Maxim 1:1
Have always before your eyes
the sublime end of your Christian commitment.
See your particular vocation and the attraction of divine grace
which draws you gently but firmly
to the practice of great virtue.
Do nothing that might distance you from
or make you undeserving of the graces
with which the divine Goodness
has been favouring you, perhaps for some time
and with little effect.
Maxim 1:2
Let it be the general principle of your life to be perfect
as your heavenly Father is perfect,
that is, to embrace courageously
in all things what tends to the greater glory of God,
what is most agreeable in his eyes
and what is most conformable to his will.
Maxim 1:3
Love God and what may be called divine.
Belong wholly to God
by a complete abandonment of yourself to his providence.
Be entirely for God by a pure and selfless love,
entirely in God by constant attention to his presence,
entirely according to God by perfect conformity of your will and your life
to the loving decrees of his divine will.
Maxim 1:4
See often the greatness of your soul in God
and its nothingness in itself.
Let the sight of your weakness and nothingness unceasingly humble
and confound you.
Let your greatness in God bring you to desire nothing
but what is great,
to practise virtue in its most perfect acts
and to make the least action great by a great love of God
and a purity and nobility of intention
of which we shall speak further in these Maxims.
Maxim 1:5
In this greatness of heart, consider as very little
whatever you are able to do or suffer for God.
For indeed before God everything is as nothing
and however great our service of God may be
it is always very lowly and very little
in comparison to what God infinitely deserves.
Maxim 1:6
In order to strengthen your desire to become holy,
and to continue in the practice of the most excellent virtues,
contemplate often the greatness of God.
There you will find such an immensity of perfection,
such merits and motives for serving God perfectly,
that the least slackening or tepidity in God's holy service
will pain you deeply,
and the difficulties and contradictions you encounter
in the practice of a high degree of piety
will never weary you.
This is the end which you ought to propose to yourself
as the goal of your life and these are the general rules
which will help you to be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.