Untitled - Saints' Books

314 Material for Instructions. LPART n.
of Thy hand. What 1
can God receive from you to increase
his riches? Moreover, we are useless servants, because
however much we do for a God who merits infinite love,
and has suffered so much for the love of us, it is all
nothing. Hence the Apostle writes: If I preach the
Gospel, it is no glory to me, for a necessity licth upon me? To
all that we do for God we are bound by our obligations
and by gratitude; particularly as all that we do is his
work more than it is ours. Who would not laugh at the
clouds, if they boasted of the rain that they send down ?
This is the language of St. Bernard. 3 He then adds,
that we ought to praise, not so much the saints for the
works that they perform, as God who operates through
them. 4 St. Augustine says the same: "Every good
thing, large or small, is a gift of God : from ourselves
J
comes what is bad." And in another .place, speaking
to God, he writes: "Whoever enumerates to Thee Thy
merits, does he enumerate to Thee anything but Thy
merits?" 6
Hence, when we do any good, we must say to the Lord:
We have given TJiee what we received 1
of TJiy When
hand."
St. Teresa performed any good work, or saw a good act
done by others, she began to praise God for it, saying
that it was entirely his work. Hence, St. Augustine
remarks, that unless humility go before, pride will steal
1 "
Si juste egeris, quid donabis ei, aut quid de manu tua accipiet?"
Job, xxxv. 7.
2 "Si
evangelizavero. non est mihi gloria; necessitas enim mihi incumbit."
i Cor. ix. 16.
3 "Si
glorientur nubes, quod imbres genuerint, quis
non irrideat?"
In Cant. s. 13.
4
Laudo Deum in sanctis "
suis, qui, in ipsis manens, ipse facit
opera."
Ibid.
5 "Si
quid boni est, parvum vel magnum, donum tuum est; et
nostrum non est nisi malum." Solil. an. ad D. c. 15.
6 "
Quisquis tibi enumerat merita sua, quid tibi enumerat, nisi
munera tua?"
Conf. 1. 9, c. 13.
1 "
Quae de manu tua accepimus, dedimus tibi." i Par. xxix. 14.