Untitled - Saints' Books

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39 2 Material for Instructions. LPART n.
back by Hence it. St. Bernard said to a tepid soul,
do not wish to advance. You will then go back
ward." Are you unwilling to advance? Then you
wish to go backward. You perhaps will answer: I wish
to remain as I am, neither better nor worse. But this
is impossible. This," adds the saint, is what cannot
be done." 2 This cannot be, since Job has said, that
man never continueth in the same state? To win the prize
that is, the eternal crown, we must run till we obtain
it: So run that you may obtain? He who ceases to run,
shall lose all his labor and the crown of glory.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice? For,
with his graces the
as the divine mother said, God fills
souls that desire to become saints. He hath filed the
hungry with good things. Mark the words, the hungry, those
that hunger? But to become a saint, a simple desire
is not enough: a strong desire, and a certain hunger
after sanctity, are necessary. As flame runs through a
dry reed, so they who have this blessed hunger do not
walk, but run in the way of virtue. The just shall shine,
and shall run to and fro like 1
sparks among the reeds. Who,
then, shall become a saint ? He who wishes to become
one: If thou wilt be perfect, go, etc. 8 But he must wr
ish
for sanctity with true humility. The tepid Christian,
as the Wise Man says, also wills, but not with a sincere
will. He desires, and always desires, but his desires
bring him to destruction; for he feeds on them, and in
vis proficere; vis ergo deficere."
ergo vis, quod esse non potest." Ep. 254.
Nunquam in eodem statu permanet." Job, xiv. 2.
Sic currite, ut comprehendatis." i Cor. ix. 24.
Beati, qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam." MatlJi. v. 6.
Esurientes implevit
bonis."
Magnif.
Fulgebunt justi, et tanquam scintillse in arundineto discurrent.
Wisd. iii. 7.
8
"
Si vis perfectus esse, vade . . . ." Matth.
xix. 21.