Untitled - Saints' Books

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INSTR. x.] The Love of God. 393
the mean time goes from bad to worse: The sluggard
willeth and willeth not. 1
Desires kill the slothfid?
Wisdom, that is sanctity, is easily found by them who
seek it: It is
found by them that seek her? But to find sanc
tity it is not enough to desire it; we must desire it with a
determined will to attain it: Ifyou seek, seek* says Isaias.
He who desires sanctity with a resolute will of acquiring
it,
easily attains it.
with the feet of the body,"
says St. Bernard, "but with the desires of the soul; is
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God sought."
And St. Teresa has written: "Let our
thoughts be great; from great thoughts our advance
ment shall come. Our desires must not be low and
grovelling, but we must trust in God; that, gradually
doing violence to ourselves, we shall, with the divine
grace, arrive at the sanctity which the saints have at
tained."
Open thy mouth wide, says the Lord, and I will fill it}
A mother cannot give suck to an infant if it
open not
its mouth to take the milk. Open thy mouth wide; that
is, says St. Athanasius, "Increase thy desires." By
holy desires the saints have arrived at perfection in a
short time:
Being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled
a long time* This was verified particularly in St.
Aloysius Gonzaga, who in a few years attained such
sublime sanctity, that to St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi,
who saw him in bliss, it
appeared that his glory was
scarcely surpassed by that of any
Vult et non vult piger."
Prov. xiii. 4.
of the saints. And
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Desideria occidunt pigrum." Prov. xxi. 25.
Invenitur ab his qui quaerunt
illam." Wisd. vi. 13.
Si quaeritis, quaerite." 7sa. xxi. 12.
Non pedum passibus, sed desideriis quseritur Deus." In Cant.
s. 84.
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Life, ch. 13.
Dilata os tuum, et implebo
illud." Ps. Ixxx. n.
9 " Dilata desiderium tuum."
Consummatus in brevi, explevit tempora multa." Wisd. iv. 13.