Untitled - Saints' Books

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394 Material for Instructions. [PART n.
she was told that he attained to such glory by the ardor
with which he desired, during life, to love God as much
as he deserved to be loved.
Desires, says St. Laurence Justinian, give strength to
1
the soul, and render labor light. Hence the saint adds,
that he who has an ardent desire of victory has already
conquered. 2 St. Augustine has said: "For him that
labors, the road is narrow; for him that loves, it is wide." 3
To him who has but little love for sanctity, the way is
narrow and difficult to be trodden; but he who ardently
loves perfection, finds the way broad, and walks in it
without labor. The broadness, then, of the way is
found not in the way, but in the heart; that is, in a de
termined will to please God: I have run the way of Thy
commandments ,
when Thou didst enlarge my heart.* Blosius
says that the Lord is not less pleased by holy desires
5
than by ardent love.
He that has not the desire of becoming a saint, let
him at least ask it of God, and God will give
it to him.
And let us be persuaded that to become a saint is not
difficult to him who desires it. In the world it is diffi
cult for a vassal to obtain the friendship of his sovereign,
however ardently he may desire it, but, said the courtier
of the emperor mentioned by St. Augustine, to obtain
the friendship of God it is enough to wish for it: Be
hold, if I wish am I instantly his friend!" And St.
Bernard has written that a man cannot have a greater
1
"Vires subministrat, poenam exhibet leviorem." DC Disc. won.
c. 6.
2 "
Magna victorise pars
est vincendi desiderium." De Casto Conn.
c. 3.
3 "
4 " Viam
Laboranti ant>usta via est, amanti lata." In Ps. 30, en. 2..
mandatorum tuorum cucurri, cum dilatasticor meum." Ps.
cxviii. 32.
5
Deus non minus sancto desiderio "
Isetatur, quam
si anima amore
liquefiat."
6
Amicus " Dei, si voluero, ecce nunc fio."
Conf. 1. 8,
c. 6.