Untitled - Saints' Books

"
INSTR. x.j The Love of God. 403
4. CONFORMITY TO THE WILL OF GOD.
Fourthly and lastly, he who wishes to be a saint
must wish only what God wishes. All our good con
sists in uniting ourselves to the will of God: And life in
His good-will? St. Teresa says:
"All that he who prac
tises mental prayer should seek, is to conform his will
to the divine will; let him be assured that in this con
5
sists the highest perfection." All that the Lord de
mands of us is, that we give him our heart; that is, our
will: My son, give Me thy heart? St. Anselm says that
God asks and, as it were, begs our heart; and when
4
cast off, he does not depart, but repeats his petitions^
The most acceptable
offering, then, that we can pre
sent to God is the oblation of our will, saying with the
Apostle: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? 5
Hence St.
Augustine has written: "We can do nothing more
pleasing than to say to him, Do Thou possess
us." The
Lord said that he had found in David a man according
to his own heart. And why? Because David fulfilled
all his divine wills: I have found David, the son of Jesse, a
man according to my own heart? Let us endeavor to say
always with David: Teach me to do Thy will.* Lord,
teach me to do nothing but what Thou wiliest. Hence
we must frequently offer ourselves to God, saying with
1 "
Et vita in voluntate ejus."
Ps. xxix. 6.
2 Int. Castle, d. 2, ch. i.
3 "
Praebe, fili mi, cor tuum mihi." Prov. xxiii. 26.
4
Nonne tu es Deus " meus, qui tarn crebro pulsas et mendicas ad
5 "
ostium nostrum, dicens: Prsebe, fili mi, cor tuum mihi? imo, et
saepe repulsus, te iterum ingeris De Metis, cntc. c. 5.
Domine, quid me vis facere ?"
Acts, ix. 6.
6 "
Nihil gratius Deo possumus offere, quam ut dicamus ei: Posside
nos." In Ps. 131.
Inveni David, filium Jesse, virum secundum cor meum, qui faciet
omnes voluntates meas." Acts, xiii. 22.
8 "
Doce me facere voluntatem tuam." Ps. cxlii. 9.