Daily Thought For October 14, 2014

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Christian Maturity

Ask our Lord that it should please him to console you with his blessing, to make your soul overflow with his holy love and with the sacred humility and meekness of his heart, which are never apart from his love, just as his love is never apart from them. Do not allow yourself to become angry or let yourself be surprised to see that your soul still has all the imperfections that you habitually confess. Even though you must reject and even detest them in order to amend your life, you must not oppose them with anger, but instead with courage and tranquillity, so that you will be able to make a solid and secure resolution to correct them. This resolution, made while you are at rest and with mature consideration, will help you to choose the true means of carrying it out, among which will be the moderation of your human affections. I do not counsel their abandonment, but only their moderation. Thus will you be able 
to find times in which you will be ready for prayer, for a little spiritual reading, for lifting your heart to God, and for recovering your self-possession and setting your heart at peace and in a posture of meekness and humility. 
Compose your soul and let these resolutions sink deep within you. Above all, you must fight against a spirit of hatred for and discontent with your neighbor and abstain from an imperfection that we might not notice, but which is very damaging and which few people succeed in avoiding. When we censure our neighbor or complain about him—something we should do rarely—we never bring it to an end, but are always beginning again and endlessly repeating our complaints and grievances, which is a sign of a nettlesome heart that has not yet regained its health. Strong, robust hearts are sorrowful only about the most serious matters, and, even with respect to these they do not harbor resentment or let themselves be troubled. 
St. Francis de Sales

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