The whole trend of my life is almost all more or less imperfect. This CONVICTION, which Satan tries to keep out of my mind, is going to be the basis of mistrust of myself and of creatures. And this element, united to my desire to belong to Jesus will necessarily produce:
Vigilance, loyal and exact, gentle, peaceful, confident in grace, and based on the repression of dissipation and of the excesses of natural enthusiasm. A frequent renewal of my resolution. Tireless new beginnings, ever full of confidence in the mercy of Christ for the soul that really puts up a fight to acquire self-custody. An ever increasing certitude that I am not fighting alone but united to Jesus living in me, to Mary His Mother, to my Guardian Angel, and to the Saints. A conviction that these powerful allies are helping me at every moment as long as I keep striving for self-custody: as long as I do not put myself out of reach of their assistance. Finally, a cordial and frequent recourse to all these divine helps, that I may be able with their aid to do quod Deus vult and do it quomodo Deus vult and quia Deus vult.
What God wants . . . the way God wants it . . . because God wants it.
Oh! what a transformation will take place in my life, Dear Lord, if I keep my heart united to You! My mind may be completely absorbed in the business in hand. And yet there is something I have observed in souls that are extremely busy, and who yet never cease to live and breathe in You: and that is what I want to arrive at, in the course of even my most absorbing work.
If I have well understood what self-custody means, far from diminishing the freedom of action required by my faculties if they are to carry out all the duties of my state, my soul, breathing in the atmosphere of love which is Yourself, Jesus, will increase that liberty and make my life serene, joyful, powerful, and full of fruit.
Instead of being the slave of my pride, of my selfishness or of my laziness; instead of groaning beneath the yoke of my passions and feelings, I shall become more and more free. And with this increase in my liberty I shall be able, O my God, to give You more and more frequent homage of dependence. Thus I shall be strengthened in true humility, the foundation without which the interior life would simply be an illusion. And so I shall develop in myself that basic spirit of submission: Submisso ad Deum,
Humility consists chiefly in the submission of man to God (St. Thomas Aquinas).
which sums up the whole inner life of Our Savior.
Participating in the flame of love which made You always so attentive and docile to Your Father’s good pleasure, Jesus, I shall merit a share, in Heaven, of the glory which Your Humanity enjoys as a reward for its wonderful dependence of humility and love: “Becoming obedient . . . for which God also hath exalted Him. . . .”
Factus oboediens . . . propter quod et Deus exaltavit ilium (Phil. 2:9).
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