Our Piety Must Be Weak And Imperfect

How Dangerous It Is For Our Salvation, How Unworthy Of God And Of Ourselves, How Pernicious Even For The Peace Of Our Hearts, To Want Always To Stay Where We Are! Our Whole Life Was Only Given Us To Advance Us By Great Strides Toward Our Heavenly Country.

God Is Our True Friend, Who Always Gives Us The Counsel And Comfort We Need. Our Danger Lies In Resisting Him; So It Is Essential That We Acquire The Habit Of Hearkening To His Voice, Or Keeping Silence Within, And Listening So As To Lose Nothing Of What He Says To Us.

God Bears With Imperfect Beings Even When They Resist His Goodness. We Ought To Imitate This Merciful Patience And Endurance. It Is Only Imperfection That Complains Of What Is Imperfect. The More Perfect We Are, The More Gentle And Quiet We Become Toward The Defects Of Other People.

The Kingdom Of God Which Is Within Us Consists In Our Willing Whatever God Wills, Always, In Every Thing, And Without Reservation; And Thus His Kingdom Comes; For His Will Is Then Done As It Is In Heaven, Since We Will Nothing But What Is Dictated By His Sovereign Pleasure.

Mankind, By The Perverse Depravity Of Their Nature, Esteem That Which They Have Most Desired As Of No Value The Moment It Is Possessed, And Torment Themselves With Fruitless Wishes For That Which Is Beyond Their Reach.