Page:Complete ascetical works of St Alphonsus v6.djvu/329

Rh brightest fortune, that can befall a creature, is to give pleasure to his Creator.

And this is what Jesus Christ looks for from a soul that loves him: Put me, he says, as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm. He desires us to place him as a seal on our heart and on our arm: on our heart, in order that whatever we intend doing, we may intend solely for the love of God; on our arm, in order that whatever we do, all may be done to please God; so that God may be always the sole end of all our thoughts and of all our actions. St. Teresa said, that he who would become a saint must live free from every other desire than that of pleasing God; and her first daughter, the Venerable Beatrice of the Incarnation, said, "No sum whatever could repay the slightest thing done for God." And with reason; for all things done to please God are acts of charity which unite us to God, and obtain for us ever lasting rewards.

Purity of intention is called the heavenly alchemy by which iron is turned into gold; that is to say, the most trivial actions (such as to work, to take one's meals, to take recreation or repose), when done for God, become the gold of holy love. Wherefore believes for certain that those who do all with a pure intention, go straight to Paradise, without passing through purgatory. It is related (in the Spiritual Treasury) that it was the custom of a pious hermit, before setting about any work, to pause a little, and lift his eyes to heaven; on being questioned why he did so, he replied, "I am taking my aim." By which he meant, that as the archer, before shooting his arrow, takes his aim, that he may not miss the mark, so before each action he made God his aim, in order that it might be sure of pleas-