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 preferred to serve thy enemy rather than to serve thy God, behold how that tyrant has treated thee. He has made thee groan as a slave in chains, poor, afflicted, and deprived of every interior consolation. But come, rise; God speaks to thee whilst thou mayest still be freed from the fetters of death which bind thee: Loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion. [Isaiah 52:2] Make haste while time is left, unbind thyself, poor soul, who hast become the voluntary slave of Hell, strike off these cursed chains that hold thee fast as a prey for Hell, and bind thyself instead with My chains of gold, chains of love, chains of peace, chains of salvation: her bands are a healthful binding. [Ecclus. 6:31] But in what manner are souls bound God? By love: Have charity, which is the bond of perfection. [Col. 3:14] A soul that always walks by the single way of the fear of punishment, and from this single motive avoids sin, is always in great danger of making a relapse before long into sin; but he that attaches himself to God by love is sure not to lose Him as long as he loves Him. And for this reason we must continually beg God to grant us the gift of His holy love, always praying and saying: O Lord, keep me united with Thee, never suffer me to be separated from Thee and from Thy love. The fear which we ought rather to desire and beg of God is filial fear, the fear of ever displeasing this our good Lord and Father. Let us also always have recourse to most holy Mary, our Mother, that she may obtain for us the grace to love nothing else but God, and that she would so closely unite us by love to her Blessed Son, that we may never more see ourselves separated from Him by sin.