Page:Thecompleteascet01grimuoft.djvu/93

 I am  in  a  moment  the  friend  of  God."  Because  whoever wishes,  with  a  true  and  resolute  desire  for  the friendship  of  God,  instantly  obtains  it.

I say  with  a  true  and  resolute  desire,  for  little  profit  is derived  from  the  fruitless  desires  of  slothful  souls,  who always desire  to  be  saints,  but  never  advance  a  single step in  the  way  of  God. Of them  Solomon  says:   The sluggard  willelh  and  willeth  not.     And  again:  Desires  kill the  slothful.     The  tepid  religious  desires  perfection,  but never resolves  to  adopt  the  means  of  its  acquirement. Contemplating its  advantages,  she  desires  it;  but  reflecting  on    the    fatigue    necessary   for  its    attainment,  she desires   it    not. Thus  "she   willeth    and    willeth    not." Her desires  of   sanctity  are  not  efficacious;    they  have for their  object   means  of  salvation   incompatible   with her state. Oh! she exclaims,  were  I  in  the  desert,  all my time  should  be  employed   in   prayer  and  in  works of penance! were I  in  another  convent,  I  would  shut myself up  in  a  cell  to  think  only  of  God! if my  health were  good,  I  would   practise  continual   mortifications. I  would   wish,  I  would  wish,  she  cries,  to  do  all  this; and   still    the   miserable   soul   does   not   fulfil    the   obligations   of    her    state. She   makes    but    little    mental prayer, and   is  even   absent  from   the  common  meditations;   she  neglects  Communion;   is  seldom  in  the  choir, and  frequently  at   the  grate  and   on    the   terrace;    she practises but  little  patience  or  resignation  in  her  infirmities; in  a  word,  she  daily  commits  wilful  and  deliberate faults, but   never  labors  to  correct   them. What, then, will it  profit  her  to  desire  what  is  inconsistent  with  the duties of  her  present  state,  while  she  violates  strict  obligations? Desires kill  the  slothful. Such useless  desires expose the  soul  to  great  danger  of  everlasting  perdition;