HIK. HIDANGAN ISTIMEWA KRISTIANI.
HARAPAN IMAN KASIH.
THOUGHTS OF ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR
From the Scintillae Ignatianae
compiled by Gabriel Hevenesi, S.J.
JANUARY
1
All for the greater glory of God! St. Ignatius repeats these
words and their like 376 times in his Constitutions.
2
Let your first rule of action be to trust in God as if success
depended entirely on yourself and not on him: but use all
your efforts as if God alone did everything, and yourself
nothing.
3
The man who sets about making others better is wasting
his time, unless he begins with himself.
4
Change of climate does not involve change of life. The
imperfect man will be much the same wherever he is, until
he has forsaken himself.
5
It is wrong to entrust difficult and dangerous affairs to the
strength of young people.
6
One rare and exceptional deed is worth far more than a
thousand commonplace ones.
7
You may be sure that the progress you make in spiritual
things will be in proportion to the degree of your
withdrawal from self-love and concern for your own
welfare.
8
Nothing worthy of God can be done without earth being
set in uproar and hell’s legions roused.
9
You must strive much harder to tame the inner than the
outer man, to break the spirit than the bones.
10
Great is the liberality of God: from him I obtain what I
cannot get from men. Though they give me nothing, I
shall gain all things from God.
11
It is God’s habit of his goodness to defend most skillfully
what the devil attacks most bitterly.
12
Charity and kindness unwedded to truth are not charity
and kindness, but deceit and vanity.
13
The closer you bind yourself to God and the more
wholeheartedly you give yourself up to his supreme
majesty, the more liberal he will be to you.
14
The true religious is he who is wholly free not only from
the world but from himself as well.
15
O God, if men only knew what thou art!
16
The evils of vanity and vainglory arise from ignorance and
blind self-love.
17
To leave God for God’s sake is no loss, but great profit, on
the soul’s balance sheet.
18
He who is zealous soars with wondrous speed in a few
moments to a degree of virtue that the slothful cannot
reach after many years.
19
Life would be unbearable to me if I found lurking in my
soul anything human and not wholly divine.
20
We ought to consider not only God, but also men for his
sake.
21
If it were possible for one who loved God to be damned
without fault of his own, he could easily bear all the pains
of hell save the blasphemies of the damned against God.
22
At times the devil torments a man so that he is, as it were,
out of his mind: and hence it is that we sometimes put
down to nature or sickness what ought to be ascribed to
temptation.
23
Much more danger lurks in making light of little sins than
of great ones.
24
Nothing resists the truth for long: it may be assailed, but
never overcome.
25
When the devil wants to attack and harass a man with
peculiar bitterness, he prefers to work at night.
26
To avoid disputes is a thing not only greathearted and
worthy of the peace of the Christian spirit, but it is also
justified by results.
27
It is dangerous to make everybody go forward by the same
road: and worse to measure others by oneself.
28
All the good things God has created, weighed against
prison, fetters, and disgrace, should count for nothing at
all.
29
When everything goes as you want it to, put no trust in the
continuance of your good fortune, but fear all the more.
30
In some matters silence is better than speech. When Truth
is its own apologist, it needs no help from style.
31
If you are asked for anything you think it would be
harmful to give, take care, though you refuse what is asked,
to retain the asker’s friendship.
-----------------
FEBRUARY
1
He who is sick may safely refrain from the tasks of those in
good health, and be content to make up for them by
equanimity and patience, without ruining his body by toil.
2
If you want to be of use to others, begin by taking pains
with yourself: the fire that is to enkindle others should be
lighted at home.
3
In houses over which a calm and undisturbed tranquility is
always brooding, it will go hard but some evils will make
their nest.
4
It is a mistake to spend on prayer the efforts that ought to
be directed to getting the affections under control.
5
Dwell not for a single night under the same roof with a
man whose soul you know to be burdened with grievous sin.
6
So you lay your affairs aside till next month or next year?
Why, where do you get your confidence that you will live
so long?
7
When you undertake a contest, be sure always to have
some support.
8
If you want to know what God requires of you, you must
first of all put aside all affection and preference for one
thing rather than another.
9
Never say or do anything until you have asked yourself
whether it will be pleasing to God, good for yourself, and
edifying to your neighbour.
10
He who wants to do great things in God’s service must
beware above all else not to be too clever.
11
Prudence belongs not to the one who obeys command, but
to the one who gives it.
12
In a house that is well ordered the elders should live the life
of the young, the younger the life of the mature, so that the
former may display the keenness of youth, the latter the
judgment of full age.
13
Better great prudence and ordinary holiness than great
holiness and little prudence.
14
The laborers in the Lord’s vineyard should have one foot
on the ground, and the other raised to proceed on their
journey.
15
He who has God lacks nothing, though he has nought else.
16
Even though they gave only equal, and not greater, glory
to God, yet poverty, contempt, and a reputation for
foolishness should be chosen with Christ rather than
wealth, honor, and the repute of learning, since by
choosing the former we more closely follow him.
17
When you say anything in secret, speak as if you were
speaking to the whole world.
18
Religious who try to serve God in ways detrimental to
their Rule pull down the tree in order to pluck the fruit.
19
If you want to bring anything to a successful conclusion,
you must accommodate yourself to the task, not the task
to yourself.
20
It is not enough that I should serve God by myself: I must
help the hearts of all to love him and the tongues of all to
praise him.
21
The devil never has greater success with us than when he
works secretly and in the dark.
22
To have prevented one single sin is reward enough for the
labors and efforts of a whole lifetime.
23
Ask God for grace to suffer much. To whom God gives this
he gives a great gift: all his other benefits are included in
this single one.
24
A healthy community must preserve itself and look to its
welfare by cutting off its corrupt members in good time,
before their rottenness reaches to the parts that are sound.
25
Better the forsaking of one’s own will than the gift of
raising the dead.
26
If signs are to be asked from God, the keeping of the
precepts alone should require more and clearer signs than
the keeping of the counsels.
27
A man who finds the path to virtue difficult, yet sets out
on it bravely to conquer himself, gains double the reward
of those whose mild and slothful nature gives them no
trouble.
28
If you wish to live among and mix with your fellows
securely, you must esteem it a matter of the first
importance to be equally affected to all and partial to
none.
29
If God makes you suffer greatly, it is a sign that he wants
to make you a great saint.
---------------------
MARET
1
God has much more regard for the interests of a man who
puts himself and his own concerns in the second place and
God’s service first, than the man himself would have if he
preferred his own business to God’s.
2
He who seeks to scale the heights must go far down into
the depths.
3
If a man wants to reform the world, either by reason of the
authority of his position or the duty of his office, he must
begin with himself.
4
If ever you find ignorant or malicious people calumniating
you, pray God that the things they say may never be true.
5
I leave it to your good sense to decide which is better: to
say now to all that is earthly, What does it profit a man? Or
to cry in vain later on, What did it profit?
6
The man who has turned aside from the world should be
like a statue, which refuses neither to be clothed with a
rough garment nor to be despoiled of the rich robe it used
to wear.
7
Less knowledge, more virtue!
8
All the honey of all the flowers in the world is not so sweet
as the gall and vinegar of the Lord Jesus.
9
Even if I had all the money in the world, I would not give
a penny to the man who by his own fault has become
unworthy of the religious state.
10
Let it be your principle to allow others who are worldlywise
to begin the conversation, but keep the end for
yourself, so that whatever be the metal of the speech, you
may have a chance of transmuting it into gold.
11
It is but just that we should be deprived of divine
consolation, seeing how lukewarm we are in spiritual
things.
12
There is more to be learnt in one hour at Manresa with
God for teacher than all the teachers in the world could
impart.
13
There is no better wood for feeding the fire of God’s love
than the wood of the Cross.
14
I care but little for the fear of slavery or death that you put
before me: the only fear that troubles me is the fear of
offending God.
15
There is no storm worse than calm, and no foe more
dangerous than to have no foes.
16
Nothing is sweeter than loving God—in such a way that
you endure great things for his love.
17
The more desperate things seem, the more must we hope
in God. When man’s aid fails, God’s is close at hand.
18
You will be helped more in procuring another man’s
salvation by meekness and humility than by authority; and
you will gain your end sooner by yielding than by fighting.
19
Let one man’s salvation be more to you than all the riches
in the world.
20
A thing is worth just as much as God makes it worth.
21
I am glad when the good are well and the bad ill: so that
the former may use all their strength for God’s glory, and
the latter may be led to him as they grow weaker.
22
If the guide God chooses for you to follow were only a
little dog, you should not complain, but at God’s
command follow it willingly and gladly.
23
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
24
It is far better to procure a mere morsel of some one good
thing safely than to gain a hundred at the risk of your
salvation.
25
We cannot expect too much from God, for with him it is
as easy to perform as to will.
26
Give me only thy love and thy grace, O Lord, and I am
rich enough; I ask for nothing more.
27
No created thing can give rise to any gladness in the soul
that is worthy of comparison with the joy of the Holy
Ghost.
28
How earth stinks in my nostrils when I look up to heaven!
29
He who fears men much will never do anything great for
God.
30
A rough and unshapen log has no idea that it can be made
into a statue that will be considered a masterpiece, but the
carver sees what can be done with it. So many seem to
know scarcely anything of the Christian life and do not
understand that God can mould them into saints, until
they put themselves into the hands of that almighty
Artisan.
31
The man who forgets himself and his own welfare for
God’s service will have God to look after him.
--------------
APRIL
1
Those who are elegant and foppish should be taught
contempt of self and of every kind of preeminence in
preference to and before bodily mortification.
2
In order that a man’s natural gifts may be put to account
for the salvation of souls, they must be set in motion by
interior virtue, and strength obtained thereby for doing
things well.
3
We should be slow to speak and patient in listening to all
men, but especially to inferiors. Our ears should be wide
open to our neighbor until he seems to have said all that is
in his mind.
4
There is but one right kind of ambition: to love God, and
as the reward of loving him, to love him more.
5
To gain men’s goodwill in God’s service we must become
all things to all men; for men’s hearts are gained by nothing
so much as by similarity of habits and interests.
6
No one should call himself a friend of Christ unless he
cherishes those souls that Christ redeemed by the shedding
of his Blood.
7
Too frequent punishment is a sign of a rule that is
impatient rather than desirous of discipline.
8
When people come to you in order to pass the time, talk
to them of death, judgment, and other such grave matters.
Thus their attention will be captured, even though they try
to be deaf, and you will benefit both yourself and them.
Either they will go away the better, or they will abstain
from wasting your time in future.
9
I am at wondrous peace with the world so long as I do not
make war on it, forgetting the tongue of my native land:
but let me go forth to the camp, and you will see the whole
city rise up against me while I fight on every side.
10
Do not look upon what you spend on natural needs as lost
to religion.
11
The man who is going forth to labor in the Lord’s vineyard
should direct his steps by humility and self-contempt
toward what is difficult and hard; for the rest of the
building will be safely fixed if it is based on humility for its
foundation.
12
We must not keep away from the Bread of Angels because
we find no sensible delight therein: that would be like
perishing of hunger because we had nothing tasty to eat.
13
He lives the blessed life who, so far as possible, has his
mind continually fixed on God and God in his mind.
14
As we hold those dearer whom we find immovable in
firmness of heart and manly virtue, so shall we more
severely chastise their smallest faults.
15
Suffer nothing dirty or disordered about you. At the same
time be careful to avoid that affected carefulness that savors
of effeminacy and conceit.
16
Let the workman remember that his material is not gold,
but clay, and let him keep a sharp eye on himself, lest he
permit in himself a blemish such as he works hard to
remove from others.
17
Beware of condemning any man’s action. Consider your
neighbor’s intention, which is often honest and innocent,
even though his act seems bad in outward appearance.
18
What is best in itself is not always most useful for
everybody, but that should be done which in the actual
circumstances is of most profit to each one.
19
However great your poverty, spare no expense that nothing
may be wanting for the welfare of the sick.
20
He who knows God knows how to raise his mind
immediately to God’s love, not only when he beholds the
starry heavens, but even on considering a blade of grass, or
the smallest thing of any kind.
21
Love even the most abandoned: love whatever faith in Christ
remains in them: if they have lost this, love their virtues; if
these have gone, love the holy likeness they bear, love the
blood of Christ through which you trust they are redeemed.
22
The man who professes to despise the world for Christ’s
sake has no country on earth to call his own.
23
Whatever you have to suffer that God may will, or that the
devil with God’s permission may bring upon you,
nevertheless hope in God for victory.
24
I would not have the emotions, particularly anger, to be
entirely extinguished and dead in those who are in
authority, but kept in proper control.
25
Whatever suggestion comes to you from any source other
than God or your rule is a temptation: hold it suspect.
26
To see a religious who seeks nothing but God sad, or one
who seeks everything except God happy, is a great miracle.
27
It is the part of a reasonable man not only to curb his
passions to prevent them from coming to light either in
word or deed, but also to rule them in such a way that
everything is done by reason, nothing on impulse.
28
Take care lest the children of this world spend more care
and attention on transitory things than you do on seeking
those that are eternal.
29
A little thing well grounded and lasting is better than a
great thing that is uncertain and insecure.
30
Whatever is done without the will and consent of the
director is to be imputed to vainglory, not merit.
------------
MEI
1
In judging of what you are to choose, you should consider
not the plausibility of appearances, but look forward to the
end.
2
God leads us by a twofold way: one, unknown because
hidden, is taught by himself; the other he allows to be
shown us by men.
3
It is better to go on living without the certainty of
blessedness, and serve God and seek your neighbor’s
salvation the while, than to die at once with the assurance
of glory.
4
A man may be justified in using less care about human
concerns; but to serve the immortal God negligently is in
no wise to be borne.
5
God is no blind moneychanger; he values love’s works
more than its words.
6
There are three sure marks of the good state of a religious
house: the observance of the enclosure, of purity, and of
silence.
7
Against that vice you should lay hold of those arms to
which you feel most moved, and not sound the retreat
until, by God’s guidance, you have conquered it.
8
A man who is secretly depraved and lives among those who
delight in uprightness will not remain with them for long.
9
A man who is subject to motions of anger should not
withdraw from the company of others: for such
movements are overcome, not by flight, but by resistance.
10
We should avoid excessive dealings with women, even
those who are religious: for there always arises from it
either smoke or fire.
11
In helping our neighbor we should be like the angels, who
neglect no kind of toil in their care for men’s salvation, yet
lose none of their blessed and everlasting peace, whatever
their success.
12
I would rather have God’s servants remarkable for virtue
than for numbers, and manifest rather by the reality of
their service than their repute for it.
13
Let us go forth eagerly, sure that whatever cross we have to
bear will not be without Christ, and that his aid, more
powerful than all the plots of our enemies, will always be
with us.
14
Let your garb, as is fitting, be decent, in accordance with
local custom, and suitable to your condition and
profession.
15
If the devil urges you to sin by an unwonted onslaught of
evil thoughts, you must have recourse also to unwonted
remedies for the sudden attack as well as to the usual ones.
16
Let superiors take care not to estrange their subjects by
asperity; a mere suspicion of severity is harmful.
17
He who is going to enter religion must know that he will not
find continual calm and rest therein unless he cross the
threshold with both feet, the will and the judgment, at once.
18
Spend whatever is necessary on the care of the sick; we who
are well can easily manage with dry bread, if there is
nothing else.
19
You should trust in God enough to believe that you could
cross the seas on a bare plank if there were no ship.
20
When a superior commands you to do anything, you may
still use prudence in doing it.
21
It would indeed be a great miracle if God left destitute of
his help those who for the sake of his love have given up
the power to help themselves.
22
Let he who is rich strive to possess his goods, not be
possessed by them.
23
Success and dryness are equally dangerous to those who are
given to prayer: the one tends to make the mind swell with
pride, the other provokes it to boredom.
24
We are not masters of our body, but God; and so its
mortifications cannot be meted out with the same measure
to everyone.
25
It is the devil’s habit to do his business out of doors rather
than at home. God, on the other hand, works at man and
moves him inwardly rather than outwardly.
26
When the devil wants to attack anyone, he first of all looks
to see on what side his defenses are weakest or in worst
order; then he moves up his artillery to make a breach at
that spot.
27
I beseech you in the grace of Jesus Christ, forget those
things that are behind, and as if you had just begun your
long journey for the first time, set out eagerly on the way
of virtue with unwearied step.
28
It is certain that the lazy will never come to peace of mind
or the perfect possession of virtue, since they do not
conquer themselves; while the diligent easily obtain both
in a few days.
29
If a soldier in time of war fights better to gain worthless
glory and spoil than you, who from the victory you
strenuously obtain are to gain eternal glory in the kingdom
of heaven, you are soldiers of Christ neither in name nor
in fact.
30
The most precious crown is reserved in heaven for those
who do all that they do as zealously as possible: for to do
good deeds in not enough by itself; we must do them well.
31
I would have every one of you above all things to be
glowing with a pure and sincere love of Jesus Christ our
Savior, and with a zeal for God’s glory and your neighbor’s
salvation.
--------------
JUNI
1
Strive after the end to which you are called with all your
might, since God has supplied you with so many aids and
means thereto.
2
How few there are who use for their salvation the gift of
Jesus’ Blood!
3
Not only ought you to continually love and cherish each
other but to communicate that love to all men.
4
How few people realize what God would do for them if
they were to give themselves up wholly into his hands!
5
They who, though they indeed do what their superiors
order, yet do it unwillingly and without interior consent,
are to be numbered with the vilest slaves.
6
As we have made a bad use of the powers of our body and
mind in acting against God’s law, so, now that by penance
we have been restored to grace, let us use the same powers
to amend our lives.
7
The wise fisher of men, in order to gain all, ought to
attune himself to all, even though his attempts have small
success.
8
When everything goes favorably, beware lest all is not so
well as it might be with the service of God.
9
A system of mortification openly pursued, over and above
that which one’s rule prescribes, is rightly prohibited; both
that we may be mindful that obedience is better than
sacrifice, and that we may not extol ourselves foolishly.
10
We must use the same weapons against the devil for our
salvation as he abuses for our destruction.
11
Those who in the world would, through nature’s bounty,
have met with the best fortune have likewise greater
success in zealously showing forth the glory of God.
12
When storms rage against us through no fault of our own,
it is a kind of pledge of success in the near future.
13
Persecution is the bellows that fans the flame of our virtue:
if it were lacking—which God forbid—our strength would
die away and not perform its task rightly.
14
Lord, what do I want, what can I want, apart from thee?
15
Those who obey with the will alone, while their reason is
still unsubdued, walk lamely in the religious life.
16
Behold, with heartfelt and deep sorrow, in what great
ignorance of God everyone remains!
17
We must strive as hard as we can to lay hold of that we
follow after, and having entered the way of perfection,
attain to what is most perfect.
18
There is no wild beast on earth fiercer, keener, or more
persistent in injuring man than the devil, that he may
fulfill the desire of his malicious and obstinate mind for
our destruction.
19
You cannot speak of the things of God to any man, even
the worst, without his gaining much profit thereby.
20
Never tickle a man’s ears with promises too great for your
actions to correspond with them.
21
To hate the shortcomings of others too keenly is
productive of estrangement rather than amendment, and
serves to put people to flight rather than to help them.
22
The best kind of mortifications are those that, while their
sting is sharper, do less hurt: for by these the body is
afflicted both more annoyingly and more lastingly.
23
Do nothing and write nothing that may be the occasion of
any bitterness or harsh words.
24
The devil has much joy of a soul that works indiscreetly,
without being held in check by him who ought to rule it: for
the higher such a one strives to mount, the greater its fall.
25
Speak little, listen much.
26
He who carries God in his heart bears heaven with him
wherever he goes.
27
The shortest—almost the only—path to salvation is to
turn resolutely away from everything that the world loves
and cleaves to.
28
It is a mistake to measure a man’s progress by his look, his
gestures, his good nature, or his love of solitude, when it
ought to be estimated from the violence he does himself.
29
The more useful the conversation of one who is fervent
with outsiders is if it be good, the more harmful is it if it
be dissolute.
30
It is a great help to progress to possess a friend who is
privileged to point out to you your failings.
-------------------
JULI
1
It is part of a good religious to urge men to the service not
of their prince but of God, that he may show that in
choosing such a Lord he has done the best thing possible.
2
The good hunter of souls ought to conceal many things as
if he did not know them; afterward, when he is master of
the will, he can bend the novice in virtue whither he lists.
3
How greatly mistaken are those who, while thinking
themselves to be full of the spirit, are eager for the
government of souls!
4
To seek to bring all men to salvation by one road is very
dangerous. He who does so fails to understand how many
and various are the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
5
Nothing makes religious more contemptible in the world’s
eyes than to see them divided into parties and sects among
themselves.
6
To do many things and to mix with many people, yet not to
turn aside from either God or oneself, is a great and rare art.
7
Virtue and holiness of life can do a great deal, almost
everything, with men, as well as with God.
8
Check impulse with impulse, habit with habit, as one nail
is blunted with another.
9
It is stupid to neglect an immediate opportunity of serving
God in the hope of doing something greater in future: for
it may well be that you will lose the one without gaining
the other.
10
When the devil instills into your mind mean and petty
thoughts, turn your memory to the benefits God has
shown you in times past.
11
When the devil cannot bring you to commit sin, he will
take a delight in annoying you and filching your peace of
mind.
12
It is God’s habit to put just so much value on anything as
that thing is joined to him as an instrument for doing
good.
13
The man of prayer must not be cast down in aridity, nor
elated when he receives consolation. In dryness let him
remember the graces he has enjoyed; and when he feels
sensible devotion, let him consider it an alms given him
gratis by God.
14
Workers for the salvation of souls ought so to labor as to
make themselves acceptable not only to God but also to
men for his sake; and regulate their zeal for the divine
honor by their neighbor’s progress.
15
Act toward the wicked like the loving mother who is
tormented with pity for her sick child, and caresses him
with no less ardor when he is ill than when he is strong and
well.
16
So that our self-love may not lead us astray in dealing with
matters that concern ourselves, we should think of them as
if they concerned others, that thus our judgment may be
guided by truth and not by affection.
17
We do not learn so much from conversation or argument
as from humble recourse to God.
18
Your cowardice makes the devil bolder, just as women are
bold only when they see that their lovers are soft.
19
For correction to be of any use, either he who corrects
must have authority, or he who is corrected proved love.
20
If a man is not moved to forsake all that is his for God, let
him nonetheless refer all things to him; many though they
be, they will always be less than that one thing that Christ
called needful.
21
Whether the body be made prone to some fault by
softness, or weakened by excessive severity, an account
must equally be rendered to God—even though the latter
course may seem to have been undertaken for his honor
and glory.
22
The sharper you are at noticing other people’s failings, the
more apt will you be to overlook your own.
23
Many folk are drawn to love virtue more through its being
commended by a man they esteem than for its own sake.
24
Children may be brought to virtuous ways and actions by
presents and sweetmeats, as a pet animal by those who
smile at it.
25
Better to get what you want by a request or a gift than by
fighting for it.
26
You must attend to both kinds of mortification, interior
and exterior; but with this difference, that the former is the
principal, to be sought always and by everyone, the latter
is to be measured by the circumstances of place, person,
and time.
27
A fault that might easily be overcome at its first appearance
becomes unconquerable through passing of time and
habitual giving way.
28
Let us think of nothing but serving God: he will readily
provide whatever else we need.
29
A man who has control over the motions of his heart gains
more by a quarter of an hour’s meditation than another
does in many hours.
30
The sayings of backbiters are to be refuted by the
testimonies of good men; and the mouth of him that
speaks iniquity stopped by good deeds.
31
Nothing more desirable or gladsome can happen than to
die for Christ’s sake and our neighbor’s salvation.
---------------
AGUSTUS
1
In your good works and holy exercises, avoid all sloth and
lukewarmness as your worst enemy.
2
Those who are specially remarkable for birth, learning, or
wit ought to give themselves up more than ever to selfabnegation,
or they will come to greater harm than the
humble and unlearned.
3
To prevent us doing a good deed, the devil often suggests
to us a better: then he raises fresh difficulties and obstacles
to prevent our doing that.
4
A superior ought to treat his subjects in such a way that
they may be cheerful, free from sadness, and serve God
with a serene mind.
5
When taking the first steps on the road of virtue the old
man must be mortified, but in such a way as not to slay the
new man.
6
In particular, do not embark on affairs of public interest,
which will be open to the observation and criticism of the
many, unless you foresee a way of bringing them to a
successful conclusion.
7
When, as is but human, errors are committed by others,
you should see in them, as in a mirror, some deformity that
needs removing in yourself.
8
If you begin by winning your own approval, you will easily
command that of others.
9
Do everything you do without expecting praise: but let
everything you do be such as cannot justly be blamed.
10
Know a man thoroughly before becoming his friend.
11
How much a man loses, not only of liberty but of
authority, who accepts gifts!
12
Make no decision about anything when the mind is biased
either by affection or by great dejection. Put it off till the
anxiety has disappeared, so that you may do what mature
reason, not impulse, dictates.
13
So order the inner man that its order overflows into the
outer.
14
He who goes about to reform the world must begin with
himself, or he loses his labor.
15
If your neighbor’s sin is so manifest that you cannot in
honesty excuse it, blame not the sinner but the violence of
his temptation, remembering that you yourself might have
fallen as badly or even worse.
16
In the matter of your neighbor’s salvation authority is
necessary, but not the kind that partakes of the vain
authority of the world.
17
Avoid all obstinacy; but when you have begun a thing well,
stick to it, and do not basely flee through weariness or
despair.
18
Serving the world halfheartedly matters little; but serving
God halfheartedly is not to be borne.
19
Rare indeed is the man who knows all his weaknesses of all
kinds, unless God specially reveals them to him.
20
Those who have care of souls need nothing so much as
courage, lest, while they are looking after others’ salvation,
they endanger their own.
21
“I will” and “I will not” are strangers in this house.
22
If the body complains of being mortified on the pretext
that it is ill, it is not to be listened to in the hope of ease,
but chastised by the substitution of some other equal
mortification.
23
It is best to converse with seculars of matters relating to
salvation in the morning, and of profane matters after
midday.
24
Nothing that is not in itself evil is to be put away because
abuse of it is possible: to do so would shut the way to a
great increase of God’s glory.
25
A little holiness and great health of body does more in the
care of souls than great holiness and little health.
26
Has God put you into this world so that you may live as if
there were no such things as heaven and hell? Is getting
saved so easy a business that you need not trouble yourself
about it?
27
If we were to die now, what would happen to us? What
account should we give of the many riches, graces, and
companions left to perish through our means?
28
At one moment the devil takes away all fear, lest you fall:
at another he increases it, that you may yield: and both to
your destruction.
29
Never contradict anybody, with cause or without; but
always accept what others approve.
30
What is poisonous in books spreads far, unless it is
opposed at the beginning.
31
It is not fitting that those who are implicated in their own
affairs should immediately turn to the things of the soul:
that would be like casting a hook without worm or bait.
------------------
SEPTEMBER
1
Men of great virtue, though their learning for their
neighbors’ help be small, preach more eloquently and
persuade their people to goodness more powerfully by
their appearance than they could by rhetorical skill,
however highly instructed they were.
2
If the pricks of a still partly untamed nature call forth from
us words or deeds unsuited to our profession, so we must
repress them all the more severely when they are obedient
to us.
3
Desire to be openly known to everyone, both inwardly and
outwardly.
4
Do not be familiar with or at the beck and call of everyone,
but consult the Spirit as to whom he most urges you.
5
Seek to be held a fool by all men, that God may account
you wise.
6
The best kind of obedience is that which in its eagerness to
obey does not wait either for the necessity of the highest
command or the intimation of an order.
7
A superior ought to root out errors immediately, lest, if he
wink at them once or twice, custom become law.
8
Conquer yourself; for if you do this you will gain a brighter
crown in heaven than others who are meeker by nature.
9
Do not use asperity toward those of little strength, lest the
degree of evil that may arise with its consequent despair be
much greater than the good to be expected from a severe
rebuke.
10
Against the devil’s daily wiles it is fitting to keep daily
watch at stated times, and to enter diligently into oneself,
so as to consider all our words, deeds, and thoughts in the
presence of God.
11
If you promise anything for tomorrow, do it today rather
than put it off.
12
If a man publicly reviles princes or magistrates, he rather
gives rise to harm and scandal than offers a remedy.
13
To foresee what we shall have to do, and to call up for
judgment what we have done, are the most trustworthy
rules for right action.
14
If you find you have fallen, do not despair; even falls are an
aid to well-being.
15
Do not put off the mortification of your body or your
passions till old age, which is uncertain and cannot endure
hardness.
16
Though all men and all reasons persuade us thereto, we
should begin no business till we have first consulted God
in prayer.
17
Meditation and converse with God constrains the power of
free nature and checks its impulses.
18
If you want to make progress in love, speak about love; for
holy conversation, like a breeze, fans the flame of charity.
19
Nothing is hard to a man whose will is set on it, especially
if it be a thing to be done out of love.
20
To one who possesses God nothing troublesome can
happen; for God cannot be lost, unless we will to lose him;
and all sadness arises from our losing, or fearing to lose,
some good thing.
21
When I am serving those who are servants of my Lord, I
consider that I am doing the service of my Lord himself.
22
God would readily give us much greater graces if our
perverse wills did not stand in the way of his bounty.
23
All of us are bound by a common obligation to rejoice in
the good and profit of God’s image, which he redeemed
with the precious Blood of his only begotten Son
24
So that our handling of great affairs may go as we wish, the
smallest concerns are to be sent before them, that so we
may ask for the great ones the help of him who gives grace
to the humble.
25
God’s supreme goodness, mighty love, and fatherly care are
more ready freely to bestow perfection on us than we are
to seek it out.
26
The evils of the soul arise from excess, whether of
lukewarmness or of fervor.
27
Rare indeed are good workmen of the kind that seek not
their own things, but the things of Jesus Christ.
28
It often happens that others’ works are impeded for our
sake, when we ought to manifest our own to others.
29
The fall of one man is a terror to others, and casts a
damper on the fervor of many in the way of virtue.
30
In my heart I hear a music that has no words, a harmony
that has no sound: yet so gladsome is what I hear that
nothing in the world can be compared thereto.
-----------------
OKTOBER
1
If discretion seem to you a rare thing and hard to obtain,
supply the lack of it by obedience: have recourse to that,
and you will be safe.
2
When an untamed and intractable horse is piled up with
many burdens beyond his strength, spurs are applied to
him, not the bridle.
3
You do a great deal by the mere intention of undertaking
labor for souls.
4
A good life is much better than learning, whether for
obtaining or for communicating to others the gifts of the
Holy Ghost.
5
The concern of serving our neighbor, which extends far
and wide on all sides, is gathered up together in holy
desires and prayers.
6
Go and set the whole world on fire.
7
One who is bound by so great an obligation to serve God
as you are must not be content with ordinary labor and
service.
8
How great a risk salvation and innocence run amid those
storms and tempests that are roused at one moment by the
raging whirlwind of goods and wealth, at another by honor
and glory, at another by pleasure!
9
We may fairly hope that together with our spiritual good
our earthly good also will not fail to increase.
10
God has chosen you out lest miserable and transitory
human concerns should keep your mind ensnared and
your heart distracted this way and that.
11
As cleanliness that is modest and sober is the token of a
composed and ordered mind, so if it is excessive—and this
usually arises from eagerness to please—it is to be
accounted as neglect.
12
The man who gazes on heaven with a clear eye will see all
the better the darkness of earthly things: for though these
emit a certain kind of brilliance, the splendor of heaven
darkens all their light.
13
The difference between a pious man and a vain one is that
the one abstains from earthly things and abounds in
spiritual consolations: the other delights in sensuous things
and is tormented by interior ones.
14
The evil man is ready to suspect others, like a man attacked
by giddiness who thinks that all things are whirling round
him, not from any fault of theirs, but because of the
disturbed humors of his own head.
15
A member that is torn away from the body receives
therefrom neither motion nor feeling, nor any life at all.
16
The difference between human felicity and the cross of
Christ is this, that on tasting the former we loathe it, but
the more we drink of the latter, the greater is our thirst.
17
We ought always to hold in suspicion the accusations our
body makes against us, for it is accustomed to plead a
pretended lack of strength to disguise a yearning to escape
hardship.
18
Self-love does a great deal; frequently it deludes our mind’s
eye so as to make us think things impossible that, if we saw
them clearly, would evidently appear easy and even necessary.
19
The fullness of God’s consolation is so great that the
sweetness of it not only touches the soul, but even
overflows to the body.
20
Since the object of our love is infinite, we can always love
more and more perfectly.
21
The lover of voluntary poverty should be like a statue,
enduring rags or fine linen and purple with unchanged
countenance.
22
When you render assistance to virtue, you are at the same
time having regard to your neighbor’s salvation.
23
To the just man even the strokes of adverse fortune are of
profit: while hurting they advantage him, like a dew of
precious stones depriving the vine of its leaves to bestow on
it a better treasure.
24
O God of supreme goodness, how canst thou endure so
foul a sinner as I?
25
He who loves perfection must be filled with humility like
a lamp with oil: for lamps are full within and give light
without, and their influence makes itself felt in whatever
direction they are turned.
26
Whatever graces from God you find in yourself, look upon
as gold and gems that the goodness of God the goldsmith
has mercifully created out of wood fit only for the fire.
27
Better to die a violent death than to live for vanity.
Thoughts of St. Ignatius Loyola
28
Though by nature alone the assent of the judgment is
moved toward what offers the appearance of truth, yet in
many things, those namely wherein the evidence of known
truth offers no support, it can be bent by the weight of the
will to one side rather than the other.
29
If you seek peace and tranquillity, you will certainly not
find them so long as you have a cause of disturbance and
turmoil within yourself.
30
God’s liberality will supply in abundance from its own
store the gain that he sees you despise for his sake.
31
If you do not lack humility and meekness, so neither will
you lack God’s goodness to aid you.
-------------
NOVEMBER
1
The soul’s desire is satisfied not by abundance of
knowledge, but by an inward feeling and taste for things.
2
Without temperance and moderation, good degenerates
into evil and virtue into vice.
3
The devil often acts in such a way as to curtail the time set
apart for meditation or prayer.
4
The more a man withdraws himself from all his friends
and acquaintances and from care for all things human, the
more progress he will make in the spiritual life.
5
There ought to be no questioning whether one’s superior
is good or middling or poor: such a distinction takes away
the virtue of obedience.
6
The closer we draw to God, the better disposed we are to
receive the gifts of his divine bounty.
7
Every Christian ought in love to prefer rather to turn to
good another’s doubtful opinion or proposal than to
condemn it.
8
As often as we manifest others’ failings we show up our own.
9
But if anyone has without sufficient consideration chosen
a course from which he may lawfully withdraw, it remains
that when he begins to repent of doing so, he should make
up for his wrong choice by good life and zealous deeds.
10
Let your modesty be a sufficient incitement, yea, an
exhortation to everyone to be at peace on their merely
looking at you.
11
He who is making a choice ought to examine himself
whether the affection that he has towards anything arises
solely from love of God and regard to him.
12
It is the part of God and of every good angel to infuse true
spiritual joy into the soul.
13
Often, especially when one has but lately embarked on a
better life, a scruple is of no little help to the mind empty
of spiritual things.
14
Just as it is harmful to defame superiors in public, so it is
worthwhile to admonish in private those who, if they
would, could amend evils.
15
The Catholic Church is but one; for as the Bridegroom is
one, the Bride must be one also. Between the Bridegroom
and the Bride there is one and the same spirit.
16
The more exactly a superior knows the whole inner life of
his subjects, the more is he able to assist them with greater
diligence, love, and care.
17
The grace of speech in conducting necessary business with
one’s neighbor is greatly to be desired.
18
All contempt of earthly things will be helpful to union on
both sides, for in these self-love, the most dangerous
enemy of this union and universal good, is wont to
wander.
19
When you are tempted, summon to your assistance the
hope and thought that consolation will shortly follow,
especially if by holy struggles you gradually overcome the
struggles of despair.
20
Let the capable ruler beware lest some particular affection
endanger his general charity.
21
It is hard to tarry on earth, unless your conversation be
rather in heaven and in God through charity than on earth
and with yourself: like the sun’s rays, which shine forth
from the sun and endure, so long as their life is in the sun.
22
When despair shows itself, man is driven by the evil spirit,
at whose instigation nothing is ever done well.
23
It is the part of a truly prudent man to put no trust in his own
prudence, especially in regard to his own concerns, of which
a man whose mind is disturbed can hardly be a good judge.
24
A religious ought to be more afraid of the fear of poverty
than of poverty itself.
25
The more you converse with and make friends of spiritual
men, the greater will be your delight in God.
26
The providence of our most loving Father and wise
Physician purges all the more in this world those whom he
most loves, and whom he wishes most speedily to bring
after this life to eternal happiness.
27
It should constantly be our care to see God’s presence in
everything, and not only to raise our minds to him when
we are at prayer.
28
Above all we must consider what God will require of us in
his judgment, what explanation of our actions he will
demand, so that we may arrange our lives to accord with
his judgment and not with our own inclination.
29
The way to avoid distress and affliction of mind in this
world is to strive to conform our will wholly to God’s.
30
Experience shows that the most frequent contradictions
are followed by the greatest fruit.
---------------
DESEMBER
1
When the devil meets with a too delicate conscience, he
tries to make it much more delicate, and to reduce it to
extreme distress, so that it may be so wretchedly disturbed
as at last to fall out of the race for spiritual improvement.
2
Use and experience teach that it is not the lazy and listless,
but the ardent and eager, who enjoy calm and peace of
mind in God’s service.
3
Almost the whole life of religious bodies lies in the
maintenance of their first fervor.
4
The more detached and solitary a soul becomes, the better
fitted it grows to seek and find its Creator.
5
Great is the error of those who, blinded by self-love, think
that they are being obedient when by some argument they
bring their superior to agree to what they themselves want.
6
A soul that desires to make progress in the spiritual life
must go in the opposite direction from the devil’s leading.
7
Give me humility, O Lord, but of such a kind that it
permits of and includes the love of thee.
8
Mary grieves more at her Son’s being offended by men’s
sins than she did for his crucifixion.
9
You owe obedience to your superior not on account of his
prudence or goodness or any other gifts of God he may
possess, but solely because he stands in God’s place in
regard to you.
10
Let everyone set before himself for his imitation those
whom he sees to be noteworthy for zeal and greatness of
spirit.
11
To subdue the spirit is harder than to afflict the flesh.
12
Negligence and lukewarmness always make labor a sad
business for the slothful.
13
We may be quite sure that God is always ready to be
liberal, provided he find in us a deep and true humility.
14
Many things, often even good ones, can be left undone,
and things done that, though they do not amount to sins,
ought not to be done, for the sake of men whom we desire
to profit.
15
Listening is easier than speech.
16
A judge does ill to believe an accuser, unless on hearing the
accused he finds him guilty.
17
Undertake nothing without consulting God.
18
Truth always shines with its own light, while a lie is hidden
in darkness: but the mere presence of the reality is enough
to dispel that darkness.
19
Attend as much as you can to this, that you regard one
another kindly, so that there may be natural love
between you.
20
When kindness toward a man turns out useless, severity
will be useful as an example to others.
21
No man is to be offended, least of all those who, if they
were our enemies, might impede our progress in God’s
service and in zeal for the general welfare.
22
Penitence should include contrition of heart, confession of
the lips, and satisfaction in act.
23
The Holy Ghost, who moves you to make your choice, will
easily supply the manner and form of the choice.
24
An innocent and holy life, it is true, in itself counts for
much, and is to be preferred far above all else; but unless it
be combined with prudence in your relations with other
men, it will be weak and insecure.
25
Count yourselves but worthless, mean-spirited, cowardly,
and slothful if there be one man found at court who, to
gain an earthly king’s favor, obeys his commands more
faithfully than you do those of the King of heaven, in order
that you may be found pleasing in his sight.
26
Everything you say and do will come to light: remember
that what you say in secret will be shouted from the
housetops.
27
Those who are too cautious in matters relating to God
seldom do anything great and heroic; a man who is
terrified of every little difficulty that may occur does not
undertake such things.
28
When an affair has been discussed and decided, do not act
until you have slept on it.
29
As far as possible give no foothold to sloth, the source of
all evils.
30
As one who strives to cast out an evil thought gains a great
reward in heaven, so he who does not consent to good
inspirations runs a grave risk of falling into great evils.
31
Praise and thanksgiving to God our Creator, from whose
infinite liberality and bounty overflows the fullness and
fruit of all good things.
---------------
