advices given by the great St. Louis to his son, a little before his death, was this: "Confess often, choose an able and upright confessor who can instruct thee to do those things which are necessary."
“A faithful friend," says the Holy Scripture, "is a strong protection; he that has found him has found a treasure. A faithful friend is a medicine which gives life and immortality; those who fear God find Him.” These divine words point chiefly, as you may see, at immortality, for which it is principally necessary to have this faithful friend, who by his directions and counsels may watch over our actions, and by this means save us from the ambushes and wiles of our ghostly enemy. He will be to us a treasure of wisdom in our afflictions, discontents, and relapses; he will serve us as a cordial to refresh and comfort our hearts in spiritual diseases: he will preserve us from evil, and make what is good better: and when any infirmity shall befall us, he will hinder it from being mortal, for he will heal us.
But who shall find this man? The wise men answer, “They that fear God:” that is, the humble, who earnestly desire their spiritual advancement. Since, then, it concerns you so much, Philothea, to go with a good guide on this holy voyage of devotion, beseech God with great fervency to grant you one that may be according to his heart; and doubt not, for he will rather send you an angel from heaven, as He did to young Tobias, than fail to give you a good and faithful guide.
Now, he ought always to be an angel to you: that is to say, when you have found him, consider him not simply as a man; neither confide in him, nor in his human knowledge, but in God, who will favour you by the ministry of this man, and make him think and speak whatsoever shall be requisite for your happiness; so you ought to hear him as an angel
