either go forward and advance in virtue, or go backward and rush headlong into vice.
In seeking eternal salvation, we must, according to St. Paul, never rest, but must run continually in the way of perfection, that we may win the prize, and secure an incorruptible crown. So run that you may obtain.[1] If we fail, the fault will be ours; for God wills that all be holy and perfect. This is the will of God — your sanctification. He even commands us to be perfect and holy. Be you therefore perfect, as also your Heavenly Father is perfect. Be holy because I am holy. He promises and gives, as the holy Council of Trent teaches, abundant strength, for the observance of all his commands, to those who ask it from him. " God does not command impossibilities; but by his precepts he admonishes you to do what you can, and to ask what you cannot do; and he assists you, that you may be able to do it." God does not command impossibilities; but by his precepts he admonishes us to do what we can by the aid of his ordinary grace; and when greater helps are necessary, he exhorts us to seek them by humble prayer. He will infallibly attend to our petitions, and enable us to observe all, even the most difficult, of his commandments. Take courage, then, and adopt the advice of the Venerable Father Torres to a religious, who was one of his penitents: "Let us, my child, put on the wings of strong desires, that, quitting the earth, we may fly to our Spouse and our Beloved, who expects us in the blessed kingdom of eternity."
- ↑ 1 Cor. ix. 24.
