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129.1
First Point
Saint
Philip Neri had a great love for chastity. Once, when a shameless woman
pretended to be sick and, having called him to her room and to her bed on
the pretext of comforting her in some way, he resisted her very
courageously; this led God to reward his great courage and his zeal for
this virtue, and give him the grace not to feel the least stirring of the
flesh.
One of the best ways to acquire and preserve chastity is to flee
from the first assaults of the demon of impurity and to do great violence
to yourself in order to gain victory on some occasion or notable
temptation. This is also what has drawn down abundant graces and procured
outstanding chastity for many saints.
Since this virtue is one of the most necessary and most important
in your state, there are no means you should fail to use in order to
preserve it. Those that will help you most are a horror of the world and a
very great recollection. Apply yourself, then, to these virtues with all
possible care.
129.2
Second Point
This
saint gave himself so strongly to prayer that he sometimes spent forty
hours uninterruptedly at it. His heart became so inflamed that he had to
throw himself on the ground and bare his chest in order to cool the heat.
As God usually gives much consolation to those who love this holy
exercise, this saint sometimes felt so overcome by joy and consolation
that he was constrained to cry out: Enough, Lord, enough! One day he
experienced such a great assault of the love of God that his heart was all
on fire; as a result, his ribs spread apart, and from that time onward
they never returned to normal; this caused him to have heart palpitations
for the rest of his days.
The duty you have of obtaining grace not only for yourselves but
also for others and of learning how to touch hearts should make you apply
yourselves very specially to prayer, for this is the exercise designed for
you by God to procure his graces. Is this, then, what you have most at
heart? Try to perform all your actions in a spirit of prayer, for this is
one of the best ways to sanctify them.
129.3 Third Point
This
saint had a very great devotion to the Passion of Jesus Christ and to the
Most Blessed Virgin. He could not think or speak of the sufferings of
Jesus without weeping, because he considered himself to be the cause. This
made him sometimes say that the wound in Christ's side was very large, but
if God did not restrain his hand, he would make it even larger. He also
sometimes spent entire nights conversing with the Most Blessed Virgin.
These two loves, for Jesus Christ and for the Most Blessed Virgin,
have, as a rule, been the principal devotions of the greatest saints.
Saint Bernard and Saint Francis found their greatest pleasure meditating
on the Passion of Jesus Christ, and they had such a very tender devotion
to the Most Blessed Virgin that they chose her as the protectress and
support of their orders.
Consider her in the same way as the protectress of your Institute,
and, since the passion and death of Jesus Christ are the means of the
sanctification of all the world, often ask God to apply the merits of
Jesus generously both to yourself, and to the children entrusted to you.
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