In some cases you must use violence, and manfully resist the sensual appetite, and not regard what the flesh has a mind for, or what it would fly from; but rather labour that whether it will or not, it may become subject to the spirit.
And so long must it be chastised and kept under servitude, until it readily obey in all things, and learn to be content with a little, and to be pleased with what is plain and ordinary, and not to murmur at any inconvenience.
-Bk. III, ch. xi.
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One evening after Compline I searched in vain for our lamp on the shelf where they were all kept; as it was during the night-silence I could not ask who had taken it, though I realized that it must have been by mistake. I had counted on working hard that evening, but instead, saw myself condemned to spend a whole hour in the dark. If I had not had the light of grace, I would certainly have complained, but with it I was happy to think that poverty does not only consist in being denied agreeable things, but even those that are necessary. Whilst all was dark around me, my soul was filled with a divine light.
-The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme).
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For more information, see this post.
Adapted from Just For Today(©1943 Burns & Oates)
Nihil Obstat: Reginaldus Phillips, S.T.L.,Censor deputatus
Imprimatur: Edwardus Myers, Vic. Cap.
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