Ah! if a man had but one spark of perfect charity, he would doubtless perceive that all earthly things are full of vanity.
-Bk. I, ch. xv.
Then shall the poor cottage be more commended than the gilded palace.
-Bk. I, ch. xxiv.
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Although that act of charity was done so long ago, its memory is still fragrant, like a little breeze from Heaven. One winter's evening, cold and dark, when
doing this humble duty I suddenly heard the strains of an orchestra in the distance. I saw in imagination a drawing-room, brilliantly lighted, where fashionably dressed young girls were displaying their social graces. Then I looked at my poor invalid; instead of music I only heard plaintive groans; instead of gilded walls, I saw in the dim light the bare bricks of our cloister. The contrast impressed me deeply; the murky light of earthly pleasures was darkness compared to the light of Truth which enlightened my soul, and I would not have given ten minutes spent on my act of charity to purchase a thousand years of worldly pleasures.
-The Story of a Soul (L'Histoire d'une Âme).
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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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