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Cultivate a special devotion to God's Word, whether studied
privately or in public; always listen to it with attention and
reverence, strive to profit by it, and do not let it fall to the
ground, but receive it within your heart as a precious balm,
thereby imitating the Blessed Virgin, who "kept all these sayings
in her heart." (1) Remember that our Lord receives our words of
prayer according to the way in which we receive His words in
teaching.
You should always have some good devout book at hand, such as
the writings of S. Bonaventura, Gerson, Denis the Carthusian,
Blosius, Grenada, Stella, Arias, Pinella, Da Ponte, Avila, the
Spiritual Combat, the Confessions of S. Augustine, S. Jerome's
Epistles, or the like; and daily read some small portion
attentively, as though you were reading letters sent by the Saints
from Paradise to teach you the way thither, and encourage you to
follow them.
Read the Lives of the Saints too, which are as a mirror to you
of Christian life, and try to imitate their actions according to
your circumstances; for although many things which the Saints did
may not be practicable for those who live in the world, they may
be followed more or less.
Thus, in our spiritual retreats we imitate the solitude of the
first hermit, S. Paul; in the practice of poverty we imitate S.
Francis, and so on. Of course some Lives throw much more light
upon our daily course than others, such as the Life of Saint
Theresa, which is most admirable, the first Jesuits, Saint Charles
Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, S. Louis, S. Bernard, S. Francis,
and such like. Others are more the subjects of our admiring wonder
than of imitation, such as S. Mary of Egypt, S. Simeon Stylites,
S. Catherine of Genoa, and S. Catherine of Sienna, S. Angela,
etc., although these should tend to kindle a great love of God in
our hearts.
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