It was God's condemnation of the ancient Heathens that they loved and served the creature more than the Creator. And is not this too true of ourselves? Does not some present thing, some pursuit of gain, of amusement, or worldly advantage of some kind, have more of our hearts, our time, thoughts, and care, than God? If we watch over ourselves we shall daily find that God has less of our service than this poor world, and what it brings before us. If our Saviour should put to us the question he put to Saint Peter, lovest thou me more than these? can we truly say, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love Thee. If we are only conscious of our want of love of God, humbled that we serve him so poorly, earnest and persevering in prayer that we may serve Him better, and honest in our endeavour to do so, our Heavenly Father will, for Christ's sake, bear with us, help us on, lift us up from our falls, and perfect His strength in our weakness. Let this be a prospect of faith to cheer us, when cast down with our consciousness of our little faith, feeble hope and defective charity. Endeavour to keep your hearts fixed on God, and to see Him in all things; to love and serve the Creator with sincerity of heart more than the creature; say to yourself,
Renouncing every worldly thing,
Safe 'neath the covert of Thy wing,
My sweetest thought henceforth shall be,
That all I want I find in Thee,
In Thee,
My God, in Thee.
- text taken from Daily Bread - Bring a Few Morning Meditations for the Use of Catholic Christians by Father Richard Waldo Sibthorp