The final end of every one who wisely perseveres in using the grace of God, shewn towards him in the redeeming work of Christ, is to be with God and with Christ for ever. Father (said Jesus), I will that where I am they also whom thou hast given me may be with me, that they may see my glory. Let our daily life, then, be an ascension towards this blessed result. Forgetting those things that are behind, and stretching forth to those things that are before, let us press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus. Saint Paul thus bids us to follow him in his ascension to God. Personal religion is the application of Divine truth, the doctrines, precepts, spirit, and grace of Christianity to ourselves. And it is to be a kind of ladder, by which our souls are to move on and upward towards the enjoyment of eternal union with God. We may look back and look round to see how it has been and how it is with us, and bless our Heavenly Father for His preserving love, and say with humble thanksgiving: By the grace of God, I am what I am; and praise Him, that His grace in me hath not been void. But let us be ever looking and moving onward and upward. Employing all care, minister in your faith virtue; and in virtue, knowledge; and in knowledge, abstinence; and in abstinence, patience; and in patience, godliness; and in godliness, love of brotherhood; and in love of brotherhood, charity. And as you pass now from this Church, pray that God may keep these His own words in your thoughts and purposes, words and ways, throughout this day, and while in a world which puts them out of sight and thought.
- text taken from Daily Bread - Bring a Few Morning Meditations for the Use of Catholic Christians by Father Richard Waldo Sibthorp