On the Means of Attaining True and Solid Virtue

The first means of attaining virtue, which seems the most easy, and is in reality the most difficult, is to will it; but with a sincere, entire, efficacious, and constant will. And oh how rare is this good will! We imagine we will a thing, but in truth and reality we do not will it at all. We may have desires, longings, purposes, wishes; but that is not having a strong and determined will. We wish to be devout, but in our own way up to a certain point, and provided it does not cost us too much. We wish, and we are contented with wishing. We do not carry our wishes into practice; we are discouraged as soon as it is necessary to put our hand to the work, to overcome obstacles or set them aside, to fight against our faults, to struggle with nature and all its evil propensities. We wish today perhaps; we begin bravely, but alas! our energies are soon relaxed. We undertake, and then we give up. We do not wish to see that everything depends upon perseverance.

Let us ask God to grant us this good will; let us ask Him for it every day; and let us try to merit, by our fidelity to the grace of today, to obtain it again on the next day.

The second means is to regulate the employment of each day, and to be exact in observing what we have prescribed for ourselves. We must not burden ourselves too much at first. It is better to add to our exercises imperceptibly and by degrees. We must take into consideration our health, our age, our state of life, and the duties it imposes upon us; for that devotion which is prejudicial to the duties of our state is a misplaced and misunderstood devotion.

The third means is to try and realise always the presence of God. To attain this, we must convince ourselves of what is of faith, viz., that God dwells in the inmost heart of man; that we shall find Him within ourselves, if we will only enter in and seek Him there; that He is in our heart, to inspire us with holy thoughts, and with good desires, which incline us to what is right, and draw us away from all that is evil. What is called the voice of conscience is in reality the voice of God Himself, who thus warns us, reproves us, enlightens and directs us. The great thing is always to be attentive and faithful to this voice within us. It is not in dissipation, nor in the agitation and tumult of the world, that we shall hear it; but in solitude, in peace, in the silence of our passions and imaginations. The greatest step towards perfection which a soul can make, is to keep herself habitually in such a state that she can always hear the voice of God, when He speaks to her; to endeavour to possess herself in peace, to avoid everything that may distract her, everything that makes her uneasy, everything to which she is inordinately attached. All this must be for a long time the subject of a particular examination of conscience and a continual struggle.

The fourth means is to give specially to God a certain time in the day, when we can occupy ourselves with Him alone, and with the thought of His presence; when we can speak to Him, not with our lips, but in the depths of our heart, and listen to what He has to say to us. This is what is called mental prayer. To accustom ourselves to this, we may, in the beginning, make use of the book of the "Imitation of Christ," making a pause at each verse, meditating, and trying to understand the doctrine it contains. At first we may give to this exercise a quarter of an hour in the morning, and the same time in the evening; but we should gradually accustom ourselves to spend at least half-an-hour every morning in this manner. When we begin to take a delight in this holy exercise, and can carry it on without a book, we may from time to time keep ourselves peacefully in the simple presence of God, recollected in Him, and begging of Him to act upon our soul, and to do with it according to His good pleasure. It is a great error to consider as idleness or waste of time the moments which we pass thus, keeping ourselves recollected and attentive before God, whether He pleases or not to make us sensible of His action on our soul.

The fifth means of acquiring true and solid virtue is frequently to approach the sacraments, which are the principal sources of grace. We must not make a torment of confession; that would be quite against the intention of God; neither must we make of it a mere matter of routine, and a kind of formula of accusation of ourselves, as so many people do who go frequently to confession. The things of which persons who are striving after perfection ought chiefly to accuse themselves, are the lights they have resisted, the feelings of self-love to which they have yielded, everything that they have wrongly said, or done, or omitted, with reflection and with deliberate purpose. A communion is always well made when we come from it with renewed courage and a fresh resolution to be more faithful to God than ever. We must not think, that to make a good confession and communion we must necessarily make use of all the acts in detail which are given to us in books. That is a good method for young people, whose imagination is generally quick and lively, or for those who communicate seldom, or for those who have no idea of recollection. But when we have once entered resolutely on the way of prayer, we need no longer go for help to books, either to hear Mass or to approach the sacraments.

The sixth means is spiritual reading. And we must be very careful in the choice of books. As a rule, we should prefer to all others those which touch the heart and carry with them a certain unction which is not to be mistaken. Rodriguez is excellent for beginners. For those who are more advanced, the "Imitation of Christ," the writings of Father Surin, Saint Francis de Sales, the Psalms and the New Testament, the "Lives of the Saints," etc. Our spiritual reading should be half a prayer; that is to say, that in reading we should listen for the voice of God, and stop to meditate when we feel ourselves touched by what we read. We ought to read with a view to practice what we read; and as everything does not suit everybody, we should seek what is most in accordance with our own needs, and follow its teachings faithfully, always taking care not to multiply our practices of devotion too much, for that is fatal to liberty of spirit, which we should always try to preserve.

The seventh means is the mortification of the heart. Everything within us is opposed to our supernatural good; everything draws us towards the slavery of the senses and of self-love. We must struggle continually against ourselves, and wage a constant war against our own inclinations, either in resisting impressions from without or fighting with those from within. We cannot watch too much over our own heart, and all that passes there. This is painful in the beginning; but it becomes easy as we grow accustomed to retiring into ourselves and keeping ourselves in the presence of God.

The eighth means is devotion to the Blessed Virgin. Let us ask through her of Jesus Christ the grace and help we need so much, and she will most certainly obtain them for us. Above all things, when we are tempted to disgust, to weariness, to discouragement, to a feeling that we would like to give up trying to be good altogether, let us fly to her with a holy confidence that she can and will help us.

Also, we cannot have too much devotion to our Guardian Angel. He never leaves us; he is given to us, to guide us in the way of holiness. Let us speak to him in all our doubts, in all our difficulties, and let us often ask him to watch over us.

Finally, the most important point is to have a good guide, a director well versed in the ways of God, and who is himself led by the Spirit of God. These good directors have always been very rare, and today they are more so than ever. Nevertheless, we may be quite sure that those good souls who wish to go straight to God will always find a man who can conduct them thither. The good providence of God is, in a manner, obliged to send them one, and He will never fail to do so, if they ask Him for it. We might almost say that it is always the fault of the souls themselves if they have not the director God wishes them to have. Let them, then, pray earnestly that they may find him to whom they ought to confide the care of their perfection; and when they do find him, let them open their heart to him without reserve, let them listen to him with docility, let them follow his advice, as if God Himself spoke to them through his mouth. A soul in good dispositions and well guided can never fail to attain sanctity.

- taken from Manual for Interior Souls, by Father Jean Nicolas Grou