If You Cannot Mould Yourself

So Fixed Are Our Spirits In Slothfulness And Cold Indifference That We Seldom Overcome So Much As One Evil Habit.

Know All And You Will Pardon All.

My God, Sweetness Beyond Words, Make Bitter All The Carnal Comfort That Draws Me From Love Of The Eternal And Lures Me To Its Evil Self By The Sight Of Some Delightful Good In The Present. Let It Not Overcome Me, My God. Let Not Flesh And Blood Conquer Me. Let Not The World And Its Brief Glory Deceive Me, Nor The Devil Trip Me By His Craftiness. Give Me Courage To Resist, Patience To Endure, And Constancy To Persevere. Give Me The Soothing Unction Of Your Spirit Rather Than All The Consolations Of The World, And In Place Of Carnal Love, Infuse Into Me The Love Of Your Name.

As Iron Put Into The Fire Loseth Its Rust And Becometh Clearly Red-hot, So He That Wholly Turneth Himself Unto God Puts Off All Slothfulness, And Is Transformed Into A New Man.

Therefore, A Man Ought To Root Himself So Firmly In God That He Will Not Need The Consolations Of Men.