But of all things, self-detachment is most needful; that is, detachment from self-will. Only once succeed in subduing yourself, and you will easily triumph in every other combat. Vince teipsum, "Conquer thyself," was the maxim which St. Francis Xavier inculcated on all. And Jesus Christ said: If any one would come after Me, let him deny himself.[1] Behold in small compass all that we need practise to become saints; to deny ourselves, and not to follow our own will: Go not after thy lusts, but turn away from thy own will.[2] And this is the greatest grace, said St. Francis of Assisi, that we can receive from God: the power, namely, to conquer ourselves by denying self-will. St. Bernard writes, that if all men would resist self-will, none would ever be damned: "Let self-will cease, and there will be no hell."[3] The same saint writes, that it is the baneful effect of self-will to contaminate even our good works: "Self-will is a great evil, since it renders thy good works no longer good."[4] As, for instance, were a penitent obstinately bent on mortifying himself, or on fasting, or on taking the discipline against the will of his director; we see that this act of penance, done at the instigation of self-will, becomes very defective.
Unhappy the man that lives the slave of self-will! for he shall have a yearning for many things, and shall not possess them; while, on the other hand, he will be forced to undergo many things distasteful and bitter to his inclinations: From whence are wars and contentions among you? Are they not hence? From your concupiscences, which
- ↑ "Si quis vult post me venire, abneget semetipsum."—Matt. xvi. 24.
- ↑ "Post concupiscentias tuas non eas, et a voluntate tua avertere."—Ecclus. xviii. 30.
- ↑ "Cesset voluntas propria, et infernus non erit."—In Temp. Pasch. s. 3.
- ↑ "Grande malum propria voluntas, qua fit ut bona tua tibi bona non sint."—In Cant. s. 71.
