disdain me not for my sinful life, known to none so thoroughly and clearly as to Thee alone.
7. Grant me, O Lord, to know that which is worth knowing, to love that which is worth loving, to praise that which pleaseth Thee most, to esteem that highly which to Thee is precious, to abhor that which in Thy sight is filthy and unclean.
Suffer me not to judge according to the sight of the eyes, nor to give sentence according to the hearing of the ears; but with a true judgment to discern between things visible and spiritual, and above all to be ever searching after the good pleasure of thy will.
8. The minds of men are often deceived in their judgments; the lovers of the world too are deceived in loving only things visible.
What is a man ever the better, for being by man esteemed great.
The deceitful in flattering the deceitful, the vain man in extolling the vain, the blind in commending the blind, the weak in magnifying the weak, deceiveth him; and in truth doth rather put him to shame, while he so vainly praiseth him.
For, said S. Francis, what every one is in Thy sight that he is, and no more.
