3. Hence it follows that to preserve this light, your most precious treasure, with the utmost care is the first and most important concern of your life. And this is no easy task in the present day, when unbelief is getting the upper hand to an extent which fills us with dismay. Therefore, mark well what you have to do in order to accomplish the task of your life aright, in order to preserve the Faith, which is your most precious treasure.
4. The first thing is, attend diligently to religious instruction. Faith is a grace in its first origin, and this grace is conferred at Baptism; faith is then implanted as a germ in the heart of the child. The development of this germ is effected by preaching divine truth, by the proclamation of the word of God. Wherefore St. Paul says: "Faith cometh by hearing" (Rom. x. 17). On this account you ought highly to prize the proclamation of divine truth by means of sermons and instructions of a religious nature, nor ought you ever to make use of a frivolous pretext to excuse yourself from attending them. Apply to yourself, and not to others, what you hear, and seek to regulate your life accordingly. Make also a daily spiritual reading at home.
5. The second means of preserving your most precious treasure is to live up to the Faith which you profess. The more zealously any one follows the precepts of the Gospel,
