St. Augustine teaches, that the life of a good Christian is one continued longing after perfection. " The whole life," says the saint, " of a good Christian is a holy desire." He that cherishes not in his heart the desire of sanctity, may be a Christian; but he will not be a good one. If this be true of all the servants of God, how much more so must it be of religious, who, though it is not imperative on them to be actually perfect, are strictly obliged to aspire after perfection. "He that enters the religious state," says St. Thomas, "is not commanded to have perfect charity; but he is bound to tend to it. It is not," continues the saint, "obligatory on him to adopt all the means by which perfection may be attained; but it is his duty to perform the exercises prescribed by the Rule, which at his profession he promised to observe." Hence, a religious is bound not only to fulfil her vows, but also to assist at public prayer; to make the Communions, and to practise the mortifications ordained by the Rule; to observe the silence, and to discharge all the other duties of the Community.
You will, perhaps, say that your Rule does not bind under pain of sin. That may be; but theologians generally maintain, that to transgress without a sufficient cause even the rules which of themselves do not impose a moral obligation, is almost always a venial fault. Because the wilful and unnecessary violation of rule generally proceeds from passion or from sloth, and consequently must be at least a venial offence. Hence, St. Francis de Sales, in his Entertainments, teaches that though the Rule of the Visitation did not oblige under
