One Minute Meditations:
You see. then, my friend, that your defects are all you can attribute to yourself, for you possess nothing else of your own. If our Lord afflicts you, think how weak and faulty you must be, to show so little resignation at his just punishment. lf he sends you consolations, be confused at the want of humility you manifest in the way you accept them, for the more God honors you and treats you as if you were righteous, the more should you abase yourself, and be ashamed of your shortcomings.
Remember how little you profit by the inspirations and promptings you receive from God and how often when he urges you again and again to do something for him, you forget his wish almost at once, and do not carry it out. Surely his every word should remain imprinted in your memory for life, without need for him to repeat it. Think how often your faulty heart lets the precious grace which our Lord pours into it become wasted, instead of carefully preserving it.
When God gives us spiritual sweetness, we should prepare our souls to receive it again by withdrawing more from earthly joys, and by keeping our minds closed against them and more recollected and given to God.
Saint John of Avila
