If Anyone Asks You For Something That

Teach Us, Good Lord, To Give And Not Count The Cost; To Fight And Not To Heed The Wounds; To Toil And Not To Seek For Rest; To Labor And Not To Ask For Any Reward Save That Of Knowing That We Do Thy Will.

But Some Most Worthless Persons Are In The Habit Of Carrying About The Name Of Jesus Christ In Wicked Guile, While Yet They Practice Things Unworthy Of God, And Hold Opinions Contrary To The Doctrine Of Christ, To Their Own Destruction, And That Of Those Who Give Credit To Them, Whom You Must Avoid As Ye Would Wild Beasts.

As For Joy, As Little As One Can Have Of It In This Life, Experience Shows That It Is Not The Idle Who Possess It, But Those Who Are Zealous In The Service Of God.

The Safest And Most Suitable Form Of Penance Seems To Be That Which Causes Pain In The Flesh But Does Not Penetrate To The Bones, That Is, Which Causes Suffering But Not Sickness.

Realize That Illness And Other Temporal Setbacks Often Come To Us From The Hand Of God Our Lord, And Are Sent To Help Us Know Ourselves Better, To Free Ourselves Of The Love Of Created Things, And To Reflect On The Brevity Of This Life And, Thus, To Prepare Ourselves For The Life Which Is Without End.