
V. THE INTERIOR LIFE
The contemplative life is
realized in your actions.

 | 80. Peace is dependent on a victory, and
victory is dependent on a struggle. If you desire peace, you
will have to fight continuously.
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 | 81. Your weapons are meditation, self-denial,
the sacraments, the rosary and recollection. Your allies are Our
Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph, the angels, your patron saints and your
spiritual director. Unless you gradually drop your weapons or
betray your allies, you will certainly gain a victory.
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 | 82. If you stand on an upper story of a tall
building and look down on the road below, you will see a stream of
people running around in all directions. There are all kinds of
cars, and all kinds of people fighting and quarrelling with each
other, frantically rushing around in circles, all for the sake of love
or money, ambition or the competition of life. Only when we
throw ourselves into the work of God without any fear will we have a
faith that is alive and a fervent apostolic spirit.
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 | 83. If you were determined to practice one
virtue every year, and if you would practice it every day, very soon
you would achieve quite an improvement.
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 | 84. The diver seeking the sea bed or the
astronaut in his spaceship launch out adventurously on the cause
of science; can you do less? When you give up everything to Our
Lord, even to risking your life for Him, then the authenticity of your
interior life will be evident to others.
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 | 85. You wish to set fire to the whole world by
the love which the Gospel preaches; you wish to conquer the five
continents. Your every moment should be a flash of fire, the
fire of your duty, of your obedience, of your patience. Such a
flame will burn brightly to illuminate the whole world.
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 | 86. External silence and, even more, interior
silence is the atmosphere conductive to the interior life.
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 | 87. You do not have to be learned nor
extraordinarily talented to become holy. All your require is the
grace of God and your own determination. Few people become
saints, because it is easier to become learned than it is to make the
necessary changes in one's life in order to achieve sanctity.
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 | 88. Although you are eager to serve God well,
nevertheless, if this enthusiasm is not accompanied by a deep personal
renewal, you will not be pleasing to God.
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 | 89. People of the world are frightened of
silence because they feel empty when alone. Those people who
live an interior life value silence because they discover a new and
beautiful world in a life of intimacy withe the Blessed Trinity, a
life which this world cannot give.
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 | 90. Don't mix God Himself up with His
works! Because His works are not God Himself. When God
calls you, you must put down His works, and follow Him, only Him.
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 | 91. You ask, when do you have to commence to
live this interior life? You have to commence it from this very
moment and you have to recommence it each and every day.
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 | 92. Who must become holy? Everybody
without exception must become holy. Start with yourself, because
God calls everybody.
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 | 93. In this world there is nothing as precious
a divine grace. With it heaven reigns in your heart even now in
this world.
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 | 94. A precious sparking diamond is formed in a
mass of rock in the depths of the earth over millions of years.
Do you emerge from the interior in the same way?
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 | 95. Spread throughout the whole world and
proclaim in a loud voice to everyone: "There
is one man who has laid down his life for his friends"
(Jn 15:13, 1Cor 15:3, 2Cor
5:14-15, 1Thess 5:9-10).
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 | 96. In a movie a raging fire can freighted
everybody; but that fire does not burn hot, nor can it cook anything,
because it is only an image of a fire. It does not come issuing
forth from a red hot furnace.
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 | 97. Our love of God has to be absolute.
Our Lord teaches us, "No one can serve two
masters" (Mt 6:24).
How many masters do you server?
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 | 98. Set aside a few quite moments every day to
help you to advance in the interior life. How many minutes have
you set aside lately.
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 | 99. Some people say there is a crisis of faith
or a crisis of authority, but I think there is actually a crisis of
holiness. God send trials to you in order to refine and separate
good from bad in you.
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 | 100. You might find it hard to understand why
Saint Augustine says in his prayer, "Lord, let me know You, let
me know myself." His reason can be understood from Our
Lord's question, "Have I been with you so
long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip?" (Jn
14:9). If you do know truly, your life will change
completely.
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 | 101. There are people whose practice of
religion consists of reciting many prayers and attending many Masses,
but they do not put their faith into practice. There is no
different from someone who might ask a friend, "Are you
well?", and the friend replies, "I eat six meals a
day." Eating a lot of meals is not necessarily the same
thing as being healthy.
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