I always wondered what the criteria was for lukewarmness!
"Signs of lukewarmness:
"Signs of lukewarmness:
- To have little or no regard for venial sin, and to fear only mortal sin;
- to perform one's spiritual exercises out of a spirit of routine or human respect, with disgust and with negligence reflected
- upon and consented to;
- to pray habitually without attention;
- to confess one's faults lightly, without the serious resolution of avoiding them;
- to communicate without devotion, by not striving to obtain it;
- to perform one's daily actions without the proper intention, without order or method;
- to be given over to exterior things;
- to be rarely present to one's self, and yet more rarely to have God present;
- to renounce the exercise of great virtues, even those whose practice is suited to one's state or profession;
- to be content with a state of mediocrity;
- to shun the company of those who work with ardor for their perfection;
- to seek the company of those who are more dissipated, less fervent and less regular;
- to form an erroneous conscience, the cause of which superiors and directors often attribute to lack of good judgement;
- to employ false principles to silence remorse;
- to nourish, despite the frequent use of the sacraments, interior aversions, jealousies, movements of pride, and particular and dangerous affections;
- to encourage a spirit of harshness, insubordination and cavilling, which manifests itself in offensive and contentious words;
- to entertain continually a secret self-love, which, mingling in all one's actions, corrupts and infects them with its virus;
- lastly, to shirk whatever entails labor and self-abnegation, and to seek rather for comforts, futile consolations, and ease."
this is a must read for all mothers...women!
ReplyDeletei'm so thankful i found a physical copy.