Servant of Mary new file

4. How can one be deeply faithful who has doubts about the truth of the holy faith and who does not do what faith demands ? For faith consists not so much in meditation and words but in fulfilling the orders of our holy religion. 5. How can one be considered pious who, out of lazi- ness, does not attend services; who spends more time in idleness than in prayer and, when he prays, his thoughts wander goodness only knows where; who forgets that God is present everywhere; and who breaks God’s command- ments as well as those of the Church ? 6. How can one be obedient who does not obey the orders of his parents, superiors, and teachers; and who acts only because he is under constraint to do so or because it is convenient to him; and who recoils from doing anything that is contrary to his likes and whims ? The virtue of obedience consists in doing what we are ordered to do and not what we might prefer. 7. How can one be called poor in spirit whose heart clings to worldly possessions as if they comprised the very purpose of his life, setting all his hopes on them rather than on God; or who, bound by the vow of poverty, still seeks to have what he should forgo and, when he finds himself poor and in need, complains and does not accept God’s Will for him ? 8. How can one be considered patient who does not gladly accept the adversities and crosses which God sends him in His graciousness so that he might be perfected, but who instead complains or even curses Him ? And who, 73 THE SERVANT OF MARY IMMACULATE