The Sanctification of Our Actions.
“He hath done all things well.” — St. Matt. 7:37.
THIRTY-FIRST DAY.
All that we do receives its value from our conformity to the will of God; for instance, eating or recreation, if I do it because it is the will of God, I merit more than if I suffered death without having that intention. Keep well in your mind this thought, and remember it in all your actions, in imitation of the carpenter, who passes all the boards he uses under the plane. It is thus you will do all with perfection. — St. Francis of Sales.
It was this truth of which a Jesuit Brother was well convinced when he said that when at table, taking his repast, he did as much as the apostle of the Indies, because what St. Francis Xavier did best in preaching the Gospel was to accomplish the will of God, and that he himself accomplished that will when he was in the refectory during the time the Rule required it.
It was so easy and so familiar to St. Magdalene of Pazzi to propose in all her actions to do the will of God that it seemed impossible to her that Christians could act without reflecting on this holy will.
A resolution which a holy priest took every morning, noon, and at the end of the day was to act always with God, in God, and for God. With God, I will do nothing contrary to the will of God; in God, being in a state of grace, acting in such a manner that grace be the principle of all my works. To be in a state of grace I will excite myself to a perfect act of contrition before my principal actions. I will ask of God this grace with fervor before going from one exercise to another. For God, I will act only through a supernatural motive for the glory of God, to please God, for the love of God, in the presence of God, uniting myself to Jesus Christ at all times.
Prayer.
Lord, grant that I may do nothing that is not in conformity to Thy holy will.