The Sanctification of Our Actions.
“He hath done all things well.” — St. Matt. 7:37.
THIRD DAY.
Many persuade themselves that they have no true sorrow for their sins if they do not practice corporal austerities. Let us learn, nevertheless, that he does a good penance who studies to please God. It is a very perfect thing and of great merit. — St. Francis of Sales.
We do not read that St. Francis of Sales and other great saints continually afflicted their bodies by rude penances. They arrived at sanctity by devoting themselves to the sanctification of all their actions; they did all they believed Our Lord asked of them in the most perfect manner possible.
St. John Berchmans, that servant of God who labored continually to become a saint by performing in the most perfect manner possible his ordinary actions, had taken for his motto this sentence, which he studied frequently: Pœnitentia maxima vita communis, “My greatest penance is the ordinary life.”
Prayer.
Thou exactest, O my God, that I do penance for so many sins of which I have been guilty. The penance to which I will devote myself will be to perform well all my actions, with the intention of pleasing Thee. An ordinary life which I will not lead in an ordinary manner — such shall be my penance.