"The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.
If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?
If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?
No servant can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and mammon."
REFLECTION
"The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones."
Some times we might feel or think that to achieve sanctity we need to make huge heroic works. We try to do great fasts, corporal mortifications, or other works that might be too much, specially if we've never done this before.
Just as if we were going to the gym, or changing our eating habits, we start with small acts and work our way into other challenges.
If you want to make yourself worthy of the best kind of crosses, that is, those which come to you without your choosing, then under the guidance of a prudent director, take up some of your own accord.
For example, suppose you have a piece of furniture you are fond of, but which is of no use to you. You could give it away to someone who needs it, saying to yourself, "Why should I have things I don't need when Jesus is so poor?'
Or if you have a distaste for a certain kind of food, an aversion for the practice of some particular virtue, or a dislike for some offensive odour, you could take the food, practice the virtue, accept the odour, and thus conquer yourself.
Or again, your fondness for a certain person or thing may be immoderate. Why not see less of that person, or keep away from those things that attract you?
If you have a natural inclination never to miss what is going on, to be always doing things, to be in the limelight, to frequent popular places, then guard your eyes, watch your tongue, and stay where you are.
Have you a natural aversion for certain persons or things? Then overcome it by not avoiding them.
As the saint tells us, we need to have a prudent spiritual director. Hopefully this person can be a priest, so he can guide us correctly towards God. His counsel can help us not overdo it, but guide us in the correct way of different mortifications that we can offer not only for our own sanctification, but for others.
A good spiritual director guide us to be constant and faithful in small things. So if we are ever faced with great things we have the discipline and the faith to endure them.
Pray with us the PAPA Prayer for Priests, so our priests have the virtue of zeal, and guide many souls towards God.
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