Consider the conduct of the perfect in their different relations towards God, their neighbors and themselves. As regards God, He should fill the whole field of their vision; He should be remembered as always present, as the source of all life and goodness, as the goal to be striven for, as the object of all their veneration and love. The next thing is to keep His commandments, whether given in the Old Testament or the New, through the voice of nature, or conscience, or His authorized Church. These should be observed fully and cheerfully, not as disagreeable restraints from which dispensation is to be sought on the smallest show of reason, but as the rule of our life and development, and as the condition of our progress and happiness. The merit of obedience should not be destroyed by an unwilling or sluggish observance or by the admission of any inferior motives. Those aspiring to perfection are not contented with obedience to the strict law of God, they do not limit themselves to the minimum required for salvation, as if they were driving a bargain and feared to give too much; but they desire to be generous with God as far as possible, and they know that the most they can do is infinitely small as compared with what God bestows on them, and with what He deserves in return. Such persons value the Holy Sacraments as the great treasures of God, they make frequent use of them, especially of Holy Communion and the Sacrafice of the Mass.
