Of all the practices of the spiritual life purity of heart stands highest, and rightly, for it is the end and reward of all our labours, and is found only with those who live truly according to the spirit and as good religious.
Wherefore thou shouldst employ all thy diligence and skill in order to free thy heart, senses, and affections from whatever could trammel their liberty, or could fetter or ensnare thy soul. Strive earnestly to gather in the wandering affections of thy heart and fix them on the love of the sole and pure Truth, the Sovereign Good; then keep them, as it were, enchained within thee.
Fix thy gaze unwaveringly upon God and Divine things; spurn the follies of earth and seek to be wholly transformed in Jesus Christ, yea, even to the heart's core.
When thou hast begun to cleanse and purify thy soul of earthly images, and to unify and tranquillize thy heart and mind in God with loving confidence, to the end that thou mayest taste and enjoy in all thy powers the torrents of His good pleasure, and mayest fix thy will and intelligence in Him, then thou wilt no longer need to study and read the Holy Scriptures to learn the love of God and of thy neighbour, for the Holy Spirit Himself will teach thee.[27]
Spare no pains, no labour, to purify thy heart and to establish it in unbroken peace.
Abide in God in the secret place of thy soul as tranquilly as though there had already risen upon thee the dawn of Eternity, the unending Day of God.
Strong in the love of Jesus, go forth from thyself, with a heart pure, a conscience at peace, a faith unfeigned; and in every trial, every event, commit thyself unreservedly to God, having nothing so much at heart as perfect obedience to His will and good pleasure.
If thou wouldst arrive thus far, it is needful for thee often to enter within thy soul and to abide therein, disengaging thyself as much as thou canst from all things.
Keep the eye of thy soul ever in purity and peace; suffer not the form and images of this world to defile thy mind; preserve thy will from every earthly care, and let every fibre of thy heart be rooted in the love of the Sovereign Good. Thus will thy whole soul, with all its powers, be recollected in God and form but one spirit with Him.
It is in this that the highest perfection possible to man here below consists.