Good will in the soul is the source of all good, the mother of all virtues. He who possesses it, possesses without fear of loss all he needs to live a good life.[56]
If thou desirest what is good and art not able to accomplish it, God will reward thee for it as though thou hadst performed it.[57]
He has established as an eternal and unchangeable law that merit should lie in the will, and that upon the will should depend our future of Heaven or hell, reward or punishment.[58]
Charity itself consists in nothing else but a strong will to serve God, a loving desire to please Him, and a fervent longing to enjoy Him.
Forget not, therefore, temptation is not sin, but rather the means of proving virtue. By it man may gain great profit,[59] and this the more inasmuch as "the life of man upon earth is a warfare."[60]
CHAPTER XII
THE POWER OF THE LOVE OF GOD