Some Guidance Useful for Overcoming the Passions and Acquiring Virtue

Although I have already said much to you up to this point, pointing out the means by which the passions must be overcome and virtue acquired, there remains yet something more to impart to you.

And first I say to you: do not follow, brother, in acquiring virtues the example of those who distribute their spiritual exercises throughout the seven days of the week in such a way that one exercise is assigned to one virtue, another to another, and so on, without regard for whether this or that is presently needed. No, you must not act that way; rather, arm yourself chiefly against the passion that troubles you most, has already overcome you more than once, and is preparing to attack you again. In arming yourself against it, strive with all your strength to establish yourself in the virtue that is opposed to that passion, employing all the suitable exercises and ascetic labors for that purpose. For as soon as you succeed in this, you will at the same time revive in yourself all the other virtues and clothe yourself in them as in armor that will shield you from all the arrows of the passions. Our heart is by nature full of good dispositions, but the passions enter and suppress them. These passions are not equally present in all; one person is dominated chiefly by one, another by another, and these rule over the rest. As soon as you drive out the principal one, all the others will weaken and withdraw of themselves. When this happens, the good dispositions, freed from oppression, will recover their proper strength in you and will always stand ready at the door of your heart, to come forth in service whenever they are needed.

Second, do not assign a fixed time for acquiring virtues—not days, weeks, months, or years—saying to yourself: I will labor for a while and then rest, so that after resting I may take up the same labor again. No, no rest is prescribed here. Prepare yourself for unceasing labor, struggle, and warfare, admitting not even the thought of slackening them, imitating the holy Paul, who says of himself: ”I run, I press on… if I may attain… I press on eagerly” (1 Cor. 9:26; Phil. 3:12, 14). To stop on the path of virtue for rest does not mean gathering new strength, but squandering what has been acquired and growing slack; and that is the same as going backward, or tearing down what has been built with great effort. By “stopping” I mean: imagining that virtue has already been acquired in perfection, paying no attention to what is still lacking in it, and letting pass the occasions that present themselves for doing good. Do not be like that, but be always vigilant and eager. Do not close your eyes or turn away when you encounter such occasions; on the contrary, look for them and press toward them. Look upon them all with love, especially those that present some difficulty in performing good within them. Exerting one’s strength to remove obstacles to doing good establishes the habit of virtue in us more quickly and roots it more deeply in the heart. Only those occasions that, while giving an opportunity to display the virtue of chastity, nevertheless expose one to the danger of inflaming impure lust—flee those by every possible means. It is better not to let this fire near your members, lest you be scorched and burned.

Third, be wise and discerning in undertaking bodily ascetic labors—fasts, vigils, physical work, and the like. These are essentially necessary, and without them do not dream of making progress in the spiritual life; yet even in them know and maintain a wise measure. That measure is the middle ground between self-indulgent leniency toward the flesh and merciless exhaustion of it to the point of collapse without extreme need. Seek this middle ground through experience and practice, not through theory, and take as a rule in this the principle of gradualness, moving from below upward. Seek and you shall find. As for the inner, spiritual virtues—such as love for God, contempt for the world, self-abasement, aversion to the passions and sin, patience and meekness, peace with all, even those who hate and wrong us, and the like—no fixed measure is required there, and the gradual perfecting of them is determined of itself from within. Your task is ceaselessly and with full force to compel yourself to every act they require, and always to carry it out without delay or sluggishness. In this lies all your wisdom and strength.

Fourth: but amid all this activity, think with your whole mind, desire with your whole will, and seek with your whole heart one thing only—to conquer the passion against which you are now fighting and which now fights against you, and in its place to establish in full strength the virtue that is opposed to it and is now being suppressed by it. Let this one thing be for you the whole world, all of heaven and earth, your whole treasure and ultimate goal, in the certainty that by this one thing alone you can worthily please God. Whether you eat or fast, work or rest, sleep or keep vigil, sit at home or are outside it, engaged in prayer or in some earthly occupation—let all of it be directed toward that one end: to overcome the passion that has flared up and to restore the virtue that has been driven out by it. I mentioned earlier the overcoming of the chief passion; here I mean the passion that is fighting you at the present hour, whether it is the chief one or not. Just as in visible warfare one sometimes engages a detachment commanded by the commander-in-chief himself, and at another time one commanded by a simple officer, so it is in spiritual warfare: it is not always the chief passion that fights; sometimes it sends forward its allies in its place, and one may have to deal with these more often at certain times than with the chief passion itself. But it is no less your duty to win victory in these cases than in the first.

Fifth, be an implacable enemy of all earthly pleasures and sensual delights born of self-indulgence and feeding it. By this you will more easily and less frequently be subjected to attacks not only of fleshly but of all the passions in general, for all of them are rooted in self-indulgence; when self-indulgence is suppressed and cut away, they lose their strength, firmness, and stability, having no soil beneath them. Do not be tempted by the thought: I will take part in one pleasure, taste one delight. For even if it be something not sinful, yet since it is allowed on the sole ground of self-indulgence, during this relaxation all the passions will lift their heads and stir, like worms that have been pressed down when water is poured over them—and it is no wonder that one among them should flare up with such force that the struggle against it will be fierce and the victory over it uncertain. Therefore never let slip from your memory the following words of Holy Scripture: ”He who loves his life” — that is, the self-indulgent man — ”will lose it; and he who hates his life in this world” — he who does not pamper self-indulgence — ”will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). ”So then, brothers, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Rom. 8:12–13).

Sixth and finally, I give you this last counsel: it is very beneficial for the soul—or better, absolutely necessary for you—first of all to make a general confession, with all due attentiveness and with all the requisite acts, examinations, and resolutions, so that through this your soul may be filled with full assurance that you stand in the grace of God, the sole Giver of all spiritual gifts, virtues, and victories.