1. The substance of every seriously devout life is the faithful accomplishment of God's known will. This will is manifested in a) the Commandments b) the Evangelical counsels c) for us, in our Rule and the orders of Superiors. All the rest is accidental, and of more or less importance according as it helps us do what is substantial.
2. Fidelity to religious duties, Divine Office, mental prayer, spiritual reading is the source of the strength we need to carry out this will of God. That is why, although these practices are not the substance of sanctity, negligence in these duties leads inevitably to the more or less grave violation of the intrinsic obligations, and to the ruin of spiritual life.
3. True love of God in the heart of one who has gravely sinned ought to take the form of compunction. Not that compunction ought to be the exclusive form, but the basis, the point to which he returns: "DAILY to confess one's past sins with tears and sighs to God."
4. When one has sinned much, he ought not to be surprised to find himself deprived of savor and sweetness in his devotions. This lost grave must be expiated or redeemed by long fidelity.
5. Among the practices of piety, the most fruitful is the union of our life and sentiments with those of Jesus Christ. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." "No man cometh to the Father but by Me." "I am the Way."
Source: Union with God: Letters of Spiritual Direction by Blessed Columba Marmion.
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