On Zeal and Diligence
From this generosity are born supernatural zeal and diligence in all the virtues. None can exhibit this zeal, save the generous and diligent man. This is an internal and eager impulse towards all the virtues, and towards the imitation of Christ and the saints. In this zeal, a man desires to expend in the honour of God the united powers of his heart and senses, his soul and body, all that he is, and all that he may receive. This zeal makes a man watchful in reason and discrimination, and makes him practise the virtues in justice. Thanks to this supernatural zeal, all the forces of his soul are open to God, and prepared for all the virtues. His conscience is refreshed, and divine grace is increased, virtue is practised with joy, and his external works are adorned. He who has received this lively zeal from God is removed far from the fifth deadly sin—lukewarmness and gloominess towards the virtues necessary for salvation.1 And sometimes this lively zeal disperses heaviness and sluggishness of the bodily temperament. It is on this subject that Jesus Christ says: “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” This will be, when the glory of God shall be manifested, and shall fill every man in proportion to his love and justice.
Notes
1 The best account in English of the deadly sin of acedia, too much neglected in modern religious teaching, is to be found in Bishop Paget’s Spirit of Discipline.