Chapter XI. Of some Considerations which may induce the Will to seek in all things the Good Pleasure of God

MOREOVER, to render the will more inclined to desire in all things the good pleasure and the glory of God, call oftentimes to mind, that in many ways He has first honoured and loved you.

By Creation—making you out of nothing, after His likeness; and by making all other creatures for your use.

By Redemption—sending, not an angel, but His Only-begotten Son, to redeem you, not with the corruptible price of silver and gold, but with His own Precious Blood, and His most painful and ignominious Death.

Consider, too, that every hour, and every moment, He defends you from your enemies, fights for you by His grace, offers you continually in the Sacrament of the Altar His Dear Son to be your strength and nourishment; is not this a token of the inestimable love and regard which the Infinite God has for you? We cannot, on the one hand, conceive how much value so great a Lord sets on us poor creatures, in our baseness and misery; and, on the other, how much we are indebted to His High Majesty, Who has done so many and so great things for us.

For if earthly masters, when they are honoured even by men of poor and lowly condition, feel bound to honour them in return, how should our vileness behave itself towards the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe, by Whom we are so dearly prized and loved!

And, in addition to what has been already mentioned, keep ever a lively remembrance, that the Divine Majesty is infinitely worthy to be honoured and served simply for Himself, and for His own good pleasure.