Page 15 - VOWS AND ACT

As to inner actions: I hereby bind myself to curb all my
passions and to practise all the virtues on a high level, that is:
humility, obedience, chastity, patience, remaining always in
the presence of God, inner silence, self-abnegation, charity,
poverty, gentleness, reservedness, etc. and of all these virtues
I mean to make special vows.
Lastly, I bind myself to the closest imitation of you, my Beloved
Crucified Lord, especially by seeking after the most profound
humility in all things, not only by having and keeping a most
modest idea of myself but also by desiring and looking out for
opportunities for being held in contempt, forgotten and

wronged. I promise you, my good Jesus, that I will never,
never do anything except loving you: that I will never, never
stop going against myself and persecuting myself in order to
walk in your footsteps, that I will always, at all times, embrace
suffering in order to become like you, Crucified for my sake.

This is, dear Jesus, the offering I make to you, this is
the sacrifice of my whole being, the holocaust that I present to
you. Graciously be pleased with it, accept it, and as a pledge
that you are pleased with it, grant me the grace to carry it out
to the tiniest detail and with scrupulous care, till my last breath.
I beg you, Jesus, don’t ever let me break this chain that binds
me so fast to you; I prefer to die a thousand times rather than
let that terrible thing happen to me.

Be you my strength and my support; be you my help,
my everything; I place all my hope in you, and you can do all

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