Watch over your smallest faults
+ Watch over your most trifling faults…. He is jealous over your hidden life.
+ When you find your mind wandering from Him throughout the day, recall it quietly.
+ Abstain from any fault whenever you perceive that you are about to commit it. If you perceive the danger before committing it, beware of resisting God’s Holy Spirit, who is warning you.
+ Use your own faults for your own humiliation…to detach yourself from self-love.
Always happy
+ Absolute surrender to God gives deliverance from the world’s slavish maxims, treachery of friends, bitter remorse that follows sin or remorse that follows indulgences.
+ Those who give themselves unreservedly to God are always happy.
Spiritual benefits of our interactions with others
+ God trains us in self-denial through troublesome acquaintances.
+ Bear humbly all the annoyances that arise from the many imperfections of our neighbors.
+ Sacrifice your inclinations by molding yourself to the needs of others, and loving them.
+ Absolute resignation to what God appoints around you results in patience and toleration for your neighbor’s faults.
/ from the writings of Francois Fenelon, author of The Adventures of Telemachus, first published in 1699
