ently recognized,
then the practice of the virtues immediately related to this action
and proper to increase it in the soul are to be recommended, such as
recollection, purity of heart, docility and fidelity to the inner
voice, and the like."

"It should ever be kept in view that the practice of the virtues is
not only for their own sake and to obtain merit, but mainly in order
to remove all obstacles in the way of the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, and to assist the soul in following His operations with
docility."

"Obedience in its spiritual aspect divests one of self-will and makes
him prompt to submit to the will of God alone. Viewed as an act of
justice, obedience is the payment of due service to one's superior,
who holds his office by appointment of God."

"The essential mistake of the transcendentalists is the taking for
their guide the instincts of the soul instead of the inspirations of
the Holy Spirit. They are moved by the natural instincts of human
beings instead of the instinct of the Holy Ghost. But true spiritual
direction consists in discovering the obstacles in the way of the
Divine guidance, in aiding and encouraging the penitent to remove
them, and in teaching how the interior movements of the Holy Spirit
may be recognized, as well as in stimulating the soul to fidelity and
docility to His movements."

"The director is not to take the place of the Holy Ghost in the soul,
but to assist His growth in the soul as its primary and supreme
guide."

"The primary worker of the soul's sanctification is the Holy Spirit
acting interiorly; the work of the director is secondary and
subordinate. To overlook this fundamental truth in the spiritual life
is a great mistake, whether it be on the part of the director or the
one under direction."

The great obstacle to the prevalent use of this privilege of divine
interior direction is lack of practical realization of its existence
by good Christians. And this want of faith is met with almost as much
among teachers as among learners, resulting in too great a mingling
of the human element in the guidance of souls. What is known as
over-direction is to be attributed, as Father Hecker was persuaded,
to confessors leading souls by self-chosen ways, or laboriously
working them along the road to perfection by artificial processes,
souls whom the Holy Spirit has not made ready for more than the
beginning of the spiritual life. This is like pressing wine out of
unripe gr