Do not fear this word self-denial. You believe, perhaps, that it only means inconvenience, constraint, weariness, lassitude.
No, it also means love, purification, perfection . . .
To deny oneself is to be faithful to duty, and to continue so in spite of difficulties, disgust, weariness, or want of success.
To deny oneself is to sacrifice to duty, under whatever form it presents itself, prayer, work, friendship . . . all that would be an obstacle not only to its accomplishment, but to its perfect fulfilment.
To deny oneself is to cast from us energetically all that encumbers the heart and interferes with the free action of God.
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A Friendly Voice
