Lesson from the Spirit

- When you deprive yourself of something important, sacrificing yourself, stop and ask: is this really good?
Where you sacrifice yourself unnecessarily, without true need, merely to suffer — are you closer to God there? No.

He does not want showy displays, only devotion to spiritual truths.
You are not giving something up to please others; you are giving yourself up.
Each time you renounce yourself, you will be subjected to your own persecutions. You will lose your significance. You will find yourself eaten away by your own insecurities and fears. Is that good? Is that the path that is truly right for you?

Where you give something up because you feel another’s need, out of your love for them, out of the joy of helping someone — not out of regret, pain, or endurance — only there are you acting rightly.

Listen to yourself. If you do not feel an inner response, if you do not feel that love, then first cultivate it within yourself. For otherwise you only distance yourself from the path of your spiritual insight.